Book Review: The Family

Synopsis:

Laura is grieving after the sudden death of her husband, Gavan. She’s on the verge of losing her home and business, her beloved flower shop, when a young woman stops in to sell vegetables grown by a local community called Oak Leaf Organics.

Laura is grateful when she and Tilly, her 17-year-old daughter, are invited to stay on on the farm for as long as they want or need to by Alex, the handsome and charismatic 27-year-old manager.

As Laura and Tilly settle into life with their new adopted “family,” sinister things begin to happen. When one of the community dies under suspicious circumstances, Laura is determined to leave. But Tilly is enthralled by Alex and refuses to go, and Laura will not leave without her daughter.

Searching for a way to save herself and her daughter, Laura uncovers horrifying secrets, a topic with which Laura is very familiar. Just as Laura has been digging into the truth about the group, Laura realizes they’ve been digging into her past. She discovers the terrifying reason they invited her and Tilly to join them . . . and why they’ll never let them leave.

Could a mother’s mistake cost she and her daughter everything?

At Oak Leaf Farm you will find a haven. Welcome to The Family.

Review:

Author Louise Jensen has had a lifelong love of fiction. She relates that as a child, she read everything in her school library and her first book was a six-page masterpiece featuring stick figures. “Writing was a huge part of my life, until one day it wasn’t.” Although it was never a conscious decision, somewhere along the line, like so many creative individuals, she stopped writing, following advice to “grow up and get a proper job.” Some 20 years later, she sustained injuries in a motor vehicle accident that forced her to alter her lifestyle. She read so many books that her librarian told her she would soon run out of books and “you’ll have to write your own.” Words began pouring out of her, and she discovered the power of words “to life, to heal.” Now she is the published author of psychological thrillers The Sister, The Gift, The Surrogate, The Date, and her latest, The Family.

Jensen says the idea for The Family came to her after her son asked her is some people are just born “bad.” She began researching brainwashing and learned that virtually anyone can be indoctrinated into a way of thinking that causes them to behave in a manner completely out of character. “I began to wonder what would happen if you placed two extremely vulnerable women in an environment that was out of the ordinary. Would they feel the same? React the same? What would happen if there was a charismatic leader they were both attracted to? What if the women were mother and daughter?”

Laura was just 17 years old when she became pregnant with her daughter, Tilly. As The Family opens, Laura is mourning her husband, Gavan, and awaiting the conclusion of the coroner’s inquest into his tragic death. Before he died, there had been scandal and stress because he and his brother, Iwan, formed a construction company and built homes on a former landfill site. Ashleigh, one of Tilly’s classmates, was diagnosed with leukemia after he parents purchased and moved into one of the homes. They blamed Gavan and Iwan for Ashleigh’s illness. Now the rent is due on both the home in which she and Gavan raised Laura, and her flower shop. But Laura has no way to pay it until she receives the proceeds of Gavan’s life insurance policy. The company, however, refuses to pay until she can provide a conclusive, not provisional, death certificate and the coroner’s inquest is still months away.

Through Laura’s first-person narrative, Jensen convincingly conveys Laura’s despair and desperation, and her chance meeting in her shop with a young woman named Saffron, a member of a local community known as Oak Leaf Farm that sells organic vegetables. “Three is a power number, although I didn’t know that at the time, I came to learn it later. . . . It took three decisions to destroy my life,” Laura laments. Saffron explains that Alex is a former attorney and would be willing to help Laura pro bono since Laura has no funds with which to retain counsel.

In the hallway I tucked the paper [bearing her mobile number] into my handbag while Saffron slipped on shoes that were sturdy and dependable and I told myself I could trust her. She opened the door. A frigid wind gusted through the gap. A shiver trailed its fingers down the back of my neck. I know now it wasn’t the icy air that made my hairs stand on end. It was my intuition. That feeling in my gut warned me to stay away from Oak Leaf Farm. If only I hadn’t ignored it. ~~ Laura in The Family

What begins as a consultation and tour turns into a full-time residency. In exchange for living in the farmhouse, Laura and Tilly work alongside Hazel, an older woman who took up residence after leaving behind an allegedly abusive husband and children who sided with him, and Olivia, an idealistic young woman. Tilly notices that they dress only in white and soon adopts their dress code, leaving behind her dark eyeliner and colorful, mismatched clothing.

Laura’s desperation, gullibility, and naivete are required for the storyline to work, but in Jensen’s capable hands, it does. Laura gradually recounts the tragic history that led her to Oak Leaf Farm, including being disowned by her parents when she was just 17 years old, how she met Gavan, and a medical condition that complicates things. Her explanations reveal that her predicament is understandable. Describing the little kindnesses that exemplified her relationship with Gavan, she notes: “The big thing, the truth, was that he saved me all those years ago after my parents cast me adrift. He’s be heartbroken to know that I was once again drowning, but this time it was his fault. . . . I had to save myself, save Tilly But how? So much was broken, I didn’t know where to start.”

When Laura arrives at the farm, she dreams of the ways she will use Gavan’s life insurance proceeds to get her life and Tilly’s back on track away from Oak Leaf Farm. But she believes Alex when he relays developments and delays in the case and authorizes him, as her representative, to act on her behalf.

As time passes, Laura finds herself drawn to Alex . . . but Tilly is thoroughly enchanted by him. Suspicious events, including the death of a young visitor to the farm, and foreboding messages meant for Laura cause her to rightly be increasingly skeptical about Alex’s motives. It slowly becomes clear to Laura that Oak Leaf Farm is a kind of cult that she and Tilly will never be permitted to leave of their own accord.

The Family is a skillfully crafted, slow burning thriller about vulnerability and loss, the longing for family, and the power of secrets and lies. Despite her flaws, Laura is likeable and empathetic, her devotion to her only child completely relatable. Their mother-daughter relationship is believably fraught and complicated, more so because of the secrets both are withholding from the other. As Jensen reveals details about Laura’s past, events begin unfolding at the farm at an accelerating pace. The story is full of unexpected twists and secrets, and as they are unveiled they propel the action forward to a frantic, life-and-death climax. When Jensen finally divulges how the characters are interconnected, it all makes perfect sense and showcases the uniquely clever story she has constructed.

The Family is a creepy, engrossing, and thoroughly satisfying thriller that keeps readers guessing right up to its bone-chilling conclusion.