Her Perfect Family - Teressa Driscoll

Reading Challenge Category: Free from Amazon Prime

Official Blurb:

It’s their daughter’s graduation and Rachel and Ed Hartley are expecting it to be one of their family’s happiest days. But when she stumbles and falls on stage during the ceremony, a beautiful moment turns to chaos: Gemma has been shot, and just like that, she’s fighting for her life.
PI Matthew Hill is one of the first on the scene. A cryptic message Gemma received earlier in the day suggests someone close to her was about to be exposed. But who? As Matthew starts to investigate, he finds more and more layers obscuring the truth. He even begins to suspect the Hartleys are hiding something big—from him and from each other.
While Gemma lies in hospital in a coma, her would-be killer is still out there. Can Matthew unravel the family’s secrets before the attacker strikes again?

My Thoughts:

I’ve been reading some terrible books lately and needed something to grip me and get me over this awful slump. I’ve read Driscoll’s books in the past, and they’ve never let me down, so I really hoped this one would do the trick!
It did; it was superb!
It was different from other psych thrillers I’ve read, and I loved the uni and graduation aspects. Having done a Masters a few years back, graduation, for me, is the pinnacle of all the hard work you’ve put in. It’s a time to celebrate the achievement, so for this book to turn that on its head and have it as a tragedy really made me stop and think how lucky I am to have had the perfect graduation. It helped me empathise with all the students who had their ceremony ruined and the others subsequently cancelled. Then there is poor Gemma; not only is she shot, but the repercussions are just dreadful. I couldn’t get that out of my mind the whole way through the book.
The book keeps you gripped the whole way through; you have no idea who the shooter is, why they are doing it and how it will all be revealed. There are multiple suspects, and all of these are depicted really well. The author keeps you guessing, and when you thought you had figured it out, she threw in a curveball!
I did think I had one of the characters sussed, and although I was right to a degree, I was wrong on another aspect of what I thought. It really did keep me guessing.
The story was well-rounded, with parts taking place in the past that helped with character growth. You discovered why they acted in certain ways due to what had happened to them in the past. I flew through this book; I think it’s the fastest I’ve read one in a while (the dates don’t do it justice as I started at 23.00 on the 8th but finished at 00.10 on the 10th, so just over 25 hours) I couldn’t put it down. This is, without a doubt, the best five-star read I’ve read in a few months. Thank you to the author for getting me out of my slump!