Really enjoyed this book, first one I have read from this author and I will be hunting her other books to read.
A gripping story always wanting to read more and keep going. Interesting subjects, family, a cult, what more do you want!

I was not really sure about The Family. Reading the synopsis I thought this book would suck me in and keep me enthralled but sadly this did not happen. I tried to persevere but I gave up in the end. Sorry not for me.

After Laura and tilly's life implodes in a dramatic fashion it seems like the whole world is against them.
At rock bottom and about to lose there home a business acquaintance of Laura offers an unexpected lifeline, a place to go and regroup while she gets her life together.
With the divide between mother and daughter gradually widening to the point that miscommunication is rife and neither are correctly interpreting the others signals and clues correctly.
There own personal guilt and grief creating a barrier and as the unspoken truths and secrets mountain grows ever higher it is almost like this landmark is a metaphor for there imploding family dynamics.
A hill to climb to bridge the gap that has been unintentionally created here.
All though it is clear that despite what appearances suggest, and each of them thinks, the love is definitely here and it is mostly just misunderstanding and a lack of real communication.
This, in turn, manages to open up a gap that makes it easy for others to take advantage, especially with the younger Tilly.
This is told from three separate POV The mother Laura, The daughter Tilly and Alex an enigmatic figurehead of a local group of people communally living together on a local farm.
The family is a psychological thriller that focuses on family and its hidden dynamics it was a solid read that does take a while to heat up.
One it does its full steam ahead and its the final few chapters that rescue this somewhat.
One final thing the ending itself I found to be slightly anti-climatic with some unanswered questions.
I voluntary reviewed a copy of The Family.

Massive praise for Louise Jensen.

This book had me hooked. The opening pages tells you someone has been shot. At that point it feels like Louise is pulling you in - you want to know who, why, where, what?? 

Then you start the story and find out who people are and what role they are playing.. a death, a murder, a accident? You start thinking you know who's behind this all. You put all your eggs in one basket and head to the main character being the bad guy.. then you have doubts. Louise Jensen has described the characters so well and I'm so much detail you feel like you know them personally. 

The book is layed out in chapters but from people's stories.. Tilly, Laura, Alex..

The psychology side of the books makes you feel you are in the characters heads. That you are walking beside them as a invisible ghost. That's when you know it's a brilliant book!! 

I loved this book so much I finished it on one 3 hour sitting! 

The ending (where so many authors let's their books down) left you wanting more and more.. and now I'm hooked. I want more story. I want to know what happens later on.. 

100% would recommend and you won't be disappointed!!! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Absolutely superb read, finished the book in 3 sittings, totally gripping and thrilling, looking forward to the next book by Louise Jensen, a brilliantly accomplished author in her own right

by Louise Jensen

Laura’s husband died suddenly leaving her in shock & with money problems. Her teenage daughter, Tilly, is struggling to come to terms with this and with the attitude of her class mates at school. When it seems as if her husband’s family is turning against them and money is at breaking point, Laura finds comfort & support in the most unexpected place, a local commune.

There seem to be a cluster of book centred around communes and cults at the moment. This story certainly held its own amongst the similar stories that I have read recently.

Laura is at her wits end. She makes some very silly mistakes and at times, even allowing for her recent widowhood, I felt like shouting at her for missing the obvious! On the whole, however, she is a believable character in a difficult situation. Her daughter, Tilly, is a fairly typical teenager though I struggled with the idea of a teenager willingly giving up their phone & wifi. The characters in the commune are interesting & the relationships between them all is particularly well written – although I do think it becomes slightly far fetched towards the end of the book.

This is a good, solid thriller with a well constructed plot and good characters. It got a bit convoluted in places with a few too many connections & co-incidences but I could let them go for the sake of a good story.

I enjoyed this book. I would certainly be happy to read another book by this author.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

Another great thriller from Louise Jenson. I thought this was very different from other thrillers I've read recentlt and certainly kept me guessing. What I thought I knew and guessed was completely wrong and I think that always shows a good thriller as I hate guessing early on in the book and being right!! One of my auto buy authors for definite.

I'm a big fan of Louise Jensen and the opportunity to read an advance copy of her latest thriller was one not to be missed.  And, boy, was this a thriller worth reading!

At the beginning, we are introduced to Laura and her teenage daughter, Tilly, who are struggling with their grief and subsequent financial difficulties after Tilly's Dad died in a tragic accident. Awaiting the outcome of the inquest into his death and subsequent insurance payout, Laura is struggling to pay bills and is in danger of losing her business..  A lifeline is presented to them in the form of a local community, Oak Leaf Farm, a small community led by the handsome and charismatic Alex.  Laura is persuaded to seek refuge there, together with Tilly, but what is waiting for them and the reasons for their interest in Laura and Tilly is something you can't even begin to imagine.

I absolutely loved this book.  I stayed awake way too late reading it, leaving me bleary-eyed and desperate to finish work the next day to be able to read more.  As with all Louise's previous books, the story built nicely into a stunning crescendo of terror.  With so many twists and turns along the way, this is an utterly unputdownable read!

This book kept me awake long into the small hours.  Laura and her daughter, Tilly, devastated after the sudden death of husband and father, Gavan, are unwittingly drawn in to the mysterious communal living facility at Oak Leaf Organics.  With no money and about to lose the family home, Laura takes Tilly and moves in with 'the family' believing that they will only stay long enough to find their feet.  They can leave at any time, right?  Not so!  Soon, both are captivated by leader, Alex and things start to become creepy.  I really enjoyed this book.

The concept of family is at the heart of Louise Jensen’s new psychological thriller. What constitutes family? Do you need to be biologically related to call yourselves a family? Can a group of like minded individuals make up a family or is blood thicker than water?? 
I always look forward to a new book from this author and I don’t think this will disappoint her fans, The pace is quite steady until the last quarter of the book, slowly filling the reader with a sense of unease, which adds to the whole atmosphere of the novel. Told from the perspective of Laura, recently widowed, her daughter Tilly and Alex this thriller poses all the above questions within a sinister environment. Alex is the leader of a commune, shunning all that is wrong with modern day living, trying to live off the land etc with other like minded people.  Laura and Tilly become the latest ‘recruits’ after a series of misfortunes, bad decisions and the death of Gavan, beloved husband and father. What appears to be an ideal escape from the rat race gradually turns into a nightmare, highlighting the hold Alex has over these vulnerable people, brainwashing them until they are a shadow of their former selves.
Disturbing and sinister, I thought this was cleverly plotted as I only managed to guess one of the twists and I did find the last quarter gripping. As with all good psychological thriller things are never quite what they seem so the big reveal took me by surprise, obviously having being thrown off the scent with a few red herrings. I loved the ambiguity of the ending and would recommend to fellow readers and friends alike. 
Thank you as always to the author and publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read in exchange for an honest review.

I’m such a huge fan of Louise Jensen’s novels and her new one, The Family, is no exception!

The Family is about Laura and her teenage daughter Tilly. Laura’s husband has recently died leaving her grieving and in serious financial difficulties. One day a woman offers Laura help via Oak Leaf Organics and Laura and Tilly are soon drawn into a community that is very difficult to leave!

I can never resist novels about cults, there is something about them that just draws me in. I love the way Louise Jensen set this novel up so that it made total sense how Laura, a level headed woman, would get drawn in. There is a sense of unease for the reader as Laura meets charismatic leader Alex but it is so plausible how Laura doesn’t see him the way we do.

I also loved the way this was about so much more than the cult. It’s such an in-depth look at mother daughter relationships, and how a relationship can be close and yet there is still secrets. It’s natural for a teenager to want to pull away from their mum so I could see things from Tilly’s point of view, but I could also see how Laura still felt they were as close as ever.

The pacing of The Family is spot on! It starts off as a slow-burn which is perfect as it allows you to get to know Laura and Tilly before their lives become so complicated. The pace soon begins to ramp up though as they settle into their new home and the plot becomes so gripping that the book is then impossible to put down!

There are twists and turns along the way in this novel, which I loved, and there are definitely things that happen that I didn’t see coming. I thought I had this book worked out and then the rug was well and truly pulled from under me. It’s a rare thing for me not to fully work out a mystery so kudos to Louise Jensen for keeping me on my toes with The Family!

I loved this book! Louise Jensen is a writer that goes from strength to strength and The Family is her best book yet. I highly recommend it!

Well! What can I say about his book? I was pulled in from the start and the twists kept coming right up until the end.
Laura is dealing with the sudden death of her husband and struggling to pay the bills for her and her 17 year old daughter. He business is in trouble and she can’t carry on until she gets her late husband’s life insurance pay out.
A chance meeting with Saffron offers both Laura and Tilly a solution, could they really find happiness at the organic vegetable farm? 
The magnetic Alex leads the group and makes them welcome, welcome enough that they decide to stay. Slowly  Laura has misgivings about the decision, but Alex has taken over her legal issues and tells her she has no money to move on and start again. She doesn’t like the way he and Tilly look at each other however.... 
The story is told mainly from Tilly and Laura’s perspectives, with a few others thrown in along the way.
I started the book with loads of questions, none of them had the answers I expected however!! Will definitely look out for more by this author.

OMG.......as a huge fan of Louise Jensen, I was really excited about reading this novel! Knowing how good her previous works are, this was a highly anticipated book. 
Did it let me down??? Absolutely not! Yet another new and unique storyline that has been well executed. Such fab descriptiveness in this authors writing puts you slap bang in the middle of the story. With characters that are well rounded and realistic it makes the whole thing believable. Which in turn ramps up your own feelings and emotions and draws you into this stunningly brilliant story!
Highly recommend this one! 
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for my arc. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.

The Family is a psychological thriller that twists and turns revealing layer after layer of secrets and lies. It will keep you guessing right up to the last word. Laura will do anything to protect her daughter Tilly, and as their lives spin out of control, her primal instinct to protect will be tested to the nth degree. Following her husband's sudden death, Laura is left penniless and desperate. A chance encounter leads her to Alex, a former solicitor now running a community farm. Tilly and Laura move to the farm where they at first feel safe and nurtured. But all is not as it seems and much as the reader guesses which way things are going, the author takes us down a completely different path. Dark, gritty and compelling, The Family is well worth a read for those who like a twisted tale.

This is a book I was looking forward to reading after previously reading and loving Louise Jensen books. This newest book did not disappoint.

Laura is struggling after the tragic death of her husband. The coroner is investigating the death and therefore the insurance company won’t pay out until after the inquest. It is getting to the point where Laura and her daughter, Tilly, are going to be homeless.  Their family won’t help them so they take refuge at a local community, Oak Leaf Organics, run by the very handsome Alex. At first everyone seems lovely and helpful but then things start to go wrong and Laura feels as though she is losing her daughter. Why were Laura and Tilly invites to join them ? Will Laura discover the truth before it’s to late ? 

This is a great psychological thriller with plenty of twists that will keep you turning the pages.  There are plenty of secrets and lies to uncover. The story is told from Laura, Tilly and Alex’s viewpoints in alternating chapters.  This was a great way for the truth to be gradually revealed and you also find yourself doubting your views about the characters as more information is uncovered.

Thank you to HQ and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book.

Thank you to Netgallery, HQ UK and Louise Jensen for sending me an ARC copy of The Family in return  for an honest review.

Wow! An absolutely brilliant book, that was fast paced from the beginning and also kept me gripped right until the brilliant twist at the end.

The story is based around a grieving widow and her daughter Tilly who are left penniless when “Gavan” the husband of Laura falls from the scaffolding on his building site. 

Was it an accident? Their lives are built on lies, but what are those lies and why?  

The life insurance of £500k cannot be paid out until the final coroners inquest and when there is nobody to help them pay the rent, bills and able to live day to day life, help comes along in the form of “Saffron”

Saffron offers Laura hope when she suggests that “Alex” can help sort out the insurance company and to hurry along the payout and meanwhile they can live in the farmhouse whilst everything is being sorted and to get their lives back on track.

From moving in temporarily everything starts to feel too good to be true and then when Laura and Tilly are feeling the cosy warmth of being amongst “family” things start to take a turn for the worse.

Strange meetings, strange dress sense where everyone is dressed in white. Are they living in a commune or is it a cult?

The twists and turns leave you wondering who is who, what is going on and who is telling the truth.

I loved this physiological thriller and will definitely be reading Louse Jensens other books

The Family is the latest release from one of my very favourite authors, Louise Jensen and was published by HQ in paperback on Thursday 3rd October. I received an ARC copy of The Family but that has in no way influenced my review.

Louise Jensen is an incredible writer. If you haven't discovered her books yet then you and I need to have serious words. They're perfectly plotted family-driven psychological thrillers that leave you on the absolute edge of your seat. Only for Jensen to throw something completely unexpected and deliciously twisty your way, leaving the reader gasping and wanting more. They're insanely good and the release of a new Louise Jensen book is a highlight of my year. So you can imagine how much I was looking forward to reading The Family. And oh boy, it didn't disappoint.

The Family does have a slightly different feel to Jensen's other books. There are twists and turns galore and a family is at the forefront of the action, as I have come to expect from this author. I found the pace to be quite different though. This is a slow and intoxicating unravelling of a clever and well-plotted story which held my attention from start to finish. I really felt for our main protagonist, Laura. Recently bereaved and on the brink of losing her livelihood, she is barely holding things together. Wanting to make sure she and 17-year-old daughter, Tilly, still had somewhere to call home she reaches out to her deceased husband's family - only for them to shun her. Rapidly running out of ideas, Laura turns to charismatic Alex, asking for help. Alex has the legal know-how she needs and he and the Oak Leaf Organics community welcome Laura and Tilly with open arms. But not everything at Oak Leaf Organics is as perfect as it first appears. How does Alex know everything about Laura's life? And exactly how close are Tilly and Alex becoming?

There are so many secrets for the reader to get their teeth into in this book. And secrets are what Jensen is the master of. Laura's story is beautifully presented to the reader. You feel you have a fairly good idea of who is who and what is going on. Only for Jensen to pull one of her brilliant sleight of hand moves on you. Actually, in reality, you know nothing. And that is why Louise Jensen's books are a joy to read. The Family is another example of how adept Jensen is at what I would assume is a difficult skill to master. You think you've got the measure of these characters, but you haven't.

One of the things I enjoyed the most about The Family is the way Jensen puts a mother/daughter relationship under the microscope. This book was all about Laura and Tilly for me. I had several moments of 'what if this was MY 17-year-old daughter? What would I do in Laura's situation?'. There are some really powerful emotive parts to the story. Some I can understand because I'm a mum too. Some I thankfully will never understand. And there's one twist, towards the end of the book, which very nearly broke me. That's going to stay with me for a while to come.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. In fact, I suggest you just go and purchase every book Louise Jensen has written because they are all outstanding. Jensen remains one of my absolute favourite authors and I am now counting down the days until her next book is released. The Family is a very compelling, very real read that draws you in until the very final page. Highly emotive, chock full of delicious secrets and another incredibly readable book from the pen of Ms Jensen.

I chose to read and review an ARC of The Family. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

I thought this was very good, it draws you in and keeps you there. The characters I liked and went together well, once I started reading this I didn't want to stop.

I have read all of Louise Jensen's books and this did not disappoint. I could not put this thriller down. 
The story takes you through a journey of discovery. Told from 3 different perspectives; Laura, Tilly, and Alex. The author cleverly weaves the threads, sucking you in, thinking you've cracked it, but in truth there are many plot twists that I genuinely didn't anticipate. Great read. Thank you Netgalley for my ARC copy in return for my honest review.

Intriguing plot with an underlying darkness. The ending is amazing and I really didn’t see it coming. Great read.