Siblings: Can't Live With Them So Why Not Kill Them!

I kid, I kid but really if you have siblings you know that no matter how much you love them, you've fantasied about hurting them at some point or other. Let's be honest, we're all friends here. 😉

Samantha Downing is my new Queen of Dysfunction! First, we saw just how dysfunctional and crazy marriage can get in My Lovely Wife which I LOVED. Now, we have the ultimate sibling road trip from hell in He Started It and I was 100% buckled in and along for the ride! I binged this page-turner in one day people! Yup, told ya I was all in. Needless to say Ms. Downing has quickly become an auto-buy author for me. I can't wait to see what that mind of hers comes up with next!

I loved being in Beth's head during this road trip from hell. She is witty, snarky and jaded with a pinch of crazy sprinkled on top. In other words - she's my kind of girl! 🤪

So what brings 3 siblings and 2 spouses together to re-enact a crazy road trip from their childhood? Money of course. You know that saying - money is the root of all evil. Well, it sure is true here! Eddie, Beth and Portia have to re-do the one and only road trip they took with their Grandpa in their youth in order to claim their inheritance. Things start out well enough but as the trip goes on we see that everything isn't exactly what it seems.

We find ourselves uncovering dark secrets from the past while on a treacherous, possibly life threatening journey in the present. Sibling rivalry, betrayal, lies and shake your head, did I just read that juicy family drama run rampant. And that ending! Let's just say if I ever take a road trip with my siblings, I'll be sleeping with one eye open - just in case.

Mark your calendars for April 28th friends - this is one family road trip you won't want to miss!

Fast paced novel filled with angry people trapped in a car together for a road trip that will get them all millions. So many secrets, so many lies. Do these people even like each other a little? The trip starts to take stranger and stranger twists and turns and slowly things are revealed.

Then there's that ending...............................

Everybody read this book so we can talk about it!

A very fun thriller! Definitely no sophomore slump from Downing, who knows how to keep a reader asking for more. The narrator was unreliable enough to make reading fun and mysterious, but I wasn't the biggest fan of the ending. However, I'll give this book 4 stars for being fast, thrilling, and fun. Can't wait for what this author does next!

Beth and her siblings haven't been together in ages. When their grandfather passes away, his will dictates they take one last road trip together. If they don't follow specific instructions, they will not receive a piece of his inheritance.
Family can be tough. Long held secrets are threatened to surface. Loyalty is tested.
My opinions...
What I liked: I loved the theme of this book - which I interpreted as, money is power. Money and wealth are driving forces for a lot of people, and certainly for characters in this novel. Samantha Downing is great at giving the reader pieces of mystery, before a big explosion.
What I didn't like: the ending. I won't give much away, but the last few chapters - Beth's actions on the camping portion of the trip, as well as the literal ending - didn't ring parallel to the plot. I don't know, I just found it not too strong of a conclusion.

“Sometimes we are a family of assholes. You can blame that on Grandpa, he started it.”

When their wealthy grandfather dies, Beth, Portia and Eddie must come together for a cross-country road trip to fulfill his final wish and secure their inheritance. But time with your family can be tough, especially when you’re all keeping secrets, at least one of you is a killer and there’s a body in the trunk.

This book was twisty, crazy and mind blowing. I loved every part of this dysfunctional family road trip and Samantha’s Downing dark sense of humor, and that ending, just wow.

Thank you @netgalley and @berkleypub for giving me an Advanced Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

He Started It by @smariedowning Samantha releases April 28, 2020.

“How bad can you really be when your spouse is around.”

http://www.instagram.com/booksandcoffeepleasemx

Siblings, a fortune, murder, a road trip and Samantha Downing.....need I say more?!?! I truly enjoyed it. It’s a 4.5/5 star book. I will admit I have a love/hate relationship with the last three sentences of this book.
At this point I will read anything Samantha Downing writes.

Holy cow! Just Wowzers!! This ended completely unlike what I thought it would. I’m shocked and so very impressed!!

A very special thanks to Sam and Berkley for the advanced readers copy! NetGalley for making that copy possible!

Sam, Sam, Sam, you have literally outdone yourself!! It did start out a little bit slow but, picked up the pace and I couldn’t take my eyes off the words.

***Spoiler alert: I want to know what happened!!! You left me hanging!!

Highly recommend this second novel by Samantha Downing! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

QUICK TAKE: oh man, was I disappointed with this one. MY LOVELY WIFE was one of my top 10 favorite books of 2019, and I couldn't wait to read the follow-up. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy HE STARTED IT...from the muddled character motivations, to the bizarre family story, to the lack of answers, to the crazy open-ending (I honestly thought my copy was missing pages). I can't recommend this one, but I know a lot of people are enjoying it. at your own risk.

Another Wow for Samantha Downing!
I honestly don’t know how to review this book... It goes from 0 to 190 in one sentence and not only once but continuously! I almost put it down, almost. So glad I didn’t even though the book left me unsatisfied. If my review is confusing then I’ve done well because it left me feeling confused and almost jerked around by the author. That’s where I believe the genius of Downing wants our state of mind to be while reading. Ive never quite read anything like her books!
He Started It is a long drawn out tale of 3 siblings and 2 spouses on a cross country trip with their Grandfather’s ashes. The final destination of this grand trip if they check off all the boxes and break no rules, is a huge inheritance. Grandfather’s will dictates that they do this trip just as it was done when he led it 20 years ago.
What seems to be a tedious and nagging ride along with this car full of misfit family members, don’t worry keep reading, about the time you’re ready to put it down you are going to be skyrocketed out of your seat! And will not be able to put this one down! But it doesn’t stop there....
Downing writes a shocking book that needs to be a movie! My Lovely Wife is just as mind numbing and unsettling. I can’t wait to see what she writes next and at the same time the other half of me doesn’t want to read it! That’s a heck of a suspense writer! Seriously a must read just for the play on the mind!
Warning alert- don’t trust anyone 😳 especially if they seem “normal” wow!

WOW. I loved Downing’s last novel, My Lovely Wife, so much. Like I read it twice which I never do.

He Started It was on par with it. I absolutely loved this twisted story of the lengths some people will go to for money. The plot was insane in the best way, still believable but just barely, which I loved. The characters were all so terrible in the most fun and entertaining way. And that ending ermagerrrd! I definitely did not see that coming but I loved every second of it. If you are looking for a fast paced ride that you can barely put down, this is the book for you.

Imagine being stuck on a road trip with your siblings? What if you are not close, can you trust them? They must complete a series of visits during their road trip in order to be able to claim a substantial inheritance This is the second novel that I read by Samantha Downing. Normally, when the first book is amazing, the sophomore novel will lack. However, I devoured this one, too! Ms. Downing has such a great writing styles that manages to captivate me as a reader. This was a page turner and again, the last sentence made me examine what I had just read. I look forward to reading more books by this author. This was such a crazy ride and even outlandish at times in the most fantastical way.

4+ stars

Surprise, surprise, surprise. Samantha Downing kept me guessing throughout the entirety of He Started It. Great follow up to her first book, My Lovely Wife.

Three estranged, siblings are forced into recreating a cross country trip they took with their grandfather 20 years ago in order to claim their inheritance. Lots of secrets, lies, and twists that will keep the reader guessing.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for my advanced reader copy in return for a honest review.

What did I just read?!
This book is completely bonkers but you'll enjoy being along for the ride.
I loved that Beth, the narrator of the story knows she's an unreliable narrator, right from the get-go, but there's not only her secrets and lies to contend with as we join the Morgan family on their trip across the country, but her sibling's secrets as well.

As I read on I definitely wondered if there can be poison in a family, if it's in the blood or in the spaces we grow up in. Bit by bit you learn that everyone in Beth's family has the capacity for violence, to a degree that it feels normalized enough for Beth to find certain situations almost mundane and necessary.

And then the ending. It left me so much to sit with and puzzle over- I don't want to ruin anything, but I'm looking forward to when I can discuss it with other people.

A really fun book of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the shocking ending. Great for those readers who want something that will keep them up all night reading.

I’ll begin by saying I was - still am - a big fan of “My Lovely Wife”.
Samantha Downing raised the bar with psychological thrillers with her outstanding debut.

I’m still enthralled with Samantha’s talents, in “He Started It”.... and plan to keep reading her books as long as she keeps writing them.
However....where “My Lovely Wife” rocked my page-turning world ....from its fabulous beginning and fabulous ending....
“He Started It”....( started out exciting), eventually wore me down. I felt the book lost its edge for the entire last thirty percent, becoming first tedious, then boring, then finally ridiculously silly.

I felt much like one of the characters in the book when Eddie said....
“Nothing is here—no marching band, no welcome banner, nothing to mark our arrival”.

You’ll meet the Morgan Siblings > Beth, Eddie, and Portia. While on a car trip together. Beth brings her husband, Felix. Eddie brings his wife, Krista. Portia is not married.
These adult siblings ( and the two spouses), don’t want to be together.
They have no interest in spending hours upon hours together for fourteen days sleeping in crappy motels and eating crappy foods in dinners or from gas station food stores...visiting museums and attractions they don’t want to visit (again), but in order to collect a beefy inheritance from their deceased Grandpa.....that’s the deal.
Grandpa took the siblings on this same car trip when they were kids.

The premises had great potential- but it couldn’t sustain the magic. There was too much dangly pendulous suspicion—vacillating a little too much between visiting museums & attractions in different states, the mystery of Grandpa’s conditions to receive their money bundle, the cars that followed, ( both trips), the mystery of a forth sibling, ‘Nikki’, and a travelogue journey.

Character development, ( rather the lack of mature adult development), and interactive-dialogue between the characters was fun, fresh, and sassy. It was always easy to dislike at least one of the characters at any given moment.
There were enough lies, secrets, jealousy, selfishness, manipulation, patronizing, opposition, abuse, sick games, betrayals, and violence, to create a bomb explosion.

Beth... middle sibling, was a great narrator telling this story. Her devious inner thoughts and scheme plotting was a kick.
Her voice and inner voice was one of the books strength.

I enjoyed visiting some of the tour-attractions—but not all. That part was just personal taste - I had no interest in the UFO’s....but I did have interest in The Helen Keller House, The Bonnie and Clyde Ambush, The Henry Humphrey memorial, and The Codger Pole ( cedar logs with the head of the Golden players carved into them)....

But the plot and subplots - storytelling itself - began to have a monotone feeling ( around 70%), rather than an elevated momentum of exciting

Lots of sibling bickering, between the strategizing-RISK- ( yep, board game), playing family.....antibacterial wipes for those motel room, unreliable memories, a night of camping in the woods, Fried bologna sandwiches, booze, cigarettes, candy stealing and other thievery, (yep, it’s great to have a kleptomaniac for one of the characters), even an Etch-a-Sketch made its way into this story.

So....yes..this book was mostly fun...glad I read it ....enjoyed more than 50% very much....
I would have loved to have been able to view other ending possibilities....
However... I still like Samantha Downing’s creative thought process.....and spunky writing.....
I admit being glad when that last section of this book was over - more than ending with a ‘wow’ feeling....
I still believe Samantha raises the bar on the psychological thriller genres.

3.7ish ....rating up to 4 stars.

He Started It was one of my most anticipated reads of the year after binging My Lovely Wife and recommending it to everyone I know! This is a much different read than Samantha Downing's first, it's a family drama where everyone has secrets. Beth is on a road trip with her brother Eddie, his wife Krista, her sister Portia, and her husband Felix. The group is on the specific road trip because their grandfather died and part of the rules to inheriting the money is to follow this same road trip that the family took decades earlier.

This is a slower paced novel that blows up by the end. I had a lot of questions and was intrigued to figure out just how crazy each person really was and what they were hiding. I did think there were a few loose ends that would have liked to see wrapped up. And in case you were wondering - no mayo 😝

WOW WOW WOW is all I can say! This was SUCH a great book. It's about three siblings who are on a road trip that mirrors one they took with their grandfather years ago, prior to his death. They now have to go on the same road trip and dispose of his ashes at the end, otherwise they won't get their inheritances from him. There are SO many shocking twists in this book. It is also thoroughly creepy at times and I was constantly looking over my shoulder while reading at night! This will literally shock you and blow your mind until the very last sentence. Samantha Downing is brilliant - she has become an auto-buy author for me after this book, I can't wait for her to write more!!

I had no idea what was going to happen within the pages of He Started It. It was tense, atmospheric, and suspenseful alternating between past and present. He Started It was a portrait of family dynamics and dark secrets that live within all families culminating in an end that shocks.

I loved the continuous build up and suspense as the pages went from a lower to higher number. I could not put this book down !

This was a wild ride right from the beginning. When siblings are forced onto a road trip that they first went on as kids, things start going wrong almost immediately. Are they being followed? Is someone messing with them? They each have brought their own secrets with them on the trip but who will reveal theirs first?

I’m still gathering my thoughts but I can safely say this is a much different thriller than I’ve ever read. You’re constantly wondering what’s going on and who you can trust in the story. It was definitely a quick read and I flew through it. If you’re looking for a completely different take on a twisty thriller, this is the book for you.