I really enjoyed this book! A great story line that kept me hooked and excellent main characters. I would highly recommend this book.

OH YES!! Downing has done it again!! What a cracking read!!

Remember the explosive debut “My Lovely Wife” which hit our shelves last year!? Well “He Started It” set to hit our shelves next month, is even more disturbingly profound. It is written in such a way that can only be described now as “Downing’s Style” – If you’ve read “My Lovely Wife” than you will know what I mean, and if you haven’t…well where on earth have you been!?

Ever taken a road trip with your entire family before? This latest novel is all about past, present and future family experiences following the death of their grandfather. A strange request in his will requires all family members to undertake the same road trip, across country, that they took with their grandfather during their childhoods. Not all is what it seems on this latest family adventure and Downing really knows how to tell a good story and pack a great punch.

Don’t be alarmed at first that this one is set at a much slower pace than the debut, it still has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing until the end. I couldn’t turn the pages quick enough!

Oh, and that ending…!! My my my…what an ending! One to be added to your reading lists for sure.

A hugely anticipated read of mine that did not disappoint. I said last year that I could not wait to read more from this author and I for one cannot wait for the next instalment from Samantha Downing!

UK Release Date: 30th April 2020
US Release Date: 28th April 2020

👀🕵🏻‍♀‍🔪

Thank you to Michael Joseph & Samantha Downing for the ARC I received in exchange for my honest review.

Wow another fantastic book by an extremely talented author. I have read this in one sitting and could not predict the way it was going to go. I absolutely love this author. Can not wait to read more.

I want drawn to read this book because of the title. I wouldn’t say it was the best or most original title I’ve ever heard of. There’s just something about it that drew me in. I’ve become fond of titles that ask a question. I really wanted to know that answer to this one. I don’t have any siblings but the title made me immediately think of fighting brothers and sisters, blaming each other for every catastrophe and refusing to take any responsibility. This is a very dark book. I sort of expected it, given the blurb and the author’s other book, My Lovely Wife but it’s even darker than I expected. This is a book I struggled to put down once I’d started and it had me hooked, flicking through the pages and wondering what the hell would happen next. On to devour!

He Started It, by Samantha Downing

Having been gripped from the first page to the last by My Lovely Wife, I was delighted to have a second Samantha Downing novel to read. And I did enjoy He Started It, but not nearly as much as I enjoyed My Lovely Wife.

I think this is for three reasons. Firstly, I was never gripped by the story in the way that I was with My Lovely Wife. He Started It tells of two sisters, Beth and Portia, and their brother, Eddie, who, following the instructions of their recently deceased grandfather, who may or may not have been guilty of abuse, are repeating a trip they’d taken with him some years earlier. At the end of the trip, they’re to scatter his ashes.

During that first trip, a third sister, Nikki, vanished, and it’s the fervent wish of Beth, the narrator, to find her. The prize for completing the repeat trip, provided they adhered to the grandfather's rules, was going be a share of his $8m estate. On the second trip, they're accompanied by Beth’s husband,, Felix, and Eddie’s wife, Krista.

It soon becomes clear that the reader can’t trust the narrator, and that things are not what they seem to be. Everyone seems to have a dark secret and to be flawed in some way, as is the narrator. While this keeps readers on their toes, re-adjusting thoughts about what’s happening and what’s going to happen, it makes for a degree of confusion, and you keep losing the handle on who is whom and what’s going on. Because of this, I found it impossible to see the characters as ‘real’, and this took away a little of the atmosphere of menace.

Secondly, it isn’t just the confusion about the nature of the characters, but also on occasions, about which trip is being recounted. Because of the numerous flashbacks, there’s a thin line between conversation taking place on the first trip, and talk between the characters on the second trip, and I had to look back in the text several times to determine which trip they were on. Each time I did this, I was jarred out of the story.

Thirdly, at times there’s rather too much information about the places they were visiting for a second time. I found some of the explanations of the sites/museums/etc they visited to be tedious, and reminiscent of a travelogue. Much as I love the US, which I’ve visited many times. I wanted to get on with the story. The frequent description of the different locations they visited, the restaurants where they ate, the motels they stayed in, slowed the pace of the novel.

I don't want to say more as I don't want to give away spoilers. The pace of the novel picked up a little as the siblings neared the end of their goal, but the climax was a disappointment, which felt a real let-down as despite my criticisms of aspects of the book, there was an increasing sense of something about to happen, and I wanted to know what that was.

Thank you to NetGalley and Michael Joseph for my copy in exchange for an honest review

He started it follows the story of three siblings on a road trip to scatter their Grandpa’s ashes before they receive their inheritance, we quickly begin to see that everything is not as it seems and each character is hiding some dark secrets. All three siblings are selfish, manipulative liars but it makes for such a twisty story.
I was completely immersed in this book and read it in 3 sittings, when I wasn’t reading it I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I thought the storyline was completely unpredictable and I did not see the twists coming. Samantha’s writing is excellent, every page is suspense filled and I loved the razor-sharp wit. So entertaining, thrilling and twisty. All I can say about the ending is wow, I know that I’m still going to be thinking about this book for days to come.
I thought the research the author put into the quirky American landmarks was really the icing on the cake, it’s fascinating to think some those places exist and I think it really added to the overall creepy vibe of the story.
I read this book straight after reading My lovely wife, which I really enjoyed but overall I preferred this book, it did not disappoint! Can’t wait to recommend it to friends and family.
Thank you NetGalley, Penguin UK, Michael Joseph, and Samantha Downing for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I liked this book.

I read My Lovely Wife, Downing's debut crime / thriller novel, a small while ago and absolutely loved it. I was so glad to discover a new author to read, and I really enjoyed her writing in both My Lovely Wife and He Started It.

As a small aside: I really enjoyed the details about the family road trip. I've never been to America before, and so Downing's research about the geography and tourism of each area was really interesting.

He Started It is a fascinating character study; everyone is flawed and, as a reader, there's a constant struggle to pick out the truths, lies, and inconsistencies of each character's narrative voice. A consequence of the book being more character-focused is, in my opinion, a slower-paced overall narrative. It wasn't necessarily clear what was going on, or what Downing was building up to. This isn't a criticism as such, though, as it made every twist completely surprising and new.

Whilst I'm speaking about characters, I would like to mention Beth. Technically speaking, Beth is the "protagonist". However, at the start of the book she ridicules the notion of protagonists and heroines altogether, stressing she is neither - she is too "bad" and "dislikable" for such labels. Whilst this could appear self-aware and "edgy", Beth seemed as though she were trying too hard to be dislikable which, to my mind, just didn't sound real.

Earlier, I mentioned twists - there are a lot of them! The final quarter of this book shocked me. I was stunned. I was confused. I was flabbergasted. I won't spoil anything - obviously - but I suggest you pay close attention at all times, otherwise you might struggle to keep up!

A slow moving story about three siblings who go on a road trip with their grandfathers ashes so that they can collect their inheritance.
Full of unlikeable characters and twist and turns.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

First thought after I finished the book: “What the hell Have I just read?!?”
Second thought after I finished the book: “How can I be so stupidly blind and didn’t see this coming”

Guys, this book will literary blow your head off. Every page comes with another suspense, another twist in the plot, another mystery to resolve. I am so bad at this (and felt so stupid as well that I didn’t figure it out earlier)

The first time I saw the title, I thought ‘Yup, one more family thriller based on wife and husband dark mind’. I couldn’t imagine how wrong I was.

Eddie, Beth, and Portia are siblings that live in different parts of the country and don’t have the need to be close to each other, to talk every few days or whatever normal siblings do (sorry, I’m the only child :D ). Even Eddie, who got married 6 months ago, didn’t invited Beth and Portia to his wedding. When their grandfather dies, he has left a rule in his will and they have to honor it in order to receive his money. They have to go again to the road trip they did 20 years ago with their grandfather. A trip that changed them all and set the course of their relationship from now on.

‘For the Morgan siblings, separation is the best form of togetherness.’

Are they willing to take this trip again, although they know how the previous one ended up? Of course, they will do everything for an heritage with raw amount 8 million dollars. They will do everything to complete this trip and put their hands on the money. They are manipulative, liars, and they are willing to kill their own siblings to have all of the money for themselves.

There are two storylines. The first one, narrated by Beth, is taking us to the nowadays road trip with three of them plus Eddie’s wife and Beth’s husband.
The second line is in the form of travel diary entries. Entries made by the sister that can’t take this journey. Not this time, though. Why? Because Nikki, the oldest sibling of them all, went missing during the first journey and nobody has ever found it. As long as everybody has their own reasons to commit to this trip, Beth’s initial one is to try to find out what happened with Nikki on that first trip.


But Beth can’t be our heroine. Why?

‘Men can get away with that and still be the hero, but a cheating wife is unforgivable.’

You may wonder why they may not want to take this trip again? Why the trip was such a bad experience for them all? If you are 12 years old and your grandpa decides to take you to the trip to see every bit of gruesome place in the country, related to somebody been killed or related to the darkest moments from your country history? Like Bonnie and Clyde’s museum, marking the exact place the police killed them? Or a Vax museum with that creepy wax people? Yup, I will never want to go to this journey over again.

I want to tell you so much more. This book is even greater than My Lovely Wife. It is twisty and dark, unexpected turns are waiting for you behind every corner. I wish I could read faster, take a day off, so I can stay home and finish it. But I am going to keep it simple and only outlined the whole hell of a ride. I want you to have the same experience I had while reading this book. Don’t want to spoil a bit for you. I am not sure how you will bear to wait till the end of April when this book will hit the shelves. Don’t want to be on your place.:D

Samantha Downing was one of my favourite writers of last year with her debut My Lovely Wife, so I had incredibly high expectations of this book. Being frank, they weren't quite met, it didn't have the pizzazz of her first book. That being said, take away the comparison to My Lovely Wife and you have a twisted tale of intrigue and sibling rivalry.

We start on a road trip with three siblings, they're to recreate a trip that they took with their grandfather back in the 80s, except this time, it's with their grandfathers ashes. They're a bit of a misfit group, and it's clear that they're not exactly close. The best thing about Samantha Downing is how she creates these characters which are flawed ... well that might be an undertstatement, but you can't help be drawn to them anyway. They're engaging and fascinating.

I wasn't totally drawn in, I didn't finish it in a few hours, but I would definitely recommend it and am looking forward to seeing what she comes up with next!

Brilliant read! Her first book was thrilling but this one is absolutely fantastic. I have read it in one day and am blown away by it You have to read it #NetGalley#WhoStartedIt

It all started with a road trip as young children with their Grandpa. Now Grandpa is dead and wishes the adult children to complete the same road trip again to satisfy the conditions of his will. Eddie, Portia and Beth don't have a lot of contact with each other as adults and are all hiding their own secrets.
The road trip mirrors the one they took as a child, but as they revisit the same places, memories, questions and answers are needed to be uncovered. What did happen to Nikki, the fourth sibling who ran away and was never to be seen again. Did Grandpa treat the kids well or were there questions around his behaviour?
I loved the plot of this book and it was well written, and despite the ending being a good twist, I felt slightly let down and have more questions.

Firstly I’d like to thank Penguin UK for the ARC of this novel. Also thanks to NetGalley for facilitating. And of course thank you to Samantha Downing for writing another book!

So, as usual there will be no spoilers in this book review.

I was fascinated by Samantha’s first book, My Lovely Wife, so when I saw that she was releasing another book I knew I HAD to read it! Sadly, this book had no where near the same impact as the first but had a whole heap of potential!

The characters were complex and interesting. Every single one made me want to know their story and kept me turning the pages.

The story was also complex and full of twists and turns. This was certainly another book packed with the dark side of people. Plenty of secrets to uncover and they didn’t disappoint.

Much like with My Lovely Wife the twists were not obvious and so the book remained thrilling and a definite page turner that I couldn’t put down.

Now we come to the crux of it though, why the 3 stars when everything above is glowing... the ending. It was not good. At all. Such a let down and an anticlimax. The whole book had been building towards a moment that felt like it was over in a few short, lacklustre pages. There was no time to FEEL anything that was going on so the climax was very flat and emotionless as a reader. And it could have done with actually having a conclusion. It felt unfinished. All throughout the book I felt satisfied with the read, it was “filling me up” but after the book “finished” (or didn’t finish as it felt), I felt very deflated and “oh... that was it then...?” Not how it should have ended and felt like the anticlimax was a huge injustice to the amazing book that preceded it.

I absolutely loved My Lovely Wife and was so looking forward to this. However I found it hard to get into and the flashbacks were at times confusing. The family characters were interesting but the story itself I just lost interest in.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book I have read by Samantha Downing I absolutely loved "My lovely Wife" and I would say it was one of my most memorial read so perhaps my expectations were simply too high but I am sad to say I didnt like this book at all. The book was very slow, too slow for me. I found I disliked all the characters so cared very little for what was going on and I was just wishing it would end. I did complete the book but I did skip quite a bit but even so I found it predictable and very uninteresting. This will not put me off reading more of Samantha's books but sadly for me this one missed the mark.

When their grandfather dies, Eddie, Beth, and Portia are set to inherit a life-changing sum. There is one caveat to this inheritance. They must repeat a road trip they took with their grandfather as children with a few specific rules that they must complete it exactly as it was originally made, without any deviation and must not end up in jail and scatter his ashes at the end.

The three are selfish and manipulative and being cooped up together on a road trip that had sufficient bad memories from the first time is going to be difficult.

As we follow their present-day road trip, which includes visits to some more gruesome attractions such as the shootout whether Bonnie and Clyde met their fate, we are given flashbacks to the original trip and get some huge surprises along the way.

Very well written and an unpredictable plot.

I enjoyed My Lovely Wife but I loved this, you couldn’t imagine a more messed up but seemingly functional family than feature in this book, and not just the siblings either to be fair. A road trip can be testing even for those families that get on well but when you’re retracing a memorable (and not in a good way) trip you took with your grandad in your youth for the purpose of ultimately scattering his ashes with siblings you neither trust not can be trusted with it’s never going to end well. Not one character is likeable but they’re all the more compelling for it, you have no idea what they might do, whether any can be trusted and you’re left wondering what twist is going to hit you next. This is a creepy page turner that I raced through in no time as I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next and just how it would all end.

A good and solid suspense thriller. I did prefer the first half to the second I did think that it dipped towards the end however all in all an exciting book which maintains your attention.

Eddie, Beth and Portia are not close siblings but when their grandfather dies they gather together, as he has left them an unusual request in the will, they all repeat the road trip that they went on with their granddad.

The will stipulates; “That anyone who ends up in jail, who does not complete the trip, or who deviates from the original trip in any way, will get nothing”

There is a large inheritance for them if they can complete the road trip and scatter his ashes. Sounds EASY but you know this will be the road trip from hell and with siblings like these who needs enemies!! They are vile, manipulative liars who are out for themselves. So maybe not such a jolly holiday after all!!

The story is told in two timelines in the present and back in 1999 when they all went on their road trip, which sees them visiting some strange and gruesome tourist places such as where Bonnie and Clyde died!!

I simply couldn’t read this book fast enough as I was completely hooked and wanted to know the ending. I finished this and was like WOW, I felt like I had just come off a rollercoaster, dizzy and not sure what the hell just happened!!! Took me a second or two to comprehend the ending.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

Oh my goodness - what a twisted story this one is! I enjoyed the author's previous story immensely and this one certainly did not disappoint. It was shocking, hilarious in places and entirely un-putdownable and raced to a surprising conclusion. Highly recommended.