This book had me hooked from the very first page. It wastes no time pulling you into the story fast-paced, intense, and impossible to put down. From the moment Carrie’s daughter goes missing during what was supposed to be a fun and relaxing family beach day, everything unravels. The tension is immediate and relentless.

What makes this book stand out is how quickly the sense of paranoia and suspicion sets in. As the search begins, it feels like everyone has something to hide. Family members, friends, even strangers no one is above suspicion, and Carrie is left questioning everything and everyone around her. The emotional weight she carries as a mother trying to hold it together while the world around her falls apart is so raw and believable, you can’t help but feel every bit of her panic and desperation.

With twist after twist, this story keeps you guessing until the very end. Just when you think you’ve figured it out, something else is revealed that completely changes the game. It’s not just a missing-child thriller it’s a layered, suspenseful look at trust, secrets, and how quickly a perfect day can turn into a nightmare.

Highly recommend for anyone who loves domestic thrillers with strong emotional stakes and nonstop suspense.

Thanks to NetGalley & Bookouture for the chance to read this book!!

& I'm so glad i did! This book had a tight grip on me the whole way through, I could NOT put it down, I think i read the whole thing in about 5 hours . I literally could not put down my kindle reading this book, it grips you up in the first chapter and it does not let you go right up until the last word. I mean some of it is a bit predictable but it does not take away from the story at all! This was a REALLY great read! This is def in the top 3 of my favorites of 2025 so far! I will def be looking out for this author in the future

Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy!

This read follows Carrie, a MD, recently divorced, mother of three and her journey to get her daughter back after an unfortunate day at the beach. We learn that Carrie, her ex husband as well has his new love interest each have their own secrets and love for the children. Throughout the read you may think you know where her daughter is but it will keep you guessing up until the very end. I was also very satisfied with the epilogue to see where the main characters ended up after the scary event occurred, it really wrapped up all the story lines.

If you want an emotionally charged book involving children, missing or otherwise Vickery is your go-to author.

One Big Happy Family is my fourth read from this author and is an enjoyable, highly charged with emotion domestic style drama.

I couldn't take to any of the characters. There was too much suspicion and distrust surrounding them.

It's a page turner I can tell you that much! A missing child, no matter their age is guaranteed to get the pulse racing. The suspense and tension were through the roof!

Did I enjoy it you ask? Thoroughly!

One Big Happy Family is another fantastic story written by Sam Vickery.
A heart-stopping, emotional story full of jaw-dropping secrets.
I enjoyed the book from start yo finish.
The storyline was very interesting and kept me glued to my Kindle.
The characters are so intricately crafted that you will experience a whirlwind of emotions while reading.

Thank You NetGalley and Bookouture for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Reading in Between the Wines book review #55/125 for 2025:
Rating: 4 🍷🍷🍷🍷
Book: One Big Happy Family
Author: Sam Vickery
Available now!

Sipping thoughts: As scary as it is, I really enjoy reading books on missing kids. I, of course, hope it ends with a happy reuniting scene. But I think I enjoy the mystery of it all. The whodunit! It is always enticing to guess whether it is the mother, the father, the extended family, a family friend, etc. One Big Happy Family keeps you guessing with so many red herrings that all seem guilty and that all have something to gain with little Ava going missing. The kidnapper was not too much of a surprise to me, but the reason took me by surprise and oh the craziness that ensued afterward. This is my first Vickery book, but it will not be my last.

Cheers and thank you to @Netgalley and @Bookouture for an advanced copy of @OneBigHappyFamily.

#OneBigHappyFamily #SamVickery #Bookouture #NetGalley #ARC #advancedreader #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bokreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThrillers #GeneralFictionAdult

If you are fan of Jodi Piccoult or Kate Hewitt, then you need to check this book out.

Carrie Gold takes her three children to the beach before sending the children off to live with their father. While at the beach, Carrie's youngest Ava mysteriously disappears. Panicking, Carrie looks around and her middle daughter Maisie is traumatized by the whole situation that she remains silent. The next part goes on talking about how Carrie's ex-husband Jimmy and his new girlfriend Leah believes that Carrie has something to do with Ava's disappearance while Carrie believes that Leah maybe be responsible for Ava's disappearance.

You have POVs of two women Carrie and Leah who each tell their own version of the story. Carrie is a doctor but her divorce to Jimmy is traumatizing to her causing her to be almost unstable. Leah on the other hand believes that she would make a better mother than Carrie to the children. It's interesting how everyone pinpoints the blame particularly towards Carrie on Ava's disappearance. The writing was really great and I love how the author made the reader feel like they are a part of the story. I also like how people seem to be embroiled in the drama between Carrie and Jimmy. Carrie is trying to be a good mother to her children, even though her own children including her son Tommy believes she is not while Leah is determined to be a better mother than Carrie by making homemade muffins and dinner. The whole story seemed to be so realistic as if these things do happen in real lives. However, I actually liked the ending and the twist at th end was completely unexpected. And the ending went really well.

Overall I give this book a five star rating.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

One Big Happy Family by Sam Vickery was a great page turner, and was a book I just loved I ended up reading it all day, then sat there thinking about what I had just read! It just blew my breath away a breathtaking and heart-stopping book! and WoW Loved the big twist! Brav0 Superb Book Sam!

Big Thank you to Bookouture for my ARC.

That was wild. After taking her 3 kids to the beach, the unthinkable happens and while contemplating the complicated relationship she has with her oldest, Carrie finds her youngest, 2 year old Ava, disappears without a trace. From this inciting event, we are drawn into the life and dynamics of some very unlikable people. Was Ava's disappearance courtesy of Jimmy, Carrie's soon to be ex? Leah, the 20-something new fiancee, or Carrie herself?

This was a fast-paced book that kept me glued to it, wanting to see what would happen next. Everyone has secrets and suspects everyone else involved. The toxicity of these three took me back to those daytime talk shows of the 90s, unhinged and full of drama. I always try to guess the ending of thrillers because it makes me feel smart. I was able to guess who, but I was not ready for the why. Of course there are misdirections thrown in, but the clues are all there to find.

If you're the type of person who needs to like the MC to enjoy a story, this probably won't scratch that itch for you. If you're looking for something a little deeper that delves into the psychology of what made these people become this way, full send.

This was my first book by Sam Vickery, but definitely won't be my last. 4🌟

This is my first read by this author and I really enjoyed this book! The storyline and the writing was very engaging and captures your attention easily. Aside from the missing child, Vickery really focuses a lot on the dynamics between the two women, the soon to be ex wife and the soon to be wife. While wanting to find Ava, they also wanted to make sure they had Jimmy’s attention, even though he is a less than stellar guy. You begin to wonder, how much of this dynamic is the cause of what happened?

I didn’t LOVE the police in this book, but they were written that way on purpose (or at least that’s what I think). I don’t think that they did their job well at all, and I think the male police office was blinded by misogyny.

I had my suspicions about who could have been behind Ava’s kidnapping early on, and it turned out I was right. However, I didn’t know that I was right until it was revealed, so guessing correctly didn’t ruin the book for me at all! I may have guessed the who, but I had ZERO idea about the why. That was a nice twist. There was another reveal in there as well that I didn’t see coming AT ALL!!! But I guess….nah, I won’t say it because I always write spoiler free reviews. I especially loved the ending… it was the cherry on top.

This is out now, so make sure to get your hands on it!

Wow, what have I just read? I started this on a train from Berlin to Dusseldorf, I found myself gripped from the early pages. What do you get when you have the estranged wife and the estranged husband’s much younger new fiancé? I brilliant premise for friction and drama. Add to it, the new woman’s desire to lure her man’s kids into her life and slowly separate them from their mother by most means available.
Meet Carrie, her ex Jimmy and his fiancé Leah, who dotes on his kids in an alarming way, Shannon, Carrie’s ‘friend’ whom you can’t quite work out as she uncovers some secrets and lies. Then this mysterious old woman seen on a bus with a little girl?
Now, imagine adding Ava, whose gone missing. Her sister Maisy becoming mute and their older brother resenting his mother even more. Such a brilliant read, I was glued to it, suspenseful with omg moments. 5 shiny stars.

✶ PRE-READING ✶
Sam Vickery is known for emotionally intense domestic dramas with an undercurrent of suspense, so I expected a tense, gut-wrenching read filled with maternal anxiety, fractured family dynamics, and at least one major twist. The premise immediately hinted at themes of control and misdirection, especially with a seemingly perfect stepmother figure whose calm demeanor doesn’t match the panic of a missing child. I haven't read any books by Sam before so I'm looking forward to this introduction.

✶ POST-READING ✶
As I thought... The emotional tension is relentless. The story is tightly plotted around Ava’s disappearance, and it delivers on the expected psychological unraveling of the protagonist. Vickery plays expertly with ambiguity - who is trustworthy, who is manipulating whom, and how far will a mother go when she believes something is terribly wrong? The shifting POVs are amazing and really help to show how things can be misinterpreted by other people.

It surprised me by... How much it also became a story about identity and motherhood beyond the thriller plot. The emotional toll of being a mother under scrutiny - by the law, by society, by other parents - is deeply affecting. Leah is more than a stock villain; she’s a complicated figure who raises questions about perfection, performance, and possessiveness. The resolution surprised me in ways I won’t spoil, but it left me both satisfied and shaken.

✦ RECOMMENDATIONS ✦
Book Recommendation: Little Disasters by Sarah Vaughan. The story centers on Liz, a paediatrician, who is called to the ER when her friend Jess brings in her baby with a suspicious head injury. Jess’s explanation doesn’t quite add up, and Liz is torn between loyalty to her friend and her professional duty to report potential child abuse.

TV or Movie Recommendation: The Secrets She Keeps. Set in Sydney, the show follows two women - Agatha and Meghan - who come from very different worlds but are both pregnant and harbouring dark secrets. When one woman’s obsession with the other escalates, it leads to kidnapping and identity deception.

One Big Happy Family by Sam Vickery

A solid 4-star fiction. Fast-paced and relatable characters.

Carrie brought her three children to the beach. Her youngest two year-old girl Ava disappeared right under her eyes. When her ex-husband knew Ava's disappearance, he was panicked. However, her girlfriend Leah was calmer than expected. Was Leah related to this? And where was Ava?

The author once again successfully created the suspenseful storyplot. The characters under her pen were lively and relatable. I enjoyed reading Sam Vickerys books. Easy to read and lots to expect.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Bookouture and the author for my copy.

Pub date: May 28, 2025

My 3rd book by Sam Vickery and this one was just a good read as the last two I have read by her.

When Carrie takes her three children, Tommy, Maisy and Ava to the beach after school to enjoy the last of a warm March day she hopes it will be a nice activity to bring the family together. It’s been a difficult few months after Carrie’s husband and the children’s father, Jimmy, announced he was leaving her and moving in with his mistress, Leah. Since then both Carrie and the children have had to deal with shared custody with Jimmy and Leah, which has been difficult and unsettling for all of them. Jimmy has proposed to Leah, and she is ecstatic, at not only getting the man she wanted, but to be a stepmother to Jimmy’s three children, who despite not knowing them for very long, she already loves them very much. To Carrie’s dismay the children are starting to bond with Leah, especially Tommy, her eldest. Whilst at the beach, Carrie only takes her eyes off 2 year old Ava briefly to seek out 12 year old Tommy, when she looks back, she suddenly she finds Ava gone. Despite the police being called and a search initiated, the little girl seems to have disappeared into thin air and Carrie is beside herself with guilt. With the police investigating every single person who was connected to Ava and the family, everyone is desperate to find the little girl. However, Carrie has secrets to hide as does Leah and Jimmy. Can they find Ava whilst keeping their secrets or will everything have to come out to find their missing little girl?!

This certainly was a twisted tale that I really enjoyed! I have to admit I didn’t like any of the main characters; I couldn’t really understand why both Carrie and Leah were fighting so hard to win the affection of nothing more than a cheat; Jimmy certainly wasn’t a prize for sure! However, I still really enjoyed the story despite not liking the three main characters. I also felt Leah was living a little in Cloud Cuckoo Land, she obviously never heard the phrase, “ if he will cheat WITH you, he will go on to cheat ON you!”. I did try really quite hard to figure out what happened to Ava and was as baffled as the police were, so the twist was just brilliant, I always love it when I don’t see the twist coming, so great job from Sam Vickery.

Overall, a well deserved 4 stars for this story. I would definitely recommend it for anyone who enjoys the psychological thriller genre, and I look forward to seeing what Sam Vickery writes next.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sam Vickery and Bookouture for my advanced reading copy. Out now.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
As a mom of young kids, I totally felt Carrie’s pain. Imagine going to the beach with three kids. You turn to talk to your oldest child. You turn back around. Your two year old is gone!!!
Here are the main characters-
Carrie- A mother consumed by fear and determination to find her baby
Jimmy- Her ex-husband, also very upset
Leah- Jimmy’s fiance with a very calm demeanor- what is she hiding?
Ava- The missing child at the center of the mystery
This fast-paced story kept me guessing until the end about Ava's whereabouts. I went in different directions with “who done it” and the ending blew me away!
Many thanks to the author, Bookouture and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
#OneBigHappyFamily #SamVickery #NetGalley #Bookouture #BooksOnTour #BookLove #Bookstagram #NewBook #ILoveBooks #SummerBooks #NewMystery #FamilyDynamics

Whew, there is a ton of dysfunctionality in this book!!
Everyone has secrets and I didn’t know who to trust and who to point the finger at.
I felt the most empathy for the kids because they were put through the wringer.
One character was so fickle and was a real,piece of work.
In the end, there is resolution and sometimes family happens in the most unusual circumstances.

Carrie’s family day out turns into a nightmare when her daughter Ava disappears. Her ex husband Jimmy now lives with new girlfriend Leah and even though Jimmy seems terrified, Carrie has suspicions about Leah. Carrie knows she will do whatever she can to get Ava back.

This is my third book by this author and is another fantastic thriller. Sam Vickery has definitely become a go to author for me as every book I find myself gripped to the storyline and desperately wanting to see what will happen next. Even though missing children thrillers are a familiar trope, the author has managed to make this one stand out from the crowd and seem slightly different.

What was strong about this book were the characters, many getting under my skin due to how unlikeable they were, but this made it interesting and entertaining to read. I found that some characters redeemed themselves and went from frustrating to more likeable as the story went on. I enjoyed how the story turned out and although I guessed the main twist, it was still an enjoyable revelation. This was another fast paced, suspenseful domestic thriller overall and one to keep you guessing. I can’t wait for the next one! 4.5 stars rounded down. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in return for an honest review.

I’d like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘One Big Happy Family’ written by Sam Vickery in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Carrie has taken her children Tommy, Maisy and toddler Ava to the beach but within seconds Ava has disappeared and when the police show Carrie footage of a bus that passed by the beach she’s convinced that an elderly lady on the bus has Ava sitting on her lap. The police ransack Carrie’s house believing she’s involved and she realises that it’s now up to her to find her daughter and get her safely back home.

‘One Big Happy Family’ is a gripping domestic drama of what every mother dreads when a child disappears. The story tells of Carrie who’s an A & E doctor but finds it difficult to make friends, and her husband Jimmy with his new girlfriend Leah who’s determined to keep Carrie’s children to live with her and Jimmy to make one big happy family. Carrie knows she’s made mistakes in the past and hasn’t always been there for her children, but she knows she doesn’t deserve to have her two-year old taken and the police believing she’s responsible. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this novel that has nicely rounded characters, plenty of suspense, and tension that builds up the closer Carrie gets to the truth. By the time I reached the final chapters where the person responsible was revealed, it was so unexpected that I was open-mouthed with surprise. This story has had me in its grip from the first page to the last and unable to stop reading, and I have no hesitation in recommending it.

This was a ride and a half . I went in blind and loved it . I was hooked early on in the book and binged as fast as I could . Propulsive and fast and clever writing .

A little girl is missing during a visit to the beach, has she drowned or is she taken, but by who, her ex, his new girlfriend or a random stranger?
She needs to find her but her other children are also devastated, how can she help them and gossip is going around. Can she be strong enough to survive?
What a great story with twists and turns I didn’t see coming. I really enjoyed reading this.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this, all opinions are my own.