This book kept me going till the end. I didn't always see Maria as the bad one. I did think she was behind her husband disappearing. There was always the thought in the back of my mind if they were really making the food for the recipes with people that she had killed. I didn't see the son shooting him though. Each family does have their issues and ways to deal with it. The way that the book was put together was very clever. The names of the recipes had me giggling as well. If there was a follow up to this book I would defiantly read it.

if you’ve ever watched a cooking show and thought, wow, i wonder what that secret ingredient is?—let me assure you, you don’t want to know.

Maria Capello is the kind of chef whose knives are just a little too sharp, whose family is just a little too secretive, and whose long-missing husband is just a little too...well, let’s just say "unaccounted for." enter Thea Woods, a writer who should probably have read a few more true crime novels before accepting a gig in Maria’s secluded estate—because the Capellos have been keeping their family recipes (and their family secrets) under lock and key for decades.

this book is a deliciously unsettling blend of mystery, gothic horror, and psychological suspense. the atmosphere is so thick with tension you could spread it on toast, and Maria herself? let’s just say i wouldn’t accept a dinner invitation from her anytime soon. The slow unraveling of the truth—both through Maria’s storytelling and Thea’s increasingly claustrophobic reality—left me absolutely hooked. the horror elements and the twist was INSANE. subtle but chilling, like the feeling you get when you realize there’s one too many chairs at the dinner table. and that final reveal? i’ll never look at a "signature dish" the same way again.

highly recommend if you like your thrillers dark, your protagonists in way over their heads, and your food metaphors served with a side of existential dread.

thank you SOURCEBOOKS Landmark!