Dark Family Secrets Just In Time For Spooky Season: A Review of The Family Plot by Megan Collins

Hello, Book Nerds! Welcome to Reading Has Ruined My Life or welcome if you are new. As always, my name is Hannah and I am your captain on this journey into my bookcases.

Happy Spooky Season, Book Nerds! As the temperatures begin to drop, RHRML is putting up bats and spider webs. As the leaves turn into reds and oranges, RHRML is breaking out all the horror and spooky adjacent thrillers. And that’s what I’ve got for you today, Book Nerds.

Never a wrong time for any horror book or spooky adjacent thriller, but now is the PERFECT time!

Please give a warm welcome to The Family Plot by Megan Collins!

As always, a spoiler alert is in order. If you’ve read any other review on this site then you will know I simply love to spoil the entirety of the books I read. This is your one and and only warning. I also have a quick content and trigger warning for this read. The Family Plot has a character who is dealing with alcohol addiction and abuse. While this topic is not discussed in length in the book, there is no escaping it so please be aware it is there. With that, let’s get to the synopsis.

Dahlia Lighthouse hasn’t been to her childhood home since she left at 19-years-old. Her childhood was unconventional to say the least. Her mother came from old money, her grandparents were tragically murdered, and the Lighthouse family pretty much kept to themselves and avoided the rest of the people in the town; mainly for the fact the town judged them all. Dahlia and her three siblings, Andy, Tate, and Charlie, were also homeschooled growing up. Now that’s not odd in and of itself, but what was odd was her mother teaching her and her siblings all about true crime cases to an excessive amount. Like I said, Dahlia’s childhood was odd. Then there’s the fact that Dahlia’s twin brother Andy disappeared on the eve of their sixteenth birthday, making the Lighthouse family a fascinating true crime case once again.

That was many years ago. In the present day, Dahlia and her siblings have finally returned home; sadly it’s because their father has passed away. The day they all arrive, tragedy strikes again. As their father’s grave is being dug, a horrifying discovery is made. Andy's skeletal remains have been found in the plot meant for their father.

What follows will haunt the family forever. The police get involved, deep, dark family secrets are revealed, Dahlia begins hunting for her brother’s killer, and she attempts to solve another crime her hometown is famous for: The Blackburn Killer. When she was growing up, a serial killer stalked the town and now it seems like this killer and Andy’s disappearance and death are intertwined. Will she uncover the truth? Or will things take a darker turn? Find out in The Family Plot.

I don’t know how I feel about The Family Plot. I know, what a way to start a review. The Family Plot has a fantastic sounding premise. Based on the book’s synopsis there was no way I wasn’t going to pick the book up. It's right up my alley with dark family secrets and a murder mystery. I just wish the execution was better. Especially when it came to the characters. The characters were particularly poor in my opinion.

First of all, Dahlia exposition dumps on readers in the first chapter. Everything Dahlia knows about The Blackburn Killer, Dahlia’s relationship with her twin, her mother’s weird behavior, the odd homeschooling, and Andy’s disappearance; that’s all revealed within the first ten pages. That’s a lot for one chapter! It’s a lot to take in while not really getting to know the main character’s personality. I know her past, but I know nothing about her. Things don’t get better from there.

On top of not getting to see Dahlia’s personality, readers also don’t learn much about her older siblings either. They all receive one character trait when readers first meet them, and that’s the only thing readers get to know about them. Dahlia, Tate, and Charlie are static characters. I can’t say any of them show any growth by the halfway mark of the novel, let alone by the end. Can’t really say I know any details about their personalities, save for what’s stated at the start, either.

The Family Plot has so much promise. It promises so many things that I love! Dark family secrets, an isolated house, absolutely unhinged behavior from practically every character, an unreliable narrator, and a good mystery. It all falls flat though. The author doesn’t show readers how weird this family is, she doesn’t show the trauma the kids endured from growing up as the town pariahs, nor does she show us the relationship Dahlia and Andy had; everything is told to readers. Showing readers those details are what could have made this book. They’re what could have made this book great and kept readers hooked. Instead the author has Dahlia simply state she and her twin were close and that the town treated the family weirdly at least once per chapter.

I saw another review of The Family Plot in which the reviewer said they wished the book had a dual timeline. That they wished while Andy’s body was being discovered in the present timeline, the lead up to his disappearance was unfolding in the past timeline. This reviewer also mentioned having some of the “murder reports” the children had to write interspersed throughout the book to add to the oddities of their childhood. I wholly agree. The children’s book reports would have added to the creepiness, and the dual timelines could have added to the book’s tension. Most importantly, this all would have fixed the issue of the reader being told everything and shown nothing.

This could have been a terrific read. It had a perfect premise, it had built in tension between the family members, and between the family and the town, there was an intriguing mystery, but the execution just wasn’t there. The Family Plot fell flat unfortunately right from the start and I'm really disappointed in this read.

* le sigh *

With that, I shall bid you all adieu. Thank you for joining me today, Books Nerds. I hope you enjoyed your time here, and I shall see you all again next week with another new review. If you can’t wait that long then I highly suggest giving Reading Has Ruined My Life over on Instagram (@ReadingHasRuinedMyLife). I post there almost daily so come back often to revel in literary goodness. You can also follow RHRML on Twitter and BlueSky (@RHRMLBlog). If you want something not related to books then check out my podcast Nothing to See Hear. The show stars me and two of my dearest friends as we talk everything and anything. I highly suggest giving a listen to our Scooby-Doo series. We’re watching and reviewing every Scooby-Doo film and TV show that’s been created. You can listen to the show on Spotify and YouTube.

Until next time, stay safe, wash your hands, and read some good books for me.

See y'all then, bye!