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Frank Szatowski is shocked when his estranged daughter Maggie calls him and invites him to her upcoming New Hampshire wedding. As Frank struggles to reconnect with Maggie and make sense of this new direction her life has taken, he also begins to worry something is not quite right with the groom and his very affluent family.

This struck me as a unique thriller for a few reasons. First, the story is told from a single POV, and a middle-aged father at that, which isn’t common in thrillers these days. I think that helped to flush out the characters, and create a strong emotional father/daughter element to the story, yet another rarity in thrillers these days. And lastly, at times, this felt like a genre mashup - thriller meets cozy mystery - a fusion I would love to see more of. This kept the book feeling fresh and original, while also having some of the domestic suspense elements we all love.

🎧 I read this one predominantly with my ears. While the audio is good overall, and while the narrator did a solid job at voicing Frank, there was something that didn’t quite work for me, however I cannot put my finger on it. I wonder if the mood and tone of the story didn’t necessarily match the tone of the narrator which threw me off. Unclear. But given that there is only one narrator, it did impact my experience and I found myself then turning to the book to eyeball read instead.

An important point to note about this book is that it is quite different than Rekulak’s last novel, Hidden Pictures. Having loved the elements of horror and downright creepy vibes of that one, I think a lot of us went into TLOATW expecting something in the same vein. And this can ultimately do a major disservice to the story itself. Please go in, if you can, knowing this book is wholly unique, and I feel confident you will come away enjoying it that much more.

Read if you like:
▪️domestic suspense
▪️focus on the father/daughter relationship
▪️strong character development
▪️wedding backdrop
▪️slow burn
▪️single POV

Thank you Flatiron Books, Macmillan Audio and Booksparks for the gifted copies.