Family Business
JUST ANOTHER DEAD-END JOB. DEATH. IT'S A DIRTY BUSINESS. When Diya Burman's best friend Angie dies, it feels like her own life is falling apart. Wanting a fresh start, she joins Slough & Sons - a family firm that cleans up after the recently deceased. Old love letters. Porcelain dolls. Broken trinkets. Clearing away the remnants of other people's lives, Diya begins to see things. Horrible things. Things that get harder and harder to write off as merely her grieving imagination. All is not as it seems with the Slough family. Why won't they speak about their own recent loss? And who is the strange man that keeps turning up at their jobs? If Diya's not careful, she might just end up getting buried under the family tree. . . People can't look away from Family Business: 'Great horror novel that gets scarier by the page!' Netgalley reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'Sims is a master of the horror genre . . . perfect for Halloween reading' Netgalley reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'Very much in the style of Stephen King . . . [this story will make you] fear to turn the page. A great read' Netgalley reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
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Community Reviews
3.25/5
Diya's life is imploding. Her best friend's sudden death has sent her on a downward spiral of grief and self isolation that led to losing her job. With bills to pay, and looking for something to do, she takes a job as a crime scene cleaner with Slough & Sons. The job is hard and gross, which is to be expected. The vivid and horrific visions that come to Diya on some of the jobs, the sense of being watched, and the secrets the Sloughs are keeping on the other hand are not something Diya was prepared for. Something isn't quite right, and whatever it is it's coming for her.
Reading anything by Jonathan Sims feels familiar, similar to having coffee with a long life friend. You can easily pick up the common threads between his works, which is nice but can also be repetitive and commonplace. I was entertained, sure, but not wowed. Not the be all The Magnus Archives is A Podcast on main but this was the fears all over again lmao. The book's pacing could have been tighter, the beginning was too slow and the ending, while spectacular and action packed, rushed. Diya was more a vehicle for the situations and not so much a fully fleshed out person so I had a hard time connecting with her.
The descriptions were good and spooky, while not fully scary. Same with the main villain, I would have enjoyed a more fleshed out adversary. I did like the ending quite a bit, plus the central message of the book, but this ended up being an okay read and that's it. I will still read whatever he publishes next though.
Memories fail, time fades, chemicals cleanse. We all vanish in the end.
Diya's life is imploding. Her best friend's sudden death has sent her on a downward spiral of grief and self isolation that led to losing her job. With bills to pay, and looking for something to do, she takes a job as a crime scene cleaner with Slough & Sons. The job is hard and gross, which is to be expected. The vivid and horrific visions that come to Diya on some of the jobs, the sense of being watched, and the secrets the Sloughs are keeping on the other hand are not something Diya was prepared for. Something isn't quite right, and whatever it is it's coming for her.
Reading anything by Jonathan Sims feels familiar, similar to having coffee with a long life friend. You can easily pick up the common threads between his works, which is nice but can also be repetitive and commonplace. I was entertained, sure, but not wowed. Not the be all The Magnus Archives is A Podcast on main but this was the fears all over again lmao. The book's pacing could have been tighter, the beginning was too slow and the ending, while spectacular and action packed, rushed. Diya was more a vehicle for the situations and not so much a fully fleshed out person so I had a hard time connecting with her.
The descriptions were good and spooky, while not fully scary. Same with the main villain, I would have enjoyed a more fleshed out adversary. I did like the ending quite a bit, plus the central message of the book, but this ended up being an okay read and that's it. I will still read whatever he publishes next though.
