OMG, talk about the in-laws from Hell! But...are they really as bad as they seem? I picked this as my Kindle FirstReads book for August, and boy, I was not disappointed. I've loved most of Mark Edwards' stories that I've read, but this one truly tops them all.

It starts off normally enough, a whirlwind romance and marriage, and then the fun starts. But things aren't exactly what they same and not everyone is as they seem...

It's written in first person POV by our protagonist, Elliott, with "Before" chapters interspersed in the book, revealing the Robinsons' twisted history, little by little. The characterization and plot progression are really well-done, things slowly build on each other until it comes to an explosive end. The MC is sympathetic, Gemma and Chloe are complex and tough nuts to crack, but do they have hidden motives? And Lizzy and Jeff...wow, after awhile, you really start to hate them, and I really could feel Elliott's pain and frustration.

And I honestly did not see that ending coming, though I also wasn't surprised there were so many twists, considering this is a psychological thriller.

My mom always told me to be careful of who you invite to stay in your house...because getting them to leave can be a heck of a lot tougher. This story definitely made me think of her words.

Another job well done by Mark Edwards! Highly recommended to psych thriller fans. ( )

OMG, talk about the in-laws from Hell! But...are they really as bad as they seem? I picked this as my Kindle FirstReads book for August, and boy, I was not disappointed. I've loved most of Mark Edwards' stories that I've read, but this one truly tops them all.

It starts off normally enough, a whirlwind romance and marriage, and then the fun starts. But things aren't exactly what they same and not everyone is as they seem...

It's written in first person POV by our protagonist, Elliott, with "Before" chapters interspersed in the book, revealing the Robinsons' twisted history, little by little. The characterization and plot progression are really well-done, things slowly build on each other until it comes to an explosive end. The MC is sympathetic, Gemma and Chloe are complex and tough nuts to crack, but do they have hidden motives? And Lizzy and Jeff...wow, after awhile, you really start to hate them, and I really could feel Elliott's pain and frustration.

And I honestly did not see that ending coming, though I also wasn't surprised there were so many twists, considering this is a psychological thriller.

My mom always told me to be careful of who you invite to stay in your house...because getting them to leave can be a heck of a lot tougher. This story definitely made me think of her words.

Another job well done by Mark Edwards! Highly recommended to psych thriller fans. ( )

first M edwards book i read while on vacay i Kaui w judy. read it in one day. great book could not put it down ( )

This book turned out to be different than I had hoped.
If you like the movie Heathers from the 1980’s you might like this book, although I don’t think this was intended by the author. I was only able to get into it by thinking of it as a very dark comedy.
Eliot the main character meets Gemma and as a result of a sudden emergency winds up falling in love and marrying her after 2 months.
Eliot has as much backbone as a doormat and is so naive, weak, and accommodating that Mister Rogers would have taken advantage of him.
Instead it is Gemma’s completely messed up family who take advantage and abuse him, even his wife treats him horribly.
For me there was no scary moments, I thought is was predictable, the ending was not surprising at all.
The author can write and his other books sound intriguing so I might try another one, but this one was just too far fetched and over the top to be believable. ( )

“You know I don’t have much experience of big families, but from what I’ve seen there are two types. The type where everything is out in the open, where they argue and shout and slam doors, and where disagreements are dealt with loudly and quickly. And the other type, where no one really says what they mean, where everyone tiptoes around and emotions are kept buried.”
― Mark Edwards, Here To Stay

I will try to explain why I did not like this novel, especially because I love his writing and I adored "The Magpies".

Basically, for me, this is the same story as Magpies only with In laws rather than neighbors. As a result..I kind of knew everything that was gonna happen before it happened. I liked Elliot and I thought I would like this book, despite how closely it resembled Magpies.

I felt "Here to stay" had all the creepiness of Magpies but none of the real riveting aspects. In Here to stay, EVERYONE are so insane and twisted. And here's the thing: there had to be ways of getting the in laws out without resorting to Elliot's final plan. Here are a few.

In the age of Social media, Elliot could have put his story up and made it go viral..or hired someone to do it for him. Heck, these two were running, I bet they would not have wanted the notoriety that comes with that.

Hired a detective to get the goods on them.

Gone to the newspapers.

Implored people on social media for help..maybe even given a reward to the person who could LEGALLY get them out of his house.

If all fails..just leave.

So I did not buy the final solution nor did I buy how incompetent the police were made out to be. There is so much killing in this book and it seems the police cannot even solve ONE of the murders.

Also..the constant tension about Charlie and whether he'd survive did not help. I felt like I had to get to the end to see if Charlie remained unharmed. I see from other reviews many felt the same. Which goes to show..Charlie is the sanest character in this book. Meow.

Final twist? did not see coming and almost rated a three because of how clever it is. I am not dissing the author. He is such a good writer. I AM dissing the nutters in this story because I just could not stand them. And I'd have liked a more complete ending or barring that, a sequel. Elliot had been so battered I do not k now how he still had his sanity at the end.

But I wlil say this..his books are page turners and I am not ever tempted to DNF. I just wish I had liked it a wee bit more. I still will look for other books by this author. ( )