Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone

Well, this is embarrassing as I'm interviewing the author soon - I'm going to read at least three more of his books before then so pray for me! Hopefully, as a comedian, he'll see the funny side in this.

Basically I was surprised to find I didn't really enjoy this murder mystery book, as it seems to have become an absolute phenomenon, with TV adaptations and multiple sequels and rave reviews with the general public! For me I didn't find the light tone particularly funny, there were a few too many similar main characters (I could never get Erin, Katherine and Lucy straight in my head), the mystery-of-the-past being unravelled was incredibly labyrinthine and itself prone to unnecessary twists (even up to the final page post-solution) and frankly I didn't really care enough about it compared to the present-day murders (which, unfortunately for me, were obviously intrinsically linked). I mean kudos to the author for working this all out but I needed a whole wall with red string connecting people and times and places and motivations and how they changed.

The book makes a big deal out of following a set of rules and deconstructing and mocking the genre - which is fine, it's more than ripe for it - but somehow this peek-behind-the-curtain wasn't very interesting to me and kind of took the fun out of what was left while not even really sticking to the *spirit* of the rules anyway. Probably if the rules were not constantly referred to this wouldn't have bugged me so much - it was like it was trying to be clever at the expense of being engaging.

Bad sign: when the murderer's identity was revealed I actually physically rolled my eyes (there should be a LOL'd equivalent for that - RME's?). Looking back it's probably the smartest thing about the book (and I reckon it'll play GREAT on the television adaptation) but with the rest of the plot being so hard to chart I was all out of patience for another wrinkle. Considering the whole book is about interpersonal dramatics and this is a big moment, I can't believe the rest of the characters were so blasé about it! Surely now is the time for extreme emotions and OTT reactions! It's one of the few times I can confidently say the book made a genuine mistake rather than just being not for me.

Possibly this book may have been on a hiding to nothing with me because I'm not really interested in family dramas (had too much of that in real-life thanks) - and this is ALL family drama ALL the time. If I were to write a positive review I'd call it "a juicy family murder mystery where secrets of the past must be unravelled before something something something".

On the positive side: it eventually grabbed me enough to make me see it through, there was one GUT PUNCH of a memory of a death about halfway through that brought a tear to my eye, and I did laugh occasionally. I don't buy the last minute romance though, but I was amused the most by their interactions throughout the book.

So my two star rating might be a little harsh, but honestly if I didn't have to read it for an interview I might have given up early. Sorry Ben!

Content Warnings

ceruleanseas's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

spaceunikate89's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

A truly dysfunctional family with their fair share of drama and skeletons in the closet.
There’s no one thing that kept me from loving this book, I think it was just a little too convoluted and “wtf is even happening” for my taste. I set it down about halfway through and read an entirely different 5-book series before coming back to it. The plot was interesting and the mystery intrigued me enough that I came back to finish it.

Content Warnings

mkmusicmaniac's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

librarybookfamily's review against another edition

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adventurous tense

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

shetef's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

rachel101's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I liked the writing style at first but then it got a bit tedious and I was bored in parts of the book….almost a DNF but I kept going as wanted to find out what happened but was disappointed in the ending…..I think this book is a marmite book….. not for everyone……

Content Warnings

cerysl's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.5

Content Warnings

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