I was so hyped to want to read this book. I kept seeing many of my friends raving about this book. Thus I knew I had pick up a copy to read. Well I guess that I am in the majority about this book when it comes to my friends. I did not like it.

This book read both slow and fast for me. Fast because the chapters are short. Slow because I struggled to connect with any of the characters in this book. In fact, I found the main siblings to be petty and childish. They got on my nerves. If I had been in the car with them, I would have hitched a ride as far away from them as I could. After getting to the half way point, I was done with this book but wanted to see how it ended. So I skipped ahead to read the ending. It did not improve my thoughts on this book.

Although not a book I would purchase in my professional life, it is an interesting take that I can recommend in my volunteer life!

I really enjoyed this one overall! I will say I did enjoy My Lovely Wife a bit more and found the twists of that one a bit more shocking.

I thought the plot was fast paced and the characters kept me guessing because I never knew which ones, if any, that I could trust.

The ending truly left me MIND BLOWN. Did not see that last twist coming at all! One of the main reasons I enjoyed this book because I didn't feel like the entire plot was building towards the final twist, there were plenty of other shocking and suspenseful moments along the way. The entire time I felt like I was reading a train wreck that I couldn't help but continue to watch, and I mean that in the best way!

I was really excited for this book. After having read My Lovely Wife last summer, and loving it, and reading the description of this one I was anticipating it to be among my top reads of 2020. I loved the concept of this book, and thought a road trip thriller would be the perfect summer read, but I ended up feeling like I had to slog through it and I kept telling myself it would pick up eventually... but it never really did. I didn't find any of the characters were all that likeable, and it was lacking in character development in my opinion. I found that all the action is at the end, and I didn't find it was even a satisfying ending for me... too many loose ends to really feel like much of an ending. All in all, not the book for me, but I gave it a generous 2 stars for the sheer fact that I found it compelling enough to finish.

I had really high hopes for this book. Even though, I still enjoyed it a lot, My Lovely Wife exceeded all expectations.

I really enjoyed the idea of this book. A crazy roadtrip with siblings isn't something you see much in thrillers. The first 3/4 were slow burn, but with enough intrigue to keep me reading at every chapter break. The characters aren't people you're going to like. While I don't usually have a problem with that, I found myself needing more to make sense of their motives. Even bad reasons are at least reasons.

The end of the book is where things fell downhill for me. It felt very rushed and like the ending was there for shock value rather than to actually make sense. A twist is well done when all the set up is there, but you're still surprised. Instead I was just left with "huh?"

Overall, I still really enjoyed Downing's writing, and I will absolutely be picking up her next thriller. This one just fell a little below great marks for me.

I will read anything Samantha Downing writes. I love her style. This starts of slow, but then it picks up and wow what a great ride (no pun intended). It had twists that I didn't see coming and I am a big thriller fan so I love what that happens. Great read and can't wait to see what she has next!

Summary:

When Beth was a young girl, she and her three siblings embarked on a road trip with their grandfather. They soon discovered that their grandfather had actually abducted them, and their parents were desperately trying to find them. The events that transpired on the weeks-long road trip still haunt Beth - especially the fact that her older sister Nikki disappeared and was never found.
Now years later, their grandfather has died and is leaving a very large inheritance to be split between the siblings, with one rule - they must repeat that road trip. As the present-day road trip is paired with memories from the childhood one, we learn exactly what happened between these family members and why their grandfather wanted them to repeat the trip.

Review:

I really wanted to love this book. I absolutely loved Downing's first book, My Lovely Wife. While there is a lot about this book that is gripping and had me dying to find out what would happen next, overall it just didn't work for me. The book felt gimmicky to me from the start, with Beth as a character being introduced as "not a heroine" because she's too flawed. I actually quite enjoyed Beth as a character, but she confused me about 99% of the time, and not in a good or intriguing way. The story itself was a pretty slow build, then things get exciting and interesting towards the middle, drop off a bit again, and then there are a rapid-firing of twists at the end that kind of just left me thinking, what the heck did I just read?
That being said, I know there are many who have loved this book, and there is a lot to love about it. It may just not have been my cup of tea. If you enjoyed Downing's first book, I do recommend checking out He Started It!

Well, this one was a wild ride! He Started It is a sibling road trip book like you’ve never read before. The Morgan siblings have just lost their grandfather and in his will, he is requiring that they take a road trip just like the one he took them on when they were children in order to receive their inheritance. Sounds harmless right? Nothing is what it seems with this family.

The story is told from Beth’s perspective, both in the past and present as well as diary entries from the previous road trip. Beth is the middle child between Eddie, who is just a few years older and Portia, who is the baby of the family. It seems none of them have grown out of their roles and because they haven’t seen each other in years, things are tense.

The intensity ramps up as they realize they are being followed by a black truck with two people who seem to be sabotaging their rental car. Each sibling is holding secrets about their shared past and the time since they’ve been apart and everything starts unraveling the longer they are cooped up together in this cross-country trek.

When I say this is a wild ride of a thriller, I am not joking. There are twists and things happening that I definitely didn’t see coming. I didn’t find any of these characters “likeable” in any traditional sense, but of course that only adds to the insanity of their stories. If you liked Samantha Downing’s My Lovely Wife, I think you’ll definitely want to pick up He Started It. While a completely different story, she has a way of telling stories about terrible people that make you never want to put the book down.

Thank you so much to Berkley for sending me a copy to review!

Three siblings and their spouses head off on a road trip across the country to spread their grandfathers ashes and to claim their large inheritance. Easy enough! Not easy! Secrets, revenge, being followed, lots of unexplainable events... This book was a trip and hard to put down. ⁣
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“𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘱𝘢, 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵.”⁣
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I really enjoyed myself while reading 𝙃𝙚 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙄𝙩 and it had 5 star potential, but it all came down to the ending for me. I didn’t see it coming which was fun but I still can’t fully wrap my head around all the events at the end of the book. Some things I would have liked to have explained just a tad more. ⁣
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Overall though, fun book! I think 𝘔𝘺 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘞𝘪𝘧𝘦 is still my favorite Samantha Downing book, but this was not a bad follow-up!⁣

So this road trip is unlike any other I have experienced or read about! In order to claim their inheritance, siblings must take the same road trip (with their families) that they took with their grandfather many years ago. Add some murder, mayhem, and read as the drama and intrigue unfold.

I could NOT STOP turning the pages! This book took me long into the night and encouraged me to cancel any family road trips I had considered for the future!

Beth, Portia, and Eddie Morgan haven’t been reunited in years. They certainly have good reason not to want to be around each other. The death of their grandfather has brought these siblings together once again. In order to collect their inheritance, they must embark on a recreation of a cross-country road trip they went on with their grandfather decades earlier. Time with family can be tough, but it can be even harder when all of you are hiding secrets and trying to forget the past. Can they make it to the end of their trip or will things come crashing down around the Morgans before they reach their final destination?

Last year I couldn’t stop raving about Samantha Downing’s debut book, MY LOVELY WIFE. I was thrilled to see that her sophomore book was being released this year and anxiously waited for my pre-order to arrive after being pushed back due to our friend COVID. The wait was so worth it!

Downing instantly draws the reader into HE STARTED IT by dropping them into the start of the Morgan sibling’s road trip. You can immediately tell that there is some underlying tension between the siblings, but you have no idea what’s going on. The story is narrated by Beth, who clearly has a series of secrets of her own that she isn’t quite ready to give up. I appreciated that Downing kept the story to one narrator, while still hooking the reader with many situations where Beth is unreliably relaying the current and past road trip events, as well as the actions of her siblings.

HE STARTED IT is laid out in lightning quick chapters, which truly allow the story to progress at a rapid rate. I loved that there were indications for when a new day of the trip started and when the Morgans entered into a new state. I felt like I knew exactly where they were with the vivid location descriptions and the fun landmarks that they stop at along the way. There were also mysterious journal entries throughout the book that added an element of the past to clarify the present day trip path.

This is such a hard book to talk about without the fear of giving away parts of the plot. It’s a book I highly recommend walking into with little knowledge because even the smallest detail can ruin a crazy reveal, which by the way there are plenty of them in this book! Downing has mastered the ability to keep a reader on their toes and HE STARTED IT is the perfect book to escape reality with!

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for a gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately, this was a book that just didn't hold my interest and I was unable to finish it. I know many readers enjoy books by Samantha Downing but after a couple of tries, I think they may just not be for me.

I find this quote the perfect way to start this review. “..there was a little thief inside of Portia all along. Just like there was an asshole inside of Eddie... And a liar inside of all of us.” I loved author’s other book, it kept me on my toes almost as much as this one and really had me wanting more of their books. I found this one to be an even stronger psychological thriller!


Each character was extremely unreliable, which made me feel like I couldn’t trust anyone. There was a mix of good and bad in each. The personalities of each were definitely realistic in my mind. Everyone is complex, and I thought that was portrayed wonderfully. The family dynamics were something you could only see in books and movies, it really helped everything play out.


The story started getting less and less plausible in my mind, but ending up playing out really well. If you were a fan of this author’s last book I would highly recommend picking this one up. The humor was dark and made me laugh out loud multiple times.

Dysfunctional family road trip – raise your hand if you are in!

Beth, Eddie, and Portia have lost their grandfather and are the recipients of his inheritance. All they have to do is repeat the road trip they all took together twenty years ago. How hard could that be, right?!

I enjoyed this road trip and the mystery of it all. We don’t know where they are going, what will happen along the way, and how this road trip will end. I really had no idea what was coming next and rather than trying to figure it out I just sat back and enjoyed the ride.

One of my favorite things about this book was all of their stops along the way. They stopped at some pretty interesting places making me wish I could venture across the country myself. Unfortunately, in case you haven’t heard, there is a pesky little virus out there keeping us rooted at the moment, but it did set my mind into motion about how fun it would be to hit the road someday! Although, no offense to my four siblings, I will not be taking them with me.

These siblings are seriously messed up! How did they get that way, my lips are sealed, you will have to read the book to find out!

I didn’t think the author could up her game after My Lovely Wife but she managed to. This is a completely different but still a nail biting thriller. This dysfunctional family drove me bonkers in the best possible way!

First line: You want a heroine.

Summary: When their grandfather dies, he leaves a dying wish. He wants his grandchildren to recreate and follow the same road trip they took together 20 years before. He wants his ashes taken with them and scattered in the desert where their trip ended.

Family road trips can be stressful. But made even more stressful when everyone is hiding a secret. However, in order to earn their inheritance, they must complete his request. Money is a motivator. So even with all the fighting and secrets they know they must finish the road trip at all costs.

My Thoughts: This book was messed up! It was one crazy twist after another. When you think you’ve seen it all you are proven wrong. At the end I kept flipping the page over because I couldn’t believe the book ended as it did. It was a wild ride. I did not like any of the characters. They treat each other terribly and most of the people they meet. It’s like watching a train wreck and you can’t look away. I had to know what was going to happen next. The one critique I had was the cigarette situation. It seemed so petty but that may have been the point. It made me dislike the characters even more.

I did like though that the sites they visit are real. Take a look. They are pretty neat actually. I would even add them to my next road trip.

FYI: Very dark, crazy read.

I loved everything about this book until the ending. I shouldn't have expected it given the ending of My Lovely Wife, but this one frustrated me a bit more. There was so much build up to finding Nikki and the black truck and the woman with them that the ending just left me disappointed.

Samantha Downing does it again with another nail-biting, heart pounding, edge-of-your-seat thriller! If you haven’t read this novel yet you definitely need to get your hands on a copy today!

I loved the entire premise of this book. A sibling road trip that is their late grandfather’s final wishes for them if they are to get their share of the inheritance. This should be a time for the siblings to bond and reminisce about their grandfather and the trip they took together all those years ago. What could go wrong? Well apparently a lot! I loved every page of this book as I flipped through the pages and followed the siblings on their roadtrip journey.

All the siblings have secrets and something they are hiding from everyone else. They all have their share of lies, secrets, darkness and betrayal . There is so much going on during this roadtrip together there is never a dull moment. You will find yourself flying through the chapters to see what will happen next. I enjoyed reading all of the different dynamics amongst the 3 siblings and their partners, and their different relationships with one another.

A thriller that you are sure to enjoy so grab your copy today!

He Started It is a great example of a sophmore novel from Samantha Downing. This book has some great moments that definitely provide some shock factor, however, the book fell short for me because I felt that it dragged a bit throughout the road trip.

I was really excited for this book but i just felt it was too slow of a slow burn. If that makes sense. I just felt it dragged and was a bit too repetitive. I enjoyed the witty banter and snarky humor. I just didn’t feel connected to the story. I think it was well written and had a lot of potential, i just don’t think I’m cut out for the slow burns.