Such a Beautiful Family by T.R. RaganMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
T.R. Ragan’s Such a Beautiful Family just wasn’t, for me, a hit. Whilst the prologue drew me in, from there things just never coalesced into an enjoyable read.
The story begins with a teenage girl receiving a phone call from her best friend—Allina. Allina is panicked and needs a ride home from a party-gone-bad. The friend races to help, though the results of her efforts lead to catastrophic consequences. When the first chapter begins, that fateful evening is long passed, and the identity of the driver, as well as her fate and that of Allina, remain a mystery. We are, however, introduced to Nora and her family. Nora has recently been offered a new job, and though the woman extending that offer, Jane, is sending out “hell-no” vibes, Nora reluctantly accepts the position. Jane wastes no time insinuating herself into every aspect of Nora’s life, befriending Nora’s daughter and flirting shamelessly with Nora’s husband. As Jane devolves into even more of a nuisance and becomes a threat, Nora is forced to face the fact that she should never have accepted the job that now threatens to cost her her career, her family and perhaps even her life.
So the prologue connection is, I’m assuming, initially intentionally vague. The transition from it to the first chapter is so abrupt, however, that it is disorienting. I found myself turning back pages to make sure I hadn’t missed something. I then struggled through the next few chapters trying desperately to identify the thread that surely stitched the two storylines together. That intersection, however, takes FOREVER to emerge, and when it does, it’s so far-fetched that I resented having tried to make sense of it.
As for the writing itself, it struck me as far too informal and formulaic. Chapter 10 begins with “Nora sat”; 11 with “Nora sat”; 13 “Nora stood”; 18 “ Nora walked”; and the list goes on. This simplistic formula for a narrative was made worse by the repeated use of the word “look”, as it appears no less than 243 times. I desperately wanted to send Ragan a thesaurus.
Overall, this was clearly not one I’d be comfortable recommending without a total revamp. As publication isn’t set until December of 2022, Ragan still has a small window of opportunity through which to fix the deficits.
Thanks to Net Galley and Thomas and Mercer Publishing for providing me an ARC copy for review.
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