Book Review: Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate.

I’m Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I’d killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it’s a little more complicated than that. Have I killed someone? Yes. I have.

Who was it? Let’s get started.

Everyone in my family has killed someone: my brother, my stepsister, my wife, my father, my mother, my sister-in-law, my uncle, my stepfather, my aunt, and me.

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone is the latest novel by Benjamin Stevenson which will be available on January 17, 2023. Mariner Books provided an early galley for review.

With a title and a cover like this one, how could I not be intrigued? I simply knew I had to read this one.

Stevenson is an Australian comedian and writer, and his sense of wit, humor and sarcasm are evident in the narration of this novel. That narration is also done in a way I do not see often in novels - in that Ernest often breaks the fourth wall to address the reader and to allude to upcoming events before they occur. I actually like that approach to the storytelling.

Of course, this is a multiple-murder mystery as well as a commentary on family and relationships. Stevenson pulls the reader right into the story and keeps unfolding things at a very even pace. He does a wonderful job adhering to the rules of the genre with ending revelations that put all the pieces of the puzzle firmly into place.