Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - How to Kill Your Family

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie

40 reviews

lthomas's review

dark funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

I enjoyed reading this book, and thought that the layout of the story telling was really good, it kept me hooked. The idea that she was writing about past events from a prison in the present was very interesting, and helped to make the story very fun. The main character was very funny at times, with her witty comments - some of the writing had me smiling to myself. However, after a while, I thought that her character could be a little insufferable. I was a little disappointed by the ending of the story. I felt that there was a lot of build up for not much of an outcome, however, it was a smart twist and I like how it helped some other parts of the story fall into place. Overall, I thought that the experience of reading this book was very fun, but some parts were a little disappointing.

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leilaekn's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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onthelam's review

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adventurous mysterious reflective 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

3.5

I found myself rooting for a murderer.

I was unsatisfied at the end when she didnt receive the money and felt as if she has been further wronged.

Interesting but i felt it could have been more..

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hannahspragooey's review

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dark medium-paced

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

3.0

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bethanstanleyy's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

4.5

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ms_gouldbourne's review

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

2.75

I was given How To Kill Your Family as a Christmas present because my boyfriend thinks he's hilarious, and I finished the whole thing on Christmas Day so it's definitely a page-turner that I found easy to read! I do enjoy the revenge trope, and I thought How To Kill Your Family was a solid novel with an enjoyable premise and delivery. Nothing exceptional, hence the middle-of-the-road rating, but certainly fun.

How To Kill Your Family introduces us to Grace, the illegitimate offspring of married corporate billionaire Simon Artemis who's sworn revenge on her father and his entire family - both because of the suffering he put her mother through before her death, and in order to benefit financially from their deaths. We follow Grace as she systematically kills each member of her family, and find ourselves inexplicably rooting for her success in spite of her unlikeable character and the fact that she's literally a psychopath.

I did enjoy seeing Grace's journey, and I was interested to see how her story would end. She was dry and often funny in her commentary about the uber-rich community she was decimating, and I like that kind of dark humour. There were moments where I absolutely laughed out loud, and although the way she managed to get away with what she was doing for so long was laughably improbable, it didn't matter because the tone and mood of the book allowed for the suspension of disbelief in that regard.

The novel isn't terribly well-written; there are some grammatical errors and the whole thing would have benefitted from the advice of a good editor. The general message - uber-rich=BAD, it's not cool that money can buy a way out of problematic situations, etc etc - was delivered a little clumsily at times, and there wasn't a lot of nuance or differentiation between individual characters. Of course, this was partly because Grace views ALL people with a general layer of scorn and apathy, but I think another reviewer commented that we were told a lot rather than being shown, and I would agree with that viewpoint. There wasn't a lot of subtlety to this book.

However, none of this was particularly prohibitive to my enjoyment of it! The thing that really was, though, and which prevented me giving it a higher score, was the ending.

Just at the point she's primed to succeed, Grace is blackmailed in her turn by a hitherto unknown male character who swoops in and takes all the spoils of her work. I was half-expecting her to fail, and this would have been fine, but for it to be done in this way where another entitled man wins at her expense, was exceptionally frustrating.

I was legitimately so incensed by this that I couldn't sleep! It felt like a massive let-down after the build-up of the novel, and although Grace wasn't exactly a sympathetic character, it left me with the feeling that evil had won (however childish a sentiment that might be!). The book just wasn't set up in a manner that made the ending feel satisfactory, and for that reason it can't get a higher rating from me.

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hellovivi_'s review

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dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

3.0

This book was funny and thrilling but the story felt a bit slow and repetitive towards the end. The last chapter was very unnecessary and it should’ve ended differently, but other than that I loved the dark humor.

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beca_reads's review

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dark funny reflective 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

3.0

This was an interesting read. I struggled at first to get into it, I found that it is quite similar in nature to killing eve. I definitely feel that Mackie was inspired by killing eve when writing this book. Personally I found it hard to keep a track of the different characters and there connection to Grace the female protagonist. I did find myself laughing out loud at points and the book was fairly well written. I do however, feel that the ending could have been more precise and condensed down.

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tartar94's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

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lydiaailis's review

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dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I was gripped in the first half but found this plateaued. Was a bit laborious keeping up with events at times but did enjoy the plots and progression of the murders. Did find Grace relatable and funny but think the descriptions of the wealthy lifestyle were over the top at times. Slightly underwhelmed by the end but a good read regardless.

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