Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

15 reviews

beepbeep101's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

“Family is not whose blood runs in your veins, it’s who you’d spill it for.” 

Fantastic. Twists all the way to the last page. The extra .25 is for the last quarter of the book or so, as so much happened right after each other that beautifully brought everything together and turned things on their head. I loved the narrative voice of Ern (who isn’t a crime writer but instead is a how-to-be-a-crime-writer writer), who recounts the book’s events with a sense of humor about the writing process. He even gives the page numbers at the beginning on which every death in the book will occur - something which sounds like it would spoil a great deal, but things often happen differently than you expect them to. 

A great read, though definitely check the content warnings, as it wasn’t quite as light as I expected it to be from word of mouth recommendations. It gets into revenge, PTSD, infidelity, infertility, and addiction, and descriptions of trauma and injuries were a bit heavier than I expected. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Infertility, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism, Vomit, Car accident, and Alcohol

vailtoset10's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Infertility, Vomit, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

purplepenning's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

That was a ride! I switched between reading and listening to this one. The audiobook is excellent and definitely captures the narrator's tone. I loved the narrator voice (both in the book and the audio), the cheeky metafictional deconstruction of mystery books, the setting and family dynamics, and the sheer bananas complicated and clever plot. The bit that could've gone better for me was the monologuing wrap-up/reveal. By that point, I was expecting something more deft than such a long spiel. It might not have lost me in print but I was listening to the audio at the time and felt like I wasn't quite getting all of it. Still — it was a fun read!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

cady_sass's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

What a fun, humorous take on a murder mystery! The narrators voice takes some getting used to but I grew to like and appreciate it. Dark and self-deprecating humor are some of my favorite things, mixed with what is written to feel like true crime is a match made in heaven. And, even though the narrator makes a point to tell you exactly what’s coming and when it’s coming, the surprise twist at the ending still got me. All that said, there’s still just something missing here. I can quite put my finger on what it is, but something. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

toffishay's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I had a lot of fun reading this. It's very meta in a way that was engaging and put me in the mindset of like Clue the movie in a weird way. It does a great job of grabbing you right away and introducing our cast of characters in a way that is natural and engaging. The plot took some turns that I wasn't expected and honestly got a little heavier than I thought it would. Some of the plot points didn't work as well for me and things do get really crazy at the end in way that kind of lost me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Alcohol