Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

29 reviews

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

I really enjoyed this!! I just loved the way it was told. It was so engaging and funny. The mystery was honestly whatever, but one part did make me gasp because I didn’t see it coming. I can see how this might not be for everyone, but I enjoyed my time reading this. The audiobook is really good as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Child death, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Torture, Violence, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Murder, and Grief

preciouslittleingenue's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

SUCH a compelling, captivating read. It was actually very cool to read this kind of mystery after finishing Meddling Kids, because though they’re both mystery, they are VASTLY different. And yet, I giggled nearly as much reading both. This is a DARK story. Lots of death. Including

Spoiler

child death.

Yet the author is so clever in how chooses to use the meta narrative, how he addresses his audience, and how he delivers information that it’s impossible not to giggle. Not to mention some of the dialogue was KILLING me (no pun intended). Like, I went from feeling sick to my stomach when

Spoiler

Ernie found Michael and absolutely lost it, the poor baby,

to LAUGHING not a minute later because the author had a character crack a joke about the death that JUST HAPPENED. Insane. How does he do that??

And the mystery itself! It truly just kept me guessing. The title obviously immediately makes one curious, and you spend the whole book wondering under what circumstances EVERYONE killed someone. And each reveal had me going either “OHHHHHH DUH” or “*gasp* oh my god”. Seriously, the reveal that Audrey killed

Spoiler

Jeremy by LOCKING HIM IN A CAR IN THE SUMMER ON TOP OF A PARKING GARAGE seriously made me feel so ill. But then!!! As soon as they revealed he was kidnapped after all, I KNEW HE WAS ALIVE! But I did NOT see it coming that he was in the cop all along! That was awesome!

 

And every little thing was important, as Ernie said it would be. I don’t know why I didn’t believe him right away when he said every little detail would matter but I should have! Also, I knew I didn’t trust

Spoiler

poor Rebecca’s parents…what a motherfucker her father is.

ANYWAY, just heard this will be a series and I CANT WAIT FOR MORE. Only reason it’s not a full 5/5 is just because I’m a little slow and a lot of the final explanations I kind of just went “well, okay, yes I guess that’s what happened” because I forgot/couldn’t follow wtf he was talking about lol. Also, I went from “oh another story where everyone is a horrible, irredeemable person, and I just get to wait and see who the worst of them all is” to “wow…I…actually feel very sorry for these people and I’m kind of sad so many of them died.” THAT is impressive. I am very difficult to sway on how I feel about people. Even fictional ones. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Child death, Blood, Death of parent, Child abuse, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Drug use and Drug abuse

jessgj's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Okay, so for anyone who looked at this and thought "FAMILY OF ASSASSINS!", sorry, this isn't that book. Instead, the book starts off with the eventful encounter when our protagonist and narrator Ern gets a call from his brother in the middle of the night, needing his help to dispose of a body. That's the start of the book but definitely not the start of their story. Slowly, we get around to how in fact, everyone in Ernest's family has killed someone, although "Killed" has some looser means than we initially think. 

The book took a little while to really get started for me. Fortunately, I was listening to the audiobook and I quite liked the narrator, both the voice actor and Ernest. Ernest breaks the fourth wall quite often but not in an obnoxious way that I've seen other people do and I appreciate his efforts to be honest to the readers. It's definitely a book that rewards its reader for paying attention as I was able to keep up with the big reveal and didn't feel cheated. 4.5 stars for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Police brutality

Moderate: Child death, Abandonment, Car accident, Gun violence, Murder, Death of parent, Infertility, Blood, and Infidelity

Minor: Kidnapping and Vomit

bubblehead_1994's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Infidelity, Medical content, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Abandonment, Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, and Suicide

saramoser's review against another edition

dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

A new take on golden age thrillers, classic whodunnit murder mysteries, and an ode to the “10 commandments of detective fiction” by Ronald Knox. This was a fun, witty read that kept me on my toes, never expecting what the next twist might be, and definitely unable to guess the ending. 

Listened on audiobook, the narrator was easy to understand and fun to listen to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Kidnapping, Drug use, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Blood, Child death, Drug abuse, Infertility, Medical content, Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Violence

emilywemily6's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I enjoyed this book! Though the humor is definitely more slapstick/punchline than my personal humor. This book is also extremely self aware (the narrator is one of the family members telling the story) and refers to the editor, specific word choices as the writer, etc. There were also lots of page numbers mentioned (to foreshadow when people die or when certain cryptic events happen, to look back on previous happenings and add more clarity to them, etc.) which was fun and different. I kept flipping back and forth to double check things and to see when the next mention of death was. So this was a fun read, even if the style was not the perfect fit for me and took a little bit to really get into it. My biggest gripes are that some of the evidence reveals were really hard to understand even if I kept rereading them, and the flow of information was sometimes hard to follow as a result of all the time hopping. The narrator told the truth as he knew it to be at the time things happened, but he didn’t have a perfect knowledge and that muddied the waters too. The plot twist at the very end of the book did me in and left me with more questions than the original plot of the story unfortunately. But I enjoyed this book and I liked how different it was from other books I’ve read. The subtle commentary on killing versus murder was an interesting aside as well (because as the readers we are also biased by how we read into words). I will look forward to reading other things by this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abandonment, Child death, Addiction, and Kidnapping

Minor: Car accident, Vomit, Blood, Medical content, and Alcohol

missrosymaplemoth's review against another edition

4.75

A fast paced, thrilling murder mystery with elements of humor and humanity at every turn. I absolutely loved this book despite some gross details and on-the-nose narration. I did not predict the killer or the ending at all, and the two (!) plot twists truly surprised me. Un-put-downable in every sense. A few points knocked off for some of the reveals and information/clues being convoluted and confusing.

☀️8/20

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicide, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Vomit, Addiction, Car accident, Confinement, Infertility, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship

cartridgepink's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Great book. I was having so much fun I stopped trying to work out the mystery and just enjoyed reading instead. (I did work it out anyway but that's not the point.) Funny, layered without being overly convoluted, great characters, and a satisfying mystery to boot.

Last year I went to a Melb Writers Festival event where Ben was a speaker. I hadn't read the book but was a fan of him + his brother's musical comedy. Panel goes well, Ben cracks jokes all the way through, then they open it up to Q&A and an elderly lady in the front row says, "Are you actually a comedian?" Honestly as brutal as some of the murders in the book. Gotta respect it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Vomit, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Blood, Body horror, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Blood, Car accident, Medical content, and Infertility

Minor: Pregnancy and Emotional abuse

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Violence, Medical content, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Death of parent, Confinement, Child death, Addiction, Suicide, Grief, Murder, Drug abuse, Death, and Body horror

Minor: Alcohol

jessiereads98's review against another edition

dark funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

A super fun read. It’s not quite a Christie but it’s very close. I appreciated the unique and refreshing narration which was able to seamlessly weave the backstory and present, stating all the facts without obscuring anything while not making the ending obvious. The book reads like the author had fun writing it while still being meticulously crafted. My one complaint is that the ending twist does feel a little like cheating, but only a little. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Infidelity, Suicide, Drug abuse, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, and Kidnapping