Name: Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone
Rating: 4.005154639175258 (97 reviews)
ISBN: 9780063279025

Benjamin Stevenson

Knives Out and Clue meet Agatha Christie and The Thursday Murder Club in this fiendishly clever blend of classic and modern murder mystery, following a family gathered at a remote ski lodge when it is revealed that they have all, in fact, killed someone.

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

🌸 Crybaby 🌸

One day you'll realise family isn't about whose blood runs in your veins, it's who you'd spill it for. 

 Lucy took a deep steadying breath and fumbled out what would be her last cigarette.

 the only way to put my family back together again was to find out which one of them was a killer.

"Dying men don't lie, Ern, they air their souls."

We glided through it on our rumbling beast the way you would dive through a 

 was quiet, eerie: alive and dead the same time.

It was like an avalanche-struck version of Chernobyl. 

i really enjoyed this book because it had a really good balance of light-heartedness with the actual murder aspects. i think having sections for different family members and explaining how they each had committed murder was a really nice structure, and one that isn't seen very often. i think the book also had good plot twists and was in general a funny and intriguing murder mystery.

alaya

SB Strickland

As someone whose tv watch history is made up mostly of crime, mystery, and detective shows, this was right up my alley. Immediately got my attention and held it the whole way through. 

LeeSa Geelhood

Loads of fun. Clever narration. I put this in the top 5 of the 60+ I've read in 2023. 

i really liked this for the shock factor, it was super engaging, but i do feel like there were some loose ends that made it kind of confusing, especially because it moves so fast

astrid reid

I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to. I particularly liked the family relationships aspect to it. This is what I imagine goes down in "The White Lotus" (I am never watching that). Had to knock a couple of points off because I really did not jive with the breaking of the fourth wall.

But maybe do not read this on a hot (by British standards) day. It is just not the mood.

I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to. I particularly liked the family relationships aspect to it. This is what I imagine goes down in "The White Lotus" (I am never watching that). Had to knock a couple of points off because I really did not jive with the breaking of the fourth wall.

But maybe do not read this on a hot (by British standards) day. It is just not the mood.

The title of this book got me to read it but it was the story and the narrative that kept me engaged. 

An Australian comedian/author wrote this book based in Australia about a family of murders. It is a murder mystery story told in a very warm and engaging way. 

MereCivilian

The title of this book got me to read it but it was the story and the narrative that kept me engaged. 

An Australian comedian/author wrote this book based in Australia about a family of murders. It is a murder mystery story told in a very warm and engaging way. 

A good easy read.

I Love this book! The way it’s written the fact that he’s encouraging us to figure out how the killer is and giving us little clues along the way. Definitely in my top 10 books!

dezzy

Kaylee Ray

The struggle I have with mysteries is most of the time I just don’t really care or get invested in the mystery and it’s no different here. I didn’t care that much about the overall mystery. That being the negative, I really liked the writing style and the way the book was put together. I enjoyed the characters enough that I wanted to come back and I enjoyed the small moments that had emotional depth (although these people did not care enough about all the death, but it’s a silly mystery so it’s okay). I needed to switch up my genre and this definitely did the trick. 4 stars because even if it wasn’t my favorite book or genre, I felt like it was very good for what it was trying to be and I would absolutely recommend it to someone who enjoys a mystery but wants it to feel more light hearted (despite the amount of death).

Laura Wilson

I was dreading the Cunningham family reunion even before the first murder.

Before the storm stranded us at the mountain resort, snow and bodies piling up.

The thing is, us Cunninghams don’t really get along. We’ve only got one thing in common: we’ve all killed someone.

My brother.
My step-sister
My wife
My father
My mother
My sister-in-law
My uncle
My stepfather
My aunt
Me

Isabella 

i enjoyed reading this it was fun trying to connect the dots

Sandrin

A fun little mystery with flowing almost whimsical prose which goes really nicely with murder. 

The plot was intricate and well executed. Characters - likable and funny.

I was dreading the Cunningham family reunion even before the first murder. Before the storm stranded us at the mountain resort, snow and bodies piling up. The thing is, us Cunninghams don’t really get along. We’ve only got one thing in common: we’ve all killed someone. My brother. My step-sister My wife My father My mother My sister-in-law My uncle My stepfather My aunt Me ‘I absolutely loved it. Utterly original, hugely entertaining, and a must-read for every fan of the mystery genre. What an exceptionally fresh, smart, funny book — I’ve never read anything like this before.’ Jane Harper 'Stevenson has officially made my auto-buy-author list.' Christian White 'An engrossing whodunnit, with an ingenious twist on the classic crime genre. The type of book you finish and want to immediately read again.' Kyle Perry 'If you're a classic murder mystery fan looking for something fresh and original, you will absolutely love this. I did.' Anna Downes 'A mystery for anyone who thinks they know all too well how mysteries are supposed to work, this is Stevenson's best book yet.' Gabriel Bergmoser

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone

Sonia Grgas

It had me giggling and kicking my feet and, gasp, actually annotating??? who would’ve thought.

This book also luckily got me out of a two month reading slump so I am very grateful for that! I guess I just needed to laugh so loudly and randomly for all of my family to hear and be thankful that I wasn’t in public while reading it… hahahahahaaaaa

sophie <3

I really really really liked this book.

It had me giggling and kicking my feet and, gasp, actually annotating??? who would’ve thought.

This book also luckily got me out of a two month reading slump so I am very grateful for that! I guess I just needed to laugh so loudly and randomly for all of my family to hear and be thankful that I wasn’t in public while reading it… hahahahahaaaaa

Such an excellent book. Great character development, somehow both suspenseful and funny, and an awesome twist ending. I’ve read a lot of thrillers and even this one caught me off guard. Chef’s kiss 

Erin Goss

Such an excellent book. Great character development, somehow both suspenseful and funny, and an awesome twist ending. I’ve read a lot of thrillers and even this one caught me off guard. Chef’s kiss mwah!

indri

first book that i read because the title piqued my interest enough (initial thought: ehhhh, this is probably some metaphor or smth) (it wasn’t. i was wrong.)

i think the best thing about it is the format - each of ernest's family has their own (several) chapters and that gives the author more space to explore the characters, which ofc is important to the plot. i also like the humor and, most importantly, the revelation and the plot twist. i obviously can’t spoil anything but THAT part combined with THAT format.. kind of clever me thinks 

one thing i dont vibe with is the way the author tend to leave the conversations ambiguous all the way to the very end. there are lots of moments where i’m left wondering what a conversation is supposed to reveal. at some point i just accepted that i probably wont understand the entire thing and hoped that the revelation will fill in the blanks for me (it did)

ik it’s probably an artistic choice, this being a mystery book and all, but it rlly was challenging for me lol in my defense, i have enough analyzing to do at work so the quota outside of it is kind of full

overall, i did like the book! i just wish i can understand it in one go. but anyways let's just think of it as an exercise for my reading comprehension skill 👍🏻

*An entertaining modern twist on classic murder mystery tropes*

 is a story about the narrator seeing his estranged family at their reunion at a ski resort in Australia. But this family has a whole lot of skeletons in the closet, because, as the title indicates, everyone - and I do mean everyone - in this family has killed someone.

The story was told in first person narration by a character named Ernest Cunningham. It’s part faux-memoir of a screwed up family and part whodunit and told with a macabre sense of humor.

The narrative was extremely self-aware. Since the character narrating was someone who wrote books about writing, he frequently brought up common book tropes and clichés, calling out which ones where present in his story. He also told the reader about a lot of things that would happen ahead of time – although they often came about in unexpected ways. I'm going to predict that whether you love or hate thus book will almost entirely hinge on whether you love or hate the narrator. The story constantly teetered on the fine line between loveably eccentric and annoyingly unbelievable. For me, it came down on the right side of that line, and I enjoyed the story.

Having read a couple of similar books recently that struggled to strike the right note (

Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide

), I appreciated the balance between humor and murder even more. Despite being self-aware and campy, I was thoroughly engaged throughout the whole book. It was a breath of fresh air.

I really can't say much without giving away the plot. As I mentioned, the stylized writing isn't going to work for everyone. But if you like quirky, morally grey narrators and fast-paced, twisty stories, then check this one out.

Characters and Character Development: 4 Stars

Colleen

4 Stars

*An entertaining modern twist on classic murder mystery tropes*


Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone is a story about the narrator seeing his estranged family at their reunion at a ski resort in Australia. But this family has a whole lot of skeletons in the closet, because, as the title indicates, everyone - and I do mean everyone - in this family has killed someone.


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.


The story was told in first person narration by a character named Ernest Cunningham. It’s part faux-memoir of a screwed up family and part whodunit and told with a macabre sense of humor.

The narrative was extremely self-aware. Since the character narrating was someone who wrote books about writing, he frequently brought up common book tropes and clichés, calling out which ones where present in his story. He also told the reader about a lot of things that would happen ahead of time – although they often came about in unexpected ways. I'm going to predict that whether you love or hate thus book will almost entirely hinge on whether you love or hate the narrator. The story constantly teetered on the fine line between loveably eccentric and annoyingly unbelievable. For me, it came down on the right side of that line, and I enjoyed the story.

Having read a couple of similar books recently that struggled to strike the right note (Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide and Moorewood Family Rules), I appreciated the balance between humor and murder even more. Despite being self-aware and campy, I was thoroughly engaged throughout the whole book. It was a breath of fresh air.

I really can't say much without giving away the plot. As I mentioned, the stylized writing isn't going to work for everyone. But if you like quirky, morally grey narrators and fast-paced, twisty stories, then check this one out.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 5 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 4 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars
Level of Captivation: 4 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

It is a meta-type book where a man, Ernie, who writes books about Golden Age detection, writes the story of his family unmasking a killer in a ski resort during a family reunion—good campy fun. My only quibble is trying to keep up with the cast of characters (I listened to this on audio).

Cheri McElroy

Mistura de Entre Facas e Segredos e livros de Agatha Christie, romance de mistério australiano traz enredo divertidíssimo para quem ama histórias de investigação Os Cunningham são uma família bem típica: uma tia maníaca por organização, um padrasto inconveniente, uma irmã sarcástica, uma matriarca cheia de vontades, um irmão controverso... E eles têm lá seus problemas. Para começar, não se dão muito bem. Nem são exatamente próximos. Só que uma coisa os une: todo mundo ali já matou alguém. Depois de três anos bem atribulados, um final de semana em um resort nas montanhas lhes dá a oportunidade de rever os familiares, bater uns papos constrangedores e talvez até reatar algumas relações. Até que, como acontece em (quase) qualquer encontro de família, um cadáver aparece. As coisas já não estavam lá muito legais antes mesmo de alguém cair morto, mas, com um histórico como o deles, em pouco tempo não resta dúvida de que só um dos Cunningham poderia ser o responsável por aquela morte. E, conforme a neve rapidamente se acumula, mais corpos são encontrados e os reforços policiais não chegam, a resolução do crime fica nas mãos de um dos membros da família: um escritor especialista em livros de detetive. O que poderia dar errado?

Todo mundo da minha família já matou alguém

renni

Meu amor, eu sou formada em Agatha Christie!

Assim, desde o início o fofo dá tudo de cara, né. Então não pegar quem fez aquilo é não prestar atenção... Isso é o que eu diria se eu fosse presunçosa igual o autor/personagem.

Não vou mentir, estava achando desafiadora a leitura no sentido de que eu tava sentindo que EU estava competindo com o personagem autor detetive. Como eu gosto muito dos mistérios da Christie e me orgulho de sempre desvendar, estava "brava" que ele não necessariamente precisava desvendar nada e eu sim KKKKKKK O bom é que acabou sendo fácil de adivinhar depois de um tempo mas admito que foi um duelo de personalidades aqui. 

Bobeiras a parte, esse foi um livro muito divertido. É difícil eu pegar um livro "atual" pra ler mas tavam comparando a tudo qualquer outra obra e mídia que gosto que me vi compelida a ler. Não chega nem perto a tais obras e mídias mas é muito divertido de qualquer forma. Me pegou muito descobrir que o autor é um comediante KKKKKKKK

Pra acrescentar as obras e mídias que esse livro foi comparado: me lembrou muito o jogo Until Dawn (eliminando toda a parte sobrenatural e adolescente, se possível).

É realmente uma farofa boa de ler, tanto que li em um dia por puro prazer mesmo. Recomendo pra tirar da ressaca de leitura. Por fim, o autor podia ser menos presunçoso se ele quisesse mas deve fazer parte.

Charlsy Sekyere

⭐️2.5-3

An okay read with an interesting premise. However, I wasn't blown away by this book, mostly because of its unique delivery. Somehow I wasn't keen on the odd structure and uneven pacing of the book, nor on the conversational tone of the storytelling in which Ernie breaks the fourth wall, which became tiresome to read due to its repetitiveness.

Moreover, as the plot became increasingly contrived and convoluted, and the story itself became increasingly outlandish, I often had difficulty following the logic of the twists and turns of the book.

Overall, an okay read that would work better as a TV series than as a book.

The plot twist at the end had my jaw on the floor 

Jasmin 

Like most, I was drawn in by the title of this book. You can't look at it and not want to know more about it. The cover design also gave me Clue vibes, which was even more of a reason to pick it up. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. I didn't like the narrative style. It's very tongue-in-cheek, and all the breaking of the fourth wall kept taking me out of the story. I'm usually all for a book with dark humor, but it didn't work for me here. There were also so many moments that felt way too farfetched. I'll give it props for being entertaining, but overall, it was a bit meh.

Heather Harrington

Elaina 

The narrator in this book made gruesome situations seem much less so. I appreciated the wit.

the dark comedy was hitting. loooved the fucked up family dynamics in this one. not completely sure yet how i feel about the actual mystery, but it was an enjoyable read.

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

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