The Family Tree by Steph Mullin & Nicole Mabry (Review by Stacie Kitchen)

The Family Tree is great for true crime fans! Liz finds out she is adopted while taking a 23andme test. Now while this is a completely life altering scenario on its own, it gets more complicated. The FBI show up at Liz’s door and inform her that her DNA is a familial match to that of serial killer. Liz, with the help of her cousin Andie, meet members of Liz’s biological family. Cris and Rosie welcome her to their home, but there is a problem, they inform her that most of her family is dead. So, who could be the serial killer in her family and how closely are they related? With everyone lying to her, does Liz have any family she can trust? This book alternates between Liz’s tale with sections on the Tri State Killer and his victims. Following the various pairs of female victims throughout the novel the reader learns how they were treated and the overall goal of the Tri State Killer. These sections were honestly very difficult for me to read and were very disgusting. It helped to understand the horror the women went through but seemed a little like some of the events were put in just for shock value. If you are a true crime fanatic, then I think you will really like this novel. It seems to be a bit inspired by the Golden State Killer who was found when a distant family member had taken a DNA test. Not groundbreaking in character or plot development, but an exciting read. I really could have done without the epilogue. It felt a cheap way to end the novel and I would have been much more pleased to finish without the epilogue. However, I’m going to sit here drinking my wine now as I wait for my 23andme results to come back to see who may be in my own family tree…