5 Stars!
Expected Publication Date: 10/18/2022

The Family Game by Catherine Steadman is a WINNER! Another twisty ride by this very talented author, but in this story the stakes are much, much higher. Oh...I love a protagonist whose inner thoughts are relatable! Harry, (Harriet Reed) is an author engaged to a very wealthy man. When she is invited to spend Thanksgiving with her fiancee's family, the "fun" begins. This is a page turner and I highly recommend it. I am so thrilled that I still have 2 Catherine Steadman novels that I haven't read yet. She has quickly become one of my two favorite thriller writers!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books! What a treat this was!

I enjoyed this book a lot! There were definitely some plot holes, loose ends that didnt get tied up, and a few red herrings as to be expected, but I loved reading it anyway. I thought the family was intriguing, and it never gets old reading about the uber rich and their strange customs, they live in a different world than the 99% and I guiltily love reading about the ins and outs of their fabulous lives. In this case, there was some darkness too, but that's what made it a thriller. I can't say much about the central mystery as it's better to just dive in not knowing much.

The description of this book is what grabbed me at first. The start lulls you into a false sense of security as it’s the buildup to Christmas in New York which lends itself to some great locations, evocative descriptions, and romance. However, the amber light is flashing you a warning not only from the past but what is to come. The family games traditions are savage, they freak you out, run for the hills, Harry! When it switches to The Hydes at Christmas itself the pace is relentless and it’s a one false move deadly game with a checkmate, game-over scenario. It’s an eye-popper and a jaw/deck bruiser of a read!

The settings and atmosphere are matched by the weather and you certainly feel the chill. The plot is deliciously juicy, the characters are over the top and therefore fascinating in all their awful glory, the chapter headings are clever and give a taste of what is to come. The ending is OTT dramatic but without question exciting.

Oh! This novel, "The Family Game" by Catherine Steadman, was sooooo good! A British author with her own long-time secret, meeting and integrating into her very intimidating billionaire fiancé's family, while trying to uncover the family mystery. I just couldn't put this book down. It was interesting, original, salacious, fast moving, and fascinating. Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the early review copy. All opinions are my own.

Harry and Edward are a young power couple in love, with looks, money, and glamour surrounding them. Harry is a burgeoning author on the brink of making a name for herself in the literary field. Edward is a successful businessman from a powerful and elite family. As their relationship grows increasingly serious, Harry is elated and nervous to meet Edward's family, the Holbeck clan. Robert is the patriarch of the family, intimidating and serious. When they finally do meet, Harry is at first delighted that Robert seems to take to her. Maybe a little too well.....Robert passes on a cassette tape to Harry, encouraging her to listen to it. Harry acquiesces, and is both stunned and horrified by what the cassette reveals. There is a disturbing revelation on the cassette tape, a confession of sorts. The problem is, Harry is unsure who is confessing....and why.

As Harry races to put together the pieces of the puzzle, she becomes more and more concerned for her and Edward's safety. It becomes clear that someone is out to get both of them, and a secret from the past is about to become revealed. As the Christmas holidays approach, Edward and Harry prepare to spend them with Edward's family, as tradition dictates. Once at the family estate, a deadly game with Edward's family begins to unfold. The question is....who is the pursuer, and who is being pursued?

I loved this book! Definitely a bit of an Agatha Christie-like vibe that had me totally hooked from the beginning. There were a lot of twists and turns that I did not see coming. Steadman is a consistent read for me, who only continues to get better and better as she matures in her writing. This is a must-read!

I had high hopes for this and while I enjoyed it, I felt like it took way too long for things to pick up and the ending was so unrealistic. Overall good and I’m excited to see what comes next from Steadman, just not my favorite.

Harriet is a novelist and meets Edward who is from a wealthy family and who live in a mansion. Edward is partly estranged from his family, but when they hear of his relationship with Harriet, they invite them to the family home.
Robert is Edward's father and quite intimidating. After the meal, Robert takes Harriet into his study and tells her that he is writing a novel and would like her opinion. He gives her a tape. When Harriet finally gets to listen to it, she is shocked as the tape seems to reveal a murder. Is Robert trying to confess? Harriet begins to wonder if this is why Edward chose her to be involved with his family.
This book keeps you reading to the end. I did enjoy it and thank the author,publisher and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Good novel with a nice slow burn all the way through, that kept my attention and made me want to read the entire thing in one sitting. I'm just irritated this was my first Catherine Steadman novel! Now I need to go and read her other novels.

The Family Game plays with ideas of wealth and power, as well as poses the question: how far would you go to hide your
secrets?

Harriet Reed is about to marry into one of the richest, most influential families in the world. She herself had no family…and a dark secret. Her husband to be, Edward, has been reluctant for her to meet his family, but now that they’re engaged he seems more willing to let it happen. He lets Harriet know, however, that his family is intense and a bit weird…and they also have a propensity for strange games & traditions.

For most of the book, I found Harriet to be a smart and likable main character. However, the further in I got the less of a personality she seemed to have; it felt like I could drop any generic female character into the book and have the same effect.

There was a great build up of suspense, but the ending seemed a little out of nowhere. I found myself extremely bought into the story until about the 70% mark. At that point, it seemed obvious what was happening yet it didn’t feel like there was enough of a build up to make it make sense.

Overall, not a bad thriller although it ended up falling a bit flat for me. Its saving grace was the weirdness of Edward’s family, and watching Harriet have to navigate that. If you’re looking for a quick and lightly suspenseful novel, I’d definitely recommend picking this one up.

Thanks to the publisher & author for this ARC on exchange for my honest review.

Catherine Steadman brings us a new intense, family drama!

Harry has met the man of her dreams in Edward, he's got the looks, the charm, the personality and old family money! When Harry agrees to marry Elliot and move to The States, she also must accept his family in her life! Harry quickly realizes that this family has a lot of secrets and will stop at nothing to keep those secrets and protect the family! If Harry wants to protect herself and her own secrets, she must play along with The Family Game!

Catherine Steadman outlined a good plot for a great psychological thriller, however, the best thrillers are the ones that you can actually imagine happening in real life but this one missed that! A lot of the characters actions were just ridiculous to me! There was also a lot of repetition and scenes that didn't add up. It felt like the author was just trying to meet a word count at times! This one missed the mark for me!

One thing I well and truly love is a book about rich people behaving badly. When it comes to my literary preferences, I’m a total drama queen and I crave family drama. I need a character that stirs the pot. I need a wacky sibling that loses billions in a pyramid scheme. I need precocious nieces and nephews. I need an unhinged sister-in-law. I need… therapy?

In all honesty, The Family Game *should* have checked all my boxes. Unfortunately, it wasn't as exciting as I had hoped. Harriet, a bestselling novelist, is marrying into an incredibly wealthy New York family. When she meets her ominous future father-in-law, she discovers that he’s a fan of her stories and has one of his own to share. He gives Harry a cassette tape and a warm, and slightly flirtatious, welcome into the Holbeck family.

There are a lot of creepy undertones in this book. I’ve seen a few episodes of Succession, so I know the drill. Rich people can basically do whatever they want and sometimes when you have all that money, you need to find creative ways to get your rocks off. The Family Game sure does get creative!

The first half of the book was a little slow for my taste, but I was so confused and unsettled that I kept powering through the pages, hoping for answers. Most of the action happens in the last 25% and by that time, I wasn't as invested in the plot. There were some great twists and I think the last chunk of the book had a lot of potential, had the pacing been slightly adjusted.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book; all opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for allowing me to be an early reader.

The Family Game

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Very solid thriller if you’re looking for a contemporary mystery to get into!

Harriet has just become engaged to Edward, heir to an enormous fortune. As she meets and gets to know his family, she finds they love to play games with each other, usually cruel ones.

This was so interesting to read and kept me hooked throughout. I enjoyed the pacing right up to the end. Check out this book when it releases this October!

The Family Game starts off more like a romance than a psychological thriller which had me worried. But to be honest, a romance might have been better. Harry is the writer of a best selling thriller. She gets engaged to a wealthy man and she’s worried about his family accepting her, especially knowing he’s had his issues with them. During her initial meeting with Edward’s father, he slips her a dictaphone cassette. When she listens to it, it contains a confession. But is it real or some sort of test?
There are multiple problems with the book. When she’s given the tape, she doesn’t listen to the entire thing. Who amongst us, let alone someone who writes mysteries, wouldn’t be dying to hear it all? And the writing is careless, as if the narrator of the tape knows she doesn’t listen all at once. Second, Harry changes the subject of her second book to incorporate facts about the family. She does this without consulting her fiancé. Flip side, her fiancé keeps purposely hiding facts about the family and its weird traditions from her. And we’re meant to think these two are madly in love and trust each other?
The book started off slow and then veered into OTT territory. The penny dropped for me at the 66% mark. This same plot resolution has been used before (and done better).
The book is basically another “the rich are different than you and me” worn trope. And not just different, but twisted. This is a reminder to me that way too many psychological thrillers are just plain stupid. And Catherine Steadman and I are definitely not a good fit.
My thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for an advance copy of this book.

I kept trying to guess where this story was going to go, and I just couldn’t! My mind is still trying to wrap around the ending. Overall, I loved this story; as already mentioned, I couldn’t guess the twists and turns of the story. It was a bit slow for me at the beginning, but around 1/4 of the way through I couldn’t put it down.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for the eARC!

“The game gives us a chance to rebalance the scales, once a year, to rectify the power balance in the family."

WOW this book was everything I was hoping it would be. If you liked the movies "Ready or Not" and "Knives Out" then this one is for you! I enjoyed this wild ride so much and loved the ending. This book starts out at a pretty slow paced, but picks up in the middle... by the end you will be skimming ahead to figure out what is going to happen.

I loved Something in the Water. I really enjoyed this one too.

The writing is great; it was a slow creepy burner of a story. Not a lot took place until the end, but when it did it had me on the edge of my seat! The conclusion is wild. I’m not sure how I really feel about it but I can’t stop thinking about it that’s for sure.

I will look forward to this author’s next story. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for a copy in exchange for a review.

Thank you to Ballantine Books via Netgalley for the widget to read and review! (my first ever granted wish so this was exciting! lol!) Pub date: 18 Oct 2022

SOLID thriller, IMO. 4+ stars from me.

Wow! This was quite the ride. The "games" the Holbeck family play are more like the stuff of your nightmares. Harriet "Harry" Reed is engaged to the eldest Holbeck son, Edward. As the holidays approach the Holbeck family invites Harry to their family events: Thanksgiving dinner, Krampusnacht and Christmas weekend at their massive upstate NY home (a.k.a. Castle) "The Hydes." Harry seemed, to me, like a character that didn't scare easily and wasn't going to take shit from anyone -- while also walking the line of wanting Edward's family to like her. The Games are set in motion when Edward's father gives Harry a cassette tape claiming he wants her to listen to the book he has written. That isn't what is on the tape and Harry realizes she is in way over her head with Robert Holbeck.

I really enjoyed this story. The storyline progressed at a nice pace. The chapters were short enough to keep me turning pages in a rush. And the descriptions of scenes were great. I found myself a little scared of the Krampus right along with Harry! And felt the nervous energy whenever she was in the same room as Robert. The Holbeck family is straight up crazy. They are wild. While I guessed the big twist about halfway through (it was just a good guess, I'd say) the story still kept me going and questioning if I was thinking correctly. Several twisty moments towards the end too. I saw some reviews mention that the ending was OTT and while I agree it was, I felt it played out how it had to.

I've liked all of Catherine Steadman's novels so far - they're good thrillers without being too dark - so was really pleased to receive a review copy of her latest. The Family Game is all about Harriet "Harry" Reed, a novelist who will soon be marrying into a very wealthy American family, the Holbecks. There's definitely more to the family than first appears though, especially when it looks like Harry will have to get through a series of "games" in order to be accepted by them. Along the way she starts discovering some things about the Holbecks' pasts which may have consequences for her as well.
This is a proper, twisty thriller, and I really enjoyed the set up of the story - had one of my favourite plots, families with secrets! Catherine Steadman always does a good job of creating morally grey but likeable characters, and I found myself equally interested in Harry's past as I was in the Holbecks. I couldn't put the book down as the story built up to Christmas, for the final game - it was properly tense! There's a real sense of foreboding throughout as well, without dragging too long. The only let down I felt was the ending - I still had so many questions as to the whys and what happened. Still, very entertaining and definitely worth a read.
Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy!

I always look forward to Catherine Steadman's books and was really excited to read this one. i enjoyed it alot! Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review this one. Can't wait for the next one!

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for my gifted digital advance review copy!

Novelist Harriet ‘Harry’ Reed is newly engaged to Edward Holbeck, one of New York’s most eligible bachelors, who hails from a large old money family. An orphan, Harry is both excited and nervous to marry into a family of her very own. She has a hard time getting a read on anyone, and her anxiety is kicked into overdrive when her future father-in-law slips her a tape with a recorded confession on it. Harry must race against the clock to find out who exactly the Holbecks are and if the information on the tape is true or another one of the Holbecks’ cruel games.

This one will appeal to fans of Succession and Eliza Jane Brazier’s GOOD RICH PEOPLE. I always love a book about terrible people doing terrible things and found this one to be particularly enjoyable because I was trying to figure out who the most terrible one was the entire time. This was a thriller, puzzle, and family drama all rolled into one great package.

This blew SOMETHING IN THE WATER out of the water (I said it, I don’t feel bad about it).