Review: He Started It by Samantha Downing

BOOK STATS

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Title: He Started It
Author: Samantha Downing
Genre: Thriller
Audience: Adult
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Karissa Vacker
Length: ~10 hours (384 pages)
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: July 21, 2020
Source: Libby app

SYNOPSIS

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. 

MY THOUGHTS

This is unlike anything I’ve ever read. Remember how original and mind blowing Gone Girl was when it was first published (before every other thriller writer tried to imitate its formula?) The plots have little in common, but the effect is the same. He Started It takes the thriller genre to the next level.

This is my kind of family drama. Every single character is a messed-up compulsive liar. No one can be trusted and everyone is dangerous. The unexpected twists kept coming on this road trip from hell. I never knew quite where the story was going, but I continued to be shocked, disturbed, and awed by each turn of events.

The ending literally made my jaw drop.

I thought the audiobook narrator was fantastic. I might pick my next audiobook just because Karissa Vacker is the narrator.

READ THIS BOOK. It will blow your mind.