A Game for All The Family

A Game for All the Family – Sophie Hannah

Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton, August 2015

 

Originality: ♥♥♥♥

Quality of Writing: ♥♥♥♥♥

Setting: ♥♥♥♥♥

Character: ♥♥♥

Overall: ♥♥♥♥

Justine Merrison flees London with her husband and daughter, Ellen, to South Devon after a particularly disastrous moment in her career. Justine’s first person narrative runs parallel to Ellen’s haunting story she has written for school – but this is no ordinary story. It is based on a true story of a series of murders and domestic thrills. Justine’s new life is threatened by the reality of Ellen’s story when the phone calls begin…

I can’t tell you too much about the plot itself, it’s one of those books you’ve just got to read to get your head around. I’ve never read anything by Sophie Hannah before, and I’m not sure this is the right book to base my judgements on about her writing. The way I read ‘A Game for All The Family’ it was a mix of horror, comedy and thriller all in one, a nice mix, but at the end I was left not knowing exactly what to feel. I expected the twist at the end to be more scandalous, more frightening, but I was left disappointed.

That said, I did enjoy reading this book as I found myself unable to take my attention away from it. I particularly enjoyed Ellen’s story of the Ingrid family. I just wish that the last quarter of the book was better. It was good, but it needed to be better.

4 Stars.