The Family Game

Novelist Harriet Reed is on the brink of everything she wanted: a book deal, and an engagement to the charming Edward Holbeck. The catch is Edward's family. The Holbecks are American old money — brilliant, glamorous, and quietly ruthless — and Edward has spent years keeping his distance from them. Now, drawn back into the fold, Harriet is welcomed into their world of townhouses, private clubs, and elaborate holiday traditions.

Then Robert, the magnetic patriarch, hands Harriet a cassette tape. On it is a confession to a murder. Is it fiction, a test, or the truth? As Christmas approaches and the family's peculiar, high-stakes seasonal "game" begins, Harriet realises she has been drawn into something she doesn't understand and can't refuse — and that the Holbecks may be far more dangerous than they appear.

Catherine Steadman's twisty psychological thriller braids Harriet's uneasy induction into the family with the transcripts of Robert's sinister tapes, building a tense, glittering puzzle about loyalty, secrets, and how far a family will go to protect itself.