Jess and her family have rented a cottage for the summer. It’s the perfect chance to unwind and spend time together. But there are secrets lurking under the surface, just waiting to emerge…

An enjoyable and thought-provoking read, The Family Retreat is a very subtle domestic thriller, using authentic situations and obstacles to build up a little tension in an engaging story of strained family dynamics and neighbourhood drama.Overall, the plot is good but I would have enjoyed it more with a more in the moment proactive approach from Jess. Jess is a GP in the East End of London and a mother of two young children. From the outset, the reader is aware that her professional behaviour has been questionable of late, and so she is taking a break. Gradually, as the story progresses, it becomes clear what has happened and how her responses – conditioned by her experiences within her own family – have brought about a level of misjudgement that has affected her clinical work. Rob, her husband, organises a few weeks in a rental cottage in Dorset. It’s away from the daily pressures of work but stuffed, as they all are, into a tiny cottage, her role in the family is brought into sharp relief. Rob then has to depart unexpectedly on an urgent work assignment, so Mum and the two young children are left to manage daily life.

Lovely fellow readers. It was the first book that I've read that for 12% or more I didn't know what's the name of the main character. Sure, it is mentioned in the synopsis, but I've read it a long time ago and I forgot. It was only then that it was mentioned, and then I've caught her name perhaps three times more. In the whole book. Nobody directed her with her name. Why? Were they all really so damaged, so deep into their own thoughts and problems?As autumn approaches, Jess - and the reader - will come to realise this is going to end in a way no-one could have imagined... There is also the local farmer Pete and his wife Joyce and their eighteen year old son Loe who has learning difficulties. In the adjoining cottage is Penny and her father Phillip. So, although I didn't really like the characters, the plot was good once it finally got going. It ended up being an okay read. The characters are not likeable and mostly disturbed, probably too many people with issues in one place.

I liked the development between all the characters they felt real and gave a good insight into where they all were mentally in their lives. Having said that I didn't necessarily like all the characters, but then not all characters need to be likeable and at times it felt like there were too many stories all trying to be told in the one story to do any of them real justice, it could easily have been split into two books. The summer heat intensifies Jess - ever vigilant - unearths a secret, a problem she's sure she can help solve. But things are not always as they seem. The water may look inviting but even the gentlest looking waves can hide the deadliest undercurrents.

I adore how Bev Thomas writes! The love affair began with A Good Enough Mother and continues here with The Family Retreat-an emotional look at family, the lies we let ourselves believe and the sacrifices family demands from us. If I did trigger warnings then I wouldn’t know where to start as there are some very difficult subjects covered here but I don’t and every single distressing situation is handled perfectly by an author who completely understands the dynamics of relationships within families. I really enjoyed this book, it had a lot of tense moments in it and I couldn’t read it in a day as it wasn’t what I would call a relaxing read! The characters were all very different and I loved how the scenery of Dorsey made for some great moments. I would have liked Jess to have been more in holiday mode than getting involved in the village as fast as she did but that’s a minor hiccup on my part. This book is classed as general fiction which, on the face of it, conforms to the family drama tropes. However, the underside is of the story is a mystery, things are not as they seem, but small clues are scattered through the tale enabling the reader to puzzle out the true nature of the drama. The writing is of high quality and the whole thing proceeds at a surprisingly fast pace, while feeling, in the early stages, like a meander on a warm afternoon. The ending is well constructed and the final tidying up expeditious and satisfying. I would give it 4.5 so rounded to 5.