Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

27 reviews

beepbeep101's review

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

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

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Vomit, and Car accident

katelynprice's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

4.0

It’s clever and fun and a good mystery with a well-plotted ending. It was just a lot. Keeping the characters straight took a lot of mental effort, and it just felt a bit convoluted at times. The charm made up for it, though. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Blood, Infertility, Suicide, Vomit, Cursing, Torture, and Kidnapping

Minor: Death of parent, Drug use, Cancer, Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Gun violence

rachaelbunny's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Addiction, Death of parent, and Infertility

Minor: Vomit and Alcoholism

laurenbaggy's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Death, Murder, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Addiction, Gore, Vomit, Blood, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Child death

Minor: Toxic relationship, Medical content, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, and Injury/Injury detail

chaoticenby's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Police brutality, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Torture, Child death, Drug abuse, and Suicide

Minor: Abandonment

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

bex7dier's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Drug abuse, Murder, Violence, Torture, Infertility, Child death, and Gun violence

angela005's review

adventurous dark funny 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Child death and Kidnapping

Minor: Car accident, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Infertility, and Addiction

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

75ayla's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

More like 3.5/5. But I always round up if I like how the author wrote the story line.

I very much enjoyed the satirical way the author wrote this. You won’t guess the twist at end in a way I’m not sure felt entirely satisfying but in a way that gave a very dramatic ending. 

I would say if you’re looking for a comical take on a thriller this is probably the way for you to so.

That being said check your trigger warnings before you get started, especially is child death is on that list for you. Not positive if this would be considered a big spoiler so I marked it just to be safe.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Torture, Child death, Child abuse, Confinement, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Infidelity, Murder, Body horror, Death, Grief, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Blood