A Nearly Normal Family

Our Review

A Nearly Normal Family by M. T. Edvardsson is a fast-paced, exciting thriller.

Often with books that have been translated it is easy to tell as there is some kind of disjoin, they don’t quite sound right. A Nearly Normal Family wasn’t one of those books.

A Nearly Normal Family is written in split narrative form. First, we hear things from the father’s point of view, then the suspect’s and finally her mother’s point of view. I thought this worked particularly well.

When Stella is accused of murder her family is left reeling, or are they? 

Her Father believes she has been framed and wants to protect her at any cost.

Her Mother believes there is something she is hiding.

Stella knows neither of them are aware what she is capable of.

“Family life had never seemed so harmonious. Then everything changed.”

In the first half of the book Stella comes across as spoilt, vindictive and generally exactly the kind of person you would expect to be a murderer.

Stella’s father, a pastor was a completely unlikeable person. He was controlling, frequently invaded his daughter’s privacy and did some morally questionable things. He was more concerned with saving face than trying to understand his daughter. He doesn’t even know whether he thinks she did it or not.

Her mother is a largely absent workaholic who has grown closer to her daughter in recent years.

Everyone has secrets in A Nearly Normal Family, and nobody is what they seem.

I had lots of thoughts throughout the reading process as to the identity and motive of the murderer and one of the things that occurred to me was more or less right.

A Nearly Normal Family was a thoroughly engrossing read.

Our Final Rating...

Wed, 10th July 2019