Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

80 reviews

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

sophie42's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child death, Drug abuse, Blood, Vomit, Grief, and Car accident

mysterymom40's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

stephbakerbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

If the title doesn’t intrigue you, then you probably won’t like this book, but if you find yourself hooked by the title, you’re in for a fun time! 

 

A family reunion at a snowed-in resort where someone ends up dead and all the suspects have killed before…this book was filled with all sorts of red herrings, twists, shocking reveals, and I guessed nothing and gasped aloud a lot and overall had a good time reading this book. 

 

It is plot-focused, but these characters also get some depth and are all distinct and interesting. It’s written in first person, with the narrator speaking to us, the readers, which made for a fun way to tell the story. I also liked how he would tell you how the story was using the formula for classic mysteries and when it wasn’t. I thought this narration style worked well for the story and added humor throughout. 

 

Stay focused when you read this one…the tiniest things end up being clues that you don’t want to miss! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Suicide, and Kidnapping

Minor: Drug use, Vomit, and Car accident

caits_reading_nook's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction and Alcoholism

Minor: Car accident

m_a_r_i_a_m's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative lighthearted mysterious slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Suicide, Kidnapping, Car accident, Abandonment, and Alcohol

znvisser's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

At some point in my life it was my job to watch tv shows, and in doing that, detectives were never really my favourite genre. My preferences don't differ that much for books, so usually I steer away from those. Nevertheless, I picked this up because the title and description seemed funny enough. And even though it was a bit more murdery mystery than I realised in advance, I did enjoy reading this. The author plays with the genre in a fun way and enough was going on in terms of plot, characters and setting to keep me reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Suicide, Blood, Car accident, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Cancer and Vomit

rowanhill's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.5

As soon as I read the prologue of this book, I knew I was in for a good time. Reliable narrator Ernest Cunningham (Ern) fully delivers in the dark humor and the promised body count. Despite Ern’s honesty as he recalls his family reunion turned murder mystery, this story has many twists that will keep you guessing. With so many characters to keep track of, things can get a little convoluted at times. However, if you like complicated family drama in the vein of Knives Out, this is definitely a book for you.

Three years after the fateful night that landed Ern Cunningham’s brother Michael in jail, the family has decided to have a reunion at a cold, isolated mountain resort in Australia to celebrate Michael’s release. Despite Ern’s ostracization from the family for testifying against Michael, he is required to attend in order to mend fences. But there is a whole lot more to that night than either Michael or Ern has let on to the family or each other. To make matters worse, a local man is found dead on the resort property. With nobody but a bumbling local police officer to investigate, the task of discovering the killer falls on Ern, the self-published author of guides on writing crime novels. Being part of an infamous family full of secrets, the killer could be anyone. 

As Ern informs us from the very beginning, he is a reliable narrator and expert in how to write murder mysteries. He proves both to be true as he tells the tale of his family reunion gone awry and delivers on the promise of the title. I love his dark humor and, though honest, Ern finds many ways to surprise you and keep you guessing. Every person in his large, blended family carries their own baggage and secrets, more than even Ern knows when he arrives at the isolated mountain retreat. Though figuring out who committed the murder at the retreat is at the center of this story, the real fun was in learning about the different characters and slowly unravelling their secrets, even Ern’s. 

Though the characters really make this story shine, there are definitely a lot of them. Additionally, Ern tends to break the fourth wall and jump back and forth in time. Where a lot of this works really well, it can get a little confusing at times given the amount of characters and storylines. I found some of the fourth wall breaking a little tedious as well, but this is only a minor complaint. 

Special thanks to NetGalley for providing this ARC!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Car accident

somelatenightreading's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, Suicide, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Car accident

staraice's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious 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? No

A person’s enjoyment of this book is going to depend on whether they enjoy when writers break the fourth wall, which this author does with great joy. Frequently.

A fast paced, entertaining read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit and Car accident