What a wild ride. This was full of twists and turns I didn't see coming and I loved every minute.

This author is new to me, and I was excited to have picked this one up. It drew me in from the first page and made it really hard for me to put this book down.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to receive an arc in exchange for my honest review- all thoughts and opinions are my own!



This. Was. So. Neat.
I can’t give away much without ruining it- but go in anticipating a wild ride. Loved it.

#TheFamilyGame #NetGalley

If I could I would give this book 10 stars! This was a fantastic story that had been me hanging on every word. As I was reading this, I could definitely see this as a movie. Lots of twists and turns and trying to figure out what the family game was. The author Catherine Steadman dis not disappoint. I look forward to reading more by her.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

I always enjoy Steadman’s psychological thrillers but this one took awhile to get through. There were times when nothing was really going one, but the ending doesn’t disappoint.

3.5 ⭐️
As said about the main character's latest book, might just be the author’s best book yet!
Engaging, well-plotted/written family thriller.
Final scene a bit over the top but thoroughly entertaining till then.

With great thanks to NetGalley & Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this e-ARC!

This is a story about a pen wielding final girl.

I had so much fun reading this! I thought I had predicted the end early on, and it was really fun to realize I had not. I enjoyed the unsettling & stressful moments, and appreciated the character depth. Overall a solid horror/thriller!

I’m so excited to read more. Thank you so much @netgalley & @randomhouse & Ballantine for the eArc!

This book took me by surprise! I thought I knew where it was going, but boy was I wrong! This story was so exciting and fun. I really love Harriet as a character. I cared about her so much. Even though she has a dark past you love her anyway and feel for her. Steadman did a great job of writing her. In my opinion it takes a lot to make your audience care about a character and what happens to them and I just adore Harry. I didn’t expect to feel the way I ended up feeling about Robert! This story has such a cool twist that I’ll be thinking about for a long time to come. A perfect thriller!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced readers copy of The Family Game by Catherine Steadman! This was a fast paced thriller and one I think many will enjoy. This page turner definitely kept me reading but WOW me like I hoped it would. This is still a good book. Thank you again NetGalley for the ARC!

I was glued to this immediately and tore through it in just a few hours. The writing style made this impossible to put down and watching the events unfold was as thrilling as I'd hoped it would be. Right from the beginning I liked the main character, it was easy to understand her motivations and relate to her anxieties. The promise of a messed-up, dark family was definitely fulfilled as well. It was fast-paced, but had just the right amount of depth to make me care. I'm obsessed with the concept and I'm so happy that it was executed well. Full detailed review to come closer to the publication date, but all the thriller readers need to mark this one in their calendars.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley.

This is a pure thriller. I was hoping it would be more than that. It is about a young woman (Harriet, who goes by Harry) of modest means trying to find acceptance from a wealthy family. She is engaged to the oldest living son of the family's current patriarch.

So that's the family part. The family has a tradition of playing elaborate, scary, perhaps dangerous games at holiday events. Much of the second half of the book is the buildup to and the experience of two separate games played at two holiday events.

There are many family members and support staff that come into play during the book. But only two are relevant: the patriarch and Harry's fiance. The characters are not well-developed, probably intentionally, to keep the reader guessing as to whether there is a good side to any of them.

After completing this, I find myself at a loss to come up with what my takeaway from this book should be. Maybe it's to thank my lucky stars that I have not had to cope with people like those portrayed in this book.

Such a fun book—orphan novelist gets swept up by a wealthy man and his games obsessed, insular family. Chaos ensues. Really a fun twist on the thriller genre with a little book within a book going on.

My only quibble—it was mentioned a couple of times that Harry didn’t grab her parents’ cell phone(s) after the accident. Would they have had one? Would it have made a difference? How old is Harry? How good and common were cellphones when she was a child traveling in rural areas of the UK? I don’t know but I see tv shows and books where they are using landlines in 2022. How young was she supposed to be with a best seller under her belt?

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this thrilling book. I almost didn’t request it because I was not a huge fan of the cover, but I did like the description. Harry, Harriet, Reed, ends up engaged to a man named Edward Holbeck. They are NY royalty, very wealthy, and connected. The first family game comes at Thanksgiving, Relatively tame for a new member of the family. The second game, Krampusnact, is a bit scarier and really not fun for an 11 week pregnant Harry. But she plays along. Her father in law to be has given her a micro cassette on which he has told her about the deaths of 5 people, including his oldest son Bobby. No one has told her about this yet so she starts digging. Eventually she realizes that Robert, her future FIL, knows all about her and needs her to play one more game at Christmas. This one could turn ugly. If you loved, Something In The Water, you will love this. Be prepared to read it in one go. NOTE TO EDITOR: Please get a new cover, one with a brownstone, or palatial house in the woods. No neon. That doesn’t fit with the story

I thought The Family Game was going to be similar to other domestic thrillers in which the majority of the family distrusts and terrorizes a newcomer. There were some similarities to this trope but I was pleasantly surprised at how the author managed to keep the suspense and tension high. It was a book that I would recommend for thriller addicts!

This was my first Catherine Steadman book and it definitely will not be my last! A mixture of Ready or Not and Succession, this book starts with a bang and slowly draws you along until the last page. As someone who read ton of thrillers, the Family Game stood out for the ingenuity of the plot, the intelligent main character of Harriet, and the twists that come when you least expect them.

My only qualm with the book is that we did not see more of Edward's siblings and their individual interactions with Harry, particularly Stuart and Oliver. I am not sure if this was intentional in light of the "game" played by the family, however, I think a few smaller interactions with Holbeck crew would have elevated the story and the tension that Steadman steadily builds. Overall, the creativity of this book and it being easily bingeable, made this a must-read recommendation for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The premise to this book was really fascinating, so I was super excited to receive an ARC from Netgalley. Ultimately, I thought it was an enjoyable read, but it was not without its issues.

The first 1/3 of the book was mind-numbingly slow and I almost thought I would have to give up. The plot definitely picked up after that, however, and I was really drawn into the rest of the story.

There were a few choices the main character, Harry, made that seemed obviously dumb and she makes one huge mistake that I definitely would not be as easy to make as the author would lead you to believe.

The wealthy family that Harry is marrying into knows about a secret from Harry's childhood, but I never understood how in the world they would have gotten that information. It didn't make sense (or I possibly overlooked it bc I was skimming too much).

One thing that really irks me is when English authors use English/British terminology that Americans don't use. In this case, it was the use of the "having tea." That is not an American concept at all. Even though Harry is British, her soon-to-be American inlaws are the ones who use the term and it immediately jarred me.

Lastly, I was pleasantly surprised about the ending because I didn't see it coming. This book is a solid three stars for me- not my favorite book, but not one that I would actively try to get people to avoid.

What an amazing domestic thriller!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Harry (short for Harriet) is a domestic thriller author who is in love with a Rockefeller-type heir. The first-born to be exact. Edward is estranged from his family and is reuniting with them but is extremely cautious.

With exceptional character development, a glimpse into the world of an author writing a thriller, and an imagination of what joining a dynasty would look like, this book was un-put-downable. Layers upon layers of secrets, intrigue, and even murder kept the pages turning.

What a fabulous ride ! Well done Steadman!

I thoroughly enjoyed The Family Game. It was very well written, easy to read and easy to follow. The Holbecks were an interesting bunch. All the characters were well written and showed depth. The book kept you guessing and I love when thrillers can keep you guessing. I would read other books by this author as well.

"I come to on the parquet floor of the entrance hall, my face pressed hard against its antique wood, with the clear knowledge that this is not how Christmases should go."

This book hooked me from its opening line and was engaging until the very end! Author Harriet Reed is newly engaged to Edward Holbeck, the oldest son of the extremely wealthy and powerful Holbeck family. It is only after their engagement that Harriet learns just how influential her future in-laws are, and how far they are willing to go to protect the family legacy. Running from a secret of her own, Harriet find herself in a game of cat and mouse that could cost her everything.

Overall, this was different than any other thriller I've read recently and incredibly enjoyable. I feel like this is just meant to me turned into a movie in the near future!


Many thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is unique, that’s for sure. I really liked the main character and narrator, Harriet. She is one you can root for. She’s a writer whose first book was successful, but she is struggling to buckle down and complete her second manuscript. But that’s just a sideshow.

Harriet (or Harry) is engaged to the eldest son of one of the United State’s wealthiest families. The two are devoted to each other, and the book takes off when Harry begins to meet the in-laws. Talk about intimidating. They are so uber-wealthy that it is hard to relate to some of their actions – especially those of her father-in-law-to-be. She struggles to understand his motives as they meet for the first time. (There was also some weird and unnecessary sexual tension that honestly put me off.)

But Harry does her best to blend in until Game Night. This isn’t something you do with board games, it is an intense challenge. This is where the pace kicks off and it is frantic. There were some places that bordered on unrealistic to me, but it was a fun ride, and the ending is satisfying.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing/ Ballantine Books for the ARC in exchange my honest opinion.

I thought I'd read every "rich family has secrets"-type thriller there was to read, but then came Catherine Steadman's THE FAMILY GAME. It's often that books are a fresh take on a genre mainstay, but this book truly fits the bill and was compulsively readable with a jaw-dropper of an ending (that I truly didn't see coming).