Strange things keep happening to the Adler family and each member of the family thinks that they might be the reason why. I liked this aspect. I also liked the conclusion. However, I felt the pace of the book and my general dislike of the characters left me a little dissatisfied with the overall reading. I felt like all of the characters made poor choices to make the situations worse rather than helping to improve things, even when they realized there were problems. Along with that, it felt like things went on too long. This led to me being more focused on just wanting to know the why instead of actually enjoying the story as it unfolded. The events didn't seem to add anything to the story. But, like I previously said, I did like the end result as life isn't simple and I don't want my books to be simplistic either.

What I Loved

I usually don't say this, but I loved that there are multiple narrators. Each of the four family members tells their particular part of the story and gradually reveals the secrets they are hiding that may or not be related to the harassment they have been dealing with as a family. The chapters rotate through the four and are each short, making the book's pace very quick. It also makes the story a complex web of deception and revelations that is just fun to read.

The characters are amazingly well-developed because you learn so much about them through the secrets that they are keeping. This adds an unexpected depth to the story, which could have easily stayed on the surface because of the quick pace and short chapters. Only one of the characters was relatable to me, but I could sympathize with all of them and the personal demons they face, not to mention the one they are facing together.

I also loved the ending, which is my favorite kind of ending. It's an ending that will send a chill down your spine as you realize that one of the plot threads remains open-ended. I love the uncertainty of what the future will hold and the thousands of possibilities it leaves in its wake.

Characters

My favorite character is Eli. He is the son of Thomas and Viv and brother to Tarryn, the four narrators of this delightfully crazy tale. Eli has dropped out of college all of a sudden, and he won't tell anyone why. But when he finally reveals his secret, I felt a ton of sympathy for him and what he is going through. Tarryn is a very prickly teen in her junior year of high school. Viv is an interior decorator, and she got her start by helping her husband, Thomas, sell houses by staging them.

What I Wish
My one little niggle is how the harassment is handled pretty much by everyone that knew about it. From the police to neighbors to the Adlers themselves, I found the reactions and the consequences a bit too much for suspended disbelief to hold. I just kept thinking, "What is wrong with you people." What does that even mean, "It's just kids being kids." At what point do you have to stop making excuses and hold them accountable?

To Read or Not to Read
If you are looking for a fast-paced psychological thriller based on a complex web of lies that will have you picking your jaw up off of the floor, The Perfect Family is just the book you are looking for this summer.

This book was dumpster fire and I LOVED it!
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The Perfect Family was the domestic thriller I didn’t know I needed. The story details the lives of the Adler family and boy are they messed up! ⁣
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Every member of this family is keeping a secret. When things start going wrong and their house becomes victim to attacks, every member of the family is sure it’s their fault because of the horrible things they’ve done. You will hate every member of the Adler family in the best way. ⁣
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The story is narrated through each member of the family in alternating chapters which allows for great character development. I was inside the mind of every sick character in this book. Their paranoia and shame was intense. ⁣
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My favorite part of the book was the ending. FINALLY. I loved the cliffhanger ending that’s open to interpretation. Just when you think we’ve solved the puzzle a curveball comes our way and I am here for it.

I love books where dirty secrets risk not only the secret keeper’s safety, but that of those around them and this book was filled with them!!

The Adler’s love looking like they are the perfect family. The fancy car (leased), the newly renovated home (over budget), the intelligent daughter (skipping school and engaging in risky online sexual behaviors), the athletic son (dropped out of college and suffering from PTSD), and the happy marriage (Thomas may be having an affair and Viv may be a kleptomaniac). But all four of the Adlers are keeping secrets that could ruin them and are putting them all in danger. When their home and family become the targets of increasingly annoying and ultimately dangerous pranks, any one of the Adlers and their bad behaviors and secrets could be to blame.

The novel is written from each perspective of the family. I thought Harding did a great job giving each family member a unique voice and I loved that she teased us with the secrets for a short while but didn’t keep us in the dark for too long.

As the harassment escalated, it really seemed like any one of the Adlers could be responsible for causing it. Ultimately, I was totally surprised, though I did feel there were some loose ends and unanswered questions. I’m also not sure that all readers will appreciate the ending but I kind of liked it!!

This was a really fast read that I couldn’t put down. The short chapters and alternating voices kept me hooked and I couldn’t flip the pages fast enough. This was my first novel by Harding and I’m excited to check out more!

Thank you to Gallery and NetGalley for the copy of this novel.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest domestic thriller by one of my favorites, Robyn Harding - 5 stars for a darkly entertaining read!

The Adlers are the perfect family. Dad, Thomas, is a successful real estate agent who ensures that his own home is picture perfect on the outside. Mom, Viv, is an interior designer/home stager, making the insides of a home perfect. They have two children, Eli and Tarryn. All seems perfect until the night that eggs are thrown at their house. Because each of them has a secret and each of them thinks they are being targeted because of that secret.

Buckle up and have fun with this one! Told in alternating POV from each of the family members, we learn all their secrets while they are still secret from each other. As the violence towards the Adlers ramps up, so does all the twists and turns of the story. Who is responsible for all that is going on? Go into this one as blind as possible and just have fun - it's one of those juicy, voyeuristic looks into how that perfect family really lives. You will find yourself flipping the pages as fast as you can until you get to that crazy last sentence! Highly recommended!

Thank you, Robyn Harding, Gallery Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book! It releases on August 10th, 2021.

It is that time of year where I start gravitating towards the darker reads on my TBR. It may only be August, but I would be happy to skip it and go straight to the end of September. Fall is so close, yet so far away. I have only read one other Robyn Harding book but I really enjoyed it! So I was excited to pick up The Perfect Family. Meet the Adler family. They have a beautiful home with amazing curb appeal and two kids they love to brag about. But who knows what goes on behind closed doors? Thomas is a real estate agent who is being blackmailed after a bachelor party-gone-wrong. His wife, Viv, is a kleptomaniac, who impulsively steals to regain control in her life. But what happens when a minor impulse is actually a major theft? Next is Eli, who is home from college, claiming he won’t go back. Little does his family know that something terrible happened that he wants to forget. Tarryn may seem like a moody teenager but by night she is camming to get a little extra money. She thought she disguised herself enough, but then some creepy comments start coming in. All seems well until eggs start hitting the house. Then tomatoes…and it keeps escalating. So who is this person targeting? Any one of the Adler’s could be a target.

TW: Assault and sexual assault

I read this book in one night. The book has four different points of view for each member of the Adler family. Despite its changing perspective after every chapter, I could not put it down. The transitions moved seamlessly. Thomas and Eli both had the most extreme secrets. I wasn’t a huge fan of Thomas, but Eli was a phenomenal character. Something happened at college that eats Eli alive with guilt. It is obvious he is dealing with anxiety and depression and his character arc by the end of the novel makes for great closure on his part. I felt Viv and Tarryn had very minor issues compared to Thomas and Eli. But I did appreciate how the author showed Viv’s kleptomania as a sign of extreme anxiety and OCD. While kleptomania is rare, OCD is very common and debilitating.

Now, I will say that I could not put this book down. For 90% of the book, I was gripping it like my life depended on it. But that ending… It had to be one of the most anti-climactic endings I have read in a long time. Yes, that final line was intriguing, but I felt that all that suspense went to waste.

Overall, it was an exciting read and I rate it 4 out of 5 stars!

Fairly fast paced family drama where everything and everyone looks good on the outside, but it’s another case of who knows what really goes on behind closed doors. I kept waiting for something major to happen but it ever read did. The dad has made some sketchy decisions that are coming back to haunt him, the daughter is living a whole other life her family has no idea idea about. Someone is pranking their house and each member of the family thinks it’s about their secrets while at the same time pointing the finger at the others.
It was clever and drew me in, but it did drag on at points and there wasn’t quite enough depth to make it a page turner.
Thanks to Gallery Books and Netgalley for this Arc in exchange for my review.

This was a fast-paced thriller with a lot of family drama. I was a bit disappointed in that I felt the mystery was wrapped up fairly quickly, but things didn't come together as much as I thought they would. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll try to keep it vague, but I was dissatisfied that the various threads didn't tie together but were instead a lot of separate events.

But I enjoyed hopping from one POV to another and the story kept me guessing.

Good read but not “heart-stopping” as the blurbs say. So many lies for only four main characters, characters that are well drawn and only slightly cliche. Each chapter from the POV of one of them alternately. It had me really interested until the last few chapters when almost everything was easily tied up with bows. Then one of the lamest endings ever.

They were the perfect family on the outside, inside each member had some serious issues they were dealing with. So who was targeting them in various types of attacks, from annoying to potentially deadly. This was a fast moving book overall, and while the parents weren't very likeable, everyone had some type of growth during the book. The "bad guy" wasn't obvious and I liked that I didn't guess it

The perfect family lives in a perfect house with a perfect car parked in a perfect driveway in a perfect neighborhood so they must live the perfect life, right? Oh, but looks can be deceiving. Inside is a family in turmoil. Thomas Adler, his wife Viv and children seventeen year old Tarryn and college age Eli all have some dark secrets . . . all hidden from each other. Thomas is being blackmailed, Viv is a closet kleptomaniac who believes her husband is cheating on her, Tarryn is playing around in some dark rooms online and Eli suffered a dramatic event that caused him to drop out of college. And yet, they all keep up appearances to the outside world and each other. Just perfect, right? So what happens when their home and refuge comes under attack from outsiders - at first the house is egged during the night. Then someone sets their bushes on fire. Then someone breaks in and leaves a gross message. Are they harmless pranks by kids? Or is something more sinister happening? Is someone targeting one of them because of their secrets?

Robyn Harding has penned an edgy, compelling story about the power of family . . . and the danger in secrets. The story unfolds through all four family members points of view in alternating chapters. While readers are privy to each members secrets, they are not. It's fascinating being in each character's head as they wonder if they could be the real target or if another family member has brought this plague down on the family. Through crisp writing, Harding drives a steady pace that escalates as the story progresses and violence escalates. The Perfect Family is a gripping, complex, multi-layered thriller that I thoroughly enjoyed. Highly recommended to fans of mystery, suspense and/or thrillers.

This was such a great thriller. A family of four, nice house, nice cars, nice neighborhood... many secrets. When the Adler family's house gets egged they brush it off as a bunch of kids playing a prank. But then more dangerous things start happening as the secrets of each family member is revealed.

I loved the quick chapters told from each family members' point of view. There were lots of red herrings and misdirection to lead you to the villian only to be fed with new information and another twist. This was a quick read and I loved the feminist aspect of the storyline. It was a window into a world I have never seen.

The Perfect Family, by Robyn Harding

Short Take: [Insert clever “perfect” joke here]


(*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*)

Good morning, my beloved nerdlings! It’s been gloomy and stormy here the last few days, which made it the perfect time to curl up with something dark and twisty, and hoo boy did I choose right! I pretty much inhaled all 350 pages of this one in less than a day, and I double-dog dare you to not do the same.

The titular Perfect Family are the Adlers, and from the outside, they are super bright and shiny. Dad Thomas is a high-end real estate agent, mom Vivian is growing her interior decorating and staging business, son Eli is a soccer star at a ritzy private college, and daughter Tarryn is… well… going through her surly adolescent phase, but she is clearly destined for great things.

Then someone eggs their house. And the eggs are followed over time by tomatoes, rocks, spray paint, slashed tires, and escalating acts of vandalism that could actually kill someone. The police say that it’s “just kids” and the cameras the Adlers install only show shadowy hooded figures.

So who would attack this family? In order to answer the Who, the Adlers need to figure out the Why, and that’s where Ms. Harding makes my literary taste buds tingle. Because every seemingly-perfect member of this family has something they are not telling the others, and each one of those secrets is ugly enough to drive a person to do some very nasty things.

Y’all. There is no such thing as the perfect thriller, but Ms. Harding sure comes close. We spend enough time with each of these characters to really get a feel for who they are, and they are so freaking real. Nobody is the good guy or the bad guy - they each have moments I want to offer a hug, tea, and sympathy, followed by moments I want to knock all of their heads together. (Quick aside: The Far Side has told me that doing so would sound like a coconut and I’ve always wanted to try it.)

And there are all the usual petty gripes that can bloom into major resentments in a picture-perfect family who never acknowledge problems of any kind, focusing instead on the perception of perfection from outside. The pressure mounts on the Adlers from every side - from within the house, as they turn on each other, from their various peer groups, where gossip flies and secrets fester, and of course, from the mysterious vandals who seem to be set on destruction of everything Adler-related.

I probably don’t have to tell you how great the pacing and dialogue are. We get the story from all four Adlers, and the short chapters and rapidly-shifting perspectives make it move SO FAST. It’s like you’re watching someone shuffle cards face-up and trying to spot an ace, it’s dizzying and at the same time, you can’t look away till you find it.

I really don’t know what else to say here, other than, if you like a twisty thriller, get this one. Duckies, have I ever steered you wrong? (Don’t answer that.)

The Nerd’s Rating: FIVE HAPPY NEURONS (and an expensive stolen pen, because I’m always on the lookout for more cool writing implements and hate paying for them.)

How well do you know your family? The members of this "perfect family" are keeping dangerous secrets from each other, and someone is trying to expose them.
Thomas and Viv Adler have a restored home in an upper-class neighborhood.  Their son Eli is a star athlete in a prestigious college and daughter Tarryn is a good student in high school.  They seem like the perfect family to their neighbors.  So why is someone attacking their home with eggs,  throwing tomatoes at their windows,  and setting their hedge on fire? Each member of the family is keeping a very dangerous secret.  Secrets that create enemies. The Adlers are going to have to find a way to trust each other before the attacks turn deadly.
I loved this fast paced thriller and the twists I didn't see coming. The book is written through each family members POV, so we get a good perspective of each characters secrets. The chapters are short and keep the action moving. Although the family doesn't make the best decisions, I still rooted for them to solve their problems. This is a very entertaining and well written novel. Highly recommend it. 👍

Thanks to Netgalley and Gallery Books for the ARC of this book. The story was so interesting, it kept me reading. I didn't like either of the parents, and while I liked the kids, the daughter's storyline felt unnecessary. Maybe because the book seemed too drawn out, too many incidents, too many stories. The writing was great, and I will seek out other books by this author.

The suspense is maintained throughout the book with many twists and turns. The conclusion is a bit of a let down but overall entertaining. I would recommend this to domestic thriller lovers. A great end of summer read.

3.5 The Adler's are the perfect family. Except they aren't. They are a hot mess. They all have their secrets and when someone starts targeting their home with escalating attacks no one knows why. I thought overall it was entertaining enough but I did find it a bit slow at times. I also didn't particularly like any of the characters and really wanted to. It was hard to cheer for them to come out of it ok when I never got attached enough, Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an advance copy in exchange for my honest opinion. The Perfect Family will be available on 8/10/21.

Another quick mystery read by Harding. The Perfect Family was the story of a family who isn't perfect and in fact, far from it! This read fast and was an enjoyable read. Thank you netgalkey for this arc in exchange for .my honest opinion. .

Thanks to NetGalley for my gifted copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
The Adlers seem like the perfect family. Shiny on the outside but underneath the surface each family member has secrets that they’ve been keeping and those secrets have potentially damaging ramifications.
The Perfect Family was a super quick read with a slightly predictable plot but also had some interesting points that I didn’t see coming. Overall, it was enjoyable but not remarkable. 3.25 stars

I have enjoyed other of Robyn Harding’s novels, and this one definitely did not disappoint! This is a character-driven domestic thriller that focuses on the Adler family — Thomas, Viv, son Eli and daughter Tarryn — each of whom harbors a secret that may be the cause of vandalism and threats against various family members and the family as a whole. It is told through the viewpoints of each of these four characters (none one of whom is really all that likeable), which adds to the suspense as the story progresses. This is a fast moving page-turner that will definitely keep you engaged and on the edge of your seat as you try to determine which of the family’s secrets (if any) is the cause of the “terrorism” they face. A great summer/vacation read.