The Perfect Family

Maddie and Dominic Castle are the perfect couple. Add in their two adorable red-headed twins, Annabel and Aidan, and you have The Perfect Family. In this tale of lies, deceit, and abuse, the story starts out with Maddie getting ready for the twins’ tenth birthday party. The doorbell rings, and Maddie and the twins rush to get it, only to find a man in a balaclava with a gun. Fast-forward to Maddie. It is very unclear as to what exactly happened in the time from the opening of the door to present-day. Maddie narrates the story and almost seems as if she is looking at her family from afar. She remembers the man in the balaclava telling her to “Choose one.” She remembers choosing Annabel. Would she really choose one of her twins over the other? She knows she had a more difficult relationship with her daughter than her son, but would she really choose Annabel to die in order to save Aidan? My first thought was that Maddie died and had become a ghost. As the story carries on, the main players, Dom, Lucy (Maddie’s best friend), and Max (Dom’s brother) all float in and out of the scenes. It’s difficult to tell who is the “good” guy and who is the “bad” guy. Although I was confused at one point because Maddie’s commentary seemed to be everywhere and told like a dream, the story started coming together at the midpoint of the book. Because the protagonist was a little unreliable, it left it up to the reader to figure out if what she was saying was the truth or just something that was made up in her head. This book was well-written, and I could tell that there were a lot of psychology methods incorporated into the telling of this tale. I enjoyed all of the characters and the way the author described their aesthetics as well as their actions in detail. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a thriller with a twist at the end.