Congratulations to Ellery Kane! Today is publication day for The Wrong Family, and Day 1 of the Books on Tour blog tour! This is an author who’s on my ‘immediate click’ list, and her latest offering did not disappoint!
Blurb:
He tells you he’s your father. He welcomes you into his family. And now you’re trapped…
I’ve never met my father. It was always just me and Mom, so when she died, I was completely alone. But today, years since I first mailed my DNA to Family Ties, I finally have a match. They’ve found my biological father.
When I meet Robert, he’s warm, dependable, sturdy. I’m desperate for him to like me. I want to be part of his perfect, high-flying family more than anything.
Except, I’m not so sure they are perfect. Every day, strange things go wrong in the Thompsons’ grand Lake Tahoe house. A family photo is found burning. Robert’s car is tampered with. My mother’s necklace goes missing.
Though that’s nothing compared to the horror of finding the huge family portrait violently slashed in its ornate gold frame… But someone is trying to blame me for everything—all eyes are on me. I can’t run now.
And then I receive an email from Family Ties that makes my blood run cold.
Robert Thompson is not my father.
Now I’m trapped in a house full of strangers, with no idea who I can trust. And I’m terrified my life is in grave danger…
My Review:
Hallie Sherman never seems to catch a break. After losing her mother at a young age, she’s moved from one foster home to another, until she was old enough to live on her own. But even that isn’t proving to be successful as Hallie loses one job after another, and no job equals no money to pay rent. But she’s decided that the time has come to find the father that she’s never known. The only information she has is that his name is Robert Thompson.
She sends off her DNA to a matching establishment called Family Ties and hopes for the best. And sure enough, just as her life hits rock bottom, she gets a match and literally goes from rags to ritches overnight! It’s quite the adjustment: from living in her car, she’s whisked away to a life of wealth and comfort in Lake Tahoe! And although her new-found father Robert and his wife Shelly are warm and welcoming, her new siblings, Natalie and Logan, are not as charmed by the sudden appearance of an unknown sister in their pampered world.
Spoilt, bratty ‘influencer’ Natalie (I was picturing Schitts Creek’s Alexis Rose here) seems especially unimpressed to have Hallie around, disrupting her life and bumping her out of her prime position as ‘Daddy’s Girl’.
While Hallie struggles to find her feet in her unfamiliar surroundings, some very odd things start to happen around the Thompson home. Is it a coincidence that these strange events only began after Hallie arrived? Some people don’t seem to think so, and Hallie begins to wonder if the paradise she’s found herself in, is the answer to her problems after all, or perhaps the start of a whole lot of new complications. Whatever it is, she wonders if someone could be targeting her, but can’t imagine why.
Ellery Kane builds her plot with perfect pace and timing, together with excellent character development that leaves the reader questioning just about every single person’s motive! The twists and red herrings abound!
The chapters are interspersed with letters from numerous ‘also-ran’ Robert Thompsons, giving their reasons as to why they weren’t candidates to be Hallie’s father. I thought this was particularly clever and the mark of a true author, displaying incredible creativity!
Apart from being a great read and a really good thriller, the underlying theme is that of ‘belonging’ and the innate need we all have of wanting to know where we come from and where we fit in. Each character reacts as we’d expect them to when they hear the news of a potential new member of the family: excitement, apprehension, jealousy, fear, happiness, rage, and at times a combination of all of these. It’s a lot to process.
It also needs to be noted that as we advance technologically, DNA plays an increasingly pivotal role in the field of crime and forensics. We are continually taking further steps into what this can help us to discover when it comes to crime-solving, particularly with older, previously unsolved cases. It’s fascinating stuff!
I read this way later into the night than I should have! It’s highly recommended. Thank you to Bookouture for the Blog Tour.
BUY LINK: https://geni.us/B0C6V56XKQsocial
Author Bio:
Forensic psychologist by day, novelist by night, Ellery Kane has been writing – professionally and creatively – for as long as she can remember. Just like many of her main characters, Ellery loves to ask why, which is the reason she became a psychologist in the first place. Real life really is stranger than fiction, and Ellery’s writing is often inspired by her day job. Evaluating violent criminals and treating trauma victims, she has gained a unique perspective on the past and its indelible influence on the individual. And she’s heard her fair share of real-life thrillers.
Ellery lives in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, a picturesque setting that provides the backdrop for many of her novels. If you don’t find Ellery interviewing murderers behind prison walls or pecking away at her latest novel, she is probably at the gym landing a solid jab-cross to a punching bag; riding bicycles with her special someone; or enjoying a movie the old-fashioned way – at the theater with popcorn and Milk Duds.
Ellery was previously selected as one of ten semifinalists in the MasterClass James Patterson Co-Author Competition, and she recently signed a three-book deal with Bookouture for her new Rockwell and Decker mystery thriller series.
If you’d like to receive a notification when new books are released, please sign up for Ellery’s newsletter at ellerykane.com. Ellery also signs e-books on authorgraph.com.
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/TheLegacyBooks
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ElleryKane
BOOKOUTURE EMAIL SIGN UP: https://www.bookouture.com/ellery-kane
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