Not a Happy Family

To say this family was not happy is the understatement of the year. We meet them at a family dinner that was more like World War III. The entire Merton family is dysfunctional as well as extremely wealthy. The parents, Fred and Sheila Merton were brutally murdered in their home the night after this disastrous Easter dinner with their adult children, Catherine, Dan and Jenna. The police begin their investigation, and of course they obviously start with the children, who stand to inherit millions and who each had a motive for wanting their parents dead. Catherine is the oldest and knew that she would be inheriting the family home one day, that is until their father announced at Easter dinner that he was selling the house. Dan has never show more had a good relationship with his father. He expected to take over the family business, that is until his father sold it because he didn’t think Dan would be able to run it. Dan has made a few bad investments and now needs money. Dad says no way to his request for a loan on the night of the dinner. Jenna is an artist that likes to sculpt images of women’s anatomy, much to her parents’ disapproval. She gets a monthly allowance from her parents...but you guessed it...not anymore. The father and the mother were never going to win "parent of the year". Fred, the father, got a great deal of pleasure in causing emotional pain to his children, and Sheila, the mother, was a mother in name only and left the "mothering" task to their housekeeper, Irene. It was not very surprising that the children were not overly devastated by their parents’ death. All three had alibis...well according to each of their spouses, but those alibis are soon unraveled. I really liked how Shari Lapena ended the story. If you like murder mysteries and stories that keep you guessing, then this will be perfect for you. show less

Wealthy couple Fred and Sheila Merton are dead. Brutally murdered in their own home. Their three children -- Catherine, Dan, and Jenna -- are unsure of how they feel. Shock and grief are expected. And they ARE shocked. But, grief -- not so much. As the title suggests, they were Not a Happy Family. Dysfunctional, yes.

Fred Merton, the authoritarian patriarch, was a very successful businessman. But he had a mean streak. He always took sadistic pleasure in mistreating and humiliating his children at every opportunity. Provoking them. Pitting them against each other from the start. All three hated him for their own reasons. Sheila Merton, his weak, spineless wife, unable and unwilling to take a stand against her domineering husband, even to show more protect her children. All three resented her. Irena, the nanny/housekeeper essentially raised them from birth. Despite of her dedication, Fred and Sheila still treated her as what she was hired for, the domestic help. But the children loved her.

Audrey, Fred's sister, sidelined by her brother's children. Ellen Cutter, his former personal assistant, and her daughter, Rose. All are affected by the deaths in profound ways.

So many secrets and lies. So much animosity. Everyone is a suspect. And, as often happens when money is involved, greed and betrayal. Relationships fracture when suspects and those in their circle -- be they family, friends, acquaintances, or colleagues -- start turning on one another.

Detectives Reyes and Barr have to follow every lead. Deceipher every clue. But, they are tenacious and they will. They do.

I LOVED this book! Although all of the author's books are on my to-read list, this is the first of hers I read. I regret waiting so long. I was hooked from the first page. Alternating third-person perspectives, short chapters, three-dimensional characters, and unpredictable plot made for a captivating read. show less

I have never read a Shari Lapena book, and that's a real shame as her writing is very engrossing, and she's a Canadian author which is always a queue for me to pay attention. I've fallen away from thrillers lately because they are so predictable, and usually so easy to figure out. This book is a little different. Although I was aware that there was going to be an unreliable narrator, I wasn't prepared for the numerous unreliable narrators in this book. I don't remember when I've read a book that had so many noxious, hateful characters in it as this one does. But Ms. Lapena handles them all ably, and the story is a not-put-down able story from the get-go. I did enjoy the story despite the despicable characters, and I thought that this show more was more like what I wanted thrillers to be like all the time. I don't want to say too much about the story as it is hard to say anything without spoilers. You need to read this book yourself if you like literary, intelligent thrillers with believable characters and a very eye-opening plot. This was a good book and I would gladly read more from Ms. Lapena again. show less

Not a Happy Family is one of those books that missed the mark for me. I usually enjoy a Lepena novel and look forward to reading them, but couldn't empathize with any of the characters and thought the story line was kind of repetitive.

The main characters, the three children, are pretty messed up. I don't normally mind it too much when I don't like the main characters as long as I can empathize with them, but I couldn't even do that in this book. I can't even put my finger on why as the author didn't deliberately do anything to write them as completely dislikable, but I just couldn't find it in myself to feel any sympathy towards any of them, even after learning about their childhoods. A character can make a lot of wrong choices, and show more even make questionable decisions, and as a reader, you still root for them and hope they are not the one that did anything. In this case, I actually hoped they were all involved so they would all end up in jail.

The plot was fun at the beginning as I found it intriguing how the siblings all seemed to turn on each other and wonder what the others were actually up to the night of the murders. All of them seemed to have different motives and they all definitely have their own secrets. I also thought that Fred's sister was the most interesting character, in the beginning, simply because she was the odd person out and everyone seemed to vilify her. I was definitely curious about the dynamics of this family and their respective motivations.

Unfortunately, the plot simply turned repetitive, and I didn't find the twists and turns to be that interesting, more predictable and plodding. I thought both the characters and the plot were underdeveloped. The motives didn't necessarily make sense, and while I liked the ending, I really wasn't sure about the motivations for the actual culprit as there wasn't a good explanation.

Verdict
Not a Happy Family was a bit of a disappointment. Both the story line and the characters were underdevelopped which made the book repetitive. It was difficult to really know the motivations of the characters and to empathize with them. This book definitely missed the mark with me. show less

This is an interesting murder mystery. A very wealthy couple is murdered and their kids are all suspected. There is a lot of drama - each kid has a horror story to tell about their parents and, even though their dad was awful, he didn't deserve to be murdered.

I did like that there are a lot of perspectives. It lent itself to greater spectulation as you are drawn in to each person's secrets and their own personal assumption of who done it. But ultimately, I felt a bit let down by the final wrap up. Most of the characters are truly horrible people so I was a bit let down the end is just wrapped up in a few chapters and is all done. I would have loved a dramatic ending as big as all the other dramas. Oh well, it was still a good read, show more probably a 3.5 I rounded down for the lackluster ending. show less

Suspicious Siblings
Review of the Doubleday Canada paperback edition (July 27, 2021)

I hadn't previously read Shari Lapena, but Not a Happy Family stood out on the Best Bets shelf at my local Toronto Public Library with its cover of spooky light shining behind a mansion house, so I decided to give it a shot. This was a very nihilistic family whodunnit with almost entirely unlikeable characters but it was still a compulsive read and provided a karmic epilogue to help seal the deal.

The well-to-do Merton parents are found murdered one morning a few days after a cantankerous Easter dinner attended by their grown son and 2 daughters with their partners. The siblings are the main suspects, as they are due to inherit substantial shares of the show more estate and all of them are gradually revealed to have motive and opportunity. The patriarch Merton had a sadistic streak of threatening to cut off the kids in the Will and would regularly taunt them. The mother was withdrawn and subservient. A somewhat estranged aunt has her own agenda and actually becomes the main investigator almost behind the scenes, which provides for a great twist ending.

The clues were mostly provided by misdirection, so for the investigative reader it became a question of deciding who or what is not being talked about very much. So it was a sort of reverse deduction to get to the solution.

I was interested to learn that Shari Lapena is actually from Toronto and that made me think immediately about the major unsolved billionaire murders of the Shermans here in late 2017. The situation of the Mertons in Not a Happy Family is completely different though, as it is a fortune based on computer software and the events are not in Canada. Still it reminded me of some of the outrageous theories behind the supposed professional assassinations in the Toronto case for which the police have a ongoing investigation.

Trivia and Links
Blind item about the Sherman murders at the Gossip site Crazy Days and Nights.
Blind item reveal about the Sherman murders at the Gossip site Crazy Days and Nights.
News item discussing similar issues at The Blacksphere. show less

I read this a few months ago when I was absolutely drowning in work so I think I am going to have to reread this novel. Shari Lapena is one of my favorite authors, and yet, we weren't on the same page (so to speak) with this one. The book had all the elements that I love in her writing, but I slept through large portions of the audio and had to rewind so many times I eventually got lost. At one point I woke up at the end of the book and had a sneak preview as to Whodunnit. I see all my GR friends enjoyed so I'll wait until I forget the ending and give it another go in a few months - ebook next time!