Penny and Andeep have raised their family, lived their lives and now have all the time in the world to themselves. Deciding to leave their family home, they move into a small countryside house and figure out how to fill their days with happiness and relaxation. But then their adult daughters, Asha and Camille come home.
The move was meant to be for Penny and Andeep to reinvent themselves, to make art and upcycle and be free - but that's impossible when they're all together in such close quarters, with the girls not working, not making any money and definitely not getting along. The family starts to fracture.
They said it's just sibling rivalry. It'll pass. It's normal.
But this isn't just rivalry - this family is set to explode, and they might not all survive the fallout.
Let me just start out by saying this - this entire book was glorious, violent chaos and I'm not sure exactly what I just read but I had a great time. Keep Her Sweet was a hazy, bloody dreamscape following a family who take dysfunctional to terrifying new levels.
Blistering sinister, this searing thriller is told through multiple perspectives, through diary entries and therapy appointments, crafting a picture of simmering hatred and decline that has been growing for years. Each character was complex and entirely unlikeable in the most obsessive ways, every one having their own secrets, their own downfalls and their own lies to discover.
This is not an easy read, it's bloody and violent, with religious fanaticism, drugs, and plenty of family trauma - but it's like a car crash that you just can't look away, keeping you engrossed with morbid curiosity until the bitter, shocking end.
Helen FitzGerald is the bestselling author of ten adult and young adult thrillers, including The Donor (2011) and The Cry (2013), which was longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and adapted for a major BBC drama. Her 2019 dark-comedy thriller Worst Case Scenario was a Book of the Year in the Literary Review, Herald Scotland, Guardian and Daily Telegraph, shortlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and won the CrimeFest Last Laugh Award. Her latest title Ash Mountain was published in 2020. Helen worked as a criminal justice social worker for over fifteen years. She grew up in Victoria, Australia, and now lives in Glasgow with her husband.
Follow Helen on Twitter @FitzHelen.
Thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours and Karen at Orenda Books for inviting me to take part in this tour. I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review.
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