I can't review this as the copy I was sent to review is unreadable, with random numbers in every second line of text. I would be happy to read if a new download becomes available, however. It sounds like my kind of novel.

Love Samantha ! Like her deliciously awfull characters
Dark twisty tales , unsympathetic characters never quite sure wat the truth is
I did have a confusing time at times as I strangely thought the twist way at the start ...then half way through thought ahhh it's that person and actually I'd been right from the off
This was down to slightly confusing journel. It was almost too ambiguous who's voice we meant to think it is so I thought it was the characters I thought it was right from the start not through being clever just um muddled
Then with the reveal I thought it I thought that from the v begining
However doesn't ruin it just pay attention
Great intrigue
Lots of dubious characters
Lots of untruths
Enjoy the road trip and u will crave another
one
Ty netgalley and publishers for this advanced copy

I was a huge fan of My Lovely Wife so was very excited to read Samantha Downing's latest book. While this doesn't initially strike as a typical thriller, I'd struggle to label it as any other genre. When this group of siblings were children, their grandfather took them on a very unusual road trip. In his will he declares that his significant inheritance will be left to them only on the condition they complete the same trip again and scatter his ashes in a designated spot. I found this book totally gripping and I genuinely could not put it down- I finished it in just over a day. It's so unlike anything else I've read recently and I wholeheartedly recommend it!

Sophmore slump, unfortunately.

A road trip does not lend itself to a thriller. You shoot yourself in the foot almost immediately because you slow down the pace. From the first couple of chapters, you lose the tension, you lose the tight pacing that makes a thriller something you want to gobble up in a handful of sittings. Downing's first book 'My Lovely Wife' had that in spades - but it's missing here. Sadly, I just didn't enjoy this one as much as her debut - and I definitely didn't get the same kind of feeling reading it as I did before.

Also a small thing, but the formatting on this was really weird - there was numbers and stuff all over it, which made it really hard to read.

Downing can write. She manages to put suspense into a ten-day road trip across the country.

The solution was a teeny-tiny bit predictable, but that's basically what kept me reading, I wanted to know whether I was right.

Downing excels at writing unsympathetic characters in a deeply entertaining way. How much you like the book may well depend on how much you enjoy a literal journey with horrible people.

Onto the plot:

Three adult siblings, Beth, Eddie and Portia are on a road trip across America - out of necessity, not affection. Their grandfather has died and they must replicate the same journey they completed as children if they want to take his inheritance. Two partners are along for the ride as well.

The journey starts off okay - there's bickering and awful museums to visit, but that's par for the course. Then they start being followed, tensions rise, and is that paranoia or are people really out to get them?

Beth warns you in the opening pages that she's not a heroine. That she's done bad things, that she'll probably keep on making bad choices. She soon alludes to family secrets, long-buried since their first trip with Grandpa, that start teasing their way out.

There's a lot she holds back from the reader and that both makes for a compelling page-turnery sort of read (and I read this in one day), but occasional irritation too. You're not reading to find out whodunnit, but what did he start (as per the title), and what does it mean? When you start to suspect that your main character has all the answers from the beginning, it can feel a tad frustrating when she keeps you hanging on for dear life.

Oh and don't start kidding yourself that Beth might transform into an underdog/good person heroine after all. Downing doesn't lie. And Beth doesn't transform.

It took me a little while to get into He Started It, purely because it took a while for Beth to actually tell me what the main plot was, but once she did I had to keep on reading.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for the moment, which means I liked it but didn't love it. Downing kept my attention and I'd certainly read her again, but I don't think I'd particularly want to spend any more time with this set of characters.

This was for me a really strange book to review as I’m still not sure just how I feel about it, I enjoyed reading it but I just didn’t connect at all with the characters. Full of twists and a very unreliable narrator in Beth it’s the story of a road trip by three siblings to scatter their grandfathers ashes and recreate a road trip they had originally done with their grandfather when they were much younger.
The story is a compulsive one but I did find at times it stretched belief and was rather slow however I found that I still needed to continue reading just to find out what exactly had happened in that first road trip and how that was affecting this later one. So it was a read I enjoyed but did not love although I think maybe others will, it was an original story and very well written and with a whole heap of secrets it did keep my attention so a 3+ read rounded up to 4 just for the craziness!!
My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

A wicked-fun read with razor-sharp wit and a killer twist, He Started It is compelling, captivating, and deliciously dark. Samantha Downing writes with a wry, sparse elegance that steadily entangles you until you’re utterly addicted.

In He Started It, we get three unapologetically sinister siblings heading out on a road trip to fulfil their wealthy grandfather’s final wish and secure their inheritance. But none of them are exactly who they seem.

Like My Lovely Wife, He Started It blurs the line between who is good and who is bad, expertly exploring the theme of how much ‘bad’ you can do if it’s in the name of love. A novel that should be high on everyone’s must-read list for 2020!

From the author of "My Lovely Wife" comes this tale of twists, turns and power grabs. This tells the story of three siblings: Eddie, Beth and Portia who are dispatched on a road trip by their late grandfather. Their mission: to retrace the exact steps they took on the last road trip when they were kids. The rules: They must not deviate from the route, they must visit the same places, they must end in the same place, scatter his ashes and no one must get arrested. The Prize: A third share of his estate, estimated at around $8 million.

The action flicks backwards and forwards between the first road trip, taken when their grandfather took them away while their parents sorted out their problems, and this road trip. Haunted by the events of the past and a truck of heavies who appear to be following them, the tension ramps up between the siblings and for the reader too. This takes many twists and turns and the only thing that you can be sure of is that everyone is lying...

A great read that I just couldn't put down. I loved 'My Lovely Wife' but this is so much better!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a story of a road trip across America that Eddie Beth and Portia are obliged to take if they want to receive their inheritance from their very wealthy Grandfather .Twenty years before when they were all children their Grandfather decided to take them on the same road trip, only then there were 4 siblings ! It seems to me that the siblings and the Grandfather were all very nasty people in their own ways .This story is about greed lies and betrayal but it was very hard to put down full of twists and turns and the ending was wow just wow ! I have no words !! I loved My Lovely Wife but this book was even better .many thanks to the Publisher the Author and NetGalley for my preview copy in return for an honest review .

Having read her first novel, ‘My Lovely Wife’, I felt that this couldn’t be as good, but it is. Another storming read from this author.

The story is about three siblings who do not get on – no real surprise there. When their grandfather dies, he leaves the huge amount of money to be shared between the three of them providing they repeat a road trip he took them on when they were children. There are certain criteria they must follow.

Eddie, Beth and Portia are the three siblings but Eddie’s wife and Beth’s husband are along for the ride as well. The narrator is Beth and there are tensions between everybody at different stages along with an underlying humour at certain points.

As the journey progresses the reader is taken around so many twists, turns and unknowns. The final chapter is a stunner.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin UK, Michael Joseph, and Samantha Downing for my ARC in return for my honest review.

Another brilliant read. Highly recommended.

Wow what a ride.

Well more a road trip but it's still a ride & a half. Beth plus a brother and a sister have to complete a road trip they did with there Grandpa 20 years ago & were still living at home. Now they live well away from each other but to get their inheritance that's the deal in the will. (Pure poetry I know). They have to take their Grandpa's ashes to scatter them at the end of the trip.
The trip is across America heading towards the Pacific Ocean taking in all the sites they visited before. The 3 know what to expect Beth's husband and Eddies new wife ( he has recently dumped his long term live in girlfriend for his secretary !!!!!).
The trip starts off with being attached on the road by a black truck leaving a done in tyre the won't be the first time they have to change tyres but i will let you read about that yourself
I loved Samantha's previous book "My Lovely Wife" and if you haven't read it yet get that as well but I think this one is even better. It has great twists very believable characters with their own colour to brighten your read. Plus a ending that will blow your mind. So what I'm saying is this is a fantastic thriller I really loved it & hope you do too, it's well worth it buy some extra for friends if you want I'm sure some of them will treat you once they see how good it is

There are formatting issues with this which make it really hard to read - number dotted randomly throughout the text and in the middle of words, sentences, then a line of numbers breaking up the pages. I will come back to this but wanted to flag it up.

I could not put this book down, It was so enthralling! I have read My Lovely Wife and liked it, but this is so much better. I was so invested in the story and where it was going. I don’t want to ruin it for anyone so I will keep it brief...I wanted a happy ending for Nikki and Beth, even after what Beth did. You have to read this book, it was brilliant!

4-5 stars rounded up

I really like the title and can totally relate to it as it’s my exact words about my brother many years ago - it usually was too!!! Siblings Eddie (control freak), Beth and Portia (flaky) go on a very unusual road trip. They are following the exact route of a trip from over twenty years ago with their grandfather, only on this one they have his ashes with them. They are tasked with scattering them at the end point in the Nevada Desert and in return they will receive a sizeable inheritance. What can possibly go wrong? Well, quite a lot actually! This is one crazy, mind bending journey and our narrator is Beth who seems to be the sensible one ... or is she? Maybe, maybe not!

If there is an award for the weirdest road trip this would win hands down. We’ve got pick up trucks following and chasing, there’s guns, mace and general mayhem. It’s creepy, bizarre and disturbing. You think you’ve nailed who the good siblings are and then darn it, that sibling goes and does something awful. Of all of them Portia is probably the most likeable but, honestly? They all have moments of breath taking nastiness as they take sibling rivalry and greed to a whole new level. I love the games references throughout Beth’s narration such as The Story Game and especially Risk as I love that game too!

What of the road trip? Well, I feel like I don’t need to bother to go to any of the states they tour cos I’ve been to ‘em all with this lot!! We went to the oddest museums ever (barbed wire?? What??? Yes, I know it was important, I know my history but seriously??? A museum dedicated to it - and its for real! I checked!!!) ghost towns, The Codger Pole (look it up!) a UFO watch tower and all the while consuming food to bring on heart disease (except for Portia!).

I like the way it’s written, you really feel the rivalry, there’s humour as well as tension between them. The relationships chop and change during the trip and that is really interesting and entertaining. The end just beggars belief - I did not see that one coming but maybe I should as there’s so much that comes out of left field in this one! My head is spinning with all the convolutions.

Overall, highly entertaining, very twisty and you think you’ve nailed it all down but Samantha Downing has the capacity to well and truly surprise you. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph for the ARC.

So I got an email, "Since you enjoyed 'The Lovely Wife' you may want to try the second book by the author, ' He Started It'." Yeah, you know the kind of thing. I couldn't place the book, so many titles so few brain cells to remember them all, but it did ring a bell. Time to look it up. I'm pretty sure it was that one with the... Oooooh! No, it wasn't, it was the super messed up crazy one! That was so twisted! I didn't like that book, I loved it!

So, within moments, my Kindle was loaded and ready to go. I even forgot to read the blurb about this one, it didn't matter. Although as I later found out it kinda does, the blurb I just saw has a spoiler that I thankfully missed. Maybe not a shocking one, but a spoiler none the less. Which is why I settled down naively to read 'He Started It'. And I think it's amazing.

Beth tells the story. her grandpa dies and the will says she has to undertake a roadtrip with her brother and sister, just like one they took twenty years earlier when they were kids. Simple enough right? Yeah, I forgot how normal Downing can make the setup of her stories seem. It doesn't take long to start teasing a few extra details. Little secrets. But it's nothing ar fetched, just little lies of omission here and there. But slowly, as these secrets come into focus, we realise there's always a little more to this story. And there really is. You'll probably figure everything out super early in the book. There's no way you haven't worked it all out and there's no point reading any further. But, the characters are interesting and well written so... yeah, who cares that you're not going to be surprised, right? ... Oh. well okay, that was a new twist. But still, you're smart enough, it's just a small tweak on that original theory... wait, no that changes a bit more. Can you still make it all fit? Trust me, you can't. I solved it all too, but the writing is just delicious so I kept gobbling it all up. And the deeper I went the more Downing kept tormenting me.

Samantha Downing delivers something fascinating and enjoyable in this book. Sure, the twists snap your head violently, but somehow her writing keeps them from being over-dramatic. A lesser writer would make these twists too cheesy for the cheesiest soap opera around, but Downing's way with words makes them intense and riveting. By the end of the book I was basically throwing the book down in disgust with myself for not seeing the latest twist, and picking it up again instantly because I needed the next fix. Downing is a special writer with a unique take on the world. Frankly, reading this review was a waste of your time. You should've already started the book. Do it. Now!

I wanted to enjoy this book but it was just such a mess...

I found the characters so irritating. The lack of communication between all of them is one of the most frustrating things I've ever read

The pacing in this book was really off. There were points when there was lots of twists and turns, things happening all the time and parts where nothing happened for ages and it felt really dragged out.

I did read a really badly formatted e-arc of this book so it was really hard to figure out what timeline I was reading. It felt liked it jumped all over the place.

However, I did like the premise of this book. The concept was really interesting and there were some interesting parts.

But overall, I thought it was trying to take on too much. It was very ambitious and I don't think it really paid off

I didn't like the ending much either. There were things that happened earlier in the book, which didn't get discussed again. It was quite open ended and definitely some things were missing.

I didn't connect to this book unfortunately, I don't know if its because I didn't like the writing, the pace or the fact that I'm an only child and don't have experience of sibling relationships. Overall, very disappointing

TW: domestic violence, murder, violence

I knew from reading My Lovely Wife this book would be twisted, messed up and feature complex potentially unlikeable characters. I also suspected it would be excellent and I was right on all counts. A family road trip, dark secrets, an ominous truck and flashbacks to the past all form this brilliant story which I raced through because I had to know what happened. There were so many little twists and hidden details, my mind was racing from trying to piece together this literary puzzle. I loved it!

An amazing follow up to My Lovely Wife, this book plays with family dynamics and how individuals memory of the same event can differ. Gripping and tense

Firstly I love the title, it instantly made me think about my younger brother. Very fitting for a story about three siblings!

Although thank God that none of my siblings are like these characters. I mean wow. No thank you! He Started It is dark, it’s twisted and it’s going to be your new favourite book! I’m numb and speechless after finishing. I didn’t think Samantha could beat My Lovely Wife but this is a strong contender.