Personally this wasn't one of the best books I have read and I did find it hard to get involved in the story line. Mostly the characters were good and the book was well written, just not a favourite for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin UK (Michael Joseph) for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

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.

He started it - Samantha Downing
Secrets, betrayals and lots and lots of lies!
Three siblings have to undertake a repeat of a childhood road trip in order to claim their inheritance. The middle sibling Beth narrates us through the current and past trips while they drive across the USA, l found it all a bit underwhelming which is such a shame as The lovely wife was fantastic.

A deliciously dark and twisty rollercoaster ride of a novel that keeps you gripped from beginning to end, it would rival any fair ground ride. It's intense and thrilling, an utterly consuming read that you won't want to put down until you've finished reading it.

I was a huge fan of Samantha Downing’s first novel, My Lovely Wife, so I jumped at the chance to read her second. He Started It is more of a slow-burner, but it is still an ingenious, twisty tale which delivers shocker of an ending that made me hold my breath. Samantha delves into the lives of her characters as she takes them on a journey that will have a huge impact on their lives.

A road trip is the type of holiday that would never appeal to me. I can’t stand the idea of being stuck in a car for hours on end. But Beth, Portia and Eddie are going on a road trip for a very different reason. Their grandfather has passed away, and he has left them his estate worth many millions of dollars which he plans to divide among the three of them. But this is on condition. His grandchildren must complete a planned road-trip, copying one they took with their grandfather many years ago. He wants them to scatter his ashes in the desert right at the end of the trip. It is clear that neither of them are keen to go on the trip and they find the whole scenario creepy, but they are all desperate for cash and are willing to carry out their grandfather’s wishes.

I became totally immersed in Samantha Downing’s latest novel. I wondered how Beth, Portia and Eddie were going to cope on the trip, especially as they haven’t seen each other for years. It is also clear that they don’t all get on; this is certainly the case with their partners who are also accompanying them. Tension simmers in the background as the trip goes ahead, and it mounts when the group become aware of a vehicle that appears to be following them.

I became more and more intrigued by their grandfather. You can see that he wasn’t liked at all, and some very serious accusations are made against him, which doesn’t paint him a very good light. The road-trip also shows that he had a very controlling personality. It appears that he still wants to hold control over his family beyond the grave. If he wants his ashes scattered in a particular place, he could have told his grandchildren to take any form of transport, a plane, for instance. I didn’t think for an instant that he wanted to remind his grandchildren of happier times by sending them on this road trip.

Samantha Downing has created another compelling and creepy psychological thriller. I wanted what was going to be waiting for them at the end of the trip, and Samantha delivers an explosive finale. Brilliant stuff!

Kept me hooked until the end! Who would've thought a road trip with three siblings Eddie, Beth and Portia to scatter their Granpas ashes would cause so much pain to surface. I definitely wouldn't like to go on a trip with these three!! Specific instructions were read to them in their Grandpas will that they had to follow the same trip they took with him when they were younger and scatter his ashes at the end to inherit his money. Things happened on the original trip which have been buried deep down but start to resurface once they begin on their journey. They aren't the closest of siblings and so it's only a matter of time before tensions start to rise and tempers begin to fray.

Another amazing book from Samantha Downing! Will be looking for more from you in the future, thank you and don't ever give up.

This wasn't the greatest of reads for me. A rather strange storyline and was often confused whether i was in the past or present, the ending felt wrong too. Disappointed as I enjoyed the authors previous book.

Another belter from Samantha. Well written and interest holding it tells a brilliant story.

Keep up the good work.

Yet again Samantha Downing has written a compelling book with fascinating characters, an original story line and twists and turns you just don't see coming.
Eddie, Beth and Portia are not close siblings but they have to complete a road trip to inherit their Grandfather's money. This is a replica of a trip they took as children and as we journey with them from town to town we learn what happened on the original trip and follow the trip they are repeating in the present time.
Well-paced, well told and an excellent and different follow up to her brilliant debut, My Lovely Wife.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Samantha Downing/Penguin UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own

absolutely loved her debut novel, My Lovely Wife and was super excited to see that the author had a new novel for release.

Beth, Portia and Eddie are siblings. Like all siblings, sometimes they don't get along. They just have better reasons than most.
But when their grandfather dies, he leaves a troublingly specific condition in his will. For them to inherit his wealth, they're required to retake a road trip they took with him when they were children, and scatter his ashes at the end of it.
Of course, reuniting after all this time brings back memories of that ill-fated trip. Memories of what went wrong.
But it's not only memories they have to worry about. Someone is following them. Each of them is keeping secrets. And all of them are all too aware of what happened last time.

Wow. This book engrossed me from page 1. It is a bit of a slow burner. But it has so many twists and turns throughout it. I really did feel like I’d been on the road trip with the characters and was so invested in the book. Another great novel from the author and I look forward to her next one

would like to thank netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this book

well i wouldnt like to go on a road trip with these guys...

it starts off as a road trip to remember their very first one taken years ago when they were children with the grandfather..but this trip is so they take the exact route and at the end scatter their grandfather ashes....once they do that they will all inherit large sums of money from their grandfathers estate

but along the route memories come to life and old feelings are rekindled....

like i said i wouldnt want to go on a road trip with these guys and that ending.....wow

another great book from samantha downing...she is fast becoming one of my favourite authors

I've had the pleasure of being invited to read this title and I'm so glad it did.

When I first started reading about Eddie, Beth and portita I found it was a bit slow but it quickly turned in to a page turn. I really enjoyed the story line through out and would highly recommend this book.

I was a huge fan of the author's first book, My Lovely Wife, but the storyline of this one didn't grab me the same. I couldn't connect with the characters and the whole road trip storyline lacked the excitement, thrills and twist and turns i was hoping for. An enjoyable read nevertheless

Wow I was blown away by this book. I loved her last book My Lovely Wife and honestly thought she couldn’t beat that one but she has done it again. This is a story about a family recreating a road trip they took as children in order to fulfil the request of their Grandfather gut all its not what it seems. This is a family full of lies and secrets and all is not what it seems. This was not the fun family road trip the first time so why are they being asked to take it again. As the secrets start to unravel this story turns into a twisted dark thriller as the family finally address what happened to them all those years ago. This would make a great movie.

Beth, her siblings Eddie and Portia, along with the spouses of two of them, set off on a road trip across the USA to scatter their grandfather’s ashes in the desert according to the terms of his will. There’s a big payout at the end, if they follow the rules.

This isn’t the first time they’ve made this trip, though. Twenty years earlier their grandfather took the children (the youngest, Portia, then just six) on the same journey, and it wasn’t necessarily filled with happy memories. As the siblings retrace their steps, visiting a series of weird tourist attractions along the way (all of which really exist), it becomes apparent that this is far from a normal situation and far from a normal family. (Whatever one of those may be.)

Beth is the narrator, and she’s not necessarily unreliable, but she certainly doesn’t tell you everything. And what she does tell you is frequently slightly weird and disturbing. It’s clear that none of the siblings are especially nice people, and nor was their grandpa, though the fully bizarre nature of their family background takes time to emerge.

I liked the road trip aspect - Thelma and Louise is namechecked - and it’s a bit of a geeky thing to say but I’d actually have liked a map of their route - remember how books used to have that sort of thing? Maybe at the end, though, to avoid spoilers...

Samantha Downing excels at portraying twisted and unpleasant people in a strangely matter-of-fact way - readers of My Lovely Wife will know what I mean. It’s one of those books, though, which it’s definitely best not knowing too much about before you start, because there are a lot of surprises which are best savoured unspoiled. Loved it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Beth and her siblings Eddie and Portia, along with Beth’s husband and Eddie’s wife, set off on a cross country road trip to a bunch of places no one would ever want to go. The road trip follows the same itinerary of a road trip their grandfather took them on around twenty years before. This time they are taking the road trip because the grandfather has died and the will stipulates that they must take his ashes cross country together to claim his millions. Some weird things happens along the way and we get flashbacks to the earlier road trip.

I am in the minority on this one. This book dragged for me. I really didn’t enjoy it much. Maybe because the formatting of the ARC was really strange and I couldn’t get into a rhythm but more likely I just didn’t like the characters and I didn’t care what happened to them in the past or what would happen to them now. There were surprises at the end but they didn’t really do much to redeem the book for me. With this author’s previous book, My Lovely Wife, I was on the fence throughout as to whether I liked it and the ending was good enough to make me decide that I did. The ending didn’t save this one for me.

I think I have a thing for psychopaths and looking into their heads. I enjoyed last year “My Lovely Wife” immensely. So I was very happy to get my hands on Samantha Downings next book. The blurb was promising. I must admit that I still think that “My Lovely Wife” is the far better book but I still enjoyed this crazy road trip.

Eddie, Beth and Portia are on a road trip. They are accompanied by Eddie’s wife and Beth’s husband. Their late grandfather forced them to re-enact a trip he did with them when they were young to inherit quite a lot of money. I don’t think I should tell too much about the story. It is a crazy one and all of the characters are awful people. Their whole family is awful and crazy. The story is told through Beth. I liked her dry comments but she is not nice or trustworthy. The trip itself is not so intriguing at the beginning but still entertaining enough. I am from Germany so I enjoyed reading about those unique places they re-visit. This are sites you don’t usually visit while you on a holiday in America. I googled them all. And those siblings, their whole family is so crazy, so weird. I loved hating them. The trip is a bit long and the pace is slow. I think that might be a problem for a lot of readers. But I liked the writing, I liked the not so likable characters and I liked the ending. It is a weird and unique story. It may not appeal to every reader but I am still so much into psychopaths and their way of thinking. And the book managed to shock me more than once with its turn of events.

I enjoyed this trip and I think Samantha Downing is an extremely talented writer. I can understand that some readers find this book to slow and boring and the characters just too awful. For me this book worked and I enjoyed reading it. It is just the right amount of weird and strange and unique.

I loved the author's first book, My Lovely Wife, but the storyline of this one didn't grab me the same. I couldn't connect with the characters and the whole road trip storyline didn't travel in the direction I'd hoped.

He Started It was a great read. It's a book that builds up the tension and gets you thinking that this family is not as it seems.

In the novel, we are taken on a family road trip with a family that obviously hoard a lot of secrets. Throughout the novel, we get those tidbits and they get worse and worse the closer to the end.

We see the story mainly through the eyes of Beth, one of the sisters on the road trip, and she shares her experience not only now, but from her past. I found her often at times, to be a little annoying, but then a lot more weird and unstable. She was an intriguing character, as they all were which kept me reading.

The book got darker throughout and there was also an element of creepiness throughout. The more of the bulid-up, the more intense it got.

It was also very unpredictable. Sometimes I had to read the page again just to be sure what I had read. It caught me off guard, especially the ending. The ending was what caught me off guard the most. It was so different and had me on edge. I loved how it was different, the unpredictability of it.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this read. Although the main character annoyed me at times, the story was unpredictable, dark, chaotic and intriguing. Definitely worthy of five stars.

Highly Recommended.

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Liz Barnsley rated a book it was amazing

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He Started It

by Samantha Downing (Goodreads Author)

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Read in April 2020

Loved this.

Instead of breakneck speed like My Lovely Wife, Samantha Dowling chooses to offer up a slow burn of a novel, exploring the relationship between three siblings on a road trip together in the aftermath of the death of their Grandfather. 

This is the new queen of the psychological drama here though so these siblings take rivalry to whole new levels and as our narrator points out, she's certainly no heroine....

The story itself is endlessly fascinating whilst the author gently mocks the tropes of the genre- the missing girl, the unreliable narrator - without apology, the three main characters spark off each other in ever more darkly observant ways.

As things unfold you become mesmerised by the physical and existential road trip, by the motivations and desires of this twisted, damaged family and sit absolutely open mouthed as you try to work out where they'll all end up.

How does it end? Well you'll have to read to find out but HE started it and one way or another somebody is going to end it. Or are they?

Brilliant once again. Anything Samantha Dowling writes in the future will be straight to the top of my list.

Highly recommended.