Must read 🏆

An emotional roller coaster suspense mystery murder thriller.

The Big Bad was tense and fast paced. I was keyed up reading this book. The Strauss family moved from New Hampshire to Eugene, Oregon for ominous reasons that aren’t obvious at first.

Dr. Rachel Strauss, the seemingly ordinary wife and mother, is not who you think she is. At first, I thought the story was about an abusive relationship and that Rachel learned she didn’t need her husband’s approval. Turns out Rachel has a disease that is a closely guarded family secret. There is only one way to cure her.

Her husband, Sam, loves his family, especially their two little girls and would go to any lengths to protect his family no matter the consequences. Sam would do anything for his family including keeping his wife’s disease a secret which involves locking her up when the disease rears its ugly head. He has managed to keep Rachel’s disease from the world. Sam is living life as if everything in the family is normal.

In New Hampshire, Sam had a career as a writer. Now he is a stay-at-home dad feeling frustrated, and out of place because he is at home doing domestic chores. Sam is faced with many challenges. The twists and turns happen fast. Sam hasn’t found a job yet. He is home doing domestic chores and not loving it.

A stranger named Harold shows up claiming he is the BNB guest. Sam makes Harold leave. Sam is worried about Rachel’s whereabouts because she is late getting home from work. Dinner is somewhat quiet until one girl tattles on another.

Rachel plays a game with her daughter like any good mother would. She has twenty minutes to get the girls settled then she needs to leave. Rachel takes her suitcases downstairs and the youngest daughter, Odie, opens the suitcase and is confused when she finds it empty. She can hear her mom and dad argue in the kitchen and something gets smashed on the floor.

Later, Sam shoves Rachel into the cellar. Sam not only fights the wolves coming out of the forest looking for food after the flood, he also fights off Harold who comes back claiming to know Rachel. Harold is a stranger to Sam. He said he knows about Rachel’s disease.

Sam is faced with many moral dilemmas. When their daughters find out about the disease, Rachel has no choice but to ask her daughters to keep her disease a secret. She manipulates and threatens them that if anyone finds out about her disease, they will be taken away from her and live separately. And then the same mark on the little girl’s arm indicates she too has the same disease as her mother.

Reviewed by

I am an author, an advocate, and former foster parent. I adopted my granddaughter, and we wrote a book together called Carly Shares Her Story. We used the pen names Eve Collins and Morgan Carew. The book is about her experience as a foster child. I worked with inmates for 20+ yrs and now I'm retired