Do not be fooled by the bubble pink cover here - Bella Mackie's 'How to Kill Your Family' is an intense portrayal of an anti-heroine and her vengeful string of murders. It is gripping, uncomfortable in places and has a killer twist.

Grace is the illegitimate child of Simon Artemis, a disgustingly rich man who refuses to acknowledge or support Grace's existence. When her mother dies of cancer, Grace vows revenge against the man who left her family in near-poverty. When we meet Grace, she is in Limehouse prison, imprisoned for a murder she did not commit. Ironic, since she is six murders into her family killing spree! Across the book, Grace is writing a diary recounting each murder, unwilling to rest until her father is fully punished.

Mackie has come up with a killer concept here. Grace is cold, calculating and completes each murder with a disturbingly calm demeanour. It was only when the first murder happened that I realised what I was in for - Grace pulls no punches in making these murders look like tragic accidents, even if it is a long, painful death for her victims. Each person has either personally slighted Grace and her mother or just been unlucky enough to be related to Simon Artemis. These grizzly murders juxtapose the dull monotony of Grace's prison life, the insights into her experience behind bars ramping up the tension between her description of each murder.

I did enjoy the concept and Mackie's writing in this novel. However, I feel it would have benefited from a snappier pace. We have several dragging points throughout the book and get some irrelevant diatribes (e.g. did we need the extended internal monologue about plastic surgery and Grace wanting her nose done to look less like Simon? I guess it shows some physical trauma when looking like a man she detests but moments like this slowed the main action too much.). Also, let's talk about that ending. WHAT?! I know Grace is cold but I was not expecting her story to end that way. I am hoping we get a sequel to unpick that bombshell a bit more!

Overall, a 4 star read. Some issues with the pacing but a great story. I look forward to seeing what Mackie writes next!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

This book is brilliant and the writing is just incredible!

I'm not sure if I was supposed to like Grace but I just couldn't resist being her biggest fan!

The premise alone was enough to entice me to read this book. Grace is in prison for a murder she didn't commit but here she is telling us all about the murders she did commit. That ending though, I need to know more!

I've been recommending this to friends before I'd even finished reading it and I feel like I'll be talking about it for a long time! Can't wait to see what Bella writes next!

Ohhh this was a good one! Bella Mackie has written a sharp and funny debut novel that kept me wanting more all the way through. This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and it did not disappoint!
I read Jog On by Bella Mackie last year and really enjoyed her writing so I was very intrigued to read her first work of fiction. The title alone made me excited to read this book and once I got started, the dark humour and observations had me completely sold.
I quickly took to Grace as a character and although her actions are wrong and she is undoubtedly flawed, I found myself rooting for her. She shares her account of events in a very entertaining way and is completely unapologetic. The details from her backstory gave a better understanding of why she was doing what she was doing, as did all the detail that was included in the story.
As Grace takes us through the ways she killed her family members, the book is at risk of being repetitive, but the order and pace it was written in kept me gripped. I was so impressed with how original each of her plans were and the twists that were included - especially near the end!
I thought this book was fab and I can’t wait to see what Bella Mackie thinks of next!

You know how sometimes you meet a character in a book and you think, ‘oooh, I’d really like to be friends with you’? Well, this happened to me with Grace, the protagonist and narrator of Bella Mackie’s debut fiction novel, How To Kill Your Family, the only problem is, Grace is a serial killer. Awkward.

When we meet her she is in jail for murder, a murder she didn’t actually commit. She’s furious about this. I mean, wouldn’t you be too? Especially when it wasn’t even a good murder. She is far more inventive in her crimes, taking out her victims via ingenious methods. So ingenious that I fear for Bella Mackie’s search history.

Her victims? Members of her own family. Yup, you read that right. Grace is the result of a short lived but passionate affair her mother had with a very wealthy and very charming man who also happened to be very married. When Grace’s mother dies when Grace is a teen she discovers that despite her mother’s pleas to her father for help and support he has wanted nothing to do with either of them. He was quite content to leave them to sharing a tiny one bed flat in London and let them struggle for money. Grace’s mother dying doesn’t even bother him. He couldn’t care less that his teenage daughter has nowhere to go. Unable to get over his abandonment she plots to get her own back, deciding that she will pick off his family one by one. And boy she does it with style.

This is such a great book. It is caustic, sharp and archly funny. It takes a satirical look at those with wealth, showing us their greed and their lack of compassion and empathy. Their constant striving for more and never being satisfied seeps from the pages and made me cringe with embarrassment for their classlessness. I could imagine Grace flicking through Hello magazine, an eyebrow raised at yet another photo spread of a living room with grey velvet sofas and a marble fireplace. I laughed out loud on more than occasion, recognising the Instagram generation and their constant pursuit of affirmation and the next dopamine hit of a few thousand likes. Mackie uses this book to show us that much of what we see is smoke and mirrors, that those in power are generally only out for thing; themselves and that money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you gold taps and as much botox as your face can take.

It’s such great writing, witty and intelligent with a real punch to it. I loved how Mackie turned the serial killer trope on its head and explored a female serial killer and her motivations. It is so refreshing and honestly, I didn’t think that I’d ever be rooting for a serial killer, but somehow, Mackie makes Grace likeable. Even when she is plotting the slow death of somebody you really, really want her to succeed. Her family are just so awful, (without being cartoonish, a delicate balancing act which Mackie gets pitch perfect), that you just think that she is actually doing the world the favour.

How To Kill Your Family is brilliantly plotted, inventive and a real masterclass in smart writing. It also features a really satisfying ending which made me do a little applause of appreciation. Honestly, it just gets everything right and is such a readable and fun book. I look forward to reading more from Bella Mackie, this was cracking. Recommended!

How To Kill Your Family centres Grace Bernand. Daughter, Sister, Colleague, friend, serial killer…. After Grace loses everything, she wants revenge. She decides to pick of her family one by one – she doesn’t get caught and yet she lies in jail for a crime she didn’t commit.

This is a hugely entertaining read. It is a dark and yet funny story about family, love, class and murder. I loved how mysterious it was and the thought that went into the character of Grace, her deeply cruel mind was fascinating to explore. I also admired the detail of the murders, which were so calculated and must have required extensive research.

Grace reminded me a lot of Villanelle in Killing Eve and I loved that. With each chapter focusing on the different family members, slowly revealing the reason why Grace was going to kill them and the way she was going to do it, was a fab way to build suspense.
I really enjoyed this one – a unique comical read.

After reading Bella’s running books I was very excited to read this! All I can say is, what an absolute bonkers book this is! I bloody loved it!!

We meet Grace who’s locked up in prison for a murder she did not commit. Quite ironic since she’s killed multiple members of her family and got away with it!
I loved Grace, she is an absolute badass who is driven and knows exactly what she wants and won’t stop till she gets it. Following her along her journey for freedom while retelling her past stories of murder was gripping and addictive!
I read most of this book in one sitting and I couldn’t wait to find out how it would end.
Another brilliant book from Bella! The detail of the family’s past and Grace’s upbringing was well written and the murders were well thought out. I for one cannot wait to see what Bella writes for us next!!

I thought this book was brilliant. Told in a diary format, you go from present time to different points in the narrator's voice. The main character is so well described that you really feel as if you know her.

Grace is in prison for a crime she didn't commit - but has committed plenty before that. I couldn't put the book down, wanting to know how she had, effectively, killed her family. Her motivation is well explained and the twist at the end was great - lots of little details throughout the book had set it up but they were so meaningless at the time you don't realise until the end.

Highly recommended.

Wow!

This is one of the most interesting books I've read this year!
We follow the story of anti-hero Grace who tells her tale from behind bars. She is in jail for a crime she didn't commit, although she has killed many people. II absolutely adored the writing! Grace is funny, witty and the dark humour really made this an enjoyable read. As we start at the beginning, we learn about Grace's past and why she is on a quest to kill these individuals. I really enjoyed how clever she was in making sure she wasn't found out. She also had her doubt- which made her a morally grey character and I was hooked! She contemplates whether to kill her cousin who left the wealthy family, and those doubt made her seem more human. I really liked her voice and following her perspective made for a really engaging read!

This book is unlike anything else I've read before, and I can't wait to read more by Bella Mackie! Highly recommend.

Fans of the cold, calculating and often drily funny Villanelle (of Killing Eve fame), might want to add this quirky forthcoming novel by Bella Mackie to their wishlist. How to Kill Your Family has already been tipped by Grazia and Cosmopolitan as one of their books of the summer.

There were lots of things I really liked about this book and a few things I thought didn’t work so well. I loved and got on board with Grace’s narrative voice almost immediately and found myself chuckling away at her sheer lack of conscience and her supreme confidence. Her witty commentary on the modern world and the people in it was just brilliant. The dual timeline really helped to propel the story along and, through this, I became thoroughly invested in her plight.

Though the writing is a little clunky in places, it didn’t affect my enjoyment too much, but I did think it felt somehow a little too long and if it had been 50 pages lighter my personal preference for a slightly more pacy read might have been satisfied. I also had a few issues with the characterisation towards the end of the book…

With thanks to The Borough Press for gifting me a digital copy to review.

This is an incredible read. Original, clever, gripping and pacey with a twist that could not be forseen. Beside the brilliant storyline I loved the authors writing style. It spoke to you with some fabulous cryptic comments which gave it a very witty edge. Her observations of society and people were very acute. I will definitely want more from this author.

I was really looking forward to this as the synopsis sounded brilliant and to be fair the overall story was brilliant, my only issue with it was it was slightly too long and many parts really felt like they dragged - to the point where I skim read to get to the bit where she actually killed them.

This wasn't the issue with each killing though. I absolutely loved the parts during the sex clubs, I thought this was a fantastic chapter and I only wish the others were as engaging as this. The parts with Byrony were also great as I really liked how the author explored the world of 'influencers'.

I cannot fault the authors writing though, the character of Grace was so well written and the narrative was at times hilarious. Grace has a dry sense of humour and some of the things she comes out with made me laugh out loud and were spot on with what many of us would think in that situation.

The twist near the end was ok but did feel a bit convenient and I think I would have liked it to end a different way.

Overall though I loved the character of Grace, she was so witty and funny. There were definitely some stand out chapters and I think if it had been just a little shorter in places (it often felt like a lot of needless information at times) then I would have loved it. In the end it was just ok but not one I would be rushing out to buy.

I had no idea that Bella Mackie was publishing a novel but as soon as I read the synopsis, I knew that I had to give it a shot. I was so excited to be accepted for it on NetGalley and it didn’t disappoint.

Grace Bernard is a product of Simon Artemis’ extra-marital affair with French model Marie Bernard but her father has never acknowledged her, despite being fully aware of her existence. Despite the Artemises enormous wealth, Simon rejected Marie’s requests for help, so it’s now down to an adult Grace to avenge her mother by destroying Simon. Of course, the best way to do this is to gradually pick off the other Artemises before killing Simon himself. So, it’s a shame really that Grace gets jailed for a death that she isn’t actually responsible for.

Grace is an incredibly determined, confident and witty character. She has a lot of charisma and therefore despite her gruesome plans, she is very likeable. I like to think that had I had a similar background to hers, I’d have the balls that she does to fight back against the world. She is only 28 but she is very wise to the ways of the world, which I guess is thanks to the fact that she has largely had to fend for herself for the last decade.

'He took up other people's space -women were pushed out to the margins, only featured as beautiful props for Simon Artemis.'

With descriptions like this, it’s not too hard to see why it’s easy to get on board with Grace’s mission to annihilate Simon. We all know that these men exist in the very upper echelons of society and many of us would love to see them receive their comeuppance. Since the phenomenon that was #MeToo, I think we know how rife misogyny, abuse and games of power are amongst the social elite. Any efforts, no matter how dark or deliciously evil, to stop or punish this is always welcome news.

Grace is laugh-out-loud funny in the darkest of ways. Her tongue is razor sharp and there were several times where I physically screwed my face up at the black humour that she spouted. She reminded me of both Villanelle from Killing Eve and Rhiannon from C.J. Skuse’s Sweetpea trilogy. Mackie has definitely nailed the uncomfortably relatable serial killer vibe with Grace.

Grace’s cellmate Kelly is a chatty woman, who I felt a little uneasy about from the start. The very end reveals a twist involving Kelly that I didn’t see coming but it did confirm my suspicions about her. Grace sees her as nothing but an incessant nuisance and it’s here where Grace reveals herself to be not quite as good as reading people as she first appeared to be. Perhaps this is a lesson that we shouldn’t take anyone at face value. You never know who could be harbouring a hidden agenda or who could have secret virtues.

Grace’s relationship with her long-time best friend Jimmy is somehow both complex and incredibly simple. It is obvious that she have a very clear, deep love for each other but the nature of this love is blurred and I wasn’t quite sure whether Grace saw him in a romantic light or not. At times, it felt like she wanted to end up with him but a lot of the time, it felt like their relationship was sibling-like. I often felt that Grace took him for granted too and I worried that the balance between genuine appreciation and unconditional loyalty wasn’t quite right between them. It was a very strange relationship to watch actually because I didn’t really know what I wanted to happen between them.

In her quest to eliminate all of the Artemises, Grace enlists the help of a teenage hacker who she meets on the internet to infiltrate and corrupt the smart home in Monaco where Simon’s wife Janine lives. Posing as a teenage girl herself, Grace builds a connection with this boy who starts getting a little too flirty with her. As soon as Grace rejects him, he gets angry and stops speaking to her. This whole interaction is clearly a commentary on what it’s like to be a young woman on the internet. I think it’s really clever how Mackie manages to weave these nuggets of real life into the story. I know that so many women will immediately recognise their own experiences in this part of the book and perhaps create an even stronger bond with Grace as a result.

Of course, by the end of the book, we haven’t seen any evidence that Simon deserves to still be alive. Much like many other members of his family, he is ignorant, unfaithful and emotionally vapid with too much money but not enough kindness or conscience. We’re fully on Grace’s wavelength when it comes to his demise. I was expecting something very elaborate and deliciously gruesome (as I think Grace was too) to bring this about but actually what we got was an ending that was actually reasonably mellow. I think some readers might question why Mackie didn’t go for the big bloody climax but in some ways, I think ending the spree on a quiet note is a nod to Grace finally gaining some peace of mind. Sadly, things still don’t quite work out as Grace intended but she has completed the majority of her mission.

Grace even takes the time to reflect on her mistakes and how she can move on without the huge wedge of hate in her heart. The deaths of the Artemis family mean that she can now live the rest of her life without the weight of it driving her to anger and revenge. I like to think that there is hope for Grace to become rich in the best ways (through building real, loving relationships) and to learn how to live happily.

How To Kill Your Family is a very sharp, witty and satisfying read. Grace is a heroine with incredibly complex morals but it’s clear where they come from. It’s a story about trying to claim what is rightfully yours, bringing karma around to the people it needs to hit and learning what the real ingredients for happiness really are.

I liked this! It was dark and funny and the cultural reference points were spot on. I really wanted Grace to succeed in all her murders. She was an engaging and fascinating character.

Adored this. Adore Bella. Can't wait to handbell this to our customers. It'll be big. Very unique and really kept me up past bedtime reading it!

How to Kill Your Family is a part thriller, part dark comedy story about a girl in prison plotting to kill her family. Although she isn't in prison for the reasons you might think. If you enjoyed My Sister The Serial Killer, this is the one for you! The writing is gripping and it's intriguing hearing the story from the perspective of the killer as she plots the murder. The themes of wealth and class are very present as well. If you enjoy dark satirical thrillers, be sure to check out How to Kill Your Family today.

We’ve all had those moments when we’d quite happily throttle our nearest and dearest, right? But they’re moments, brief passings of fury that dissipate as quickly as they arrive. But not for Grace. She’s hell bent on wiping out her parts of her family. She plans, she infiltrates before carrying out her dastardly plan. And her plans are extreme but executed perfectly.

The way Mackie splits the story between Grace’s incarceration and how she proceeds to eliminate those members of her family is entertaining. Then dropped in sporadically are snippets of Grace’s childhood and teen years – these are heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time as Grace goes through more in her formative years than most do in their first 30! I really took to Grace despite her intentions. She’s a focused young woman and is determined to complete her mission. She’s thorough in her planning and execution, her dedication to her own cause admirable.

I thoroughly enjoyed Mackie’s debut novel. Her writing flows smoothly between past and present. This isn’t a regular crime novel; it’s kind of a cross genre kind of book. If you’ve read Jog On, you’ll be in for a surprise; this (unsurprisingly) is nothing like Mackie’s first foray as a published author. Mackie inserts a bucket load of dark humour into the story of real vengeance. I really hope this is the start of some dark and twisted novels from Mackie’s keyboard.

Thank you so much to Harper Collins UK for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

The premise of this book immediatley had me drawn in and i was hoping for a dark tale with a lot of twisted humour thrown in and thats exactly what i got.

The book follows Grace an illgetimate child born to her foreign and vulnerable mother and fathered by a wealthy businessman. Turns out that businessman had a family and wife of his own and after learning that Graces mother is pregnant who soon leaves them high and dry. Graces mother does her best to raise her alone but after she dies Grace is somewhat left to her own devices. She decides to take revenge on her fathers family to ultimately inherit his fortune after they are all dead. This plan takes many years to come to fruition as Grace plans to make every death look like an accident and something that cannot be linked back to her.

We learn from very early on that Grace is currently in prison at the beginning of the book so the book is told in a dual timeline of present day prison and slowly finding out what Grace is in there for and past tense of Grace carrying out her plans to murder her fathers extended family.

The humour had me laughing out loud, Grace is very dry witted and i really appreciated that. I really enjoyed the ending but wanted an epilogue of Graces reaction to it and maybe a 1 year later of what she was doing now. All in all a really great read!

How to kill your family tells the story of Grace. We know that she has killed several members of her family but she is in jail for a murder she did not commit. Grace explains to the reader why she is so set on killing her family and gives us a description of each of the deaths.

I found the writing style of this book very engaging from the beginning. Bella Mackie does a great job at getting you to route for a character who is doing terrible things, and Grace is very unapologetic for the way she is.

I did wonder how this book was going to come together at the end as you know the basic outcome from the very beginning. I needn't have worried as the ending still managed to take me by surprise.

Do you like a good-old-fashioned revenge story? Then you’re going to love How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie. An absolutely wild ride, this story is a darkly funny, witty, deadpan take on what would happen if you let your darkest desires take charge and killed the family that had abandoned you…

24-year-old Grace Bernard is our narrator. She grew up in a small flat with her mother who struggled to make ends meet. Their situation was compounded by the fact that Grace’s father, Simon Artemis, is a multi-millionaire but refuses to have anything to do with Grace and her mother as is married and has another family.

He is also happens to be a morally dubious, self-centred person so, when her mother dies, Grace decides its time to avenge her – by killing her father and all his significant others…

When we meet her she is in prison, but significantly:

'The justice system in this country is a joke, and there is nothing which illustrates that more than this one sentence: I have killed several people (some brutally, others calmly) and yet I currently languish in jail for a murder I did not commit.'

I must stress here the deadpan, hilarious nature to the tone of How to Kill Your Family. It’s an absolute abandon reality and go with it vibe. In a variety of ingenious ways (from a frog sanctuary to a Big Brother style remote CCTV system via a sex club), Grace does indeed proceed to kill her family in a truly entertaining way.

I totally enjoyed this – the plot was different to any I’ve read recently, there were moments of page-turning tension scattered throughout and any book that makes you feel like you’d love to go for a drink with a lead character who, despite her worrying bloodlust, feels intelligent, complex and fully formed (if, yes, psychopathic – they are notoriously charming, after all…) A great testament to clever writing and strong character development. Definitely add this to your TBR!

I really enjoyed this for the most part but it was a bit too long and the ending infuriated me, it felt like it had been tacked on in order to be reactionary.
The overall premise is fantastic, I love the fact that she is imprisoned for something she didn't actually do whilst blithely getting away with murder. But she's immensely unlikeable and self absorbed, which frustrated me, I'd have liked to have had more sympathy for her.
Definitely an interesting one for book clubs.