The Family Retreat: 'Few psychological thrillers ring so true.' The Sunday Times Crime Club Star Pick

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So forget this being "the perfect chance to unwind and spend time together", as Jess has priorities all wrong and I was unusually annoyed by the fact that she couldn't take a few weeks off. The Dorset setting is used well, but there's just a lot going on so you're never in the holiday mood. Even her parents come to visit, so it feels like this family had moved to a new town rather than taking a break. She meets another woman who is staying at the cabins for the summer, and she has two children roughly the same age as Jess's. Although Jess finds Helen a little stand-offish at first, she soon finds herself embroiled in this woman's life. Her husband Rob is a screenwriter and has just landed his first major movie deal.as well as having two small children Sam and Ruby. First, I admit that I really disliked the first 50% of this book (which made it a long haul). It moved very slowly, and it seemed so predictable, but not all of it was.

The narrative focuses on the female characters, the mothers, and their desire to protect their children. The author is a former clinical psychologist, which came across in the astute observations about human behaviour and in Jess's therapy sessions, in particular. Centred on a short period of time during two families' summer holidays, in idyllic Dorset, this is slow-burning with hidden secrets, where I felt invested in Jess and her holiday neighbour, Helen. There was a dramatic twist in the tale, which brought the potential tragedy closer to home. The ending, whilst tragic, was satisfying and justified, compared with the alternatives, although I did struggle with the open ending of the cause of Jess's father's behaviour. The summer heat intensifies Jess – ever vigilant – unearths a secret, a problem she’s sure she can help solve. But things are not always as they seem. The water may look inviting but even the gentlest looking waves can hide the deadliest undercurrents. Jess communicates on a weekly basis with a therapist via the internet, having to go to a neighbour’s house where the signal is better. She befriends her neighbour Helen, who, similarly has two children, and the four young off-spring spend time together, trawling the beaches with their mothers. As the friendship grows, Helen starts to confide in Jess, sharing personal information. Meanwhile, Jess is struggling to piece together the snippets of information around the increasingly erratic behaviour exhibited by her father, whilst also still being sharply aware of her own sister’s mental health issues. It is a complex family dynamic that Jess understands but is forced to confront as she tries and keeps all the plates spinning. Bev Thomas was a clinical psychologist in the NHS and continues to serve as a mental health consultant and I felt that she approached the novel’s themes her with sensitivity while still penning an engaging suspense drama.As autumn approaches, Jess - and the reader - will come to realise this is going to end in a way no-one could have imagined. . .

It's been a long time since that book and I was delighted to find that Thomas had published her second novel; The Family Retreat. This is a well-paced tale where tension builds slowly over the course of the book. I adored the sweeping, dramatic setting which could be picture perfect one minute and a brooding, angry, dangerous threat the next. There���s a sub-plot featuring Jess’s parents which I thought really added to the story. Making characters that already felt real to me even more believable. With the extended absence of husband Rob (away on a business trip in the US), with the strange behaviour of her father, with the pressure to return to work, with two young children to look after and the need to fit into a new community, it’s no wonder that Jess has the weight of the world on her shoulders.On the final part of my trip I went on a two-week bus journey from San Francisco to New York, during which I told my fellow passengers about wanting to write fiction on my return to England. Not knowing me at all, they were unanimously encouraging and supportive, and when I returned home with no job, money or flat, it was helpful to remember their unbridled enthusiasm. Being away can sometimes allow us to realise our strengths, aspirations and dreams. It’s here that the voice of the super-ego is silenced. We can experience the joy of playing a game of no judgment or consequences. The critical voice is usually our own, but sometimes it’s those of others who, because of legitimate worries or concerns, might be less eager to champion a risky decision. I was drawn to this novel when I saw an informed review of the novel, describing it as full of psychological ‘aha’ moments. And it is. In the review it said that it has “an astuteness that most other books would miss, whatever their genre....” In the cottage next door Helen her husband James and there two children Ollie and Lexie have also come to spend the summer in Helen's mum cottage whilst she is away. Even though James can only visit at weekends due to setting up is own business.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Faber and Faber (and in particular Rachel Quinn), and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. I read A Good Enough Mother by this author which was incredible, so I was delighted to get my hands on this one and it didn’t disappoint. I LOVE the author’s style of writing; her prose, her reflections, her hints of what is to come swept me right into this story. And I don’t often quote parts of books but the following passage brought tears to my eyes (yes another book that’s made me cry round the pool in Fuerteventura, I’m on a roll here! 😭) as it was just so powerful and perfect. For me, the creeping fear and tension created by Jess's thoughts really made the book work. I liked the fact that I knew that something was going to happen, I loved the slow exploration of events and the fact that what seemed to be the obvious conclusion really wasn't.I chose this book because I'm a fan of mysteries, I thought it might be something like the genres that I have read before. However, this book is more of a suspense drama. On the matter of characters, I didn't really like any of them that much, which makes for a difficult read. I imagine I was supposed to like Jess, but for someone as bright as she was supposed to be, she "missed" a lot of signs, and she was very self-centered. Her husband was a bit of an idiot, and her parents and sister just pissed me off. Helen was really interesting (although I did see through her story from the start), and I liked both Joyce and Philip. I enjoyed the author's observations; her characters were rich and detailed, and I found their behaviours to be astutely depicted. The description of the women in the story having to manage men's emotions, to dim their own feelings to make room for the men in their lives was interesting food for thought, making me think about instances from my own life. The story was compelling and engrossing.