Story Musing: Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

 

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

by Benjamin Stevenson

As usual, I was looking for something on Hoopla that I could listen to on my ride to and from work. (I love how everything on Hoopla is always available, no matter who else has it checked out. It’s a great service my library provides.)

I’ve been enjoying murder mysteries, as I often do, and this title caught my attention – Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone.

I opened up the description and two things about it tempted me. First, they compared it to the movies Knives Out and Clue, both great recommendations for me. Second, the author is from Australia. I haven’t read too much by Australian authors, but it intrigued me. Different countries have slightly different senses of humor and I enjoy that. Sign me up.

One quick note – this author uses a breaking of the fourth wall where the narrator speaks directly to the reader. Some people hate that. Some people, like me, love that. Not every book is for every reader. As they say, you do you.

There was so much going on in this book that I was never bored. The writer could take us down one thread, skip to another and come back. Transitions felt smooth. There was plenty of humor and great description from the narrator and situations.

Our story starts when Ernest’s brother Michael shows up wanting him to help bury a body. A lot happens in that little chapter and ends with Ernest calling the police.

Fast forward several years. Michael is getting out of jail and the family gathers to welcome him out. For some reason, at a ski resort.

“I am normally resolute in declining any invitation that comes with an Excel spreadsheet attached.”

Perhaps Ernest should have refused this one.

Little mysteries abound. Ernest’s cousin Sofia has been suspended from her surgical practice. Why? What happened when Ernest’s father died? That has more than a few twists. You know there was a third brother. Why is he never discussed? (The resolution to that mystery was, I thought, incredibly sad and poignant.) Who the heck is the man who appears in the snow, dead, at the ski chalet?

I love how the author strung out the information so that you learn things along with the narrator. It keeps you guessing, but at the same time, you are never bored. There’s always something interesting going on, some revelation being made.

I loved the narrator’s voice, like in the section titled “My Wife” with only one sentence in Chapter 9 – “I don’t want to talk about it.”

I really, sincerely, thoroughly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to more by the author. If you like mysteries, give this one a chance.