Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone (Ernest Cunningham #1)
By: Benjamin Stevenson
[Fulfilled ‘A book with a knife on the cover’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2024 Reading Challenge]
“Look, we’re not a family of psychopaths. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate. Which one am I?”
“One day you’ll realize family isn’t about whose blood runs in your veins, it’s who you’d spill it for.”
This was a fun read!
It is a present-day whodunnit with the principles of the ‘Golden Age’ of mystery novels, aka Agathe Christie and G.K. Chesterton (who I had no idea wrote fiction!). I agree with others who say it has a Knives Out vibe. It is set to be released at some point as a limited series on HBO so depending on how many f-words they feel like adding for ‘stupid’ effect, I might watch it.
This book is a bit unique because it has a narrator, speaking in first person, but deliberately speaking to the reader as if recounting his tale in person. He offers some foreshadowing, but holds himself to the (non-fictional) ‘10 Commandments of Detective Fiction’ that are listed in the front of the book.
I know some are bored by that type of story and prefer the super twisty, unreliable narrator tropes that are popular today. But I definitely appreciate a good mystery that doesn’t rely on lies or supernatural explanations but “plays fair”. [Surprise twins may be my one exception though because sometimes I think that’s figureoutable.]
“They’ve become more about the tricks the author can deploy: what’s up their sleeve instead of what’s in their hand.”
I still vividly remember the cheated feeling I had when I read Gone Girl and found out the ‘twist’ partway through the book.
I like a twist as much as the next person, but I think there is something to admire about an author who writes the clues in and gives the reader the ability to ‘figure it out’ rather than be strung along whiplashed back and forth between big reveal to big reveal.
In ‘Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone’ the narrator is Ernest Cunningham, who writes books about how to write books. He plays our informal detective in the story. Right up front he assures us that the title is not a lie— everyone really has killed someone, including himself.
The book is sectioned off with labels from his different family members (i.e. brother, mother, stepfather, stepsister, etc) and takes a few trips to the past to explain some backstory on that family member.
The main crime, however, is happening in real time as Ernest is at a ski resort in Australia (which I was today years old finding out there is snow in Australia and after reading this and Homecoming, I think my elementary education did a crappy job of really explaining to me what Australia looks like and I’m a smidge bit mad about it) with his whole family. His brother is just getting out of jail and joining them as part of the reunion.
Shortly before his brother arrives a body is found dead in the snow. No one knows who it is and no one is missing from the roster of guests. Of course there is a storm and some difficulty getting up to the resort so Ernest, his family (who are not too keen on police), and the lone police officer are stuck trying to unravel the mystery of the dead man.
“It seemed clear to me: the only way to put my family back together again was to find out which one of them was a killer. Well, we all are— I’ve already told you that. I just mean most recently.”
The body county doesn’t stop at one and the suspect pool narrows.
A few comments on his family that I enjoyed:
“[Ernie and Erin] are practically anagrams. When people used to ask us how we met, we’d say, ‘Alphabetically.’”
Sofia’s Bingo card is exactly something I would do at a family reunion. I also always look into hotel rooms that I pass by when they’re being cleaned.
Michael (his brother) was married to Lucy: “she is a Small Business Owner in the same way Andy (his uncle) is a Feminist, in that she declares it loudly, often, and she’s the only one who believes it.”
Recommendation
I would definitely recommend this book! It has some humor and a fun narrator, which I suppose given the premise makes the humor a bit dark or irreverent. But the writing was clever and compelling and drew me in right away.
I did figure out the killer a little bit before halfway, but it was written in such a way that I wasn’t super confident the entire time that I was right.
There were some parts that were a little hard to follow because the narration asked you to read between the lines and I wasn’t sure I was thinking along the right path. But ultimately that didn’t matter or affect my ability to enjoy the book.
Benjamin Stevenson has another book out called ‘Everyone on This Train is a Suspect’ that I plan to read as well as a Christmas one coming out soon that I have early access to read.
If you WOULD like to read about an entire family of psychopaths, check out the thriller The Family Bones; it’s right up your alley.
[Content Advisory: Not much, if any swearing (I wrote this review too long after I read it to remember for sure); I’m sure if HBO is putting this one out they will add a bunch of content but I don’t remember the book having much to worry about]
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