Home is Where the Bodies Are

Jeneva Rose

Mystery Thriller

From New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Marriage and You Shouldn’t Have Come Here comes a chilling family thriller about the (sometimes literal) skeletons in the closet.

After their mother passes, three estranged siblings reunite to sort out her estate. Beth, the oldest, never left home. She stayed with her mom, caring for her until the very end. Nicole, the middle child, has been kept at arm’s length due to her ongoing battle with a serious drug addiction. Michael, the youngest, lives out of state and hasn’t been back to their small Wisconsin town since their father ran out on them seven years before.

While going through their parent’s belongings, the siblings stumble upon a collection of home videos and decide to revisit those happier memories. However, the nostalgia is cut short when one of the VHS tapes reveals a night back in 1999 that none of them have any recollection of. On screen, their father appears covered in blood. What follows is a dead body and a pact between their parents to get rid of it, before the video abruptly ends.

Beth, Nicole, and Michael must now decide whether to leave the past in the past or uncover the dark secret their mother took to her grave.

-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.

Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings.

My Opinion

“Now is guaranteed but tomorrow may never come.”

(4.5 / 5) The title got me on this one, I had to have it! And the cover is just as great. I dove into it blind and I’m so happy I did.

I listened to this one on Libby (the library app) and I finished it in one sitting. I found cleaning to keep me busy just so I could keep it going. It grabbed me from the start and the mystery was given in pieces, slowly dragging me in deeper.

Now when I say it slowly gave pieces, this was in no way “slow” at all. It had a nice, steady pace with expertly placed pieces to the mystery throughout. It took me back and forth from the past, where the mystery started with the videotape, and to what was the present. Hearing from the parents in the past added so much extra to the story that I found myself looking forward to it. Each child was also just as intriguing. They were individually interesting while also contributing to the entertainment with their dysfunctional relationships.

My only complaint is that I guessed that ending, but honestly, it was such a fun ride that it still “wowed” me because I did not guess each aspect. I recommend this one to thriller lovers, purely for that ending and the expert build-up to it.

General content summary: F words= 7

Addiction (hard drugs, previous overdose)

Parent dying (cancer and prolong sickness, watching it happen, grief)

Physical violence (bruised ribs, concussion, no details how, fists and blood and unconscious, head hit and unconscious, multiple)

Family deaths (previous drunk driving accident)

Corpse of a child found (few details)

Alcohol (multiple)

Intimacy (m/f kisses, brief foreplay then closed door scene)

Person hit by a car (head injury) 

Murder and disposal of body (few details, multiple)

Suicide (previous)

Skeletons found 

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