A family moves to a safe, friendly, idyllic neighbourhood community, expecting to enjoy the experience and to improve their quality of life. Well, things don't quite work out that way...

Instead, a woman is kidnapped. By a psychopath who is hidden in plain sight. And by the time the she realises the danger she's in - even in this "perfect" neighbourhood - the deed is done.

This is an easy read, and manages to sustain the reader's interest throughout. The story is narrated from various points of view, including that of the serial killer. Some elements seem a little exaggerated, but it does work well as a brain-teaser for a fast-paced game of Spot the Psychopath!

Me and my husband James and my daughter was loving it living on Smith street
The kids could play out and nothing was heard from them as they played together
But I was wrong about it and my eyes were looking at pictures of missing people
I had an ARC

I like stories seen through the eyes of different characters and I like different timelines too. The story taking place in the present, but giving us the background information going back in time. So this book has both things which means it was right up my alley. 

Ticking those two boxes if not enough of course. I still have to enjoy the story, being dragged into it and feel the emotions.

And ding, ding, ding... I could very happily check those off too. 

I kept wrecking my brain, trying to figure out why this person was taken. I could not see the connection, but little by little I am allowed to discover the why. 

Once again I have to wonder: do you ever really know someone? The answer is no. Everybody hides things and they only let you in on those they want you to know. 

A very good read. The author confirms, like many others also did, how important it is for parents to take care of the mental health of their children. If not, the consequences can be very grave. 5 stars

Thank you

Great book! One of my favorite by Elisabeth. I don't really see how the title fits: I'm not sure it even mentioned Smith Street anywhere. The blurb also makes it sound like Scarlett is a little kid that will play outside, when in fact she's in college. But anyway. Joanna is kidnapped on her way home one night. While she is chained up, she sees pictures and clips of other kidnapped women. I like the back and forth chapters. I liked how the book was set up to not know who exactly what who and what their role was. It was really good. I powered through it!

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Joanna is walking home after her friend didn’t turn up and she feels like she’s being followed. She carries on and, after feeling safer, is kidnapped and wakes up in a room. She feels safe in the knowledge her husband, James, and teenage daughter, Scarlett, will look for her and call the police and she’ll be saved.

We read from two different timelines, and one of those timelines focuses on Alex, who we don’t understand why he is relevant to the story until the whole story turns. This was a great storyline, unique to the usual storylines in similar books.

This is one of my favourite reads this year. It was fast paced and the writing ensured I couldn’t put it down. I really enjoyed it. The characters were ok, but I really liked Scarlett, as she was quite switched on for a teenager. I wish the author had explored their creepy neighbours more as they seemed very odd. I would highly recommend this book, and can’t wait for this authors next work.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC. 3.5 stars. This book has an interesting story that is a bit more unique than others of its type. I wasn’t sure where it was heading. We have multiple timelines and POVs. We have the woman who is kidnapped, her daughter, and then a seemingly unrelated person whose story starts many years earlier. Of course, they eventually intersect. It wasn’t the most engaging 4 star I’ve ever read, but it held my interest. And it reads at a fairly fast place. There was at least one scene that I didn’t feel was explained, but it didn’t really take away from the book. A minor annoyance and perhaps my fault. It does have one TRIGGER WARNING involving a squirrel, but I hate ALL animal triggers, and it wasn’t necessary.

Tense chilling a true page turner for me..There was so many twists and turns and an ending I couldn’t have guessed. A thriller that kept me reading late into the night.#netgalley #bookouture.

"It turns out karma is real. And it’s a f*****g bitch."

This one was fun!! This was just how I like my thrillers- fast paced, multiple POVs with one of the POVs being anonymous and revealed when the story is at its climax. A plot twist that I kinda saw coming but it was still brilliantly revealed regardless. An ending that wasn't fairy tale because I hate when psychological thrillers wrap up perfectly- it's so disappointing. The characters were very complex, and I enjoyed reading the story from their different POVs.
This was the perfect binge worthy, unputdownable, captivating and intriguing read. I 100% recommend this one to you lovers of psychological thrillers.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bookourture for my Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was a mostly slow burn mystery for me although it did pick up significantly after the 60 percent mark. The story follows several plot lines. A serial killer. A wife and mother who's kidnapped after an evening out. And her teenage daughter You get snippets of the kidnapped woman ( Joanna ) trying not only to escape but figure out why she has been taken. You get a lot of backstory from the serial killer going back many years. And a story about the serial killers friend Simon. And you wonder how they are all tied. There is a twist towards the end that was a surprise and I I love the writing style and multiple POV'S . Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for my ARC

**Thank you to NetGalley and Bookoutoure for the eARC of this suspenseful title**

This one was closer to 3.5 stars for me, rounding up to 4 because it was very binge-able!

The Family on Smith Street was definitely a page-turner as it followed multiple POVs, including that of a serial killer. This book definitely kept me guessing until the end, but I did have some eye roll moments at the absolute idiocy of some of the characters, and the dialogue was a bit cheesy at parts.

The story overall did a great job, but my complaints are with the police not behaving like police most of the time (very lackadaisical, missing simple connections that I would have made just being a citizen.) Also, the daughter did not behave like her mother was missing, in the sense that she was not cautious AT ALL while all of this was going on.

My last complaint, and leading back to the dialogue issue - maybe it's an English thing but the fact that everyone said that Chloe was going to "college" and going to be at "college" every 10 sentences was bizarre and clunky.

Definitely check this one out if you like domestic thrillers, suspense, mystery, and crime shows like Criminal Minds!

A happy family. A picture-perfect street. A secret someone would kill for.
Full of twists and turns, it will keep you furiously turning the pages. Giving this one four starts ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Read it!

This was my first from this author and I think I found another go-to author for when I need a break and need to find something I know I will highly enjoy to pull me out of a slump, which this one surely did. This started right off the bat and was fast paced, with not one lull in-between. Masterfully crafted, this was told from the perspectives of the victim, the daughter and a boy with a traumatic past. The only critique I have is that this could of been expanded on a bit, adding more of a connection to each character. I really liked this and recommend it to any thriller/mystery reader. Four Stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for this ARC.

What a belter of a read.
Murder, kidnapping with a sense of dread throughout.
Just enough twists which kept me reading late into the night.
My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy.
Keep them coming please Elisabeth Carpenter.

A gripping thriller featuring family ties, old friends, hidden secrets, and revenge. One of the more interesting aspects of the book was the intertwining of 3 POVs - two set in the present and one following the trajectory of a character’s life from past to present. It was truly entertaining to see how all three storylines intertwined over the span of the book.

The perfect read for any thriller fan ready to break out of the mold of traditional family-style mysteries. Elisabeth Carpenter’s writing will transport you directly into the investigation and the turmoil that unfolds when the characters come to the realization that nothing is as it seems.

This is a good book although the ending is predictable. The characters are well developed. There really aren’t any of the typical twists I enjoy in a thriller but this is an easy and enjoyable book.

This is a quite decent read which I enjoyed very well.

It was really a creepy experience being inside Alex Buchanan’s head. His thoughts and actions around different people in his life, his lack of empathy and human emotion, his constant desire for power and control—A full-blown sociopath.

I liked this book. It wasn’t that complicated, there were a few twists and turns along the way which is a bit obvious if you’ve been reading domestic thrillers as long as I have but it didn’t take away the surprise which I appreciate so much.

Such a fun read. I guess the one thing I wanted more from this is more intense scenes involving the police but I’ll overlook that since the book is pretty great overall.

Thanks to Netgalley & Bookouture for the advanced copy!

The Family on Smith Street by Elisabeth Carpenter is a gripping and suspenseful thriller that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. The story centres around a seemingly idyllic family living on Smith Street, where nothing bad could ever happen. However, the protagonist's world is shattered when she wakes up in a nightmarish room surrounded by pictures of missing people, including her own family.

Carpenter masterfully weaves a tale of fear and desperation as the protagonist realizes that a killer has been lurking in their neighbourhood for years. The stakes rise even higher as she realizes that her loved ones are also in danger. The author skilfully builds tension, creating a sense of unease and uncertainty that propels the narrative forward.

With its well-drawn characters, chilling atmosphere, and a constant sense of dread, The Family on Smith Street is a page-turner that will keep readers guessing until the shocking conclusion. Carpenter's ability to delve into the depths of human emotions and the lengths one would go to protect their family makes this thriller a compelling and haunting read.

Set in two timelines this tells the story of a mother who has gone missing after arranging to meet someone who had contacted her by email. The other timelines is back in the 1990's and tells of a young boy Alexander who is up to no good, not helped by the fact that his father is in prison. Alex makes some impulsive decisions and this timeline moves on until present day. Most of the present day is told by Scarlett, the daughter of the missing woman and her own discoveries about her family.

OMG! What a belter of a premise! One perfectly executed and twists and turns I really didn’t see coming. I liked Scarlett who came across well- to me, the skill of a talented author. A fast paced conundrum of a read with a cracking ending. I can’t recommend this highly enough. Wow- just wow!

For more reviews please follow me on Twitter@nickisbookblog
_____________________
#blogtour

A fast paced thriller of a read which seemed to have everything you want to get involved in the storyline. A bit of a twisty read and interesting characters which I thoroughly enjoyed reading about and it kept me on the edge of my seat all the way.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for this ARC which I can thoroughly recommend.

A book full of suspense with an amazing ending, this book had me gripped, although I could warm to any of the characters it didn't put me off.