A family obsessed with true crime gathers to bury their patriarch—only to find another body already in his grave in this “moody and atmospheric” (USA TODAY) thriller.
Raised in a secluded island mansion deep in the woods and kept isolated by her true crime-obsessed parents, twenty-six-year-old Dahlia Lighthouse is still haunted by her twin brother Andy’s disappearance a decade ago.
After several years away and following her father’s death, Dahlia returns home, 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 in this “gorgeously wrought and deliciously creepy…twisted delight” (Kathleen Barber, author of Follow Me).
“With her third novel, Megan Collins may have unlocked a new level of fictional discourse on the true-crime industrial complex…an examination of how flattening people into stories and churning them through the true-crime mill creates lasting, intergenerational damage…an exceedingly entertaining look at how corrosive family bonds can become.” —New York Times
“Collins’ talent to make prose moody and atmospheric is masterful... The Family Plot is a steady and satisfying hunt for a killer that true-crime enthusiasts and thriller fans can both savor.” —USA Today
“A masterpiece of gothic suspense and horror, filled with dark family secrets and stunning twists. Not to be missed.”
—Michele Campbell, internationally bestselling author of It's Always the Husband
"The Family Plot has one of the most original, twisted, genius storylines I've ever read. Megan Collins has created an astonishing, creepy suspense about escaping the bonds and betrayals of family. It's brilliant and bone-chilling, and you won't be able to look away for a second."—Samantha M. Bailey, internationally bestselling author of Woman on the Edge
