He Started It

by Samantha Downing

AN INSTANT INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

“Wholly original. Scarily clever. Completely mesmerizing. You will never look at family road trips the same way again.”—Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author

A most anticipated book by Hello Sunshine ∙ Cosmo ∙ Entertainment Weekly ∙ Betches ∙ Hollywood Reporter ∙ Parade ∙ PopSugar ∙ OK! Magazine ∙  Hello Giggles ∙ Bustle ∙  Yahoo! ∙ She Reads ∙ Book Page ∙ CrimeReads ∙ New York Post Best Book of the Week ∙ Goodreads  

From the twisted mind behind mega hit My Lovely Wife comes the story of a family—not unlike your own—just with a few more violent tendencies thrown in....

Beth, Portia, and Eddie Morgan haven't all been together in years. And for very good reasons—we'll get to those later. But when their wealthy grandfather dies and leaves a cryptic final message in his wake, the siblings and their respective partners must come together for a cross-country road trip to fulfill his final wish and—more importantly—secure their inheritance.

But time with your family can be tough. It is for everyone.

It's even harder when you're all keeping secrets and trying to forget a memory, a missing person, an act of revenge, the man in the black truck who won't stop following your car—and especially when at least one of you is a killer and there's a body in the trunk. Just to name a few reasons.

But money is a powerful motivator. It is for everyone.

• ISBN10: 0451491769
• ISBN13: 9780451491763
• Publish Date: 20 April 2021 (first published 30 April 2020)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 416
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780451491763

Reviews

[zooloo1983]

I am not what I think about the book it was interesting and intriguing as the past bleeds into the present. But I am afraid I am going to be one of those people and say…. that ENDING!!! OMG, the ending alone is 5 stars! It was just so unexpected I loved it and that’s all I will say.

I had issues with my library app when listening as it kept jumping all over the place so I kept missing bits and so I had to keep trying to find it in my ebook to catch up what I had missed that was quite annoying but in a way, it meant I had a different reading experience to some and I think that some bits are missing for me, no amount of flicking in the Kindle helped me. I was listening to things I hadn’t heard or read yet, but the journey was still rather harrowing.

I am not sure how I feel about the book, I am not sure how I felt about the past story, when they were children and how that panned out. Some of it didn’t sit right with me and has left me with some questions. The road trip the Grandad takes them on didn’t make sense to me but that is probably more down to the fact my audiobook skipped. But for them to take the same road trip when they were adults just seem plain crazy, I get why they are doing the road trip but even so it just didn’t sit well with me. However, not only are we on this crazy road trip, it appears that someone is stalking them.

In the future, you can see how the past has affected the siblings on this road trip. They all seem slightly…unhinged in their own way! All with their secrets and their own stories.

I think the story just fell a bit flat for me, too much happens at once and it got a bit jumbled for me. However, I will stand by my comments with the ending. That ending blew it away for me and made the listening all that more worthwhile.

Beth, the narrator of the story says, it’s down to us to decide who is the hero/heroine of the story. They are all diabolical and with no redeemable qualities but you still find yourself rooting for one of them. But even in the end, can you decide who you think is the hero of the story? I know that I still can’t.

[kimbacaffeinate]

He Started It by Samantha Downing, narrated by Karissa Vacker introduces us to the Morgan siblings. Beth, Portia, and Eddie have been estranged for years. When their wealthy grandfather dies, a stipulation in the will has the siblings and their respective partners coming together for a cross-country road trip to fulfill his last wish. They must complete the trip if they want to receive their inheritance. The estate is valued at around eight million dollars.

The road trip isn’t a new one. In fact, it is an exact duplicate of the trip they took one summer with their grandfather and their older sister. Told from the voice of Beth, Drowning pulled me in with quick facts and teasing tidbits. I knew I was in for one heck of a ride. Before it’s all over secrets will be revealed, and a murder will take place as it holds the listener spellbound.

Twisted and wholly original, I cannot say I liked any of the Morgans but I found them utterly fascinating. From their past trip to their current one, Downing had me listening intently, sometimes doubting our protagonist and sitting jaw-dropped as she recounted their first road trip.

Along the way we stop at iconic sites across the Mid-West. Some I’ve seen myself and others were new to me. The ending left me stunned.

Karissa Vacker narrates and the author’s writing lends itself to audiobook format from character conversations to suspenseful buildup. Vacker enhanced the story from her tones to character voices. Her pacing made listening a breeze allowing me to become swept up in the story. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer