A Nearly Normal Family is a slow-burning mystery involving a family whose 18 year old daughter is accused of murder. It is a family/courtroom drama that explores their actions and reactions when their daughter is in jail and on trial. Will they be torn apart or will they stick together? It makes one wonder what you would do if you were in that situation and how far would a parent go to protect one's child. The story is told in three different perspectives -Stella's father - who is a pastor, Stella herself, and Stella's mother who is an attorney. The first section, told from Stella's father Adam's perspective was rather slow for me to get into. The story picked up for me when I got to the second section that is told from Stella's perspective. I was really excited to read this book because I have seen so many rave reviews. While I liked the story, I feel like this is actually about a 3 1/2 star read for me but I typically don't enjoy legal/courtroom type thrillers. As a parent, I did find it thought provoking though. I will look forward to reading something else in the future by this author.