Assistant DA Darcy Young. She's come home to her estranged parents' country dwellings due to her sister's pending nuptials to Thomas Schure. It's supposed to be a happy occasion, but Darcy is suspicious of the man. She can't help but poke holes in the whirlwind romance her sister is caught up in and Thomas isn't helping matters with his erratic behaviour. It's enough for Darcy to feel convinced that something isn't right about Thomas and he presents a danger to her whole family.

Will she be able to convince everyone of her suspicions or will it be up to Darcy to save the day before someone loses their life on her watch?

The first hour really sucks you in, but switches into a diversion as the killer shows his hand after the duck dinner. It makes a change from the usual cat and mouse, and the feeling of dread is heightened. The family are a little dense in not realising there was something wrong with the guy. Thomas Stoddard is very convincing in his role as the killer but he does go over the top. The rest of the cast is fine - it's an above average thriller, though the heroine blurting out at the dinner that he's a killer was an unwise thing to do.

Why, Lifetime? Just Why? I don't understand why they consistently set up a strong, smart, accomplished female character and then have her do all the dumbest things that even a person of mediocre intelligence wouldn't do. Let me count the ways that the central character - a "Yale educated ADA" acts like a moron:

1) Announcing in front of the whole family that her sister's fiance is a murderer without a) any evidence; not even any pictures or background of the person(s) who's allegedly murdered two other random people; b) without using the considerable resources of a DA's office to investigate someone she suspects of a crime - which she can do without conflict if she hands it off to someone else, aka, her colleague who suspects him too.

2) After being shot by the killer and surviving, she runs to save her sister - knowing that he is over at her family's house to kill her sister because (of course) he informed her that's where he was going in a long monologue before shooting her. She doesn't try to contact the police on the way there because of course, why would an ADA with a dad who is a highly regarded attorney in town call the police who would have been at her house in seconds given who they are when she can just drive all the way over there herself and fight a psycho alone?

3) Even though her family's house seems to be full of guns, she runs up on the psycho - having the benefit of surprise because he thinks she's dead - with what looked like a paper towel holder to hit him over the head. Um - really??!! Couldn't even have grabbed a heavy iron skillet?

4) Remarkably, when that seems to actually stun him and he drops the gun he's threatening her sister with, she doesn't grab the gun, she tries to run out of the room with her sister. Oops - who would have thought that wouldn't work? Again, this is an ADA who's supposed to work all day long with law enforcement..... To be fair, the "I'll hit you over the head and stun you but not grab the lethal weapon you have while you are out/on the ground" is pretty de rigeur for Lifetime movies.

5) Then, after an interminable time of stupid, the two dimwitted sisters finally manage to inject the psycho with a vial of poison he has (I know, I know), but again when he falls to the ground, they don't grab his gun. They also don't grab the antidote to the poison he TOLD THEM he has which of course he then uses on himself. And, this woman was supposed to have gone to Yale Law School? Then, again - probably IRL would be top of the class at Yale.

5) The main sister character is shot in the arm and in the chest (although not fatally) and the psycho killer stomps on her wounded arm and kicks her in the ribs, but dad says at the end hey - it's ok - she can go to the hospital in the morning. I mean, what's a little shot through the arm with a wound that's also been stepped on repeatedly; not like it's going to get infected or anything. Just take an advil and see the doctor in the morning - or not - maybe just walk it off.

6) Then, the evil brother of the psycho appears at the end and, of course, works for her dad at his law firm now. Do NONE of these high-falutin lawyers know how to conduct background checks on anyone??

7) A small thing but the outfit she was wearing at the end of the movie was entirely inappropriate for a DA. NO female DA would wear a skirt that short and think they'd be taken seriously. Sorry, I know it's 2023, but it's true.

Sheesh - I recognize the directors of these movies often mail it in because their names don't really get recognized. But, you'd think some of the actors would raise their hand and be like - "Um; my family and friends are going to see me in this. Can you tweek this script just a tad so I don't come across as such an absolute moron?"

The first hour or so of this movie was pretty good- up until about the time of the duck dinner. We have heard a lot of killers go off on a tangential soliloquy about their reasoning for why they are doing what they are doing, but Thomas in this movie takes the cake. On and on and on he goes. Maybe he had to explain everything because the movie was disjointed.

And then the poison that worked so well on the maid barely slowed Thomas down. At least it gave the mother a chance to throw in some really ridiculous one-liners.

Finally, the last little segment introducing viewers to Thomas's brother- well, that was over the top and they had Darcy go all ga-ga over him.

One can only pray that this was not a setup for a sequel.