This is a story about three siblings. Like any family, sometimes they don’t get along.
It’s a story about a secret that they’ve all kept since they were children.
It’s a story about lying. A story about murder.
It’s a story where only one can win.
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.
About the Author:
Samantha Downing is the author of the Edgar Award-nominated novel My Lovely Wife. Amazon Studios and Nicole Kidman’s Blossom Films have partnered to produce a feature film based on the novel.
Her next book is called He Started It and will be released in 2020. She currently lives in New Orleans, where she is furiously typing away on her next novel.
My Review:
Firstly I need to say that I absolutely loved and adored Samantha Downing’s debut novel My Lovely Wife (read my review here) so when I saw she has a new book out I was very, very, very excited.
He Started It features the most messed up, dysfunctional, despicable family you will EVER meet and I absolutely LOVED them. Beth is our main narrator and I was completely smitten within the first few chapters. Some may consider her slightly bat-shit crazy, but I loved her dead-pan, dark humour and every now and then she speaks directly to the reader which tickled me!
Beth is the middle child, she has one older brother Eddie (also known as an ass-hole) and one younger sister Portia who is pretty messed up and spends most of her time stripping or drinking. When their grandfather dies he leaves a fortune to them, but in order to claim their inheritance they need to get together and complete a two week road-trip across America and believe me this really is the road-trip from hell.
The story is told over two timelines, both narrated by Beth – the first in 1999 when the siblings and Grandfather went on the original road trip across the States and then present day when the siblings are reunited with Grandpa’s ashes on this final road trip to claim their inheritance.
I raced through the story and devoured each page – there were some really dark and sad moments and some absolute OMG scenes too and I was pretty confident I knew where the story was taking me… BUT obviously someone unplugged my SatNav as the ending did surprise me and slightly disappoint me which is why I can’t give this the full 5 stars I wanted. However, despite that minor speedbump in the road He Started It is a very entertaining thriller and I look forward to reading many more books by Samantha Downing.