Member Review

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in return for an honest review.

Full Disclosure

This no-holds barred satire sees a cast of unabashedly dastardly characters compete to inherit the considerable estate of Agatha Benedict. There’s just one rule: Last one alive wins. So dress to impress and check your morals with the butler because it’s time to review Dead End Drive.

Conditions

It’s 1993 and we’re in Louisiana. That’s it. That’s all the standard book setting you get, because this warped reality has different ideas. This is a world where a wealthy old lady called Agatha adopts an actual human child to replace her dead cat. His name is Kelly (the human, not the cat), although he does wear Poopsie’s old collar as a bracelet.

Parties

Everything in Dead End Drive is an extreme, especially the characters. I revelled in despising the them. Whether it was catty stylist, Alexandre (legally changed from Alexander, natch), fake psychic Adelaide or failed tennis pro, Clint, each and every one of them shows the worst of humanity. It’s like the seven deadly sins all trying to off each other at a cocktail do. Even protagonist Kelly is difficult to like. My personal favourite though was Gavin, the giant Scotsman who causes havoc wherever he goes.

Delivery

There’s something refreshingly freeing about the casual murder and mayhem in Dead End Drive. The joy of this book is in ditching any sense of social niceties and revelling in its sheer abandon. Seriously, characters openly discuss planning to kill each other. But once you get past the simplicity of its premise – waiting to see who will survive and win – it does deal with some hefty concepts. Mainly, it explores how far people are willing to go for money and the murky places where money meets morality.

Kieran Regan’s understated performance brilliantly underscores the often-absurd actions of the characters he plays. He not only manages to juggle various accents, but hits just the right note of sardonic humour. To my ear, some characters are portrayed more successfully than others. For example, I thought Clint was just the right side of insecure yet arrogant, but Kelly was a touch too whiny. There again, that all adds to his unlikability.

Waivers

If you are looking for a twisty-turning plot, then this is not the book for you. This is not so much a whodunnit as a theyalldunnitandhow. Think Poirot meets The Purge with pithy repartee. It does require a certain suspension of disbelief, especially given that nobody has come to investigate what must be tens of missing people last seen at this address. Oh, and there's the gore. This is not one for the faint of sensibilities.

Final Judgement

This entertaining tale of murder and greed gleefully blends the darkest of subject matter with witty observations, sharp tongues and even sharper blades. It’s a light-hearted, fun, original listen that made me laugh out loud. I’d definitely listen to more by this author and this narrator.