That Other Family, a Review by Susan

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That Other Family
Lis Angus

301 Pages
December 29, 2025
Next Chapter

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            This is a slow burn thriller with an eerily beautiful cover that made me with I had a hard copy instead of a kindle version of the book.  While the suspense is brought on little by little, that is not to say that nothing happens at the beginning; we learn immediately that the protagonist, Julie Walker’s father who just died had a second family that her did not know about.  That is actually starting off the novel with a bang.  However, such an event could have easily been the start of a purely dramatic work of literary fiction rather than suspense.  I have actually read other novels starting off with this kind of action but which went in a totally different direction. I have even known of this occurring in real life.  Since this sort of plot device has been done before, turning it into a thriller is clever.  In addition, I loved the setting, Ottawa, Canada, admittedly not one I am intimately familiar with.

            Julie investigates this shocking news, finding it hard to believe that her father had another family, which is when the suspense slowly builds.  As a librarian with three children, Julie is an unexpected protagonist here.  She is an ordinary person experiencing some extraordinary events which makes her relatable.  The story is told from multiple perspectives, which makes things more interesting because we do not just see things from Julie’s point of view.  There is an obvious antagonist however the author throws us some curves and at the end, things were not what they seemed.  In other words, we were kept guessing, which is a good characteristic of a suspense novel.  I would say that the pacing became a little slow and uneven at times in the middle of the book, but all in all, this was an enjoyable (not sure that is exactly the right word for a thriller) and fast read (no thriller should ever take that long to read). I plan to investigate other novels written by this author and hope to read her future ones.

            Thanks to the author, Liz Angus, The Next Chapter, and Partners In Crime for providing me with an ARC of this novel.   All of the opinions herein are my own.