Home Is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose

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🏚️ Home Is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose

What’s buried in the backyard is only half the story…
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (4.5 out of 5 stars)

⚠️ SPOILER WARNING!
If you haven’t read this book yet and want to enjoy all the shocking twists firsthand, back out now like you're leaving a suspiciously quiet family reunion. I'm about to recap every grave, secret email, fake letter, and shovel attack.

Buy it on Amazon | Buy it on Audible

🪦 What’s the Premise?

Home Is Where the Bodies Are is the twisted lovechild of a family drama and a murder mystery, wrapped in a blanket of small-town secrets, VHS home videos, and one extremely passive-aggressive inheritance.

It kicks off with a dying mother, three estranged siblings, and a whole lot of baggage (emotional and literal). What starts as a funeral quickly turns into an investigation — with clues buried in old videotapes, dusty journals, and, oh yeah, the backyard.

👩‍👧‍👦 Meet the Thomas Family

Let’s break down the main cast:

  • Laura Thomas – Dying matriarch who waits until literally her last breath to say, “Your dad didn’t just disappear seven years ago… oh, and don’t trust—” dies. WHAT???

  • Beth – The oldest daughter. Type-A, responsible, emotionally wounded, and still emails her dad every week after 23 years. Ma’am, let it go.

  • Nicole – Middle child, recovering addict, aspiring writer. Loves drama, bad decisions, and (bless her) snooping.

  • Michael – Youngest, successful tech exec, fully convinced he's the only normal one. Spoiler: he is not.

  • Brian Thomas – The long-missing dad who “walked out” seven years ago... allegedly.

💌 Inheritance With a Side of Trauma

After Laura passes away, the three siblings are summoned by her lawyer. He delivers:

  • A silver key (given to Beth).

  • A sticky note pointing to a safety deposit box.

  • And most importantly:
    ✉️ Three sealed envelopes, one for each kid, labeled in Laura’s handwriting. To be opened after the funeral.

But before they can even finish grieving, things get messy fast. Nicole is attacked, the house is broken into, and they start finding home video tapes in the attic. These tapes aren’t your usual birthday parties — they’re full of unintended footage, buried secrets, and eerie moments, including a clip that appears to show Brian at the scene of a child’s death.

📼 The Case of the Missing Girl

The tapes point to the 1999 disappearance of 12-year-old Emma Harper, the Thomas family's next-door neighbor.

  • In one video, Laura accidentally records Brian hovering over Emma’s body.

  • Emma's case was never solved. A neighbor named Charles Gallagher had been arrested and later released — then vanished completely.

  • And now, thanks to Laura’s journal entries, we know:

    • Brian and Laura covered up Emma’s death.

    • Laura later planted evidence to exonerate Charles, who was wrongly accused.

    • Eddie (Emma's dad) killed Charles because he believed Charles was guilty.

    • Brian buries Charlie with his best friend Eddie to keep everything buried (literally).

    • Their marriage was basically built on shared felonies.

Oh, and don’t forget Christie Roberts, a local 17-year-old who also went missing in ’99. Her name shows up in old newspaper clippings and on one of the tapes.

🕳️ Plot Twist Cemetery: Everyone’s Hiding Something

As Beth, Nicole, and Michael continue piecing things together, tension builds:

  • Beth reconnects with Emma’s older brother, Lucas — and maybe catches feelings.

  • Nicole works with a former classmate turned detective, Casey Dunn, to write a true crime book (and low-key solve the case).

  • Someone erases part of the Emma video, and Beth is convinced someone doesn’t want the truth getting out.

  • Beth then finds three small graves buried in the yard. The names on the stones match fake pet names — pets Beth doesn’t even remember.

What’s buried there? Buckle up:

  1. Emma Harper

  2. Charles Gallagher

  3. And… wait for it… Brian Thomas.

YES. THE MISSING DAD WAS IN THE YARD THE WHOLE TIME. THIS FAMILY NEEDS A BACKHOE AND A PRIEST.

🧨 The Family Bomb Drops (and So Do Shovels)

Nicole finally opens Beth’s envelope (she stole it, obviously — she’s the messy sister). It contains Laura’s final confession, the missing pieces to the whole puzzle.

Meanwhile, Beth is at the gravesite, reeling from what she’s just uncovered, when Lucas shows up to apologize. But then…

MICHAEL knocks Lucas out with a shovel.
Because, of course.

Then he pulls a gun on Beth and spills everything:

  • Emma’s death was not an accident.
    He was “joking around” and pushed her off a bridge.

  • Brian helped him cover it up.

  • Years later, Brian accused him of murdering his girlfriend. Michael says it was self-defense.

  • Then he murdered Brian too.

  • Michael sent the fake email from “Brian” to Beth and erased the videotapes.

  • He also switched Nicole’s envelope, so Beth never got the truth.

Luckily, Nicole and the cops show up just in time. Michael is shot and hospitalized, and the confessions are turned in.

📷 The Final Nail (Or Polaroid) in the Coffin

Months later, Christie Roberts shows up with a stash of old photos. She had been blackmailing Brian, asking $5,000 to stay quiet about Michael’s role in Emma’s death.

So Christie wasn't missing — she was just trying to cash out.
Brian paid her off, buried Emma (and later Charles), and tried to let his family live in peace. It didn’t work.

🕊️ How It Ends

  • Michael is alive, in custody, and probably won't be invited to Thanksgiving.

  • Beth marries Lucas and adopts a little boy.

  • Nicole publishes a bestseller called Home Is Where the Bodies Are. Meta!

  • Beth and Nicole finally have closure. Michael? Not so much.

💭 Final Thoughts

This book is messy, twisty, and unputdownable. Was it a little over-the-top? Yes. Did I care? Not at all.

✅ Great pacing
✅ Satisfying reveals
✅ Totally bingeable

The multiple POVs took a second to adjust to, and some twists came in hot and fast, but once I was in — I was ALL IN.

This one had:

  • Buried secrets

  • Home videos from hell

  • Sibling drama

  • And a plot twist you will not see coming.

📚 If You Loved Home Is Where the Bodies Are, Read These Next:

  • The Housemaid by Freida McFadden – Hidden pasts and secrets behind closed doors.

  • Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell – A missing girl, a grieving family, and a second chance that’s too good to be true.

  • Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica – Twists on twists with multiple timelines and POVs.

  • The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave – A husband vanishes, and the truth is way darker than expected.

📦 Buy the Book:

📖 Buy it on Amazon

📣 TL;DR:

If your ideal thriller has sibling drama, dead bodies, untrustworthy family members, and just enough chaos to keep you guessing, Home Is Where the Bodies Are is your next great read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ 4.5 stars — and honestly, maybe even generous, but I was too entertained to complain.

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