A Killer in the Family: The gripping new thriller that will have you hooked from the first page

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At its core, A Killer in the Family is a story about family dynamics and the secrets that can fester within them. When she gets a match she is filled with an anxious excitement that her questions about her father’s disappearance from her life might finally be answered. There is a growing tension that underpins the case, as well as some tender moments as the friendship between her and her colleague Ben grows stronger.

I love seeing the same police staff around him as well, knowing what they have been through and the emotional connections that run between them. When the police decide to use DNA as an investigative tool to hunt for their suspect, they find a close link to the DNA that Aisling has just uploaded.

It’s an incredibly intriguing topic which involves all sorts of ethical conundrums with regard to privacy. In the beginning, it opens with a shocking prologue and then it is a typical slow burn police procedural thriller and some parts tend to get repetitive, at about 30-40% in, it really starts to heat up. By bidding on, or purchasing this item, you are agreeing to us sharing your name and address details with that 3rd party supplier to allow us to fulfil our contractual obligations to you.

A Killer in the Family is the fifth in Gytha Lodge’s Jonah Sheens police series set in Southampton, but my first experience of the books and characters. I will say this is a slow burn and more of a crime mystery, but once it gets about 50% in it starts to pick up . However, when his sons succeed in the jailbreak attempt, the father brings along his cell-mate, a former two time killer, and soon the sons find themselves involved in the pair's murderous crime spree. The stories all seem to start off at a fairly slow pace and take their time to develop characters and relationships, drawing you into their lives.As he delves into the victim's life, he uncovers a trail of deceit and betrayal that leads him to suspect a member of her own family. As always with this series, Gytha Lodge balances the focus deftly between the police procedural part of the plot, in which the series characters DCI Sheen, DS Lightfoot, DS O'Malley and DC Hanson feature prominently, with a storyline featuring new characters, in this case Aisling Cooley and her family.

The storyline is easy to follow and is told completely in the present day, so there is very little confusion.When Aisling Cooley discovers that her DNA has been discovered at a recent crime scene, the implication is clear. Aisling Cooley would have never dreamed that submitting a DNA sample to try to find her father would turn into a nightmare.

I'm pretty sure much of that comes because it's the first in the series that I've read, and what background was included wasn't sufficient for me to be able to really "connect" with any of the characters. As the narrative shifts back and forth between the perspectives of DCI Sheen and his team-members and that of Aisling, long-held family secrets are revealed and lies uncovered.This was a compelling, gripping, thought provoking, even poignant at times, police procedural thriller that will keep you guessing with some unpredictability. Thanks NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Random House for this ARC that will be released August 8, 2023! Aisling just wants to find her missing father, but instead a DNA match connects someone in her family to a serial killer. The three young men drive up to the prison and Donny and Ricky use their guns to keep everyone hostage, while Ray breaks out Gary and his cellmate Randy Greenawalt. While this is part of a series, I have only read the first book in the series years ago, and this one works fine as a standalone.