The Perfect Family

Viv and Thomas Adler have it all. A beautifully renovated home, two perfect children, and successful careers. Who wouldn’t want to be them? Clearly somebody, as they become victims of increasingly aggravated attacks on their home. First, it’s eggs and smoke bombs, then tire slashings and hedges set on fire. All four members of the family begin to look closer at each other and themselves as they try to figure out why they are being targeted. It seems that they might not be The Perfect Family after all. How can they figure out who is to blame when they all have secrets?

Even though the Adler family is borderline unlikable, it’s hard not to feel bad for them as they are constantly attacked. There was a lot going on in this book, which brought it down for me a bit. There were a few too many threads to follow and some weren’t even acknowledged at the end. That lack of connectedness made the book hard to get into, but I would agree with other reviewers who describe it as twisty and unsettling. If Gillian Flynn is a little too dark for you, this might be a better alternative than diving into her books.