The Family Bones

Olivia Eriksen, the protagonist of this mesmerizing psychological thriller from Marr (Strangers We Know), is working on her dissertation in psychology at U.C. Davis after gaining notoriety through her social media videos about her family’s extensive history of psychiatric disorders, including her great-uncle’s murder of her great-grandfather. Because her dissertation focuses on whether psychopathy is revealed at birth, Olivia decides to attend an upcoming Ericksen family reunion at a remote Oregon resort, where she’ll be able to use her relatives as primary sources. Oliva’s boyfriend, Howard Ngo, an administrator at U.C. Davis, agrees to go along in the hope that Olivia will announce their engagement to her family. After a storm rolls through Oregon that isolates Olivia, Howard, and her relatives, a family member dies and Olivia tries to discover the culprit. Meanwhile, amateur detective and podcaster Birdie Tan is investigating the cold case disappearance of Li Ming Na, last seen 10 years earlier in Eugene, Ore., who left a small child and an on-again, off-again boyfriend behind. Marr expertly builds tension by alternating between the two narratives, which eventually merge and build to an explosive conclusion. Readers will be captivated from the very first page. Agent: Jill Marr, Dijkstra Agency. (Mar.)