I picked this up because it is the Literally Dead Book Club pick for the month of October.
"The Family Game" is a fast-paced thriller that follows a woman named Harry. Harry's life could be going better. She is struggled to write her second novel following the success of her first, but at least she has Edward. Edward is a seemingly perfect man, and he has just proposed to Harry. However, Harry has never met Edward's family. With the holidays just around the corner, now seems like the perfect time for Harry to meet all of the Holbecks, until Harry learns of their ruthless games and cutthroat attitudes towards one another.
This was a fast-paced, thrilling mystery with the added layer of a game. The Holbecks have some very eccentric holiday traditions, and honestly if I were Harry, I would have stormed out of the house far more quickly. As I have recently read "The Inheritance Games", this book reminded me quite a bit of that plot. The Holbecks do not come right out and say anything. They have a tendency to play games and leave riddles for people to try to guess what is really going on. "The Family Game" was also much more deadly.
The Holbecks have some dark secrets they are trying to keep buried, and those mysteries left me on my toes throughout the book. Just when I thought I had everything figured out, another layer of the story was introduced, and I was thrown for a loop. Ultimately, I did not see the ending coming, and I enjoyed where the story ended up.
This book takes place during the holiday season, and because of that, it is very atmospheric. The depictions of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and snow made me excited for the season to come, and I highly recommend this thriller during the months of November and December.
Harry is an author in this book, but I did not think this fact did a lot for her character. I think the reader is supposed to see that Harry is an author and because of this she knows how to investigate. However, for me, her character felt very amateur in her sleuthing and the fact that she was an author was just a small part of the story.
I had a pretty good time reading this, and I will keep an eye out for more from Catherine Steadman in the future! 

A Christmas Thriller focused on an excessively rich American family. They have crazy traditions and a shroud of secrecy around them. 

When Harriet, a British Thriller Author, newly engaged gets thrown into meeting her future in-laws it is quite overwhelming. The Holbeck's have an American dynasty and she's an orphan. 
A tape from the pariarch Robert Holbeck, the first time she met him changes everything.

It feels cinematic. The audiobook performance (by the author!) and sound design are fantastic. I loved that the tapes had the sound and texture of an anologue recording. 

This book was okay but I saw the twist coming from the first 50 pages, and it was generally pretty slow paced and didn’t really “hook” me like some others. Felt very run of the mill, but it was a good beach read to kill in an afternoon. 

This whole review is a spoiler…

I couldn’t ever get past incestual feeling of her attraction to her fiancés father, like that was always super cringey to me. This is the second “rich people drama” thriller I’ve read I think farther confirming that it’s not a sub genre for me. Also, why wouldn’t this B*!?h just listen to the whole wedding tape at once?! Like I’m sorry if I as a full time working mom of two young kids and a wife found the time to listen to this audiobook in two to three sittings, how on earth was she incapable of finding the time to receive this incredibly important information?!

Le sigh

A dark thriller with truly unexpected twists and an ending I would never have guessed! I read frequently in this genre, and usually enjoy the stories but can often predict major components of them. This one really kept me guessing!