If I were to summarize my exact reaction after I turned the last page of this absolute rollercoaster ride of a book, it would be a keyboard smash. I think my exact words were “Wow. Just…wow.”
Having been removed from bookish circles for more than a year, I wasn’t aware of this book’s existence and hadn’t been the target of any of its marketing. I stumbled upon it on Hoopla and picked it up just based on the name. It’s now ended up making me a fan of Benjamin Stevenson. I am seated, I am sold.
If you know me any well, you know I’ve been disgruntled by the recent spate of popcorn thrillers. They are still an entertainer, don’t get me wrong. But it’s so easy to see right through them and know what the big reveal is halfway through the book.
Read on to find out how this book turned all these tropes on their head.
About Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone
Ernest Cunningham is an author for authors. He writes books about how to write books. And more interestingly, everyone in his family has killed someone.
Some have even killed more than once. As the synopsis says, they may be good, bad, or unfortunate. But the fact remains that they have all killed someone.
This book is set over the course of a weekend where his aunt Catherine’s organized a family reunion at a ski resort. The celebrations are derailed, however, with the discovery of a dead body.
With everyone in the family harboring secrets and their own reasons for attending this reunion, the rest of the book attempts to find what each family member is hiding and who the real killer is.
My review
Jaded by predictable whodunits, I started this book with not too many expectations. But this rollercoaster of secrets and shocks will keep you guessing until the last page. This isn’t empty praise, coming as it is from a lifelong fan of the mystery genre.
Ernest starts the novel with Monsignor Ronald Knox’s 10 Rules Of Detective Fiction — I’ve added these below — and these rules end up being strictly adhered to in this very story. Upon reaching the ski resort, Ernest quickly introduces us to the cast of characters — his type A aunt Catherine, her sweet albeit boring husband Andy, his mother Aubrey who hasn’t forgiven him for what he did to his brother Michael (read the book to find out what it was!), his stepfather and belligerent lawyer Marcelo, his stepsister and the person he probably likes the most in the family Sophia, his sister-in-law Lucy, and a couple more who join the story along the way.
Behind the idyllic facade of the resort, secrets run amok. Every guest has a secret past, a motive based on their past. Oh, and they’ve all killed someone. As the synopsis says, some were malicious, some out of desperation, and some simply due to tragic twists of fate. Even our charming narrator isn’t spared — he’s also killed someone. Stevenson’s meticulously fleshed out each character, weaving an intricate tapestry of compelling backstories and motives. The cast of characters never felt overwhelming at any point in the novel, instead forming an interesting and memorable ensemble.
Also read: The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo Book Review
Modern mystery novels always end up falling back on gimmicks and cheap twists. This novel, however, embraces the golden age of whodunits. Stevenson, through Ernest, sticks to Ronal Knox’s rules throughout the story. There are no unreliable narrators, supernatural solutions, or scientific ‘discoveries’ explaining the climax. This whodunit is pure, unadulterated deduction, with clues and red herrings abound and a very satisfying logical resolution of each murder.
Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone is a refreshing return to novels where the mind, not parlor tricks, solve the crime, and I cannot recommend it enough.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Monsignor Ronald Knox’s 10 Rules Of Detective Fiction
- The criminal must be mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to know.
- All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.
- Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable.
- No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end.
- No stereotype must figure in the story. (Welp, this one included a racist stereotype but I’ve edited it.)
- No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right.
- The detective himself must not commit the crime.
- The detective is bound to declare any clues which he may discover.
- The “sidekick” of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal from the reader any thoughts which pass through his mind: his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader.
- Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.
Let’s chat
Have you read Everyone In My Family is a Murderer? What did you think of it?
Let me know in the comments!
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