Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin StevensonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
A quirky, original sort of crime thriller.
An enjoyable read, though I did find the narrator insufferable at times and I was frustrated by the constant allusions to things to come. I hate spoilers with a passion so a book that goes out of its way to tell them really bugs me.
Ernest is a mystery writer arriving at something of a family reunion - located this year at an isolated ski resort. But as the title suggests, his is a family of killers, so when a body turns up in the snow, chaos ensues.
What follows is a mess of clues and red herrings, and Ernest is there to steer us wherever he likes as we go along. I didn't mind the humour, and in fact found it a fun, refreshing addition, but it feels almost like he's talking too much for you to be able to think about the mystery yourself. I guess it's not such a bad thing because it doesn't give you a lot of time to guess what will happen, but I did find it to be a little too much at times.
The mystery itself has so many elements to it, it's impossible to know what's relevant and what's not. I enjoyed trying to weed through it all but ultimately it was too much work to try and figure things out.
I enjoyed this enough that I'd happily read the next in the series, and I'd recommend it as a fresh take on the mystery/thriller genre for crime fans.
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