Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone
Ernest Cunningham Book 1
ISBN 9780063307728
eISBN 9780063279049
ASIN B09Y94K74X
I picked up the eBook of this to read because my youngest daughter (13) and my niece (16) had each picked up copies to read at the same time. They wanted to read three chapters a week of this, then 3 a week of Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect, to finish for the launch of Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret. I ended up getting ahead of them. Benjamin is one in a long list of Australian authors; Marianne de Pierres, Sally Murphy, Scot Gardner, Jack Hath and more; I have discovered and greatly enjoyed. The description of this volume states:
“Knives Out and Clue meet Agatha Christie and The Thursday Murder Club in this “utterly original” (Jane Harper), “not to be missed” (Karin Slaughter), fiendishly clever blend of classic and modern murder mystery.
“A witty twist on classic whodunits… Stevenson not only 'plays fair,' he plays the mystery game very, very well.” -- Maureen Corrigan, Washington Post
Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate.
I’m Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I’d killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it’s a little more complicated than that.
Have I killed someone? Yes. I have.
Who was it?
Let’s get started.
EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE
My brother
My stepsister
My wife
My father
My mother
My sister-in-law
My uncle
My stepfather
My aunt
Me”
The sections in this book are:
Prologue
My Brother
My Stepsister
My Wife
My Father
My Mother
My Stepfather
My Aunt
My Wife
My Sister-In-Law (former)
My Stepfather (again)
My Brother
My Uncle
Me
Epilogue
The sections have between 1 and 7 chapters and there are a couple of chapters with a .5 numbering, specifically 14.5 and 27.5 where Ernest breaks the fourth wall to make sure we are all caught up and give us some times. And the one specifically mentions reading having bought either the book or eBook of the story.
I struggled with this story, it was good but it really did not grab me until about the half way mark. If I had not been reading it with 2 others, it might have ended up on my ‘did not finish’ pile. That would have been my loss. But by the end it was a solid 4/5 stars. And the girls absolutely love it. We are looking forward to the next volume in the series.
Whenever the trope of breaking the fourth wall is used it is hard not to compare it to Deadpool, the comics, the graphic novels and the famous or infamous movies. It takes deliberate effort to not try and compare Ernest with Pool,, For there is no comparison. But Stevenson does use the style well. It is engaging and witty. Reading books by authors from the UK, Ireland, Scotland, and Australia is very different than reading most authors from North America. I find that life crime television it is just done better. And by the end of the story I felt that way about this volume.
It is an intriguing story. Ernest is telling us the tale of his family history, and their present circumstances with bodies turning up at a resort where his infamou8ns family is having a reunion as his brother has just been released from jail. He gives us hints and clues along the way, and like the Knives Out stories is leading us to discover the truth. Some of his clues are overt and some he draws attention to knowing they might be misread.
As of the writing of this review there are 69 editions of this volume, in numerous languages, and with a wide range of covers. It is a good novel that sets up a series. looking forward to give the other two a try.
Books by Benjamin Stevenson:
Fool Me Twice Find Us
Don’t Hang Up
Last One To Leave
She Lies in the Vines
Greenlight
…
Ernest Cunningham Series:
Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect
Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret
…
Jack Quick Series:
Trust Me When I Lie
Either Side of Midnight
…
No comments:
Post a Comment