I really like the way one reviewer, Jayme, broke it down. 

We start with part one where we are slowly setting the scene. And I mean slowly. I thought I could enjoy myself with the moody, Maine, vintage hotel setting and I was okay with the pace because I felt I would get a great ending that would blow me away. 

Then we go into part two which includes the back stories of the sisters. For me, this came out of nowhere. It was like being whiplashed. This isn’t a spoiler alert, but we didn’t need to know the long boring backstory of the sisters. It felt as if I was almost starting over. I was already struggling to pay attention and keep up with the snail like pace of the first part of the story. Instead, maybe the author could have sprinkled it in as we were introduced to the sisters. I’m not sure. All I know for sure is I was disappointed and if it could have been possible, even more bored. Can you get slapped with boredom?

And then part three the action starts taking place. It’s a bit too late as a reader, I feel lost at this point. Yes, a lot is happening, something is happening, situations are being revealed so that’s great. It’s what we’ve been hoping for. Anything revealed as a shocker in part three I felt already was revealed in part one and two. So the shockers weren’t really shocking at all.

There might have been a part four or five here somewhere, but I’m looping all the ‘action’ into one part.

When it comes to the epilogue, I believe the author is trying to tie everything up in a nice little bow, yet I was left rolling my eyes. Obviously, I can’t comment in detail, but I wasn’t buying it. It didn’t make sense, the author didn’t give us readers enough to make it believable.

If you’re going to do a locked room mystery you have to make sure you’re doing it really well. Really, really well. Locked room mysteries are hard to pull off. I am not sure I am the one to give advice on how to make a locked-room-mystery successful but a lot of times they let me down as I continue down my reading journey. There are only a handful that are doing it great, cough, Agatha, cough.

Honestly, I feel I’m being generous with three stars. This is a two star book. The narrator did a great job (which is an important note in audiobooks). No complaints there. The story was hard to get through, which is why it took me so long to read this. I didn’t care, I was not engaged. I would sadly not recommend this book to my readers.

Amazon Link – One Big Happy Family By: Jamie Day

Stats: 368 pages – First published July 16, 2024

_{***Thank you to Macmillan, NetGalley and of course, the author Jamie Day, for a  copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Out now!}