The Other Family By Wendy Corsi Staub (Review by Stacie Kitchen)

Rating: 3.5/5    

“All around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel…” So, who is the monkey and who is the weasel? The Other Family is a suspenseful thriller which left me constantly trying to guess who could be trusted and who could not. Readers are left trying to sort through layers of secrets.

Nora and her family have moved to New York for one year for her husband Keith’s job. They bring their teenage daughters, the pretty and peppy Piper, and the dark and misfit Stacey. Upon meeting their neighbors, the family learns a terrible truth about their house, a whole family had been murdered there in the past. Stacey begins to feel someone is watching her and swears she sees a man on their shed staring into her windows. Stacey develops a relationship with her neighbor Lennon who is a little forceful in his protection and infatuation with her. When she is approached in the park one evening, Stacey begins to question what is really going on in their house.

Nora is hiding a secret from her husband and stressing over who she can trust in this new town. The neighbors seem nice but seem to be a little too overeager to insert themselves in her life. Finally, there is a third point of view in this novel by the name of Jacob. He is drawn to the house on Glover Street and swears his old flame Anna is still alive and in that house. Jacob’s role in the novel is a slow burn until the finish.

I enjoyed this novel throughout and felt it was very suspenseful. The end seemed rushed, like everything came together in the last few pages which left a few unanswered questions. Even when I thought I had figured out the plot, I kept being surprised!