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The author of Out Of Breath is back, this time with a novel about dark family secrets: The Ones We Love. The wonderful team at Ultimo Press were kind enough to send me a copy for review.
The Jansen family moved to Los Angeles from Australia so that the patriarch, Janus, could chase his dreams of adapting his best-selling horror novel to the screen. It was an opportunity for a fresh start for Liv, his 22 year old daughter who flunked out of fashion school but still hopes to find a career in the industry. Her no-nonsense Pilates instructor mother and her teenage brother are along for the ride. Unfortunately, it’s not working out the way any of them hoped.
After a fashion industry event one Thursday night, Liv blacks out. She has no idea how she got home, or why her parents are suddenly acting strangely. When her brother comes home from camp on the weekend, he picks up on it, too.
The Ones We Love has deeply ominous vibes, with its Bluebeard-esque forbidden room and a veritable mountain of clues in the first fifty pages, none of which seem to add up. There’s Liv’s bruises, the unanswered calls to her best friend, the padlock on her door, the blood smear on the banister, the broken hair clip on the stairs, the bag of Home Depot supplies behind the washing machine, the threatening note in the mailbox…
Gradually, Snokestra leads the reader out of the woods, and The Ones We Love comes together nicely in the end. Most importantly (for me), all the dogs in this story live happily ever after – sorry for the minor spoiler. It’s a great pick for readers who love Celeste Ng and Charity Norman.
Read The Ones We Love on audiobook via Libro.fm here. (affiliate link)
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