Harriet Reed is getting ready to marry the love of her life, but she’s never met his eccentric wealthy family. The family has an odd fondness for games that turn out to be terrifying and possibly deadly and on top of that, Harriet’s soon to be father-in-law gives her a tape that sounds an awful lot like a confession…

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Between the tape, the games, and the underlying mystery there were no slow points and the plot kept me guessing! I only wish the book had been more terrifying/had gone deeper into an eerie atmosphere.

Overall, very enjoyable read! Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing/Ballantine Books for the digital ARC

WOW. I feel like that is the best way to describe this book. I absolutely did not see that ending coming.

Thriller novelist Harry is dating Edward Holbeck, who just happens to be a part of an incredibly powerful family. They’ve been dating for about a year and she has yet to meet his family, he claims they’re a lot to handle and he’d rather protect her from them. After Edward proposes to Harry, Harry comes to realize she will have to meet Edward’s family. After a dinner invite, Harry gets pulled aside by Robert, Edwards father, and is given a casette tape, he claims he has recorded a novel and he wants her to listen to it. After playing the tape, Harry realizes she might be in danger. Is everything on the casette tape true? Is her life in danger after listening to it? Why would he give it to her?

This is the first time I’ve read one of Steadman’s books, and I absolutely loved it. The suspense kept me going and I could not stop reading it. I thought I knew what was going to happen but boy was I wrong, that ending was crazy! I am so glad I read this book because it is honestly one of the best thrillers I’ve read. An amazing read.

“There are times in your life when you really do question where it all went wrong; and if scrambling into a pitch-black well at night, in a snow flurry, wearing a Balmain blazer dress, just shy of three months pregnant, with a torch rammed into your mouth, isn’t one of those times then I don’t know what is”

This book started off with a bang and kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through. I’ve read of few of this author’s other books but none of them held my attention like this one. I loved the cat and mouse game and even though I guessed the plot twist pretty early on, it didn’t change my mind a bit.

Harriet, an author on the precipice of a best seller can’t get enough of her seemingly perfect fiancé Edward. Their perfect world is shaken by the reemergence of Edwards family. The Holbecks are the epitome of old money. With news of their engagement reaches the Holbecks, Harriet is thrust into their life.

The family happily welcomes the new member of their family and Harriet wonders why Edward chose to shield her from them for so long. It all makes sense when she meets head of the Holbecks, Robert. Upon their first meeting, Robert gives her a cassette tape which contains a unbelievable confession. This propels the games to follow.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review

Remind me not play games with this family. Yikes.

A well written, creepy, and somewhat odd thriller. Definitely fun.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59722034

Oh, wow. They say the rich live differently but “differently” doesn’t begin to cover it, in Catherine Steadman’s latest. But how very interesting it is to try to keep up with this “game”. The body count, too😯. Such an enjoyable read! An author’s love story that turns out to be anything but that….Almost 5 stars!

I've been a Catherine Steadman fan for years, and simply loved "the Family Game"! What a great thriller with all the complexity she is famous for.

I’ve become a fan of Catherine Steadman’s novels so I was thrilled when Random House gave me an ARC copy of her latest novel, “The Family Game,” to review. In this book, an English thriller writer, Harriet (“Harry”) Reid, falls in love with Edward Holbeck, a man from an extremely wealthy American family and moves to America to live with him. He doesn’t introduce her to his family until they are engaged. His reticence towards introducing her to them fills her with some trepidation. Soon she discovers that her fears were not misplaced. Although on the surface they seem congenial, she can’t help but feel that she is being manipulated by them, especially when his sister rearranges an appointment Harry has with her publisher so Harry can meet her for tea.

During her first introduction to the family, she discovers that Edward’s older brother, Bobby, died under mysterious circumstances, a fact which he never revealed to her. Her qualms about the family only grow stronger when she meets the charismatic patriarch, Robert Holbeck, who arranges to speak with her in private in his study to give her a recording on an old cassette tape, presenting it to her as a potential book. After tracking down a vintage recording device to play it on, Harry is shocked by its contents, which details the murder of several women connected in some way to the family, which have the ring of truth rather than fiction.

To add to her apprehension about her soon to be in-laws, Harry discovers that the family likes to gather to play elaborate, competitive, dangerous games, where the winner takes all. Times that should be fun and festive turn into scary games of cat and mouse, making innocuous holidays like Christmas into terror filled evenings.

The book is a fun read, filled with luxurious settings in lavish city dwellings and grand country mansions. Steadman keeps the tension up with Harry’s pursuit of the truth surrounding the horrible revelations in Robert Holbeck’s tape and her distrust of all members of the family, culminating in a twist that brings the shocking truth into the light. I highly recommend this book for those who like strong female characters with a tension filled plot.

Ask, and you shall receive....

I am a huge, I mean, HUGE, fan of Catherine Steadman. Steadman, will forever be an auto-buy author me and I have yet to be disappointed by anything she has put out to date.

When I saw The Family Game, after my 100th time refreshing netgalley, I was completely floored! How did I not know about this upcoming release? I need to keep better tabs on Steadman, that is for sure.

Anyway... Lets just take a minute to stare at this cover in awe. The colors just pop out of you, the sense of mystery, just everything. I love it. The title also draws you right in.

So, after I came to my sense and got my jaw on up off the floor (I would be putting it back there later) , I hit the "Wish For It" tab and just like that I became the luckiest girl in the world.

There is no way I was going to wait to read this, so I clocked out for the day and headed on home. My husband would go hungry, the dog wouldnt be walked, it was time to read The Family Game.

Holy Crap, Steadman can not be stopped. This author is a powerhouse and a force to be reckoned with. I hung on every word from chapter one on. I couldnt get enough. It was the cant eat, cant sleep, must read kind of feeling.

I am pretty exhausted today at work but it was well worth it, Steadman books will always be worth it.

Another grand slam, right out of the park kind of book.

Best advice, head on over to your favorite place to purchase books, and make sure to pre-order The Family Game. I promise you, you do not want to miss this

“The Family Game” was a much more twisted story than I expected. Harriet Reed is engaged to Edward Holbeck, whose family is establishment old money. Edward has kept Harriet away from his family, as they can be rather intense and intimidating, and he does now want to scare her off. However, meeting the family cannot be postponed forever.

Harriet is an orphan, her parents dying in a car accident when she was eleven. She also has a rather significant secret that relates to the accident; and no, it is not that she was responsible for their deaths.

The Holbeck family likes to play games, but their games are far more sinister and psychologically demanding than typical family games. Harriet is presented with information by one member of the family that suggests a sinister, possibly criminal, secret. For a variety of reasons, she has to look into the information to determine if it is true. As she tries to determine the truth, she becomes drawn deeper into the twisted games being played by the family, and it eventually becomes a life-or-death situation for her and some of her future in-laws.

The characters are complex, the plot is intricate, the story is dark, and there are some rather surprising twists/secrets. I enjoyed "The Family Game", but definitely glad not to be a participant.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Oh absolutely love this one. The family game is an old-school Agatha Christie mystery type thriller. I absolutely enjoyed the twist and turns of the plot and the end was a banger.

What a fabulous read! Once again I was up late into the night devouring this amazing thriller by Catherine Steadman. Harry (Harriet), an author, has moved from the UK to NYC after her first book becomes a million dollar best seller. She falls in love with Edward Holbeck. The Holbeck family is a wealthy, eccentric family full of strange tales. The family members all share deep dark secrets. They are masters at playing games. Edward is estranged from his family, but once he proposes, he embraces them and brings Harry into their insane world.
Enjoy this crazy ride! Thank you Net Galley for the ARC.

Thank you to both #NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine Books for providing me an advance copy of Catherine Steadman’s latest thriller, The Family Game, in exchange for an honest review.

Despite having several of the author’s previous novels on my “to-read” shelf, #TheFamilyGame is my first introduction to the author’s writing and it certainly will not be my last.

#TheFamilyGame is a gripping domestic thriller about a novelist on the brink of tying the knot with a tech start-up mogul who also happens to be the primogeniture to a prominent and well-established family. Unbeknownst to the soon-to-be groom, the patriarch of the Holbeck family has issued his own sinister version of the Balmoral test to the future bride. The catch? Revealing the contents of her future father-in-law’s test will put both her and her fiancé’s lives in jeopardy.

As other reviewers have pointed out, this book is reminiscent of the horror movie, Ready or Not, with a few twists. I also thought the book was scarier and better than that movie. Additionally, though the novel is primarily a suspense thriller, I would not be surprised if the author ventured into horror at some point because those passages were spectacularly creepy.

I absolutely adored everything about the novel and finished it in less than a day. If Robert Holbeck forced me to reveal any negatives to win a family game, however, I would say the only cons are that a few of the minor characters seem to do nothing more than move the plot forward, are then discarded, and the reader never hears from them again.

Essentially, if you enjoy plot-driven page-turners that involve characters with questionable morals, then this book is for you. If you like novels centered around wealthy families who are hiding terrible secrets, then this novel is for you. If you are a fan of the author’s and can handle dark mysteries, then #TheFamilyGame will be the perfect holiday read when it is released at the end of 2022.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

This was soooo much like the movie Ready Or Not. Except this was set during Christmas and involved Krampus! A really fun, quick thriller that kept me guessing.

O M G this book was so freaking good!!!!!! Don't start it unless you're prepared to finish cuz it was a nail biter!

Harriet Reed is riding the high of her first and best selling novel. She is engaged to a charming man who comes from family money. She thinks her life is going perfectly. Except she hasn't met his parents. Mostly because they are "too much" and he is concerned they might scare her off. Harry tries to make the best of the situation, but of course in true Catherine Steadman fashion, things are not exactly what they seem. What follows is a wild ride of murder, intrigue and weird Christmas games.

I stayed up way past my bedtime to read this. What a rush! I have read all of Steadman's prior books and this is definitely top 2 (The Disappearing Act is my reigning favorite). She has such a talent for suspense. I cannot wait for her next book. Highly highly highly recommend!!!!!

My sincerest thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books for granting my wish!

This was good! Harriet (Harry) seems like an average woman…but you quickly realize that she’s hiding something. As the book progresses it becomes clear that everyone is hiding something. There are hints about the secrets and then there are the twists and turns which keep you guessing throughout.

I was so excited to read this, as I had read another book by Catherine Steadman a couple of months ago – Something in the Water – which I enjoyed a lot. The Family Game has a great plot, interesting characters, and tons of surprises.

The Family Game by Catherine Steadman will be out November 8, 2022. Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine and by #NetGalley. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

A unique, twisted, tale for fans of suspense and thrillers.

This might be my favorite thriller of the year! Harriet is drawn into an eccentric wealthy family full of secrets when she falls in love with Edward. Completely original plot. Propulsion reading. Bravo!

I couldn't put this book DOWN! This thriller will keep you hooked throughout the end of the book. I found myself loving the way I would learn things about the Holbeck family as our main character, Harry, did. As Harry tried to get away from her past and live a new life with their fiance Edward, she found herself having to make a choice between the love of her fiance and the love of family.

“In-laws can be difficult” thinks future daughter-in-law Harriet as she lies bleeding on their floor. So begins Catherine Steadman’s latest original thriller, a Christmas horror story of sorts, which will be released in November 2022.

Harry/Harriet is engaged to the estranged scion of an uber-rich Gilded Age family with specific weird holiday traditions, such as the not so quaint Central European/ Alpine fairy tale about Krampus: the anti-Santa, the guy with the sack of coal and birch sticks to whip bad children while St. Nick fills the shoes of good kids with sweets. Harry’s take on Krampusnacht: “low level child abuse”. So let’s continue the holiday festivities with the Holbecks.

Harry is actually a very successful thriller novelist (albeit without any close family) and just recently met the potential in-laws. At their first family get-together on Thanksgiving, Robert Holbeck, the grand poo-bah of the family, gave her an ancient-tech mini-cassette that Harry suspects is soon-to-be dad-in-law’s attempt at his own mystery/thriller or memoir and an attempt to find common ground with her. It’s not until she actually listens to the tape that she realizes something is very off.

And then there’s that game and its rules that are mentioned in all the book previews which will eventually explain how Harry ended up on the parlor floor.

As a main character and narrator, Harry is immediately likable (what I also loved about Mia, the main character in Ms. Steadman’s “The Disappearing Act”) but she has secrets of her own that threaten your first assessment of her. I loved that the author challenges the reader in this way — and Ms. Steadman bluntly also inserts that characters that are likable are “gold dust” — they can get away with anything.

I absolutely loved this book and the twists and turns it took. It kept the suspense and mystery up until the very end. The best sort of thriller! 5 stars!

Thank you to Random House Publishing/Ballantine Books and NetGalley for granting my wishes with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Both the sister Matilda and another mysterious character. There is much mention of “EVERGREEN” but you have to read the book to find out what that is.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO It’s December and the snow has mostly covered whatever majestic gardens surround the Holbeck estate, but who knows where the vase of “freshly picked” cornflowers came from.

Harriet is a successful author. In London, she meets the perfect man. She moves to New York and they get engaged. She lost her family as a child. He comes from a wealthy, historical family. But she has a secret that could ruin everything. Her father in law to be decides to let her know his secrets and that he knows hers. Pregnant and seeming to be embraced by her new family, she wonders how to deal with her knowledge.

I really liked this book! It had twists, Krampus and a Christmas scavenger hunt like no other! I would have failed! The ending was unexpected. It is amazing what money can do!
Thank you, NetGalley! Another winner!