The Family Holiday by Shalini Boland-psychological thriller
Two families swap houses for their holidays. Seemingly innocent……. Amber lives with her family on the Amalfi coast but is English by birth. Beth is a stay at home mum, her husband Niall is a successful author and they live in Dorset in a country cottage. The families swap cars and surroundings for a couple of weeks as a break from their busy lives. Amber forgets to leave their car in the prearranged place for Beth’s family, but things get forgotten when in a hurry - don't they? There are intermittent chapters- we know not by which character- adding a sinister chill to the proceedings, someone with more than a holiday on their mind. The seemingly innocent swap which we all feel we could do- perhaps with some hesitation as to what others may do to our own homes- draws the reader into a comfort zone but there are clues as to that something is amiss. I love Shalini's books- there is always a good solid plot and a few surprises along the way. This one didn't disappoint. A thrilling read right to the very end.
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The white-washed Italian villa is perfect. I thought it might feel odd, living in a stranger’s house for the summer, but as my husband and children swim in the infinity pool, I start to relax. And then, in the back of a wardrobe, I find a photograph that shatters everything…
Sparkling green eyes, square jaw, lopsided smile. A young man with his arm around a beautiful woman. The picture is old and faded but I’d recognise him anywhere. The man is my husband.
But we’ve never met the family we’ve swapped homes with and my husband swears it isn’t him in the photo. He’s lying. We argue on the balcony with the sun setting behind us and I storm out.
When I finally calm down enough to go back to the villa to confront him, I find him sprawled across the veranda… dead.
Why would someone kill my husband? Am I in danger? And how well did I really know the man I married?
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