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In the cottage next door Helen her husband James and there two children Ollie and Lexie have also come to spend the summer in Helen's mum cottage whilst she is away. Even though James can only visit at weekends due to setting up is own business. The theme of safeguarding played a major part in this storyline and the difficulties surrounding a very emotive subject were explored sympathetically. For GP Jess, her caring nature and sense of duty meant that she often looked at problems with a dichotomous thinking without considering any grey areas. Her sessions with her therapist helped to show the reader how these thought patterns have shaped the woman she is now and why she often doesn’t react to what is so obviously in her eyesight. She is a complex character but I found her absolutely fascinating even if I struggled to understand her thinking at times.
Rob manages to find a beautiful but tiny cottage Dorset for a month even though Jess is reluctant at first but as soon as she arrives it felt like home. The cottage is set in a small hamlet just outside the local village.
About this book
Fuelled by a heady rush of altruism, she decides to act - a choice that will have unforgettable, potentially devastating consequences. As autumn approaches, Jess – and the reader – will come to realise this is going to end in a way no-one could have imagined. . .
GP Jess, her writer husband Rob and their children Sam and Ruby retreat to a seaside cottage for a month as Rob believes Jess in particular needs a break from their London life. At a fundraising event Jess meets Helen, their initial meeting is not auspicious but then something changes when Helen asks for Jess’s help. This is a well-paced tale where tension builds slowly over the course of the book. I adored the sweeping, dramatic setting which could be picture perfect one minute and a brooding, angry, dangerous threat the next. There���s a sub-plot featuring Jess’s parents which I thought really added to the story. Making characters that already felt real to me even more believable. With the extended absence of husband Rob (away on a business trip in the US), with the strange behaviour of her father, with the pressure to return to work, with two young children to look after and the need to fit into a new community, it’s no wonder that Jess has the weight of the world on her shoulders. The Family Retreat is a decent read, it is classed as general fiction but I think I would class it more family drama. She meets another woman who is staying at the cabins for the summer, and she has two children roughly the same age as Jess's. Although Jess finds Helen a little stand-offish at first, she soon finds herself embroiled in this woman's life.Overall, the plot is good but I would have enjoyed it more with a more in the moment proactive approach from Jess. On holiday with her family, Jess starts to ingratiate herself with the other people living near her country cottage – villagers and visitors. And while on the surface, it is all sweeping beaches and sinking your toes into the sand here, there are several harrowing stories playing out beneath the picturesque surface. A horror is about to explode in the idyll. I am addicted to summer thrillers this year. Last year I had a thing for flight-based thrillers. This year it’s definitely the ‘summer holiday gone horribly wrong’ vibe I am loving! So when The Family Retreat landed on my radar I was, of course, drawn to it. I love the cover. It screams ‘PERIL’ at me, with the child in the ocean, and I found the blurb to be very intriguing. Plus a lot of the summer thrillers I’ve read recently have been set overseas but The Family Retreat is based in beautiful Dorset, which was also a pull. It’s an extremely well-written, suspenseful, dark tale which I devoured. I can’t say much about the plot for fear of spoiling the read for others, but what Bev Thomas does so completely brilliantly is a kind of sleight of hand that has the reader believing one thing before she hits them with a different reality that is breath taking. As the narrative drew to a close I felt literally rooted to my seat as I read, unable to tear myself away form what was happening. I was drawn to this novel when I saw an informed review of the novel, describing it as full of psychological ‘aha’ moments. And it is. In the review it said that it has “an astuteness that most other books would miss, whatever their genre....”
On the final part of my trip I went on a two-week bus journey from San Francisco to New York, during which I told my fellow passengers about wanting to write fiction on my return to England. Not knowing me at all, they were unanimously encouraging and supportive, and when I returned home with no job, money or flat, it was helpful to remember their unbridled enthusiasm. Being away can sometimes allow us to realise our strengths, aspirations and dreams. It’s here that the voice of the super-ego is silenced. We can experience the joy of playing a game of no judgment or consequences. The critical voice is usually our own, but sometimes it’s those of others who, because of legitimate worries or concerns, might be less eager to champion a risky decision.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. As autumn approaches, Jess - and the reader - will come to realise this is going to end in a way no-one could have imagined... I chose this book because I'm a fan of mysteries, I thought it might be something like the genres that I have read before. However, this book is more of a suspense drama. The characters are not likeable and mostly disturbed, probably too many people with issues in one place. For me, the creeping fear and tension created by Jess's thoughts really made the book work. I liked the fact that I knew that something was going to happen, I loved the slow exploration of events and the fact that what seemed to be the obvious conclusion really wasn't.
I loved the characterisation because, through the lynchpin of Jess, we get to know the people in The Family Retreat so completely. Jess felt totally real to me and so many aspects of her personality resonated with me personally, particularly that of trying to be all things to all people, so that the narrative was all the more affecting. However, the one person who astounded me most was Polly who is a universal everywoman so familiar in today’s society. Helen’s response to Polly’s experiences has a seismic impact on the reader and I wish every politician and patriarchal figure could read The Family Retreat so that they understand the lives of so many in our society. Through these characters Bev Thomas gave me far greater clarity and understanding than any factual account has managed. A retreat suggests a place of reflection and learning and my word do these characters learn about themselves and others! I read A Good Enough Mother by this author which was incredible, so I was delighted to get my hands on this one and it didn’t disappoint. I LOVE the author’s style of writing; her prose, her reflections, her hints of what is to come swept me right into this story. And I don’t often quote parts of books but the following passage brought tears to my eyes (yes another book that’s made me cry round the pool in Fuerteventura, I’m on a roll here! 😭) as it was just so powerful and perfect. 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. Jess isn’t convinced though their kids are thrilled and the combination of the Dorset sea air and the idyllic cottage works their magic and Jess starts to relax into the holiday vibes. She even makes friends with Helen, another woman who is holidaying there with her husband and kids. 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 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. Bev Thomas was a clinical psychologist in the NHS and continues to serve as a mental health consultant and I felt that she approached the novel’s themes her with sensitivity while still penning an engaging suspense drama. At the end of the evening, we parted company. The birthday woman was leaving early in the morning. I was also leaving the next day. None of us saw each other again. I don’t remember their names, but I do remember the magic of that connection. For all of us, the anonymity was liberating; we had no shared past or future and, as a consequence, we could talk freely without judgment or repercussions. So forget this being "the perfect chance to unwind and spend time together", as Jess has priorities all wrong and I was unusually annoyed by the fact that she couldn't take a few weeks off. The Dorset setting is used well, but there's just a lot going on so you're never in the holiday mood. Even her parents come to visit, so it feels like this family had moved to a new town rather than taking a break.
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