The Family Plot: A Novel
“Exceedingly entertaining.” —The New York Times
“Umbrella Academy meets Tana French. Dark, claustrophobic, and beautifully written.” —Andrea Bartz, author of We Were Never Here
From the author of The Winter Sister and Behind the Red Door, a family obsessed with true crime gathers to bury their patriarch—only to find another body already in his grave.
At twenty-six, Dahlia Lighthouse is haunted by her upbringing. Raised in a secluded island mansion deep in the woods and kept isolated by her true crime-obsessed parents, she is unable to move beyond the disappearance of her twin brother, Andy, when they were sixteen.
After several years away and following her father’s death, Dahlia returns to the house, where the family makes a gruesome discovery: buried in their father’s plot is another body—Andy’s, his skull split open with an ax.
Dahlia is quick to blame Andy’s murder on the serial killer who terrorized the island for decades, while the rest of her family reacts to the revelation in unsettling ways. Her brother, Charlie, pours his energy into creating a family memorial museum, highlighting their research into the lives of famous murder victims; her sister, Tate, forges ahead with her popular dioramas portraying crime scenes; and their mother affects a cheerfully domestic facade, becoming unrecognizable as the woman who performed murder reenactments for her children. As Dahlia grapples with her own grief and horror, she realizes that her eccentric family, and the mansion itself, may hold the answers to what happened to her twin.
“Umbrella Academy meets Tana French. Dark, claustrophobic, and beautifully written.” —Andrea Bartz, author of We Were Never Here
From the author of The Winter Sister and Behind the Red Door, a family obsessed with true crime gathers to bury their patriarch—only to find another body already in his grave.
At twenty-six, Dahlia Lighthouse is haunted by her upbringing. Raised in a secluded island mansion deep in the woods and kept isolated by her true crime-obsessed parents, she is unable to move beyond the disappearance of her twin brother, Andy, when they were sixteen.
After several years away and following her father’s death, Dahlia returns to the house, where the family makes a gruesome discovery: buried in their father’s plot is another body—Andy’s, his skull split open with an ax.
Dahlia is quick to blame Andy’s murder on the serial killer who terrorized the island for decades, while the rest of her family reacts to the revelation in unsettling ways. Her brother, Charlie, pours his energy into creating a family memorial museum, highlighting their research into the lives of famous murder victims; her sister, Tate, forges ahead with her popular dioramas portraying crime scenes; and their mother affects a cheerfully domestic facade, becoming unrecognizable as the woman who performed murder reenactments for her children. As Dahlia grapples with her own grief and horror, she realizes that her eccentric family, and the mansion itself, may hold the answers to what happened to her twin.
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Community Reviews
âThe Family Plotâ presented an intriguing premise centered around the notorious Thorne family, who have built their reputation on a twisted legacy of crime and death. When the familyâs patriarch passes away, his estranged daughter, Dahlia, returns to the eerie family estate, only to discover that the past is not as buried as she thought. As she navigates family secrets and dark memories, the story unfolds with an unsettling charm.
Collins infused the narrative with a rather dark vibe, capturing the bizarre dynamics of a family steeped in dysfunction, while also exposing our societal obsession with true crime. While the atmospheric setting and unique premise drew me in, the execution felt somewhat uneven, leaving me wanting more depth in the characters. Overall, it was an engaging read, but it didnât quite deliver the thrill I was hoping for.
Collins infused the narrative with a rather dark vibe, capturing the bizarre dynamics of a family steeped in dysfunction, while also exposing our societal obsession with true crime. While the atmospheric setting and unique premise drew me in, the execution felt somewhat uneven, leaving me wanting more depth in the characters. Overall, it was an engaging read, but it didnât quite deliver the thrill I was hoping for.
You think your family's screwed up...it's nothing compared to the Lighthouse family. Living in their secluded world with parents obsessed with murder, and a known serial killer stalking their island.
Author Megan Collins aptly describes The Family Plot as "strange, creepy, and haunting." The setting is a fictional island off the coast of Rhode Island on which sits the Lighthouse family home. It has long been dubbed the "Murder Mansion" by locals. Collins says she set the story on a small, remote island with a rocky shore in order to "amplify the sense of isolation the now-adult Lighthouse children feel as a result of their upbringing."
Each of the four Lighthouse children was named for a famous murder victim. Their mother homeschooled them but their curriculum was anything but traditional. Her lesson plans included detailed studies of famous killings and killers, murder reports composed by the children, and special commemorative ceremonies on the anniversaries of the crimes. In the first-person narrative Collins employs to relate the tale, Dahlia recalls that their mother "crowded our walls with her murdered parents." Their mother told her children that she moved to the island at the age of twenty-one after her parents were killed in their Connecticut estate during a home invasion. She met Daniel Lighthouse on the island and their marriage endured because he "indulged her eccentricities, encouraged them even, and did not protest as she turned the mansion into something like a mausoleum." Growing up, the Lighthouse children were shunned by their peers, so they only had each other for company and as playmates.
As the story opens, the three grown Lighthouse children make their way back to the island when they learn their father has died. Charlie, the eldest, is an actor. He's also an alcoholic with a dark view of the world and bitingly morbid sense of humor. Tate is an artist who uses Instagram to showcase her intricately-crafted dioramas of crime scenes. More particularly, the scenes of killings that have taken place on the island. Over the course of two decades, seven young women have been murdered on the island and the cases remain unsolved. The killer hasn't struck for ten years, but the islanders still dead bolt their doors. Charlie and Tate have a strong bond that Dahlia characterizes as "codependent."
Dahlia has spent the last decade searching for Andy, her twin, who ran away from home when they were sixteen years old. She explains that each of the four siblings had reasons for never returning to the island. Charlie claimed he had to be in the city in case he landed a role and without him, Tate would not return. Dahlia left when she was nineteen years old, finally accepting Andy's declaration in the handwritten note he purportedly left that he was never coming back. She saw no reason to attempt to get close to her other family members. Their mother was absorbed in reenacting the murders she made the children study, and their father paid no attention to her. Charlie and Tate were "a unit," and it was Andy who made Dahlia feel "valued, complete." But. Andy "left without telling me why, without even saying goodbye, and I've had to live all these years in the not knowing, which is a lonely, comfortless place," she relates. She knew that Andy had troubles she didn't understand -- he used to go into the woods with an ax and cut tress down in order to control his anger and frustration. He told her he thought their family lived an "unnatural" life, but was that reason enough to abandon her and the rest of the family? She's holding out hope that wherever he is, Andy will learn of their father's death and return.
But Dahlia's hopes are dashed when Fritz, the family's long-time, faithful groundskeeper, announces that when he was opening the grave within the family plot in which Daniel was to be buried, he made a shocking discovery. "Somebody's already buried in Mr. Lighthouse's plot. And I think it's Andy." Soon detectives arrive to investigate, pending identification of the remains. It seems that the body was buried with an ax belonging to Andy and there are fractures on the skull consistent with the blade of that particular ax. The body is positively identified as Andy.
The Family Plot explores the disturbing killing of Andy Lighthouse, whose body has been buried right there on the island in the family plot for a decade, unbeknownst to the family members. Or did one of them know exactly where he was? Who killed Andy? And why?
Collins compassionately portrays how Andy's death impacts Dahlia who, by her own admission, has dedicated her life to finding him. It was her only dream, "so now what do I do?" she ponders. Andy had wanted the two of them to run away when they were thirteen, but Dahlia resisted. Now, knowing she has spent ten years believing that "his heart [was] still beating in sync with" hers is almost too much for her to bear. "I always thought that, if he died, I'd feel it, like a coffin snapping shut on my own body. But all this time, I've been breathing just fine; all this time, I've been wrong."
Collins depicts, from Dahlias perspective, how each of the family members reacts to the news of Andy's death. Ever the actor, Charlies decides the home will become a memorial museum, open for public viewing. In preparation, Tate feverishly begins work on another diorama -- her own brother's murder scene. Their mother begins behaving uncharacteristically maternal and domestic, obsessively baking cookies. Dahlia is determined to learn what happened to Andy and, in the process, makes a number of disturbing discoveries.
Collins says she most enjoyed bringing the flamboyant Charlie to life, but took great care with her depiction of Dahlia. "She’s going through so much over the course of the novel —- mourning her brother, investigating his murder, navigating her dysfunctional family -— so I wanted to make sure I did justice to her journey and balanced all of its different components in a way that would push her toward growth." Collins succeeds at making Dahlia relatable and empathetic, despite the fact that she is surrounded by eccentric and, in some cases, sinister characters and the story itself is exceedingly dark and quirky. The tale proceeds forward at a steady pace with the revelation of shocking details bringing into question her characters' motivations and what additional secrets they may be hiding. Collins cleverly makes several of them possible suspects both in Andy's murder, as well as the killings of the seven young women. The island itself and, more particularly, the Murder Mansion serve as inanimate characters in the broodingly atmospheric story.
The Family Plot is an inventive and clever look at the relationships between the siblings, as well as with their parents. It is an insightful examination of long-held family secrets and the inherent danger in assumptions, as well as the cost of escaping familial bonds. Collins delivers a jaw-dropping, explosive conclusion that answers all of readers' questions. But at its core, The Family Plot is a character study -- a searing exploration of a thoroughly dysfunctional family. And how the surviving members discover the truth and, ultimately, reconcile themselves to it in order to escape the past and move on with their lives.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book and to Atria Books for a physical copy.
Each of the four Lighthouse children was named for a famous murder victim. Their mother homeschooled them but their curriculum was anything but traditional. Her lesson plans included detailed studies of famous killings and killers, murder reports composed by the children, and special commemorative ceremonies on the anniversaries of the crimes. In the first-person narrative Collins employs to relate the tale, Dahlia recalls that their mother "crowded our walls with her murdered parents." Their mother told her children that she moved to the island at the age of twenty-one after her parents were killed in their Connecticut estate during a home invasion. She met Daniel Lighthouse on the island and their marriage endured because he "indulged her eccentricities, encouraged them even, and did not protest as she turned the mansion into something like a mausoleum." Growing up, the Lighthouse children were shunned by their peers, so they only had each other for company and as playmates.
As the story opens, the three grown Lighthouse children make their way back to the island when they learn their father has died. Charlie, the eldest, is an actor. He's also an alcoholic with a dark view of the world and bitingly morbid sense of humor. Tate is an artist who uses Instagram to showcase her intricately-crafted dioramas of crime scenes. More particularly, the scenes of killings that have taken place on the island. Over the course of two decades, seven young women have been murdered on the island and the cases remain unsolved. The killer hasn't struck for ten years, but the islanders still dead bolt their doors. Charlie and Tate have a strong bond that Dahlia characterizes as "codependent."
Dahlia has spent the last decade searching for Andy, her twin, who ran away from home when they were sixteen years old. She explains that each of the four siblings had reasons for never returning to the island. Charlie claimed he had to be in the city in case he landed a role and without him, Tate would not return. Dahlia left when she was nineteen years old, finally accepting Andy's declaration in the handwritten note he purportedly left that he was never coming back. She saw no reason to attempt to get close to her other family members. Their mother was absorbed in reenacting the murders she made the children study, and their father paid no attention to her. Charlie and Tate were "a unit," and it was Andy who made Dahlia feel "valued, complete." But. Andy "left without telling me why, without even saying goodbye, and I've had to live all these years in the not knowing, which is a lonely, comfortless place," she relates. She knew that Andy had troubles she didn't understand -- he used to go into the woods with an ax and cut tress down in order to control his anger and frustration. He told her he thought their family lived an "unnatural" life, but was that reason enough to abandon her and the rest of the family? She's holding out hope that wherever he is, Andy will learn of their father's death and return.
But Dahlia's hopes are dashed when Fritz, the family's long-time, faithful groundskeeper, announces that when he was opening the grave within the family plot in which Daniel was to be buried, he made a shocking discovery. "Somebody's already buried in Mr. Lighthouse's plot. And I think it's Andy." Soon detectives arrive to investigate, pending identification of the remains. It seems that the body was buried with an ax belonging to Andy and there are fractures on the skull consistent with the blade of that particular ax. The body is positively identified as Andy.
The Family Plot explores the disturbing killing of Andy Lighthouse, whose body has been buried right there on the island in the family plot for a decade, unbeknownst to the family members. Or did one of them know exactly where he was? Who killed Andy? And why?
Collins compassionately portrays how Andy's death impacts Dahlia who, by her own admission, has dedicated her life to finding him. It was her only dream, "so now what do I do?" she ponders. Andy had wanted the two of them to run away when they were thirteen, but Dahlia resisted. Now, knowing she has spent ten years believing that "his heart [was] still beating in sync with" hers is almost too much for her to bear. "I always thought that, if he died, I'd feel it, like a coffin snapping shut on my own body. But all this time, I've been breathing just fine; all this time, I've been wrong."
Collins depicts, from Dahlias perspective, how each of the family members reacts to the news of Andy's death. Ever the actor, Charlies decides the home will become a memorial museum, open for public viewing. In preparation, Tate feverishly begins work on another diorama -- her own brother's murder scene. Their mother begins behaving uncharacteristically maternal and domestic, obsessively baking cookies. Dahlia is determined to learn what happened to Andy and, in the process, makes a number of disturbing discoveries.
Collins says she most enjoyed bringing the flamboyant Charlie to life, but took great care with her depiction of Dahlia. "She’s going through so much over the course of the novel —- mourning her brother, investigating his murder, navigating her dysfunctional family -— so I wanted to make sure I did justice to her journey and balanced all of its different components in a way that would push her toward growth." Collins succeeds at making Dahlia relatable and empathetic, despite the fact that she is surrounded by eccentric and, in some cases, sinister characters and the story itself is exceedingly dark and quirky. The tale proceeds forward at a steady pace with the revelation of shocking details bringing into question her characters' motivations and what additional secrets they may be hiding. Collins cleverly makes several of them possible suspects both in Andy's murder, as well as the killings of the seven young women. The island itself and, more particularly, the Murder Mansion serve as inanimate characters in the broodingly atmospheric story.
The Family Plot is an inventive and clever look at the relationships between the siblings, as well as with their parents. It is an insightful examination of long-held family secrets and the inherent danger in assumptions, as well as the cost of escaping familial bonds. Collins delivers a jaw-dropping, explosive conclusion that answers all of readers' questions. But at its core, The Family Plot is a character study -- a searing exploration of a thoroughly dysfunctional family. And how the surviving members discover the truth and, ultimately, reconcile themselves to it in order to escape the past and move on with their lives.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book and to Atria Books for a physical copy.
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