The Book:
The Wrong Family by Tarryn Fisher, 2020
The Characters:
Winnie and Nigel Crouch and their son Sam
Juno, who is staying in the Crouch’s house
Get it on Amazon.
The Plot (from Goodreads):
Juno was wrong about Winnie Crouch.
Before moving in with the Crouch family, Juno thought Winnie and her husband, Nigel, had the perfect marriage, the perfect son—the perfect life. Only now that she’s living in their beautiful house, she sees the cracks in the crumbling facade are too deep to ignore.
Still, she isn’t one to judge. After her grim diagnosis, the retired therapist simply wants a place to live out the rest of her days in peace. But that peace is shattered the day Juno overhears a chilling conversation between Winnie and Nigel…
She shouldn’t get involved.
She really shouldn’t.
But this could be her chance to make a few things right.
Because if you thought Juno didn’t have a secret of her own, then you were wrong about her, too.
The Twist:
Juno was homeless and the Crouches didn’t know she was staying in their house. She made a home in their crawlspace and would help herself to their house when they were out.
Juno suspects that Winnie had stolen Sam as a baby. She begins sending Winnie hints that someone knows, letters and newsclippings and things.
Winnie had not stolen Sam, but she did have questionable actions in her past. She was a social worker–one of her charges, a young homeless girl, got pregnant and wanted to keep the baby. She had the baby in a tent, and called Winnie when things went wrong. Trying to save the baby, Winnie took it and was on her way to the hospital when she got in a car accident. The baby died. Nigel buried the baby under their house, and they never turned it in.
The baby’s grandmother showed up looking for her grandson, after Juno insinuated that Winnie had him.
Winnie’s brother Dakota showed up to their house to try to kill Nigel and Winnie for turning on him. He killed Nigel and the baby’s grandmother, who was unfortunately present at the wrong time. Juno came upstairs to try to help. Dakota chased her into the crawlspace, where she somehow managed to kill him.
The Ending:
Juno later died in the crawlspace. Winnie and Sam moved away, and the next owners found three dead bodies (Dakota, Juno, and the infant) under their house.
The Review:
I thought the premise of this book was amazing and so creepy. The first few chapters are very well written, as you begin to make assumptions and they are quickly dashed away. I could feel Winnie’s discomfort at the fact that someone had been in her bedroom uninvited.
I loved Juno’s character, but can’t go into why without spoilers. Her story was extremely interesting, and she was one of the best characters I’ve read in a while. She had the exact amount of depth I look for in a main character. While I can’t relate to her experiences, I found her thought processes to be understandable. She definitely overstepped some boundaries, but she did so with good intentions or for self preservation.
I thought the plot was going to come to a head in a different way that it did and while I was surprised, I was also disappointed. I think I wanted more conflict from the ending.
Overall though, the story was entertaining and creepy, and will definitely make readers want to check their closets and under their beds before they go to sleep. I liked The Wives more but still found The Wrong Family very interesting, and will definitely keep an eye out for any future books by this author.
