This is Kaira Rouda's first book in the series about The Kingsleys- a wealthy dysfunctional family with plenty of skeletons in the closet.

The premise is that the patriarch of the family, Richard Kingsley, invites his adult children and their partners aboard his new super yacht for an overnight trip to Catalina Island. The invitation is supposedly to reconnect, but everyone knows the true purpose - to assess which one of the heirs is fit to run the billionaire family enterprise. All three siblings dislike each other and nurse personal grudges against their father. Their nearly 80 year-old father and his new 38 year-old wife Serena, his fifth, will host as the three siblings jockey for position and try to edge each other out. All's fair in love and succession. But the weather is stormy and so is the mood as carefully laid plans go wrong.

I always find Kaira Rouda's books fun to read, with characters you love to hate. Similar to your favourite trashy reality show, it's just fun to watch people behaving badly. This one was lacking however. The quality of the writing was just not there. The dialogue felt wooden and repetitive; there was just no spark in it. What could have been great fun, with snappy dialogue and underhanded scheming, just felt like a chore to read. Ted and John came across as whiny, immature and entitled. Sibley, who could have been a breath of fresh air, was just low class and rude. The wives are one-dimensional. And with about 10% of the novel left to go, there is a bizarre plot twist that made absolutely no sense to me.

Kaira Rouda can spin a tale, but this one wasn't her best effort.