Keep It In The Family by John Marrs

This book blew my mind. I am surprised at the twisted reasoning for the senseless killing of innocent children. While I didn't mind when Debbie's monster parents died. Way to go grandpa. We should all have grandparents like that! Debbie's mom was crazy. I don't know what mental illness she had but she had to have had one. I mean teaching your children how to pick out the victims you kill is really sick. And then killing your kids best friend. When Debbie & her brother accidentally watch a video tape that is mislabeled they witness his death. And their mom goes crazy. George, Debbie's brother, she believes is murdered by her parents. But as Tim goes on it seems she's not clear what happened to him. She thinks he joined the military at one point. Then she thinks her parents killed him. Then she hires a private investigator to locate him. Only she finds out he has no birth certificate. They can't find him. I feel so bad for Dave because Debbie tricks him into thinking he killed a girl he hit with a stolen car when Debbie finished her off. He left to get help. That forever ties them together as they flee the scene. They get married at sixteen with her grandparents permission. But Debbie gets the urge to "save" children she assumes need it. Poor kids, kids whose parents don't watch them or take care of them good enough. She uses the same killing habits her parents had except she strangled them. Debbie & Dave have a son named Finn. Debbie is very overprotective of him. Yet, in their family you will learn they all keep secrets from one another. When Finn marries Mia instead of his high school sweetheart Debbie is furious. Mia comes from money & fame. Finn is a Plummer from a poor family. Mia & Finn buy the house Debbie grew up in. During renovations they discover 7 bodies in the attic. All children stuffed in high end leather suitcases. Mia is pregnant & standing on the ladder when she falls. She has to have the premature baby. She blames herself for almost killing him. Because of this she goes through a depression & refuses to bond with the baby. And because their house is being investigated they have to stay with Dinner parents. Debbie steps up & takes care of the baby. Mia can't get over seeing the mummified child in the suitcase. She has PTSD from it. She starts obsessing over the children's identities. Then trying to figure out why Dave never mentioned he knew some of the victims because he went to school with two of them. Then she starts snooping around the house. She starts asking Finn questions. He thinks she's gone crazy. However, she's connecting the dots, she just doesn't have all the pieces. Later she discovers a warehouse with another 40 suitcases filled with children.And Dave ties her up. Then he kills himself. He thought he had stomach cancer turned out to be an ulcer. Debbie blames Mia for his death & attacks her. Luckily it was at the police station. I forgot to mention that Mia finds out Finn never stopped seeing his high school sweetheart & they have a four year old daughter together. Mia moves back with her parents. Debbie thinks Mia & Finn are getting back together. She plots to stop it because they try to stop her from seeing their baby when they suspect Debbie isn't Finns mom. Mia secretly does a DNA test on Finn & his parents. They aren't his parents it turns out. He was a kidnapped child whose sister was a victim of the killer. Debbie gets the ultimate revenge she kidnaps their baby. She doesn't think they are fit parents anymore by her standards. Will they ever find their baby or did Debbie kill him? She's not saying. As new evidence comes to light they discover Dave wasn't the killer in the family. I feel sorry for Finn because not only was he not raised by his parents but the people who raised him killed his sister. And you know they say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree? Keep that in mind while reading. But I still see Finn as a manipulated kid who was raised wrong, therefore a victim