The Family Holiday by Shalini Boland
Genre: Domestic thriller, Psychological thriller, Suspense
Read: 29th March 2022
Audio links:
Published: 29th March 2022
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
Two families. One house swap. A vacation to die for.
The white-washed Italian villa is perfect. I thought it might feel odd, living in a stranger’s house for the summer, but as my husband and children swim in the infinity pool, I start to relax. And then, in the back of a wardrobe, I find a photograph that shatters everything…
Sparkling green eyes, square jaw, lopsided smile. A young man with his arm around a beautiful woman. The picture is old and faded but I’d recognise him anywhere. The man is my husband.
But we’ve never met the family we’ve swapped homes with and my husband swears it isn’t him in the photo. He’s lying. We argue on the balcony with the sun setting behind us and I storm out.
When I finally calm down enough to go back to the villa to confront him, I find him sprawled across the veranda… dead.
Why would someone kill my husband? Am I in danger? And how well did I really know the man I married?
MY REVIEW:
I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Shalini Boland's tense domestic thriller THE FAMILY HOLIDAY.
One can always count of Shalini Boland to produce an exciting and riveting read from start to finish that readers won't want to put down. I've said it before and I'll say it again...there is no such thing as a bad Shalini book, even those that aren't as good as some of her others. They all have the ability to keep readers glue to the page and to their seats as they swipe to the speed of light. THE FAMILY HOLIDAY was no exception. In fact it is indeed one of her better thrillers as there are three categories to Shalini's books - good, brilliant and bloody brilliant/what the hell did I just read! She just doesn't do "terrible" or "boring"...I don't think she knows how. She is, by far, one of my go-to authors that I never read the description before grabbing the book. I just know it's going to be a hell of a ride.
But I digress...so what does Shalini offer this time round?
Two families. One house swap. A vacation to die for...literally!
Beth and Niall haven't enjoyed a holiday since their first child was a baby, and even then Beth spent most of her time in the hotel room caring for her sick child. Niall is successful author of an historical fantasy series, which he falls back on as his excuse for leaving everything else up to Beth, despite her desire to rekindle her career as a chef and one day open her own restaurant. No, in Niall's mind, Beth's place is in the home caring for their children, Connor (12) and Liam (6), and keeping house in their beautiful 18th century thatched cottage in Dorset. Besides, he justifies, he earns enough to keep them all. He just needs the peace and quiet to write.
So when he pops the idea of a house swap holiday on Beth she is, at first, stunned. They haven't had a holiday in forever. It would be nice but living in someone else's home while they live in their's for the duration? I know I wouldn't like it so I'm not sure why Beth thought it a good idea once she warmed to it. Maybe it was the fact Niall glammed it up as a beautiful villa in Italy which was a far cry from their draughty cottage. Besides, sunshine and swimming...how could she resist?
Amber and Renzo live in a huge state of the art whitewashed Italian villa on the Amalfi coast with all the mod cons and a stunning infinity pool with their eleven year old son Franco and five year old daughter Flora. When they decide to do a house swap with another family swapping their stunning villa for a cosy English cottage, Amber and Renzo think it's the perfect opportunity to aquaint their children with their English roots.
Sounds perfect. What could go wrong?
Beth has been looking forward to a well deserved holiday and it couldn't come sooner as once again she is left to do everything - pack for the four of them and organise the airfares - while Niall locks himself away in his study with another book in the works. Of course, he tosses out almost everything Beth has set aside for him to pack which wouldn't have been a problem if he had packed a week ago when she had asked him to. But Niall, the selfish prat, has no time for little things like that when he has book to write. When the family finally leave their house (in immaculate condition for the impending arrival of Amber and Renzo), Beth breathes a sigh of relief. However, that is short lived when Niall abandons them at the airport for some "peace and quiet" instead of dining with his family before boarding the plane. For someone who supposedly adores their family he spends a lot of time ignoring Beth and palming their children off to her to deal with.
If Beth thought things could only get better once they arrive at the villa, she was sadly mistaken. As soon as they step foot on Italian soil, things just go from bad to worse. From trivial occurrences to "things that go bump in the night" and far more scarier happenings. The family holiday Beth had hoped would put their marriage back on an even keel just seems to drown the couple as they find themselves in the proverbial leaky boat.
Meanwhile in the UK, Amber is far from enjoying her holiday either. Especially when Beth's busybody neighbour keeps sticking her beak in and making a veritable nuisance of herself. Does the woman have no life that she must bother their's? And can she not take a hint to go back to her own dreary cottage and leave them to enjoy their holiday in Beth's? Apparently not.
Then the discovery of a photograph sends Beth's world into a tailspin. Although she talks herself down into something innocent, another startling revelation brings it all crashing down.
And then one of them turns up dead.
And just like that, the perfect family holiday turns into a perfect nightmare...
Told through the alternating perspectives of Beth and Amber, the story gradually unfolds and the bigger picture becomes startingly clearer. Though Beth has most of the narrative, we do get snippets from Amber throughout.
So while I loved this fast paced thriller, I didn't warm to any of the characters very much. None of them were all that likeable and all of them had something to hide. Beth was sweet but honestly stupid. Her acceptance of her husband's appalling behaviour had me wanting to shake the stupid out of her! In what world is it OK to treat your wife as a doormat, patronising her in a tone so condescending and she laps it up for fear of his angry reaction? And how is it OK to leave your wife dealing with tired hungry children while you go off to enjoy a meal in peace? My goodness, Niall was a condescending selfish prat I just wanted to Will Smith slap him! As if his career as an accomplished author was more important than Beth's own dreams and their family; as if his success as a writer gave him the right to treat her like crap. Although Shalini assures me Niall was NOT based on her own author hubby...lol I didn't like Amber at all and knew she was hiding something big as I contemplated what the hell she was up to. Renzo? He didn't really feature enough for me to form much of an opinion of him although he did seem devoted to Amber and his children. More fool him.
What a wild ride THE FAMILY HOLIDAY is! Shalini certainly knows how to twist the knife and leave you gasping for breath! Her ability to captivate readers from the off is legendary. Even her slow burns are fast paced. I don't think Shalini can do slow burn...readers are just glue to the page as soon as they open the book.
THE FAMILY HOLIDAY is certainly one of Shalini's better thrillers and while I easily gathered one of the reveals early one it didn't detract at all from my enjoyment. The thrill is in the ride...and Shalini can certainly deliver those.
But that ending...I didn't see it coming until just before the twist was delivered.
As always, Shalini delivers yet another absorbing twisty thriller that is addictive from beginning to end. The secrets, the lies, the deception...oooh, such a tangled web it all was. And what a spectacular explosion it lead to.
To sum up - THE FAMILY HOLIDAY is an entertaining addictive read sure to thrill avid fans of the genre...and of course, Shalini's.
I would like to thank #ShaliniBoland, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheFamilyHoliday in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Her debut psychological thriller "The Girl from the Sea" published in June 2016 reached Number 1 in the US Audible charts. Her second thriller "The Best Friend" published in October 2016 reached a high of number 10 in Amazon's UK Kindle charts. It also achieved number 1 in all its categories and was a Kindle All Star title for several months in a row.
She is also not a morning person.
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10 Things My Readers Might Not Know About Me
My dreams (nightmares) nearly always involve the characters and settings that I’m currently writing about. For example, last night I dreamt that I’d abducted a baby and tried to hide him in my husband’s car, but I couldn’t get the doors to lock. It was awful! Maybe I’d have a better night’s sleep if I wrote rom coms.
I love all fruit except bananas. The smell, texture, taste – ugh. No. Just no. Keep that evil fruit away from me.
I write for a living, and so does my husband, but neither of our children are particularly avid readers. My eldest is dyslexic and has never enjoyed reading or writing. My youngest quite enjoys it, but has to be pretty much forced into trying a new book. How did this happen? I have no idea. We always read to them when they were younger. We have a houseful of all kinds of books. Ah, well, I’ll keep trying.
When I was nineteen, I hitchhiked at night in Israel and ended up in the middle of nowhere convinced I was going to die. Turns out I only needed to walk another two minutes to find myself back at the kibbutz where I was staying. I’ve never hitchhiked since.
My writing companion is a little Poodle/Lhasa Apso/Terrier cross called Jess who sits at my feet while I type. Sometimes she sneaks up onto the sofa and rests her chin on my keyboard. I’m not sure I could write without her nearby.
When we were in our twenties, my husband and I set up VW car shows. Our events were all jinxed. Over the course of six shows we had four instances of major theft, a forest fire, the worst storm on record, someone set up illegal rave, an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, and an actual bomb scare with police cordoning off the area and evacuating everyone. Plus, we only made a profit during our first show, the other times we just about broke even. Not a huge success.
Nearly all my novels are set in and around the area of Dorset where I live. I moved here when I was eighteen, but I feel like this is my true home. I love it – the towns, beaches and countryside are beautiful.
Good coffee and chocolate are my weaknesses.
I used to be a singer songwriter and once sang on stage at The Brixton Academy in front of four thousand people. I don’t know how I did it. I’m such an introvert these days.
I feel very lucky to write for a living. Every day, I’m truly thankful and appreciate that I’ve finally discovered what it is I love to do – it only took me forty years to work it out! It isn’t always easy and some days I need a kick up the backside to stop procrastinating and get working. Other days are overwhelming and I do get anxious about what my readers will think of each book. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. I only hope people will continue to enjoy my books and allow me to keep doing what I love.
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