3.5* What A Way to Go - Bella Mackie. When this book gets going, it twists and turns and it’s impossible to leave it alone.

Anthony Wistern is dead. He leaves behind his wife, 4 children and two huge houses (the country pile and the London mansion). With no exception, every member of the family has a motive for murder but so do many of the other guests at the birthday bash where Anthony met his end. The Police consider there has been a tragic accident but a true crime blogger thinks otherwise and is determined to make a name for herself.

Bella Mackie has written a cast of characters who are brilliantly awful. There’s a (sometimes slightly misfiring) satire of the mega rich as the Wistern clan vie to be top dog. If the blogger is supposed to offer relief, I can’t say I liked her anymore than the others but as an overall list of protagonists, they are fabulous.

While I found the first half of the book a little bit over-conceived and trying too hard to be clever, as the plot and the twists kick in in the second half, I couldn’t put it down. I adored the plot device of those who had died finding themselves in a beige administrative purgatory within which they couldn’t move on unless they could accurately surmise their own death. The twists were plentiful and clever and the latter part of the book made up for a slow beginning. And like Mackie’s previous book, What A Way to Go is peppered with brilliant one liners.

Overall, this is a book which is throughly with sticking with until the final word.

Thanks to Harper Collins and Netgalley for an ARC.

Yeehaw woohoo this was an absolute hoot.

Anthony Wistern is rich, ambitious, and actually very fit for 60, thank you. He has a wife from a very important family, four children, (he doesn't really like any of them but that's besides the point), a history of mistresses, houses in London! France! The Cotswolds! What more could a man want?

Well, to be alive for starters.. Failing that, he'd really like to know how he died.

What A Way To Go is told from Anthony's perspective, his wife Olivia's and the local online Sleuth's. Mackie delivers a satisfying, pacy whodunit and plenty of sharp and cutting observations about Britain's elite, true crime and influencer culture. I would highly recommend this witty and thrilling novel.

Snarky
Scheming
Delicious

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC.

4.5 stars for this dark and humorous book!

Mackie’s follow up to ‘How to Kill Your Family’ is another witty and entertaining read. ‘What a Way to Go’ follows three perspectives: Anthony Wistern, extremely wealthy but entirely deceased; Olivia Wistern, his unlucky widow, and The Sleuth, an amateur internet ‘detective’. Two are trying to understand how Anthony died, one is figuring out what to do next.

This was a great read, with a couple of very minor loose ends/under-developed ideas. I really enjoyed the characters and plot, and the ending was well done!

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-arc.

A totally original take on a ‘murder mystery’ which, once I got in to it, was totally engrossing. The extremely well written characters are thoroughly dislikable and the story is written with an underlying sense of comedy. This would make a great film!

Readers familiar with Bella Mackie's previous novel “How to Kill Your Family” will not be surprised by her latest which centres around a wealthy privileged family, an outrageously obnoxious, repulsive set of characters you will love to hate. Anthony Wistern, married to the beautiful if troubled Olivia, is the man who certainly dies at his exclusive 60th birthday partu, in a manner that echoes the title. We learn of him and his perspectives as he finds himself in limbo and sees how others react to his death, let's just say his self obsessed selfish children, Freddy, Jemima, Lyra, and Clara, are less intent on grieving, more engaged in the money. With his death initially ruled an accident, in enters a neighbour, The Sleuth, with her online presence, begins to investigate, adding to this heady toxic brew of a narrative.

There are twists and turns, not to mention plenty of intrigue, aspects. However, this was overlong, it was a trifle over the top, and occasionally too laboured for my tastes, although I am certain many other readers will appreciate and love this darkly humorous murderous storytelling more, so please be sure to read other reviews. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

ARC read courtesy of Netgalley. Due to be published on 09/12/2024.

A fun whodunnit that flits between characters as the mystery unfolds. The majority of characters are loathsome creatures with various negative qualities that could mean that any of them are the murderer.

I did find myself getting impatient as I wanted to know what happened to Anthony and the twists and turns kept teasing throughout.

It's definitely worth a read and will keep you guessing!!

This was my first time reading from this author and it won’t be the last time! This book was definitely interesting and I was hooked from the beginning. There were times I felt a little underwhelmed but overall a great story with a beautiful writing

A dark and witty character driven mystery book centring around a very wealthy yet highly dysfunctional and morally questionable family. Head of the family is dodgy businessman Anthony who dies at his own lavish 60th birthday party under dubious circumstances with his wife, business associates and four adult children and partners all present. With so many people holding a grudge against him his death is deemed to be very suspicious. Was it an accident or was he murdered?

The story is told from three different perspectives - Anthony from the afterlife; Olivia, Anthony's selfish wife; and 'The Sleuth' who is obsessed with the family and uncovering the truth around Anthony's death.

The characters are all fairly unpleasant yet this is a very compelling, funny and entertaining read.
I am grateful to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced reader copy of this book.

In What A Way To Go, Anthony Wistern is stuck in a post-death holding place until he can work out how he died. The mystery is uncovered from three perspectives, (1) Anthony, (2) Olivia Wistern, Anthony's wife, and (3) The Sleuth, a true crime enthusiast. Although I liked the concept, this book just didn't catch and hold my attention. It wasn't for me, but I'm sure others will enjoy the mystery!

Thank you to Bella Mackie, NetGalley and the the publishers for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I read Mackie’s debut novel back in 2022 and it was such a fun read - I always love a “good for her” story - so when this advanced copy became available I jumped at the chance to read it! The characters are thoroughly hate able, which I love in books like this. The plot, although not overly unique, is fun and resolved well by the end of the book.

There is a slight supernatural aspect to this book, which I did find very off putting to start with, and felt this could have been omitted through the use of a third party narrator. However, the use of this as a plot device does come to a very satisfying. I did enjoy the use of the “Sleuth” character and following her documentation of the case; it was an interesting commentary on the true crime obsession in popular culture, but I felt like this angle could have been pursued further, with their ending feeling like a bit of an afterthought.

One other small bug bear I had with the story was the use of dates. The story is said to take place in 2018 but the events mentioned do not match up with this time period (a non existent political scandal is mentioned, for example). I find it off putting to have exact dates mentioned if they don’t add anything to the story, and this could have easily been omitted.

Overall an enjoyable read and a great one to pick up if you enjoy dark humoured murder mysteries!

I loved Bella Mackie’s last book, and I think that this one is even better.
Bella has a way of writing unlikeable characters, a way that makes you want to find out more whilst still not having any affection for them whatsoever. Anthony and Olivia are so unlikeable and don’t really have any redeeming qualities, but yet, I still found myself needing to know exactly what happened and if they would work it out too. I quite enjoyed The Sleuth, although did get a little annoyed that she kept falling for the family’s promises, but I was glad that she learned and grew from her experience in the end. I was definitely surprised by the twist at the end, and again, I feel that this is something that Bella does perfectly.
I’m very much enjoying seeing what she does next, as I have really enjoyed both this book and her last book. Thank you to Bella Mackie and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC.

It pains me to say that I found this book anticlimactic and underwhelming... I really wanted to like this book after loving 'How to Kill Your Family' and I was overly excited to read 'What a Way to Go', but it didn't hit nowhere near the same.

There were quite a few POVs all of which had loads of descriptive paragraphs rather than getting into the action - dialogues were definitely something I was missing most of the time. With loads of descriptive paragraphs came quite lengthy chapters which made the read intimidating to read. The wiring style reminded me of 'The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle' whiles the plot of thinking that the wife did it reminded me of 'Fool Me Once' & "Glass Knives'. Perhaps we would have benefited a little bit more to see the children's POVs too?

It was enjoyable to try to guess who has done it and I really like the idea of them having to guess how they have died in order for us to come to the conclusion ourselves. However, it was very anticlimactic when I finally got to how he died.

Even though I was expecting a little bit more from this book, it is a pretty good book to read if you're a fan of mysteries - but for the fans of How to Kill Your Family... perhaps don't set yourself up to have closely similar book vibes in this one.

I get the whole point is to hate the characters but it just made me not care about them? It felt long and I’d lost interest.
10/10 for the dark humour though - that’s what kept me reading!

A querky, very black comedy.
This book is about death but contains a great deal of humour. Here we have a totally disfuntional, very rich family who have to cope with scandal, and lots of changes when the patriarch dies in mysterious circumstances. Lots of secrets are uncovered about the extended family members.
About fifteen per cent in, I thought this would perhaps be a three star read, but I realised I was actually hooked and became determined to find out what happened. i'm very glad that I did.
Bella Mackie has written a very good book that will keep you guessing right the way to the end. The basic premise may come over as strange to some, but if the reader can suspend their belief and accept it, then they will enjoy this book.

Anthony Western is 60; he's the CEO of a large financial company and is frankly, untouchable. One moment he's living it up at his obscene birthday party thrown by his wife and the next he's at the South Gloucester Processing Centre trying to recall the last moments of his life.

What a way to go - what a book to read! I've not read any of Mackie's other work but I will be doing so now! This is a great read, it's well developed and keeps you enthralled throughout. From the moment of Antony's Death you're not sure who is responsible and the idea of a processing centre in the afterlife is excellently executed. The story is told through the viewpoints/voices of three characters and each person's chapters are distinctly different in style. The characters are likeable/not likeable respectively and feel like real people, with the whole story being driven by them and their personalities.

The writing is easy to follow, it's smooth and flows well...entertaining throughout, I really enjoyed this book!

I loved Mackie's previous book How To Get Away With Murder so was very excited to get an ARC of this book from NetGalley and HarperCollins.

The book follows three main characters - Anthony, Olivia and The Sleuth. I loved the characters of Anthony and Olivia, they are absolutely horrible people and you just couldn't help but enjoy that, however the character of The Sleuth I enjoyed less. I didn't see the point of keeping this characters identity a secret - the big reveal seemed to fall flat for me.

Overall I enjoyed this book and would happily read Mackie's further publications.

I hugely enjoyed HOW TO KILL YOUR FAMILY but I can really see how Mackie has grown as a writer of fiction in this new take - absolutely loved this wild wide, and what a cover!

I really enjoyed the premise of this book and as much as i wanted to enjoy the actual plot i felt too many twists and not enough into the end or even a link into another book. The writing style is fantastic and the author really can keep you interested and did enjoy their last book. I hope maybe a reread when released might give me another chance to see if it hits different.

2.5/5<

I’ve recently gotten into thrillers, so when I saw this one available on NetGalley, I run to request it. The idea for the story was brilliant, which is why I decided to read it, but unfortunately, after about twenty/thirty percent of the book, my interest completely faded. I’m not sure why, but I just couldn’t get into the story. Sadly, I ended up finishing it mainly because it was an arc.


*Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review!*

This was an interesting take on a thriller and definitely nice to see something slightly different from her first book. I enjoyed the social commentary aspect of the book and enjoyed disliking all of the characters. I found the fantasy element of it pulled me out of the story. It was an unusual plot device that didn't quite work for me