"Justine thought she knew who she was, until an anonymous caller seemed to know better...
After escaping London and a career that nearly destroyed her, Justine plans to spend her days doing as little as possible in her beautiful home in Devon.
But soon after the move, her daughter Ellen starts to withdraw when her new best friend, George, is unfairly expelled from school. Justine begs the head teacher to reconsider, only to be told that nobody's been expelled - there is, and was, no George.
Then the anonymous calls start: a stranger, making threats that suggest she and Justine share a traumatic past and a guilty secret - yet Justine doesn't recognise her voice. When the caller starts to talk about three graves - two big and one small, to fit a child - Justine fears for her family's safety.
If the police can't help, she'll have to eliminate the danger herself, but first she must work out who she's supposed to be…"
This was SO GOOD - I swear Sophie Hannah just keeps getting better and better. While I have enjoyed her Culver Valley series, I was looking forward to reading a standalone.
A Game For All The Family is what I would call a proper mystery story - along the lines of Agatha Christie. Nothing seems to make sense all the way through, there is seemingly no way of tying all the loose ends together until you reach the final few pages and that "Ahhhhh" moment kicks in. In this case, not all the loose ends are tied up together neatly, and there is not a straight forward explanation given, however for me, this just added to the mystery of it all quite unlike anything I've read for a long time.
I love Sophie's style of writing - everything is kept fast-paced enough to keep the story moving forward and the pages turning, but without giving away any clues that might reveal the answer to the mystery. I think it takes a very talented writer to be able to do that. The characters are in turn likeable, hideous, mysterious and flat-out bonkers and I read for the very first time a word that I LOVED - I work in construction and henceforth I think I will have to refer to my guys as "bumcrackers" :)
If you're after a story that will hook you in and completely bamboozle you until the final pages then look no further.
A Game For All The Family is out on 13th August and you can get it here:
**My thanks to the publisher for my ARC**
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