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A Game for All the Family
Justine thought she knew who she was, until an anonymous caller seemed to know better...
After fleeing London and a career that nearly destroyed her, Justine Merrison plans to spend her days doing as little as possible. But soon after the move, her daughter Ellen starts to seem strangely withdrawn. Checking Ellen's homework one day, Justine finds herself reading a chillingly articulate story about a series of sinister murders committed at the family's new house. Can Ellen really have made all this up, as she claims? Why would she invent something so grotesque, set it in her own home and name one of the characters after herself? When Justine discovers that Ellen has probably also invented her best friend at school, who appears not to be known to any of the teachers, Justine's alarm turns to panic.
Then the anonymous phone calls start: a stranger, making accusations and threats that suggest she and Justine share a traumatic past - yet Justine doesn't recognise her voice. When the caller starts to talk about three graves - two big ones and a smaller one for a child - Justine fears for her family's safety. If the police can't help, she'll have to confront the danger herself, but first she must work out who she's supposed to be...
After fleeing London and a career that nearly destroyed her, Justine Merrison plans to spend her days doing as little as possible. But soon after the move, her daughter Ellen starts to seem strangely withdrawn. Checking Ellen's homework one day, Justine finds herself reading a chillingly articulate story about a series of sinister murders committed at the family's new house. Can Ellen really have made all this up, as she claims? Why would she invent something so grotesque, set it in her own home and name one of the characters after herself? When Justine discovers that Ellen has probably also invented her best friend at school, who appears not to be known to any of the teachers, Justine's alarm turns to panic.
Then the anonymous phone calls start: a stranger, making accusations and threats that suggest she and Justine share a traumatic past - yet Justine doesn't recognise her voice. When the caller starts to talk about three graves - two big ones and a smaller one for a child - Justine fears for her family's safety. If the police can't help, she'll have to confront the danger herself, but first she must work out who she's supposed to be...
419 pages, Paperback
First published August 13, 2015
365 people are currently reading
5250 people want to read
About the author
Sophie Hannah
131 books4,467 followersSophie Hannah is an internationally bestselling writer of psychological crime fiction, published in 27 countries. In 2013, her latest novel, The Carrier, won the Crime Thriller of the Year Award at the Specsavers National Book Awards. Two of Sophie’s crime novels, The Point of Rescue and The Other Half Lives, have been adapted for television and appeared on ITV1 under the series title Case Sensitive in 2011 and 2012. In 2004, Sophie won first prize in the Daphne Du Maurier Festival Short Story Competition for her suspense story The Octopus Nest, which is now published in her first collection of short stories, The Fantastic Book of Everybody’s Secrets.
Sophie has also published five collections of poetry. Her fifth, Pessimism for Beginners, was shortlisted for the 2007 T S Eliot Award. Her poetry is studied at GCSE, A-level and degree level across the UK. From 1997 to 1999 she was Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge, and between 1999 and 2001 she was a fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford. She is forty-one and lives with her husband and children in Cambridge, where she is a Fellow Commoner at Lucy Cavendish College. She is currently working on a new challenge for the little grey cells of Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie’s famous detective.
Sophie has also published five collections of poetry. Her fifth, Pessimism for Beginners, was shortlisted for the 2007 T S Eliot Award. Her poetry is studied at GCSE, A-level and degree level across the UK. From 1997 to 1999 she was Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge, and between 1999 and 2001 she was a fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford. She is forty-one and lives with her husband and children in Cambridge, where she is a Fellow Commoner at Lucy Cavendish College. She is currently working on a new challenge for the little grey cells of Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie’s famous detective.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,025 reviews
August 27, 2015
Like obsessively desiring someone for months only to find they're a terrible kisser and walking away, stunned and disappointed, as you wipe their saliva off your face with your sleeve.
June 24, 2015
I should probably preface this review by saying that I've read a couple of Sophie Hannah's books in the past and quite enjoyed them.
This one started off OK - a family leaving London to live in South Devon, excited about their new life, and an interesting 'deja vu' moment for the mother with regards to a random house she spots from the road.
Unfortunately, for me it was downhill all the way after the start. The actions and behaviour of the characters were so far-fetched, and the storyline so increasingly unbelievable, that I found myself actually laughing out loud with incredulity at some points. It was so far removed from reality that it almost read like a farce (the final 30 or so pages in particular).
A couple of examples:
1. A pupil's parent forces her way into the school past the Head Teacher's PA, using the words 'get the f**k out of my way' and nothing is done about it or ever mentioned again.
2. It becomes apparent that the Head Teacher has been giving out personal details of every single new pupil or prospective pupil for years to a neurotic parent.
The characters themselves were utterly unlikeable - from the self-obsessed Justine and her ineffectual and one-dimensional opera singer husband, to their incredibly rude and precocious daughter, Ellen (never have I wanted to teach a fictional character some good manners more).
I've given it two stars as I just about managed to make my way to the end, although I admit to skim reading the last 100 pages.
Overall, a disappointing read.
This one started off OK - a family leaving London to live in South Devon, excited about their new life, and an interesting 'deja vu' moment for the mother with regards to a random house she spots from the road.
Unfortunately, for me it was downhill all the way after the start. The actions and behaviour of the characters were so far-fetched, and the storyline so increasingly unbelievable, that I found myself actually laughing out loud with incredulity at some points. It was so far removed from reality that it almost read like a farce (the final 30 or so pages in particular).
A couple of examples:
1. A pupil's parent forces her way into the school past the Head Teacher's PA, using the words 'get the f**k out of my way' and nothing is done about it or ever mentioned again.
2. It becomes apparent that the Head Teacher has been giving out personal details of every single new pupil or prospective pupil for years to a neurotic parent.
The characters themselves were utterly unlikeable - from the self-obsessed Justine and her ineffectual and one-dimensional opera singer husband, to their incredibly rude and precocious daughter, Ellen (never have I wanted to teach a fictional character some good manners more).
I've given it two stars as I just about managed to make my way to the end, although I admit to skim reading the last 100 pages.
Overall, a disappointing read.
July 5, 2018
EXCERPT: Perrine Ingrey dropped Malachy Dodd out of a window. She wanted to kill him and she succeeded. Later, no one believed her when she screamed 'I didn't do it!' Both of their families, the Ingreys and the Dodds, knew that Perrine and Malachy had been in a room upstairs together with no one else around.
ABOUT THIS BOOK: Justine thought she knew who she was, until an anonymous caller seemed to know better...
After fleeing London and a career that nearly destroyed her, Justine Merrison plans to spend her days doing as little as possible. But soon after the move, her daughter Ellen starts to seem strangely withdrawn. Checking Ellen's homework one day, Justine finds herself reading a chillingly articulate story about a series of sinister murders committed at the family's new house. Can Ellen really have made all this up, as she claims? Why would she invent something so grotesque, set it in her own home and name one of the characters after herself? When Justine discovers that Ellen has probably also invented her best friend at school, who appears not to be known to any of the teachers, Justine's alarm turns to panic.
Then the anonymous phone calls start: a stranger, making accusations and threats that suggest she and Justine share a traumatic past - yet Justine doesn't recognise her voice. When the caller starts to talk about three graves - two big ones and a smaller one for a child - Justine fears for her family's safety. If the police can't help, she'll have to confront the danger herself, but first she must work out who she's supposed to be...
MY THOUGHTS: A Game for all the Family is like Lewis Caroll meets Roald Dahl and Dr Seuss (but for adults).
This book is demented, crazy, intriguing and compelling. This is a book you will either love or hate.
I am not even going to try to explain the plot....I will let an extract from the book do that for me: 'Once upon a time there was a woman called Justine Merrison. She tried so hard to Do Nothing, but she failed. She ended up doing Something, a bigger Something than she had ever done before."
The whole time I was reading this book I was wondering 'what if....?'. By the time I finished my head was buzzing like it was occupied by a swarm of bees.
An incredible read.
Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of A Game For All the Family by Sophie Hannah for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system.
This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
ABOUT THIS BOOK: Justine thought she knew who she was, until an anonymous caller seemed to know better...
After fleeing London and a career that nearly destroyed her, Justine Merrison plans to spend her days doing as little as possible. But soon after the move, her daughter Ellen starts to seem strangely withdrawn. Checking Ellen's homework one day, Justine finds herself reading a chillingly articulate story about a series of sinister murders committed at the family's new house. Can Ellen really have made all this up, as she claims? Why would she invent something so grotesque, set it in her own home and name one of the characters after herself? When Justine discovers that Ellen has probably also invented her best friend at school, who appears not to be known to any of the teachers, Justine's alarm turns to panic.
Then the anonymous phone calls start: a stranger, making accusations and threats that suggest she and Justine share a traumatic past - yet Justine doesn't recognise her voice. When the caller starts to talk about three graves - two big ones and a smaller one for a child - Justine fears for her family's safety. If the police can't help, she'll have to confront the danger herself, but first she must work out who she's supposed to be...
MY THOUGHTS: A Game for all the Family is like Lewis Caroll meets Roald Dahl and Dr Seuss (but for adults).
This book is demented, crazy, intriguing and compelling. This is a book you will either love or hate.
I am not even going to try to explain the plot....I will let an extract from the book do that for me: 'Once upon a time there was a woman called Justine Merrison. She tried so hard to Do Nothing, but she failed. She ended up doing Something, a bigger Something than she had ever done before."
The whole time I was reading this book I was wondering 'what if....?'. By the time I finished my head was buzzing like it was occupied by a swarm of bees.
An incredible read.
Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of A Game For All the Family by Sophie Hannah for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system.
This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
February 10, 2017
Never before have I seriously considered abandoning a book with only 20 pages to go but here, it was a fight to keep this thing in my hands. It begins well enough, because the beginning is relatively sane. A woman moves her family to the country to begin a new life. Weird things happen, including some threatening phone calls. Then the story begins to go downhill.
Hannah (sadly) choses to include a B-line about a story the teenage girl is writing. Then, she makes the disastrous decision to blend the two plot lines and the result is almost unreadable. It is certainly silly and incomprehensible. The last 40 pages of the book are her desperate attempt to make sense of it all and she fails miserably.
This is just dumb and annoying. It is like the worst of M. Night Shamalayan. Everything is in service to a non-existent "twist" ending that cannot be predicted because it is pure non-sense. This book made me angry. I want the hours I wasted on it back.
Hannah (sadly) choses to include a B-line about a story the teenage girl is writing. Then, she makes the disastrous decision to blend the two plot lines and the result is almost unreadable. It is certainly silly and incomprehensible. The last 40 pages of the book are her desperate attempt to make sense of it all and she fails miserably.
This is just dumb and annoying. It is like the worst of M. Night Shamalayan. Everything is in service to a non-existent "twist" ending that cannot be predicted because it is pure non-sense. This book made me angry. I want the hours I wasted on it back.
July 21, 2015
A standalone novel from Sophie Hannah and as I just said on Twitter, unravelling her mysteries is akin to searching for a particular needle in a pile of identical needles. It just ain't happening.
So we meet Justine then, moving to the country with her family, having left a high powered job behind, she is determined to do nothing. The only thing she wants to do is tell anyone that will listen that she does nothing. But a strange event on the way to their new home, coupled with some disturbing phone calls and adding in some rather odd behaviour from her daughter and Justine finds herself having to do quite a lot after all.
There are two strands to the tale - Justine's side and a fictional story written by her daughter that is so gripping you may find yourself wanting to read that more than the other. But Sophie Hannah does nothing without good reason, so you sense that this "essay" is going to be important - but how, why and what the blinking nora is going on at that school you'll have no idea. I know. You'll just have to read it.
Superbly crafted to keep you metaphorically chasing your own tail, whilst I was not reading this book I found myself constantly going back to it in my head, trying to come up with some reason why everything that was happening was happening. It drove me quietly insane.
Ms Hannah writes with sharp witty dialogue and a dark ironic humour that is completely dastardly - you can't escape all you can do is keep going hoping that the fog will clear and daylight will be ahead.
It is SO addictive, the characters spark with electrical energy, the plot thickens with every page but never goes too far, and of course the ultimate solution is typical of this author in that it makes both perfect sense yet still won't let go of you. (because you know, thats just the way it is) Definitively satisfying, I'd like to bet you'll keep returning to this story and the characters in the pages long after leaving them behind. I know I will.
Simply brilliant. If I was wearing a hat right now I'd take it off to Sophie Hannah who writes the twistiest tales known to man yet manages to make it, in the end, seem oh so beautifully simple.
Highly Recommended.
Happy Reading Folks!
So we meet Justine then, moving to the country with her family, having left a high powered job behind, she is determined to do nothing. The only thing she wants to do is tell anyone that will listen that she does nothing. But a strange event on the way to their new home, coupled with some disturbing phone calls and adding in some rather odd behaviour from her daughter and Justine finds herself having to do quite a lot after all.
There are two strands to the tale - Justine's side and a fictional story written by her daughter that is so gripping you may find yourself wanting to read that more than the other. But Sophie Hannah does nothing without good reason, so you sense that this "essay" is going to be important - but how, why and what the blinking nora is going on at that school you'll have no idea. I know. You'll just have to read it.
Superbly crafted to keep you metaphorically chasing your own tail, whilst I was not reading this book I found myself constantly going back to it in my head, trying to come up with some reason why everything that was happening was happening. It drove me quietly insane.
Ms Hannah writes with sharp witty dialogue and a dark ironic humour that is completely dastardly - you can't escape all you can do is keep going hoping that the fog will clear and daylight will be ahead.
It is SO addictive, the characters spark with electrical energy, the plot thickens with every page but never goes too far, and of course the ultimate solution is typical of this author in that it makes both perfect sense yet still won't let go of you. (because you know, thats just the way it is) Definitively satisfying, I'd like to bet you'll keep returning to this story and the characters in the pages long after leaving them behind. I know I will.
Simply brilliant. If I was wearing a hat right now I'd take it off to Sophie Hannah who writes the twistiest tales known to man yet manages to make it, in the end, seem oh so beautifully simple.
Highly Recommended.
Happy Reading Folks!
October 5, 2016
This is a Bernadette book. I loved it to pieces but I'm afraid that practically everyone else in my entire life will think it's insufferable pap. I fear that if I recommend it to anyone, I will have to read lukewarm to scalding reviews on this book that I've adopted forever into my own heart. I will therefore NOT recommend that you read this book, but I will say that I found it to be brilliant, unique, refreshing, hilarious (both in dry humor and the ridiculous laugh-out-loud type), creative, imaginative, extremely well-written and equally well-read (I had the audio book. I think this book is best in audio, and that's also how I feel about Bernadette). So I give it 5 stars, but I have also given 5 stars to likes of Bernadette, so don't blame me if you try it and hate it. 5 STARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
February 7, 2017
2.5 stars actually, like stated previously, mystery books are always made or destroyed by their conclusions, and this one disappointed me. We never get a clear ending, I'm still not sure what happened towards the end, it felt like the ending was forced and rushed . This books started good and it did a good job of world building up to 3/4 of the book but then it all goes south . The characters start acting completely different from how they been behaving before , the book feels rushed and the ending feels superfluous and dubious . I would not recommend this book.
May 4, 2019
RATING: 2 STARS
2015 (UK) and 2016 (North America); William Morrow
For some reason Justine and her family (husband and daughter) are moving to another city, and she is excited to not be working. As we move a few chapters into the book, we find out that Justine's daughter, Ellen is devastated that her friend (that no one knew about) George has been expelled. Also, Ellen has been working day and night on a short story assignment from school. Justine decides to visit the principal and finds out that George doesn't exist. So what does this mean?
Yes, what does this mean???!!! I read FOUR HUNDRED and SIXTY-FOUR pages and I have no clue what happened other than implausible fantasy or crazy Wonderland stuff. I can't even review this book because I don't know what is a spoiler! The positive is that Hannah writes well. After reading more reviews on this book - which are mixed - I think I want to try Hannah's series (Spilling CID) before making decisions on the author. I rarely say don't read the book - I feel like after you read my review you can judge if it's something you want to pursue - but this one I would say...read something else!
***I received an eARC from EDELWEISS***
My Novelesque Blog
2015 (UK) and 2016 (North America); William Morrow
For some reason Justine and her family (husband and daughter) are moving to another city, and she is excited to not be working. As we move a few chapters into the book, we find out that Justine's daughter, Ellen is devastated that her friend (that no one knew about) George has been expelled. Also, Ellen has been working day and night on a short story assignment from school. Justine decides to visit the principal and finds out that George doesn't exist. So what does this mean?
Yes, what does this mean???!!! I read FOUR HUNDRED and SIXTY-FOUR pages and I have no clue what happened other than implausible fantasy or crazy Wonderland stuff. I can't even review this book because I don't know what is a spoiler! The positive is that Hannah writes well. After reading more reviews on this book - which are mixed - I think I want to try Hannah's series (Spilling CID) before making decisions on the author. I rarely say don't read the book - I feel like after you read my review you can judge if it's something you want to pursue - but this one I would say...read something else!
***I received an eARC from EDELWEISS***
My Novelesque Blog
August 28, 2015
The last book of Sophie Hannah's that I've read, Lasting Damage (I've read a couple of her books), was excellent, so as this is her newest book I thought I'd read it.
It was terrible. Justine Merrison, the main character, is rude, immature, and self-righteous. She swears whenever she feels like it, no matter the consequences or the situation; she also feels that, just because her daughter, Ellen, complains about her new best friend. George, being expelled from school, that it's perfectly okay to go into said school and scream at the head to "unexpel" George. Furthermore, Ellen's also pretty rude and arrogant (like her mother), and her father (and Justine's husband) is one dimensional and boring.
There weren't any exciting twists in this book / the person Justine initially suspected of the anonymous threatening calls she had been receiving turns out to be the one doing it, and for the most stupid and unrealistic reasons. All in all, a disappointing read, discouraging me to read any more of Hannah's books.
It was terrible. Justine Merrison, the main character, is rude, immature, and self-righteous. She swears whenever she feels like it, no matter the consequences or the situation; she also feels that, just because her daughter, Ellen, complains about her new best friend. George, being expelled from school, that it's perfectly okay to go into said school and scream at the head to "unexpel" George. Furthermore, Ellen's also pretty rude and arrogant (like her mother), and her father (and Justine's husband) is one dimensional and boring.
There weren't any exciting twists in this book / the person Justine initially suspected of the anonymous threatening calls she had been receiving turns out to be the one doing it, and for the most stupid and unrealistic reasons. All in all, a disappointing read, discouraging me to read any more of Hannah's books.
July 14, 2023
It's the story of a London TV producer who’s retired to Devon to get away from it all is now being terrorized by an unknown someone who offers no name but reveals every fault in the lives of two families, one of them is her own. Another " victim"...an opera singer Alex Colley. While he and his wife slowly move in traffic his wife silently hears in her head... “My name is Justine Merrison and I do "Nothing.” No more early morning meetings, no more dealing with strangers, no more guessing about anything. She doesn't even react with any sense of alarm when Alex teasingly tells her and Ellen, their 14-year-old daughter, that they’ve changed plans and decided to move into a random house he points out on the side of the highway. Noting can disturb her quite selective intensity. Forward...four months: Though, she’s disturbed by a series of calls from a woman she doesn't recognize and who refuses to identify herself, but says she knows why Justine, whom she insists on calling “Sandie,” has moved outside Kingswear. She insists that this "Sandie" go back to London. Ellen seems to have settled into the Beaconwood School. She has written a story about a family whose youngest daughter is a multiple murderer and then becomes a murder victim herself. But Ellen’s "honeymoon" with Beaconwood ends abruptly when her best friend, George Donbavand, is expelled for stealing a coat that she had given him. Things become worse when Justine goes to the school to try to explain that George had been given the coat only to have the head teacher Lesley Griffiths tell her that there ever was a student named Geoge Donbavand. Soon the deepening mystery forces Justine to confront the real reason she had left her old job and her old life in the first place. Plenty of shivery of second sights. Even after the last page ends you won’t soon forget this nightmare within a nightmare.
August 16, 2015
My View:
Unfortunately this was not a book that I particularly enjoyed- in fact I had to force myself to finish reading it, ever the optimist thinking which each page I read it might redeem itself, it didn’t. I loved the premise and the introduction was brilliant…a hint of mystery that needs unravelling, Deja vu perhaps, a little bit eerie. However I was unable to suspend my disbelief and go along with the ridiculousness of the convoluted plot and the only likable character in this book was Figgy the Dog. I really felt like I was sitting round a camp fire, every person in the circle charged with adding more to a story, the story growing weirder, stranger and sillier as it was passed along. This one is not for me but I see others have been enchanted by it. Oh well each to their own.
Unfortunately this was not a book that I particularly enjoyed- in fact I had to force myself to finish reading it, ever the optimist thinking which each page I read it might redeem itself, it didn’t. I loved the premise and the introduction was brilliant…a hint of mystery that needs unravelling, Deja vu perhaps, a little bit eerie. However I was unable to suspend my disbelief and go along with the ridiculousness of the convoluted plot and the only likable character in this book was Figgy the Dog. I really felt like I was sitting round a camp fire, every person in the circle charged with adding more to a story, the story growing weirder, stranger and sillier as it was passed along. This one is not for me but I see others have been enchanted by it. Oh well each to their own.
September 7, 2015
This is the book that I've been waiting for Sophie Hannah to write: an intricate, complex, impossible mystery that seems unsolvable and yet has an utterly logical solution, free from the encumberances of a series
At least, it's nearly that book. It was intriguing, it was compelling, but it wasn't quite as perfect as it might have been - as it needed to be to really work.
The set-up is brilliant:
A family is moving, out of London to a big house set deep in Devon, in the Dart valley. Justine has given up a high-powered media job, and she wants to cut all of her ties with that life. Because her husband, Alex, is a successful opera singer she can do that; and her daughter, Ellen, can be enrolled in an exclusive private school with an excellent reputation.
While the car is moving slowly through congested streets, a suburban house catches Justine's attention, and she knows that - for reasons she doesn't quite understand - it will be important to her. When she explains why she seems distracted, her husband and daughter tease her. She changes the subject, but she doesn't forget.
At first it seems that the move has been a great success, but it isn't long before there are complications.
Justine receives threatening anonymous telephone calls. When a name is mentioned, Justine protests that she isn't that person, that she has no idea who she is. But the caller insists that she is, and every fact that she mention correlates with the facts of her life.
And then Ellen is disturbed when her friend George is expelled from school. She believes that to be unjust, and when she explains why her mother agrees. Justine approaches the school, but she is told that there never was a George, and that there has never been an expulsion. But the way she is told, the way she is handled, make her quite sure that her daughter is right and that the school has something to hide.
She links the school situation and her anonymous calls, and she sets out to find out what is going on. It was classic Sophie Hannah, without the dull detectives, of the Culver Valley, and there was more. There was something else that really elevated this book.
Ellen had a writing project for school. Justine picked up the first few pages, and she found that it was a murder mystery set in their new house. It didn't feel like Ellen's work - not the content, not the style, not the strange names - but she insisted that it was, and she refused to explain or to share any more of her work.
That became a story within a story. And with a touch of the gothic, and a dash of black humour, I have to say that it was a more engaging and more thought-provoking story than Justine's.
I had to keep turning the pages, because the book was so well written, the puzzle was so fascinating, and the characters - though not likeable - were intriguing. I needed answers, I needed to know what was fact and what was fiction, and I needed to work out who - if anyone - was reliable.
There were some answers as the story progressed, but there were more questions.
This is the kind of book where you need to trust the author and accept some things that see ridiculously improbable. I can - and I love the complex puzzle and the twisted logic - but I can understand why many can't and don't. I think that Sophie Hannah's books engage the logical part of my brain that makes me an accountant as well as the part that makes me a reader, and without those two part working together I doubt that the books would work for me.
One character - in Ellen's story - said that the clues were there. They were, and I spotted some of them.
And another character - in Justine's story - said, after something happened, that it made them realise that they would never have answers to some of their questions. I felt like that too, and it was a problem.
Ellen's story was wrapped up very cleverly, but the deouement of Justine's felt messy. It was compelling, it was clever, many questions were answered, but not all of them, and I was left a little disappointed.
It also made me look back and realise that there had been unnecessary details and complications in Justine's story; it wasn't as well executed as her daughter's writing assignment.
I loved my journey through this book, I found much too love, but this time the puzzle was just a little too twisted to be satisfactorily solved.
But I do hope that Sophie Hannah write more stand-alone books, because there is no one else quite like her, and I know that when she gets it just right the results will be truly exceptional.
At least, it's nearly that book. It was intriguing, it was compelling, but it wasn't quite as perfect as it might have been - as it needed to be to really work.
The set-up is brilliant:
A family is moving, out of London to a big house set deep in Devon, in the Dart valley. Justine has given up a high-powered media job, and she wants to cut all of her ties with that life. Because her husband, Alex, is a successful opera singer she can do that; and her daughter, Ellen, can be enrolled in an exclusive private school with an excellent reputation.
While the car is moving slowly through congested streets, a suburban house catches Justine's attention, and she knows that - for reasons she doesn't quite understand - it will be important to her. When she explains why she seems distracted, her husband and daughter tease her. She changes the subject, but she doesn't forget.
At first it seems that the move has been a great success, but it isn't long before there are complications.
Justine receives threatening anonymous telephone calls. When a name is mentioned, Justine protests that she isn't that person, that she has no idea who she is. But the caller insists that she is, and every fact that she mention correlates with the facts of her life.
And then Ellen is disturbed when her friend George is expelled from school. She believes that to be unjust, and when she explains why her mother agrees. Justine approaches the school, but she is told that there never was a George, and that there has never been an expulsion. But the way she is told, the way she is handled, make her quite sure that her daughter is right and that the school has something to hide.
She links the school situation and her anonymous calls, and she sets out to find out what is going on. It was classic Sophie Hannah, without the dull detectives, of the Culver Valley, and there was more. There was something else that really elevated this book.
Ellen had a writing project for school. Justine picked up the first few pages, and she found that it was a murder mystery set in their new house. It didn't feel like Ellen's work - not the content, not the style, not the strange names - but she insisted that it was, and she refused to explain or to share any more of her work.
That became a story within a story. And with a touch of the gothic, and a dash of black humour, I have to say that it was a more engaging and more thought-provoking story than Justine's.
I had to keep turning the pages, because the book was so well written, the puzzle was so fascinating, and the characters - though not likeable - were intriguing. I needed answers, I needed to know what was fact and what was fiction, and I needed to work out who - if anyone - was reliable.
There were some answers as the story progressed, but there were more questions.
This is the kind of book where you need to trust the author and accept some things that see ridiculously improbable. I can - and I love the complex puzzle and the twisted logic - but I can understand why many can't and don't. I think that Sophie Hannah's books engage the logical part of my brain that makes me an accountant as well as the part that makes me a reader, and without those two part working together I doubt that the books would work for me.
One character - in Ellen's story - said that the clues were there. They were, and I spotted some of them.
And another character - in Justine's story - said, after something happened, that it made them realise that they would never have answers to some of their questions. I felt like that too, and it was a problem.
Ellen's story was wrapped up very cleverly, but the deouement of Justine's felt messy. It was compelling, it was clever, many questions were answered, but not all of them, and I was left a little disappointed.
It also made me look back and realise that there had been unnecessary details and complications in Justine's story; it wasn't as well executed as her daughter's writing assignment.
I loved my journey through this book, I found much too love, but this time the puzzle was just a little too twisted to be satisfactorily solved.
But I do hope that Sophie Hannah write more stand-alone books, because there is no one else quite like her, and I know that when she gets it just right the results will be truly exceptional.
November 12, 2020
Justine Merrison, a former television executive, has resigned from her high pressure career and moved to a manor house in Kingswear, Devon with her husband Alex (an opera singer) and her teenage daughter Ellen. This family was very interesting and I loved the parts of the novel in which they featured – in other words the parts that were ‘in the real world’. I enjoyed the part where Justine brings home a Bedlington terrier puppy who is called Figgy. Also, I liked that Justine was newly free of her career and that she felt almost ‘smug’ about her newfound freedom. She is burnt out and craves nothing and she wants to do nothing alone.
The introduction of a mysterious, threatening caller added to the plot immensely. As did the wry humour interspersed within the narrative.
When Ellen is tasked by a teacher to write a story, she and her best friend George decide to swap stories. True stories. She tells him the story of how her mother left her job in London and he tells her his family story as told to him by his mother. It is this story that comprises the second storyline throughout the novel. At first I enjoyed it, but then I became more and more unhappy as it became more complicated and convoluted.
The narrative delves so deeply into Ellen’s story that it eventually crosses over into the main plot – and there is where I began to feel disappointed…
This is a novel which examines truthfulness and falsehood. Lies. Lies we tell others and those we tell ourselves. How chilling it is to believe one’s own lies…
Firstly I have to say that I’ve read several of Sophie Hannah’s novels AND that I have enjoyed each and every one. Her mastery of the written word and the essence of the mystery novel is top notch. It is for this reason that I requested “A game for all the family” from Edelweiss. This novel, though as well written as her others, did not fulfill my expectations and I think that is because I found the dual storyline just too ‘over-the-top’ for my full enjoyment. Sophie Hannah has an imagination that is unsurpassed, but this time her novel was just too far-fetched. Sadly, the ending was a let-down as well.
I will read further novels from Sophie Hannah as I enjoy her narrative style and genre.
The introduction of a mysterious, threatening caller added to the plot immensely. As did the wry humour interspersed within the narrative.
When Ellen is tasked by a teacher to write a story, she and her best friend George decide to swap stories. True stories. She tells him the story of how her mother left her job in London and he tells her his family story as told to him by his mother. It is this story that comprises the second storyline throughout the novel. At first I enjoyed it, but then I became more and more unhappy as it became more complicated and convoluted.
The narrative delves so deeply into Ellen’s story that it eventually crosses over into the main plot – and there is where I began to feel disappointed…
This is a novel which examines truthfulness and falsehood. Lies. Lies we tell others and those we tell ourselves. How chilling it is to believe one’s own lies…
Firstly I have to say that I’ve read several of Sophie Hannah’s novels AND that I have enjoyed each and every one. Her mastery of the written word and the essence of the mystery novel is top notch. It is for this reason that I requested “A game for all the family” from Edelweiss. This novel, though as well written as her others, did not fulfill my expectations and I think that is because I found the dual storyline just too ‘over-the-top’ for my full enjoyment. Sophie Hannah has an imagination that is unsurpassed, but this time her novel was just too far-fetched. Sadly, the ending was a let-down as well.
I will read further novels from Sophie Hannah as I enjoy her narrative style and genre.
June 25, 2016
I only kept reading this book because I paid a lot for it (I ordered a signed first edition from the UK), based on the advertising blurb. It started out well, but....this is a really strange book and I found it to be more fairy tale than thriller. I know that fiction has to have some "unreality" to it or else it is not fiction, however, much of this book is implausible. To give a few examples that really bugged me:
1) Justine, the main character, is intrigued by a home she passes by when leaving London for good. She then through a variety of circumstances adopts a dog from the owner (a dog breeder) and eventually becomes her friend. Further, she calls on the woman (who is not yet a dear friend) to shelter Justine and her family from a potential stalker and the woman takes them in.
2) The teens in this story exchange text in language indicative of 1800's. What gives?
3) The school head-mistress provides Justine with ample personal information about another family. This would never happen.
4) One of the families which is key to the plot raises three daughters: one is raised strictly, another in a laissez-faire manner and the other somewhere in-between. I can't imagine this ever happening.
5) One of the "mysterious" murder victims is actually a dog. Another is murdered and then tucked into a bed near a wharf. The murderer had to move the victim and the bed in the dead of night.
I could go on with more examples, but I won't bother. I would not recommend this book. There are more interesting thrillers out there.
1) Justine, the main character, is intrigued by a home she passes by when leaving London for good. She then through a variety of circumstances adopts a dog from the owner (a dog breeder) and eventually becomes her friend. Further, she calls on the woman (who is not yet a dear friend) to shelter Justine and her family from a potential stalker and the woman takes them in.
2) The teens in this story exchange text in language indicative of 1800's. What gives?
3) The school head-mistress provides Justine with ample personal information about another family. This would never happen.
4) One of the families which is key to the plot raises three daughters: one is raised strictly, another in a laissez-faire manner and the other somewhere in-between. I can't imagine this ever happening.
5) One of the "mysterious" murder victims is actually a dog. Another is murdered and then tucked into a bed near a wharf. The murderer had to move the victim and the bed in the dead of night.
I could go on with more examples, but I won't bother. I would not recommend this book. There are more interesting thrillers out there.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 8, 2018
Esta novela es un Thriller (malisimo) que da comienzo cuando Justine, descubre en los deberes de su hija Ellen, unos escritos sobre un asesinato, una historia que parece implicarla a ella y a su familia. Asustada por el comportamiento anormal de su hija, empieza a investigar a la par que recibe misteriosas llamadas anónimas.
La historia combina la parte narrativa con los escritos de Ellen. Cuenta con una narración rara y algo lenta. El comportamiento de los personajes no es usual, especialmente el de Justine, que desde el minuto uno me pareció una exagerada paranoica. No he conectado en absoluto y encima no sorprende ni lo más mínimo. En serio, he odiado el libro.
Digamos que es el típico estilo TeleFilm de fin de semana, exorbitante, pueril y malogrado.
La historia combina la parte narrativa con los escritos de Ellen. Cuenta con una narración rara y algo lenta. El comportamiento de los personajes no es usual, especialmente el de Justine, que desde el minuto uno me pareció una exagerada paranoica. No he conectado en absoluto y encima no sorprende ni lo más mínimo. En serio, he odiado el libro.
Digamos que es el típico estilo TeleFilm de fin de semana, exorbitante, pueril y malogrado.
September 19, 2017
Shoot. I really wanted to like this book. I struggled to hang because I thought the author was messing with my head and she'd pull things together in the end. Nope. Didn't happen and I'm sad about it. I don't know. Maybe psychological thrillers just aren't my thing. No. On second thought, I'm not taking this one. Darn it, Sophie Hannah, what happened, girl?
June 28, 2015
This is a stand-alone book from Sophie Hannah, a woman who creates stories using the most unlikely but not, unbelievable, disturbances of the mind.
On the way to their new home in Devon, the Merrison family; Justine, Alex and Ellen spot a house that resonates inside Justine for no apparent meaning. Justine has just left the world of TV drama and is determined to spend her days doing nothing. Ellen is enrolled into a quirky private school and Alex will continue to sing in Operas around the world.
All goes well, the ugly house is more or less forgotten and for the first couple of months the move out of London to Devon proves to be a good one. But then Ellen becomes withdrawn and secretive. Ah but she’s fourteen, so nothing too out of the ordinary! Ellen is spending all of her time working on a story she’s writing for an English assignment and when Justine finds the first couple of pages she’s alarmed. It is very well-written, set in their new house and has more than one murder! Around the same time Ellen becomes distressed about her friend George Donbavand who has been expelled from school for a crime he hasn’t committed. Justine visits the school and is told that George never existed!
This book had me totally confused but in an enthralled way. It is a puzzle where you have to decide who, and what to believe, and the author does a good job of making that path as murky as possible with each possible scenario being equally unlikely: if George doesn’t exist does that mean Ellen has invented him? Why? If he does exist why would the head-teacher deny his existence? And this is just the beginning!
Ellen’s writing assignment forms a story within a story, featuring a peculiar family, the Bascom’s, with their oddly named children, is well-written and entertaining (it is rare for a psychological thriller that has me sniggering in places) and although the reason for its inclusion isn’t immediately apparent (or for quite some time) I promise it all eventually does become clear.
I think it is essential that you read this book with the mind-set that you will go with the flow! I was slightly concerned when I got half-way through and was absolutely loving the ride but still had absolutely no idea what was going on, let alone where the solution to the puzzle was hiding. Fortunately Sophie Hannah weaves a wonderful tale, with interesting, if not likeable characters to stem my impatience. This is a book that raises more questions than it answers, has you believing, unbelievable events, and is populated by the most untrustworthy bunch of characters that you are ever likely to meet.
I loved it! It is a clever book, but not too complex (it didn’t make my brain hurt too much), the clues are there and this little detective actually managed to provide at least part of the solution once I’d found the question!
For readers who like their psychological mysteries to be something different, who don’t mind reading a story where you have to put your trust in the author that you will, once you’ve finished, be able to work out what all those entertaining words added up to, this is a fantastic read. This is a book of extreme psychological disorders, both in Ellen’s assignment and in Justine’s life. Justine’s life of doing nothing is punctuated with threatening phone calls, anonymous notes and graves being dug for her and her family causing distress and causing Justine to spend her days investigating who is out to get her, but much more importantly why?
I’d like to say a huge thank you to Lovereading who provided me with a copy of this book to review prior to its publication on 13 August 2015, another definite entry into the best reads of 2015, quirky, inventive and original. I was already a fan of Sophie Hannah’s and this is definitely her best book to date.
On the way to their new home in Devon, the Merrison family; Justine, Alex and Ellen spot a house that resonates inside Justine for no apparent meaning. Justine has just left the world of TV drama and is determined to spend her days doing nothing. Ellen is enrolled into a quirky private school and Alex will continue to sing in Operas around the world.
All goes well, the ugly house is more or less forgotten and for the first couple of months the move out of London to Devon proves to be a good one. But then Ellen becomes withdrawn and secretive. Ah but she’s fourteen, so nothing too out of the ordinary! Ellen is spending all of her time working on a story she’s writing for an English assignment and when Justine finds the first couple of pages she’s alarmed. It is very well-written, set in their new house and has more than one murder! Around the same time Ellen becomes distressed about her friend George Donbavand who has been expelled from school for a crime he hasn’t committed. Justine visits the school and is told that George never existed!
This book had me totally confused but in an enthralled way. It is a puzzle where you have to decide who, and what to believe, and the author does a good job of making that path as murky as possible with each possible scenario being equally unlikely: if George doesn’t exist does that mean Ellen has invented him? Why? If he does exist why would the head-teacher deny his existence? And this is just the beginning!
Ellen’s writing assignment forms a story within a story, featuring a peculiar family, the Bascom’s, with their oddly named children, is well-written and entertaining (it is rare for a psychological thriller that has me sniggering in places) and although the reason for its inclusion isn’t immediately apparent (or for quite some time) I promise it all eventually does become clear.
I think it is essential that you read this book with the mind-set that you will go with the flow! I was slightly concerned when I got half-way through and was absolutely loving the ride but still had absolutely no idea what was going on, let alone where the solution to the puzzle was hiding. Fortunately Sophie Hannah weaves a wonderful tale, with interesting, if not likeable characters to stem my impatience. This is a book that raises more questions than it answers, has you believing, unbelievable events, and is populated by the most untrustworthy bunch of characters that you are ever likely to meet.
I loved it! It is a clever book, but not too complex (it didn’t make my brain hurt too much), the clues are there and this little detective actually managed to provide at least part of the solution once I’d found the question!
For readers who like their psychological mysteries to be something different, who don’t mind reading a story where you have to put your trust in the author that you will, once you’ve finished, be able to work out what all those entertaining words added up to, this is a fantastic read. This is a book of extreme psychological disorders, both in Ellen’s assignment and in Justine’s life. Justine’s life of doing nothing is punctuated with threatening phone calls, anonymous notes and graves being dug for her and her family causing distress and causing Justine to spend her days investigating who is out to get her, but much more importantly why?
I’d like to say a huge thank you to Lovereading who provided me with a copy of this book to review prior to its publication on 13 August 2015, another definite entry into the best reads of 2015, quirky, inventive and original. I was already a fan of Sophie Hannah’s and this is definitely her best book to date.
November 27, 2018
I cannot emphasize enough how much I hated this book. I cannot believe this book got published!
The characters in this poorly conceived, purposely tedious monstrosity are universally obnoxious. The main character, Justine, delights in acting superior to everyone around her. Her husband is one-dimensional and ineffective and her daughter Ellen acts just as poorly as her mother.
The action in this book is full of those tedious little red herrings that become so obvious once you've read a lot of mysteries. They do nothing to drive the action forward and instead weigh the book down. Same with the names in the subplot: Sorrel, Bascom, Lisette, Allisande, and Perrine. They just distract from the story. In fact, it is mentioned several times that perhaps these names are anagrams for something more, but nope! Just weird names.
The ending, however, was so fantastical and unbelievable I cannot believe it made it through an editor. One is supposed to believe that a highly respected university professor spends most of her life traveling for work and being a tremendous success in her field, but has an entire double-life as a sociopath. A sociopath who purposely locks her children up and refuses them a life (literally she locks them in the house) because she claims she is being stalked. She is so terrifying in this claim that everyone around her is far too scared to contradict or question her story. She estranges herself from her parents and sibling and her husband, the school administrators, and her children all go along with her claims to be harassed/stalked without questioning her or even googling her story. Yet it all unravels once brilliant Justine enters the scene, and discovers that Anne's claims are all in her head. Anne believes she is a member of an entirely different family, a family with a murderess for a sister. Why, you ask, would a woman subject her family to such abject torture? What would cause her brain to splinter and cause her to believe she is someone else entirely, someone being stalked? Someone who fears for her life and for the life of her family, which causes her to then stalk and harass others? BECAUSE WHEN SHE WAS YOUNG HER PARENTS HAD TO GIVE AWAY THE FAMILY DOG DUE TO HER SISTER'S ALLERGIES. Are you kidding me? I teach Creative Writing to high school students and if someone came to me with an ending this fantastically stupid I would fail them.
The only good thing about this book I have finally learned my lesson with Sophie Hannah books: never again.
The characters in this poorly conceived, purposely tedious monstrosity are universally obnoxious. The main character, Justine, delights in acting superior to everyone around her. Her husband is one-dimensional and ineffective and her daughter Ellen acts just as poorly as her mother.
The action in this book is full of those tedious little red herrings that become so obvious once you've read a lot of mysteries. They do nothing to drive the action forward and instead weigh the book down. Same with the names in the subplot: Sorrel, Bascom, Lisette, Allisande, and Perrine. They just distract from the story. In fact, it is mentioned several times that perhaps these names are anagrams for something more, but nope! Just weird names.
The ending, however, was so fantastical and unbelievable I cannot believe it made it through an editor. One is supposed to believe that a highly respected university professor spends most of her life traveling for work and being a tremendous success in her field, but has an entire double-life as a sociopath. A sociopath who purposely locks her children up and refuses them a life (literally she locks them in the house) because she claims she is being stalked. She is so terrifying in this claim that everyone around her is far too scared to contradict or question her story. She estranges herself from her parents and sibling and her husband, the school administrators, and her children all go along with her claims to be harassed/stalked without questioning her or even googling her story. Yet it all unravels once brilliant Justine enters the scene, and discovers that Anne's claims are all in her head. Anne believes she is a member of an entirely different family, a family with a murderess for a sister. Why, you ask, would a woman subject her family to such abject torture? What would cause her brain to splinter and cause her to believe she is someone else entirely, someone being stalked? Someone who fears for her life and for the life of her family, which causes her to then stalk and harass others? BECAUSE WHEN SHE WAS YOUNG HER PARENTS HAD TO GIVE AWAY THE FAMILY DOG DUE TO HER SISTER'S ALLERGIES. Are you kidding me? I teach Creative Writing to high school students and if someone came to me with an ending this fantastically stupid I would fail them.
The only good thing about this book I have finally learned my lesson with Sophie Hannah books: never again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 31, 2015
I really don't know what to say about this book. It has to be one of the most strangest books I have ever read.
To start with I have to say I did struggle to get into it. The story flicks between Justine and her family and the story of another family where some very strange murders have occurred. I was really struggling with the concept of the book and to be honest I really thought I wasn't going to like it.
Then came a part where Justine finds herself under protest, becoming the owner of a new puppy called Figgy Pudding and from that moment I was hooked. I have no idea why it was this part in particular, for one I just loved the dogs name and was wanting to rush out and get myself a puppy to give the same name, but obviously that would not be a good idea at all. On reflection I can only say that this is when the story all started to fall into place for me and it started to make sense.
A Game For All The Family is a great title for this book and it felt like the author was playing with my mind. At times I did not know whether I was coming or going there are many twists and surprises and it certainly keeps you on your toes.
Towards the end I couldn't put the book down I had to know how it all ended and the author did not disappoint in messing with my head right up until the very end.
There are quite a few complex characters in the story which just adds to the addictiveness of this book, it may have taken me awhile but once it had drawn me in it just chewed me up and then spat me out at the end. I am still in two minds as to whether it is just one of the most disturbed books I have ever read or one of pure genius but at the time of writing this review I am going with the latter.
A seriously twisted book which will totally mess with your head and one that by the end I would highly recommend.
Many thanks to Bookbridgr and Karen at Hodder & Stoughton for a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
To start with I have to say I did struggle to get into it. The story flicks between Justine and her family and the story of another family where some very strange murders have occurred. I was really struggling with the concept of the book and to be honest I really thought I wasn't going to like it.
Then came a part where Justine finds herself under protest, becoming the owner of a new puppy called Figgy Pudding and from that moment I was hooked. I have no idea why it was this part in particular, for one I just loved the dogs name and was wanting to rush out and get myself a puppy to give the same name, but obviously that would not be a good idea at all. On reflection I can only say that this is when the story all started to fall into place for me and it started to make sense.
A Game For All The Family is a great title for this book and it felt like the author was playing with my mind. At times I did not know whether I was coming or going there are many twists and surprises and it certainly keeps you on your toes.
Towards the end I couldn't put the book down I had to know how it all ended and the author did not disappoint in messing with my head right up until the very end.
There are quite a few complex characters in the story which just adds to the addictiveness of this book, it may have taken me awhile but once it had drawn me in it just chewed me up and then spat me out at the end. I am still in two minds as to whether it is just one of the most disturbed books I have ever read or one of pure genius but at the time of writing this review I am going with the latter.
A seriously twisted book which will totally mess with your head and one that by the end I would highly recommend.
Many thanks to Bookbridgr and Karen at Hodder & Stoughton for a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
August 24, 2017
Justine moves away from London and her lucrative career in TV. She strives to do Nothing (she's actually a newly SAHM, but her daughter is in high school), but instead she stumbles into a strange, dangerous game with someone who insists on calling her by a different name, and warns her to move back to London, or Justine and her family will regret it.
In the meantime, Justine's daughter, Ellen, seems to be unraveling. There is doubt cast upon everyone, including Ellen's teachers, and even Justine herself. There's also a very elaborate story within a story. I've read reviews that you need to suspend your disbelief when you step into the world of this book, and that's true -- there were some scenes that made me want to shout, "Don't do that! Why are you doing that??" But all in all, it was an entertaining and compelling thriller, and I found it hard to put "A Game For All the Family" down.
In the meantime, Justine's daughter, Ellen, seems to be unraveling. There is doubt cast upon everyone, including Ellen's teachers, and even Justine herself. There's also a very elaborate story within a story. I've read reviews that you need to suspend your disbelief when you step into the world of this book, and that's true -- there were some scenes that made me want to shout, "Don't do that! Why are you doing that??" But all in all, it was an entertaining and compelling thriller, and I found it hard to put "A Game For All the Family" down.
November 1, 2016
Maybe my expectations were too high, but I didn't like this book nearly as much as I thought I would. The story started out well enough, and I was curious enough to finish it. But I could set it aside easily to do almost anything else. Unusual for me and not the sign of a compelling read. I couldn't make myself care enough about Justine, the main character, and I think it was because her reactions to events were implausible, or at least they were to me. Plus the whole premise of the similarity between her daughter's fictional story and her daughter's boyfriend's real family was just too far fetched. The way Justine went about investigating the possibilities had me rolling my eyes.
January 10, 2016
"Un juego para toda la familia" (Roca editorial) es un thriller que nos presenta no una, si no dos tramas llenas de misterio por todas partes. Todo empieza cuando Justine, la protagonista desde cuyo punto de vista está contada la historia, Leer reseña completa
March 5, 2016
The conclusion to this book was an absolute joke. What a waste of time!
I don't know why I keep bothering with Sophie Hannah, it's the same thing every time...a compelling read with a ridiculous conclusion that renders the entire book a massive disappointment.
I don't know why I keep bothering with Sophie Hannah, it's the same thing every time...a compelling read with a ridiculous conclusion that renders the entire book a massive disappointment.
Read
December 6, 2015Every time I finish a Sophie Hannah book I tell myself I'm never picking up another one as I don't get on with them and really struggle. Whoever writes the blurbs are geniuses because whenever I read one I always want to read the book! A Game For All The Family was no different; intriguing blurb but let down of a novel.
Full of irritating characters; Justine, Alex, Ellen, the police officers, the teachers, Olwyn. Every single character really wound me up and I didn't care about any of them.
Initially I really enjoyed the alternative story about the Ingrey family, but after a while even that got on my nerves.
Full of irritating characters; Justine, Alex, Ellen, the police officers, the teachers, Olwyn. Every single character really wound me up and I didn't care about any of them.
Initially I really enjoyed the alternative story about the Ingrey family, but after a while even that got on my nerves.
March 26, 2016
Tan difícil es hacer una novela de misterio buena? o será que es el género preferido de los novelistas principiantes y marketineros y por eso no suelen resultar bien?
Hasta la mitad el libro es super adictivo, realmente logra que quieras saber qué pasa. Pero finalmente la resolución es tan...tan. ...sosa , simple y a la vez inverosímil que cuesta creer que alguien lo haya escrito pensando que sería un buen final.
Malo. Bien malo. Le pongo 2 estrellas sólo por la primera mitad...
Hasta la mitad el libro es super adictivo, realmente logra que quieras saber qué pasa. Pero finalmente la resolución es tan...tan. ...sosa , simple y a la vez inverosímil que cuesta creer que alguien lo haya escrito pensando que sería un buen final.
Malo. Bien malo. Le pongo 2 estrellas sólo por la primera mitad...
February 21, 2016
Utterly bizarre & ridiculous in equal measures. Full of plot holes, ridiculous scenarios and characters that just don't exist in real life. A few loose threads weren't tied up, possibly because the author conceived of so many contrived & improbable scenarios that she lost track.
I've read most of Hanna's novels but think I'll call it a day with this one. What drivel.
I've read most of Hanna's novels but think I'll call it a day with this one. What drivel.
April 8, 2016
I spent two thirds of this book intrigued about where it was going. Transpires it was to the most ridiculous, unbelievable conclusion possible. I'm not against daft thrillers but this ended up just being irritating. And thinking about it, it does seem that Sophie Hannah has a real problem knowing how to finish a book as they all end with a fairly abrupt conclusion.
February 28, 2016
This will be my last Sphie Hannah. It contained a story within the story device which just meant the book is two tedious stories. There wasn't much suspense and I found myself not caring at all who did what or what the resolution was.
February 22, 2019
4.5 stars
I became an instant fan of Sophie Hannah immediately after reading Keep Her Safe and knew that she was a talented author. Every single one of her books is just amazing and to also be able to take on the new Hercule Poirot series, I mean how genius is she? Not anyone can pull off Agatha Christie. So when I saw this book for 8$ on the shelves I knew I had to buy it and I was not disappointed at all.
This really was the novel I was looking for this year and so far it’s been my favourite read of the year. It’s amazing how Sophie can delve into the minds of people and just play with them.
Justine and her family have moved to a new area. One day her daughter Ellen tells her that her friend George has been expelled for stealing her coat even though she gave it to him. Justine goes down there to talk to the headmaster only to find out that there I no George. There never was a student named George attending Ellen’s school. At the same time, she is getting threatening calls from a woman calling her “Sandie” and telling her and her family to leave before she kills them all. Is George real? Who is the woman? Who is Sandie? What is real?
So very brilliant and I’m just so excited that I picked this novel up! Never in a million years would have I guessed this plot. It was so complex and it had me turning page after page after page. I could not get enough! Between the threatening calls and Ellen and her so called friend George, I didn’t know what was going to happen next. Is Ellen going crazy? Is there really a George?
Justine’s character was just phenomenal. She did not stop until she found the answers she was looking for. She was one determined mother! I loved everything about her character and she was just so entertaining to read about!
I loved the twists. Hannah puts the psycho and logical in psychological. That’s all I’m saying. The rest is for you to uncover.
This is a must read! Sophie Hannah is one author to watch out for! Going to find another Hannah book to read!
I became an instant fan of Sophie Hannah immediately after reading Keep Her Safe and knew that she was a talented author. Every single one of her books is just amazing and to also be able to take on the new Hercule Poirot series, I mean how genius is she? Not anyone can pull off Agatha Christie. So when I saw this book for 8$ on the shelves I knew I had to buy it and I was not disappointed at all.
This really was the novel I was looking for this year and so far it’s been my favourite read of the year. It’s amazing how Sophie can delve into the minds of people and just play with them.
Justine and her family have moved to a new area. One day her daughter Ellen tells her that her friend George has been expelled for stealing her coat even though she gave it to him. Justine goes down there to talk to the headmaster only to find out that there I no George. There never was a student named George attending Ellen’s school. At the same time, she is getting threatening calls from a woman calling her “Sandie” and telling her and her family to leave before she kills them all. Is George real? Who is the woman? Who is Sandie? What is real?
So very brilliant and I’m just so excited that I picked this novel up! Never in a million years would have I guessed this plot. It was so complex and it had me turning page after page after page. I could not get enough! Between the threatening calls and Ellen and her so called friend George, I didn’t know what was going to happen next. Is Ellen going crazy? Is there really a George?
Justine’s character was just phenomenal. She did not stop until she found the answers she was looking for. She was one determined mother! I loved everything about her character and she was just so entertaining to read about!
I loved the twists. Hannah puts the psycho and logical in psychological. That’s all I’m saying. The rest is for you to uncover.
This is a must read! Sophie Hannah is one author to watch out for! Going to find another Hannah book to read!
June 14, 2016
A Game For All The Family is a very psychological, plot thickening mystery filled with twists and even has a second narrative going on throughout.
The story follows Justine Merrison as her family is moving to a new house in Devon to get away from her old life and career in TV drama production that nearly destroyed her. What happened in London to make Justine so desperate to get away? We are left wondering, while all we know for sure is that now Justine literally wants to spend her days doing nothing. Justine’s husband, Alex, is an opera singer that travels very often leaving Justine home with their 14 year old daughter, Ellen. Justine takes notice that Ellen has been acting strange, withdrawn, secretive, and not her usual self. When she finally gets an explanation out of Ellen as to why she has been acting so odd, she says that her friend George has been expelled from school for simply borrowing her coat and being accused of stealing it. Reasonably so this upsets Ellen, so Justine goes to her school in an attempt to sort it out and get George un-expelled. Oddly, the school insists George never even existed. Is Justine’s daughter making it all up? She has never been known to do this sort of thing, but she has been acting odd..
In the meantime, Justine had also began receiving anonymous threatening phone calls. The calls are a woman that Justine has never heard in her life, even though the caller insists she knows Justine. This continues to get more and more mysterious.
On top of all that, Ellen has been writing a fictional story for class that Justine finds unusual. It is a murder mystery featuring an odd family with the most peculiar names. The story continues throughout the book giving us an additional chapter every so often. It isn’t immediately clear what the significance of Ellen’s story is until a bit later in the book, but it is a very entertaining narrative. In fact, it may have been my favorite part of the story.
Clearly there is a lot going on in this book with what seems to be a few different mysteries. It does all come together at one point, although it isn’t as complicated to figure out as I would have hoped. The story gets quite psychological throughout and never lets down on that note. Sophie Hannah gave us quite a clever story here that ties everything up quite neatly by the end.
I would recommend to fans of psychological thrillers, mysteries, and really twisty books.
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. My review is in no way influenced and is my honest opinion. Thank you to HarperCollins.
The story follows Justine Merrison as her family is moving to a new house in Devon to get away from her old life and career in TV drama production that nearly destroyed her. What happened in London to make Justine so desperate to get away? We are left wondering, while all we know for sure is that now Justine literally wants to spend her days doing nothing. Justine’s husband, Alex, is an opera singer that travels very often leaving Justine home with their 14 year old daughter, Ellen. Justine takes notice that Ellen has been acting strange, withdrawn, secretive, and not her usual self. When she finally gets an explanation out of Ellen as to why she has been acting so odd, she says that her friend George has been expelled from school for simply borrowing her coat and being accused of stealing it. Reasonably so this upsets Ellen, so Justine goes to her school in an attempt to sort it out and get George un-expelled. Oddly, the school insists George never even existed. Is Justine’s daughter making it all up? She has never been known to do this sort of thing, but she has been acting odd..
In the meantime, Justine had also began receiving anonymous threatening phone calls. The calls are a woman that Justine has never heard in her life, even though the caller insists she knows Justine. This continues to get more and more mysterious.
On top of all that, Ellen has been writing a fictional story for class that Justine finds unusual. It is a murder mystery featuring an odd family with the most peculiar names. The story continues throughout the book giving us an additional chapter every so often. It isn’t immediately clear what the significance of Ellen’s story is until a bit later in the book, but it is a very entertaining narrative. In fact, it may have been my favorite part of the story.
Clearly there is a lot going on in this book with what seems to be a few different mysteries. It does all come together at one point, although it isn’t as complicated to figure out as I would have hoped. The story gets quite psychological throughout and never lets down on that note. Sophie Hannah gave us quite a clever story here that ties everything up quite neatly by the end.
I would recommend to fans of psychological thrillers, mysteries, and really twisty books.
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. My review is in no way influenced and is my honest opinion. Thank you to HarperCollins.
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