The Favorite Child by Cathryn Grant
Published: August 14, 2022
Inkubator Books
Genre: Thriller
KKECReads Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.
Cathryn Grant is the bestselling author of fourteen psychological thrillers, including ALWAYS REMEMBER, THE OTHER COUPLE, and THE GUEST. She is also the author of the ALEXANDRA MALLORY series, featuring a sociopath you can’t help but love. Her psychological suspense fiction reveals the motives and desires that lead to suburban crime. She’s obsessed with the “why” behind human behavior. In real crime, too many times, the why is left unanswered. Cathryn’s fiction tells the stories of ordinary people driven to commit murder. Cathryn also writes ghost stories—The Haunted Ship Trilogy and the Madison Keith series of novellas. When she’s not writing, she’s usually reading fiction, walking on the beach, or playing golf, trying desperately to avoid hitting her ball in the sand or the water. She lives on the Central California Coast with her husband and her cat, Cleopatra.
Annie feels like she’s at a good place in her life. Happily married, expecting her first child, enjoying a vacation with her extended family at their beautiful coastal home.
But then her sister, Sunday, suddenly goes missing.
Annie is immediately concerned, but the rest of the family assure her that everything’s fine, this is the kind of thing Sunday does, she’ll be back…
But Annie knows in her heart that something is very wrong. And she won’t rest until she sees her sister safe and well.
As Annie digs for the truth, she realizes that some of her family are not what they seem. And as she draws closer to uncovering their horrifying secret, Annie finally understands that she and her unborn child are in terrible danger…
“Maybe we overthink the bad memories because we keep retelling those stories, and they bury all the happy moments.”
Annie is in her childhood home with her family for their annual summer vacation. Three weeks of family time. The difference now is Annie ad her husband Michael are expecting their first child, and everyone is extremely focused on that. Annie starts having vivid nightmares again, something that always seems to happen when she’s at her parent’s house, and suddenly she feels like the secrets of the past are going to suffocate her future. With more than just her life to fight for, Annie needs the truth.
Wow. This family was bananas. While I understand why Annie felt compelled to stay and find the truth, I would have taken my husband up on his offer to leave early.
This was a fast-paced, circular thrill ride from start to finish. The characters were all so well developed. I loved that there was a heavy cult-like shadow cast, despite the adamant claims that this wasn’t a cult.
I couldn’t put this book down, even when I was frustrated with the logic Annie was operating. I would have bailed, saving myself and unborn child. But boy, was this a doozy!
I enjoyed the complexities of the storyline and the way past perspectives were carefully dropped in at the right times. This was a well-executed house of cards until it wasn’t.