Teresa Driscoll can tell a tale alright, as her two million best-selling psychological thrillers’ sales prove. Nevertheless, when a new novel comes hot off her pen, one hopes, above hopes that it will make the grade.
Talking of which her latest best-seller ‘Her Perfect Family’ makes the grade for sure – set in the UK’s Southwest, we are privy to the minds, muses, and secrets of the perfect family!
That family, one that we can all relate to, experiences a desperate horror, as Driscoll ordinaries university, proud parents, the pomp, and expectations that we are all familiar with before she suddenly drops pure horror…
The book unfolds with short insightful chapters, personalised to each key character… a real whodunit! (I pride myself on being twisted enough to spot the real perp in a thriller… not this time, I was convinced from the start in my theory but was scuppered in the very last few pages, just as it should be…)
Gemma Hartley, an only child, suffers an attack on the day of her highly anticipated graduation ceremony, the book then painfully illustrates how a dramatic and unexpected trauma can damage more than the victim themselves. In this respect the book represented far more to me – it shows the brutal power of revenge, how vital truth and transparency is throughout life, how one must never presume… and how paranoia can erode the very strongest of relationships.
The book is a generous read, the paperback is over 380 pages, each of which turns in eager anticipation…
We make friends with all the key characters, and I felt real sympathy for several of the intimate predicaments that decorate the story.
Interestingly, there are several hero characters that stand out, yet Driscoll would have us believe that PI Matthew Hill is the key player, but there are more strong contributors that really add to the suspense, none less than Gemma herself, who I can tell you – without being a plot killer – is the latent contributor during most of the book, whose diaries and uni life provides the core of the thriller.
This is a must-read, one which proudly shows off Teresa Driscoll’s talent for laying the scent and then kicking the evidence into touch in the same paragraph… fuelled of course by her years in real-life crime journalism.
Her Perfect Family is perfectly intricate, snappy, and verbally illustrated – so much so that I can still see the momentous chapters in my mind as if I had seen a movie! Bring me the popcorn, and the truth…