Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

34 reviews

stephliljazz's review against another edition

funny mysterious reflective 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? No

2.75

This was my first step into crime fiction. it is kind of hard to follow for me. I think it's just me though because the story was good. Crime mystery with twists and turns and lots of family drama with a very slow pace. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Violence, Physical abuse, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide

kayceeisbookish's review

dark funny mysterious tense slow-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

5.0

A unique murder mystery with a dark humor twist. I highly enjoyed the melancholy narrator's tone as he uncoiled the web of knotted lies that started out as a standard family reunion.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Confinement, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Infertility, Grief, Child death, Police brutality, Death of parent, Cursing, and Death

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. 

---

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

daniellekat's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

This was so fun and exciting. The pacing moved well and I liked the unique structure of the having the "author" speak directly to the reader. There were times where the plot got a bit confusing, but I think it helped that I read this over a very short period of time. The writing was witty and easy to follow but

the whole bit with Ernest's hand made no sense. There is no way he would have be able to do as much as he did given how much damage there was.

Overall, I was invested in this from the start and while the big reveal didn't shock me there were points that had me guessing throughout. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Suicide

Minor: Car accident, Blood, Addiction, Alcohol, and Vomit

alliluh's review against another edition

funny slow-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? No

4.0

fun

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Infertility

Moderate: Addiction, Abandonment, Suicide, Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Child death

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Police brutality, and Murder

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

Minor: Abandonment

tlholmes's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Confinement, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment

heather_harrison's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

 "I've never heard of someone witnessing a murder and having to wait for a McMuffin"

This is a book where the narrator is telling you a murder mystery while also writing a book about how to write a murder mystery - and it gives the murder mystery a nice spin. 

The Cunninghams are spending a weekend at a ski resort as a family reunion. But it's sure to be an interesting reunion as our protagonist Ernie hasn't seen his big brother since he testified to have him put in jail. They all have a pretty colourful past and the further you delve into the mystery the more you start to learn about those skeletons in closest. 

This is almost like a combination of Knives Out and Underbelly. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, Murder, and Death of parent

Minor: Violence, Grief, Suicide, Gun violence, 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

---

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

---

Content Warnings

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