The Wrong Family

The Wrong Family by Tarryn Fisher is a domestic psychological thriller published in December 2020 by Graydon House; it explores themes including The Illusion of Perfection, The Weight of Secrets, and The Role of the Observer. A Seattle-based author, Fisher has written 12 novels in the romance, thriller, and new adult genres, including a collaboration with fellow New York Times best-selling author Colleen Hoover (Never, Never [2023]).

This guide refers to the 2020 print edition.

Content Warning: The source text contains discussion and depictions of mental illness, substance use disorders, sexual misconduct, suicide, houselessness, and kidnapping.

Plot Summary

The Wrong Family uses rotating third-person limited narration to follow two characters: Juno Holland and Winnie Crouch. Juno is an ex-therapist with lupus who is living in Winnie’s home. As that home includes a rental unit, it only later emerges that Juno is in fact hiding in the crawl space without the family’s knowledge. Unhoused since serving a prison sentence for professional misconduct, she became fascinated by the Crouch family, which includes husband/father Nigel, wife/mother Winnie, and son Samuel.

From her hidden vantage point, Juno now observes the family in their most unguarded moments. Winnie Crouch outwardly seems to have it all: a beautiful house, a loving husband, and a well-behaved son. However, Winnie is an overbearing mother, and her journal (which Juno illicitly reads) reveals that she has experienced depression.

Juno feels drawn to help Sam, who she feels deserves better parents than Winnie and Nigel. In a fight between Nigel and Winnie, Juno hears them allude to a kidnapping that Winnie committed. Juno begins investigating, using the family computer to research children who went missing around the time of Sam’s birth. She suspects they stole Sam because Winnie couldn’t have a child of her own but wanted a perfect family. When Juno goes through Winnie’s private effects, she finds two police reports and several pieces of bloodstained cloth. Juno also notices that Sam’s birth certificate is not present with those of his mother and father. Juno becomes convinced that Sam was abducted as a baby.

Meanwhile, Winnie’s twin brother, Dakota, has been thrown out of his home by his wife, Manda, for gambling and drinking. Dakota comes to live with the Crouch family for a while, but his drinking and roughness becomes a problem. One evening, in front of all of Winnie’s friends, Dakota pushes Sam and yells at him. Nigel defends his son, and Winnie throws Dakota out of the house. Dakota and the rest of Winnie’s family see this as a major betrayal.

Juno decides to send Winnie warnings that someone knows about the kidnapping. She mails Winnie an envelope with news stories of abducted children and uses Winnie’s library card to check out a book on the same topic, which causes an overdue notice to be sent to Winnie, disturbing her.

Winnie wonders if Nigel is doing this and plans to betray her: Years ago, when Winnie was first married, she worked at Illuminations, an organization that helped displaced, troubled, and unhoused individuals. There she met Josalyn Russel, an 18-year-old runaway from a wealthy family who had a substance use disorder. Josalyn became pregnant and called Winnie for help after the birth. When Winnie arrived, she assumed Josalyn was dead and took the child. It eventually emerges that Winnie got into a car crash on the way home and the baby died; Nigel buried the child in the crawl space, implicating him in the crime.

Juno, however, finds Josalyn’s name in Winnie’s search history and connects Josalyn to the police reports she found in Winnie’s bedroom. Assuming that Sam is the stolen child, Juno decides to call Josalyn’s mother, Terry Russel, and inform her that her grandson is at Winnie’s address.

Terry Russel arrives at Winnie’s house while Nigel is out for a run. She confronts Winnie about Sam and asks for a DNA test. As the women argue, they are interrupted by Nigel, who stumbles in the door with a stab wound. He is followed by Dakota carrying both a knife and a gun. Dakota has held a grudge against Nigel since the night he was thrown out of the house. After Nigel dies, Dakota ties up both Winnie and Terry in the apartment addition of the house, where Terry tells the story of Winnie stealing her grandson. Dakota finds it plausible. In the meantime, Juno discovers Sam left the house before Dakota’s arrival, planning to run away from home. Dakota shoots Terry Russel, and Juno realizes that his plan is to kill Winnie and then himself. Juno tries to knock Dakota out by hitting him in the head with a knickknack but is unsuccessful. He chases her into the crawl space.

Much later, Winnie regains consciousness and runs from the house. The police are confounded by footprints they cannot account for and by their inability to locate Dakota. Winnie and Sam move in with Winnie’s mother-in-law.

In the Epilogue, the new homeowners discover Juno and Dakota’s bodies in the crawl space. Juno looks peaceful, as if she died of natural causes. Dakota has his pistol in his mouth and holds a sign bearing Juno’s last message: that she had good intentions in intervening.