Hello, Book Nerds! Welcome back to Reading Has Ruined My Life or welcome if you are new. As always, my name is Hannah and I am your captain on this journey into my bookcases.
Welcome back to Mystery March! A month long celebration of one of the best literary genres. Today I’m back with another new review. Spoiler, it’s on a mystery title. Who could have seen that coming!
And what book am I reviewing today? Please give a warm welcome to Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson!
Synopsis time now. As always, a spoiler alert is in order. If you’ve read any other review on this site then you will know that I love to spoil the entirety of the books I read. This is your one and only warning. I also have a content and trigger warning to give before I get to the synopsis. Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone deals with drug use and abuse. There are also some vague mentions of physical, mental, and emotional abuse. These topics are pretty relevant to the plot and cannot be avoided; though a lot of these topics are kept fairly vague. I will not be talking about them in my review. Oh, also, there is one moment of gore that made my skin crawl. If you’ve ever watched Gerald’s Game then one image will instantly spring to mind. If you know, you know. Now let’s crack in.
This novel focuses on the Cunningham family, and yes, everyone in this family has killed someone. The story is told by one Ernest Cunningham, a how-to writer for murder mysteries and the betrayer of the family. Prior to the start of our story, Ernest testified against his brother, Michael, who was then sentenced to three years in jail for murder.
Now Michael’s out, and the Cunningham family is going to have a mandatory family reunion at a ski lodge. Let’s see, we have one convicted killer, a snowy, mountain top lodge, and the promise that this family is responsible for many deaths; what could possibly go wrong? To no one’s surprise, it’s more death. The day after Ernest arrives, a body is discovered and reported early in the morning.
What ensues is family bonding, apologies, everyone’s dark secrets being revealed, even more death, family history no one really wants to talk about, and Ernest playing detective. The Cunningham family is messy and they need therapy; lots and lots of therapy. Anyway, can Ernest solve the crime? Is there a serial killer on the loose? Can they be stopped? Or will the Cunningham family die out on the mountain top? Find out in Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone.
I have to be very honest right now. I thought this book was about a family of serial killers. I thought this was supposed to be a dark comedy/crime novel. I was very wrong. In my defense, one of the book covers really lends credence to this notion. It showcased Clue style murder weapons, and the title allows the imagination to run wild. So I was disappointed when I got a locked room mystery and not a dark comedy. Sadly, my disappointment did affect my enjoyment of this read.
Though, I do have to say, the final reveal was immaculate! My flabbers were gasted. Said reveal is done in a way that is reminiscent to golden age detective novels where the main character goes around talking about all the suspects’ motives before finally, finally, revealing the culprit. It was beautiful, and something I realized I wish more mystery novels did. That and villain monologues. We need more villain monologuing.
Now back to what I didn’t like. Ernest Cunningham was not my favorite protagonist, or narrator for that matter. The premise of Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone is Ernest recounting the events of the story through the book he’s writing. The idea is you are reading the book he has published. That’s cool. I had no issue with that. I think that's a great set up for the story. What I didn’t like was the tone of the story. Ernest, to me, comes across as condescending. When he talks about the golden age of detective novels and the ten rules of detective fiction the authors during that time followed, it feels like Ernest is talking down to the reader. At times it even feels like he’s mansplaining. I’m not a fan of him as the main character or as the narrator.
A shame considering I really enjoyed the mystery plot. The storyline had so many twists and turns that I had no idea what was going to happen next. There were times when I told myself I was only going to read one more chapter before going to bed, then something wild happened and I had to keep reading for at least an hour! Benjamin Stevenson was doing something right.
Ugh, I have such mixed feelings about Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone. I've always enjoy a locked room mystery. The book had great twists and turns. The random pigeon was one of the best parts of the story. But I didn’t like the main character and his narration style. And I still want that dark comedy crime novel about a family of serial killers!
If I am looking at this book from a technical standpoint, this is a strong book that’s well written and well edited; no complaints when it comes to the grammar and writing. I’m just disappointed in some aspects. Most importantly, I’m upset my original beliefs regarding this book were vastly incorrect. Again, where is my dark comedy about a family of serial killers?! If you know where/what said book is, please drop the title in comments or message me about it, I really want to read that book.
Overall, I find Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone to be just okay. There were most definitely things I liked about it, and there were some aspects I didn’t enjoy. It’s a solid midpoint read for me.
With that, I must bid you all adieu. I shall see you all again next week as we continue on with Mystery March. Yay! If you can’t wait that long though, then you can always check out my podcast Nothing to See Hear. It stars me and two of my dearest friends and we talk about everything. Seriously, we’ve talked about weird moments in history, awesome women of history, haunted houses, cryptids, Disney, Scooby-Doo, bad wrestling; like I said, we talk about everything so there’s bound to be something that strikes your fancy. You can find the show over on Spotify and YouTube.
Until next time, stay safe, wash your hands, and read some good books for me.
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