This book was great fun!!! I loved this author's first book so was keen to read her second. Such a brilliant way of telling a story from the characters post death watching their loved ones (hated ones!!!!). And then also from the living characters perspectives!!! Basically a murder mystery with a right twist!! Filled with quirky humour and individuals with personalities that makes you wish yourself they were indeed dead! I look forward to this author's next installment.

The story opens with the protagonist, now becoming a ghost, named Anthony dying. He falls out off of the deck and dies after being impaled, but did he fall or was he pushed? That is the question which, during the course of the book, will be probably be answered by the unknown sleuth.

The chapters juggle between Olivia Anthony’s wife, the dead man himself Anthony and the unknown sleuth who lives a few doors down and was sacked from her job at her local pub, which happens to be Anthony’s pub, for stealing but the truth of that will reveal itself, and is doing a crime podcast where the listenership seems to increase with each episode. The sleuth(her name is revealed near the end of the book) is trying to solve the riddle of Anthony’s death which the police and everyone else now believes was an accident. After all, how does the man who is apparently sober, fall off the deck and onto a sharp implement which just happens to be protruding out of the pond.

I have to say that this is a really funny book, the funniest I’ve read in quite some time, especially when it’s Olivia’s or Anthony’s turn to explain their perspectives on their situations. It’s even funnier the way Anthony sees things from the underworld, how there is even some bureaucracy down there as well in life which he is not happy about, and there is a bureaucratic member of staff whom he actually despises. This book is very well written with so much humour, if I had to criticise it, I would say it is not a follow-up to her previous book “how to murder your family“. However, So much happens in this book that I’m not going to say anything more, otherwise I’ll be typing forever. You’re just going to have to read it yourself and trust me that it is an enjoyable read if you like murder, mayhem and hilarity.

Another fab read from Bella Mackie! The Wistern family are wealthy and very, very greedy. I enjoyed where Anthony has to go and what he has to do (no spoilers!) following a significant life event.
I enjoyed following the sleuth’s journey and following the story from multiple characters perspectives like this.
For me it was not as funny as How to Kill your family but it is definitely just as good from a plot perspective.

Unfortunately it’s a no from me and I’m so sad about it!! It started off really well, it had momentum and it could have been a good book. It then began to slow down and get a bit repetitive to then be a complete flop at the end. There was no depth to any of the characters and it felt like they were all very 2 dimensional. It was quite a drawn out story to then have the ending wrapped up in the last 5% which was messy and rushed. The only reason I’m giving it 2 stars is because I enjoyed the first half.

‘What A Way To Go’ by Bella Mackie is a darkly hilarious, mysterious and unique whodunnit which begins with a millionaire finance maestro, Anthony Wistern, coming to a grisly demise at his birthday party. Interestingly, he is one of the three narrators of the tale, watching his bickering, toxic family from the afterlife’s waiting room as they deal with the fallout of his death and deception. We also hear from Olivia, his long-suffering socialite wife, and a mysterious true-crime aficionado who is a bit too thrilled about a potential murder almost on their doorstep!

I adored ‘How To Kill Your Family’, and Mackie has certainly flexed the same witty and captivating skills in this novel. Full of shrewd observations about London’s social set, wealth, class and inequality, the book feels fresh, funny and revealing. Anthony and Olivia’s four children are realistically different from each other, and each deliciously unlikeable in their own way allowing the reader to revel in the cacophony of misfortunes they face along the way to some shocking developments.

The mystery in this book was wonderfully plotted and revealed gradually, culminating in a satisfying ending. My only criticism would be that the largely detestable family, and the lack of time to really get to know the only non-Wistern main character (our mysterious sleuth) meant that I read on because I was curious about the resolution, rather than that I really cared about any of the people involved.

Giving this a fabulous four stars! I really recommend this to anyone who loved the film ‘Knives Out’ and enjoys dark comedy!

I received an advance Digital Review Copy of this book from the publisher Harper Collins UK via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I had painfully high expectations after “How to Kill Your Family” - and Bella did not disappoint me. Bella’s writing is the epitome of the phrase “morbidly hilarious” - this book is dark, bloody, tragic - but awkwardly, uncomfortably funny.

Married couple Olivia and Anthony act as our main narrators alongside a mysterious “sleuth” - offering a jarring, eerie vibe as hear from our murder victim before anyone else. Anthony offered a strangely calm, clear, matter-of-fact storytelling that made the subject matter almost laughable with the casual nature of how he describes the events leading to his own brutal, bloody murder combined with a unique take on ideas about the bureaucracy of the great beyond. I didn’t expect the afterlife to feature in anything from Mackie, but it just worked and somehow still felt so rooted in reality.

Then with Olivia’s prim and proper voice and our mysterious nameless character, there’s such a variety of different, distinct but strong voices - jumping between them seamlessly, with pacy chapters that kept the nervous energy building towards something dramatic, lulling us into mundane slowness at times before setting off again. Our sleuth offers some discourse on the public interest in murder and death, as well as some interesting commentary on interns detectives. All three characters and trying to figure out the same mystery from very different places - who killed Anthony and why?

Each character was undeniably complicated - I dislike them, their privilege and entitlement but I was obsessed with them, how their opulence and splendour was overtaken with darkness and despair and we see them start to crack.

An high-energy, irreverently funny, dry and dark tragicomedy about murder in high society.

I really enjoyed Bella Mackie’s novel “How to kill your family” so jumped at the chance to read an ARC of her most recent offering.

The 4 star rating is because it took me a little while to get into this one but I’m glad I stuck with it. The rewards come much later…

I appreciate a multiple narrator approach and this book features three: the victim from beyond the grave, the wife (neither of them are likeable), and a true crime sleuth. I would have liked to have explored the POVs of some of the children and potentially the married-ins as well.

Mackie has a skill for creating characters I dislike whilst still keeping me invested in the whodunnit plot. “What a way to go” is dark, funny, readable and not too taxing. What I’d call a perfect-autumn-Sunday read.

I really love how Bella Mackie tells a story, it is interesting and keeps you guessing. Her character development is amazing and I cannot recommend this enough. I legit devoured this book, read it and you won't regret it!

Anthony Wistern, a wealthy business man, dies at his lavish 60th birthday party. In the afterlife Anthony needs to work out how this happened and sets about watching his family to try and solve this mystery. Unfortunately for him, each member of his family seem to have a reason to wish this fate upon him. Will the truth come out?

I enjoyed How To Kill Your Family previously, therefore was excited to read this author’s second novel. I really enjoyed the character’s in a love to hate way, they were all pretty awful and would win an award for being the most dysfunctional family. The actions, thoughts and conversations between them were entertaining and the overall story contains a lot of dark, witty humour. The only issues I had with the characters were that there was quite a few and I found myself confused on occasions who was who.

The story is told in the voices of Anthony, wife Olivia and the sleuth, a true crime lover who is investigating what happened. My favourite voice was the sleuth as I found these sections the most interesting and containing information that helped push the story forward. There was a lot of excess detail and conversation in the other sections, which really slowed down the flow and made it seem like not a lot was happening.

I did like the supernatural/fantasy element, which I don’t usually, I think this added a bit of extra intrigue here. After finishing, I am in two minds. Although I did like the premise, I found it a bit too drawn out which meant that my interest was not maintained. Saying that there were fun elements and it is a great book for those looking for a mixture of mystery, dark humour and entertaining characters. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in return for an honest review.

Having read this author's previous books, I was happy to be able to read a copy from Netgalley.
At his 60th birthday party Anthony Wistern somehow dies. The reader then observes the fallout of his truly spoilt children and vile wife as they learn more about Anthony and one another, alongside an amateur online sleuth who is trying to solve Anthony's murder. Told from the perspectives of Anthony, Olivia and the Sleuth, secrets are uncovered. With so many characters to dislike, and numerous laughable moments this darker story was slower to get going, but enjoyable.

So a little bit of an admission here: I wasn’t the biggest fan of Bella Mackie’s How to Kill your Family. But at the same time I ‘got’ it, and really wanted to love it. Essentially I requested this thinking it’d be the one that hit right for me…and it did and it didn’t. From reading this I now know two things. The first is that I absolutely will continue to read Mackie’s fiction. The wholly unlikeable characters she creates are - for want of a better description - laugh out loud funny. Truly, the dark humour is at times on par with Eliza Clark (who I love); not always retweet = agreement, but shockingly witty and ironically relatable. The second thing I know is that, for me, Mackie’s reads have a lot of unnecessary parts - that’s my overarching feeling for both novels. This one was The Sleuth’s chapters which were unfortunately weak compared to the Wisterns’. While Mackie has a knack for writing terribly unethical, aggy and sarcastic personalities, the more ‘normal’ ones fall veeeery flat - better not to try. That said, I enjoyed this and it did what it was supposed to - had me coming back for more and more til I knew what had happened (which I didn’t guess!); especially surprising for someone that isn’t a supernatural lover. 4 stars despite my niggles meaning it really was a joy.

What we have here, is a wonderful cast of despicable characters. A well written story of a hateful, backstabbing family. Who doesn’t love that?
This author has such a fantastic style of writing, that you’re drawn in and thoroughly lose yourself in someone else’s mess. And you love every minute of it!
I really do love this author’s style and can’t recommend her enough. I know the danger, when a writers previous novel was so good, is whether or not their subsequent work can keep up. This novel is absolute proof that it can be done.
Truly, an excellent read.

This is the second novel from Bella Mackie and I it is fantastic. It is witty and fast paced and I couldn’t wait to get to the end. It was such a refreshing read and with a plot that I personally don’t think I’ve ever come across before and I massively enjoyed it.

Millionaire Anthony Wistern is celebrating his 60th birthday in style when he goes and dies and what a way he goes, but before he can pass through the the afterlife he has to work out exactly how he dies by watching his family closely (on tv).

The story is told from Anthony’s POV as well as his wife Olivia and a real crime fanatic sleuth. I found that these POVs all interlinked well together and we found out just what kind of man Anthony really was. I love books that delve into the lives of the super wealthy and this one did not disappoint.

I wasn’t quite sure how the ending would go but I must say it left me howling 🤣 this was a true pleasure to read, I really hope Bella writes more books like this!

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins and the author for this digital arc!

What a hoot! This is hilarious!

Who doesn’t live a backstabbing, rich, awful family? I loved the style of this - we have a chapter for each main character - Anthony (the deceased) - his wife - kids- the Sleuth who’s trying to work out what happened to Anthony…etc etc. All combined together into one hilarious “who dunnit - without of course, any evidence anyone did do it! Did someone? Did no-one? Who knows? Everyone has their own theory of course. Who has the money? Anyone?

Brilliant- so much fun, I loved and laughed through all of this.

My thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was brilliantly bizarre & everyone was wonderfully awful!

Mackie has the kind of dark humour, wit & social commentary that I just love & while I didn’t love this as much as How to Kill Your Family, it was still a very fun & enjoyable read, especially as it was something quite unique

I couldn’t help but read Andrew’s chapters with an internal old posh man voice (you know the kind) & it was such a fun experience having him watch on from the processing centre! I also grew to love Olivia. By the end I was such a fan!

I gobbled up the story & laughed a lot. Definitely would recommend!

This is a fantastic story of the death of a hideous individual called Anthony Wistern. Anthony is married to the equally vile Olivia and they have four incredibly entitled and insufferable children. Anthony is found dead at his 60th birthday party and the story is about the quest to find his killer. It is told from three points of view, 
Anthony himself, Olivia and a local online sleuth who is obsessed with finding the murderer.

The story is fast paced and builds an ever increasing dislike for most of the characters, including Olivia’s brother Charles. It is cleverly punctuated with comedy which works really well.

All in the story has a great plot and just as you think you have solved the mystery, Mackie throws in another twist.

I really enjoyed this light hearted, comedic “whodunnit”

We read Mackie's first book 'How To Kill Your Family' as one our book group picks and all thoroughly enjoyed it. This one is quite different in many ways, but the essential ingredients are all still there - quirky lead character, dark humour and some interesting family dynamics.

The Wisterns are highly dysfunctional and so when Anthony unexpectedly dies, not only are there plenty of suspects and motives aplenty, but the family itself falls apart in spectacular fashion. Accusations are thrown around and it's a scramble for, if not survival exactly, then certainly for the top of the family pecking order and any potential inheritance.

The perspective switches between Anthony, his family members and an amateur sleuth who is hot on the trail of the murderer - whoever that might be - and is determined to bring them to justice. Mysterious messages encourage the sleuth along the way, but in this book, no-one is quite what they seem. Secrets abound, some more explosive than others and literally everyone is a suspect.

An unexpected, but welcome addition to the narrative is Anthony's post-death observations. The dead are not often given a voice in literature and even more rarely does it happen in crime fiction. This adds another dimension to the narrative and allows the reader greater insight into Anthony's personality. We see his behaviour and attitudes, but also the way he reacts to his family's actions. This is particularly interesting as he sees and hears things he would not normally have been privy to. It is not always the most flattering of portrayals from his family and opens Anthony's eyes to the vast difference between the way he sees himself and the way others perceive him.

This was an interesting twist on the crime novel and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I loved this whodunnit, full of snide dark humour. The author has a brilliant talent for writing the most awful, vile characters who you hate but can’t help being entertained by. She kept me guessing who the culprit was from start to finish, so it was a real pager turner. The multiple narratives and different perspectives they offered really added depth to the story. I thought the purgatory aspect of it was really clever. The ending was sooooo satisfying.

If you loved the author’s first book, you will definitely enjoy this one. If you found the ending of her first book disappointing, I would still urge you to try this book as the ending is so on point that you may just scream “Yeeeeeeesss!” out loud. Perfect for fans of whodunnit reads, domestic thrillers and sure to generate a brilliant discussion at your book group.

I didn’t think that I could love this as much as ‘How to kill your family’ but I did! It was just as brilliant, sharp & witty! Bella Mackie is brilliant! Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my ARC x

'What A Way To Go' is a satirical, supernatural whodunnit centred on the death of Anthony Wistern, an extremely rich and extremely unpleasant man who is found dead at his own 60th birthday party. There are no shortage of suspects - the party was packed with guests, most of whom had credible motives for wanting him dead. But the book focusses mostly on his equally horrible family. The story has three viewpoint narrators - Anthony himself, who is watching the investigation into his death from a modern version of purgatory; his nasty wife Olivia; and 'the sleuth', a lonely young woman who produces a true crime vlog and is determined to solve the case.

It's well paced and full of incident, never dull, and written in a waspish, amusing style. Mackie gets around the problem of murder being an upsetting thing but ensuring all of the characters are so irredeemably vile that you couldn't feel sorry for them for a moment. Even the sleuth is not entirely likeable, and of course it's hard to support an internet amateur detective knowing the damage such individuals can do in real life cases, distressing families and disrupting police work. The problem with the characters being so unlikeable is that you don't really care what happens to any of them or develop any emotional link with the story. There's something draining about reading an entire novel where there is no one decent or nice. Ultimately the story is as superficial and shallow as the characters it parodies.

But not every book has to be deep and meaningful, and this clearly isn't intended to be. It's meant as fun, and it is. If you are looking for a whodunnit that doesn't take itself seriously - perhaps a fun book to read on holiday - this would be a good choice.