I adored How to Kill Your Family so I couldn't wait to start reading this one and I enjoyed it just as much.

Bella Mackie writes such enjoyable, fun books and includes humour so well. I completely recommend this and I can't wait for the next book by Mackie.

What A Way To Go by Bella Mackie is a fun, entertaining murder mystery. I really enjoyed the premise of the main character trying to remember his death and being able to watch his family as they go about their lives in the aftermath of his death. All the characters are unlikeable but I still found myself intrigued by their decisions and character development throughout the book. Overall this is a fun, entertaining read which is different from anything I have read recently.

I have previously loved the last 2 books from Bella Mackie so was excited to read this one. It doesn’t disappoint- a weird but fun mix of murder and black humor! Great for reading on holiday!

Took me a while to get into, but a thoroughly entertaining follow up to HTKYF. The characters were really unlikeable so you didn't care about them, however that's not to say that I wasn't intrigued to find out who was responsible. Some good twists and turns and a satisfying ending.

This is a very entertaining new novel from the enjoyable Bella Mackie, and a worthy follow-up to How To Kill Your Family. It is centred around a very rich family and their complicated relationships. Things becoming interesting when the paterfamilias is found dead and hidden truths emerge. Anthony is able to spy on his family once he has departed this world and is looking down! Great fun

What A Way to Go is a clever narrative told through three distinct perspectives: Anthony and Olivia Wistern, and an obsessed Sleuth.

Anthony Wistern, the influential CEO of Wismere Holdings, finds his life cut short during a lavish 60th birthday celebration thrown by his wife, Olivia. Caught in limbo, Anthony is determined to unravel the mystery of his death while keeping a watchful eye on his family.

Olivia, the scorned "ice queen," grapples with her husband’s careless legacy, left penniless with greedy children who only add to her woes.

Meanwhile, the Sleuth, a true crime enthusiast, becomes fixated on the notion that Anthony's death was murder, setting off a quest to uncover the truth.

This darkly humorous tale unfolds at a leisurely pace, filled with intrigue and a colourful cast of characters, each capable of nefarious deeds. The interplay of family dynamics and sharp wit makes it a compelling read, especially for those who relish tales of the affluent facing their downfall.

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What a way to go really took me by surprise by how much I enjoyed it. I found it really funny and often caught myself laughing aloud. I found the point of view from husband, wife and local true crime enthusiast really worked and heightened the entertainment value enormously, especially when told from Anthony’s perspective in the afterlife holding centre. The writing is sharp, witty and flows really well. The cast of characters are delightfully awful and the twists and turns keep you wanting to come back for more. I know a number of people who will definitely enjoy this and I will be recommending it !

I make it no secret that How To Kill Your Family is one of my absolute favourite books, and I've had this one in my sights since it was an untitled coverless listing.
Anthony Wistern has died in suspicious circumstances, and what follows is how his family deals with it, as well as an Internet detective. We also saw Anthony himself witness everything after his death, and get his perspective on at all, as he tries to piece together how he died. This in particular was a unique and interest addition to the story. I loved seeing the family dynamic play out, often turning on each other as they looked for the truth.
Another aspect I enjoyed was the Sleuth - a nod to the growing obsession with true crime and people taking solving crimes into their own hands.
Full of characters you love to hate, Bella has created another story of dark humour that gives you lots to think about morally - and once again takes some very interesting turns.

A very funny, entertaining story and super quick and easy to read. My second Bella Mackie book and she just keeps getting better. 4 stars.

Anthony's wife Olivia has organised an extravagant 60th birthday party for him that proves memorable for all the wrong reasons. Anthony's unexpected demise and fallout are explored from Anthony's viewpoint as he negotiates his new state, Olivia's, and a true crime YouTuber called The Sleuth. The murder mystery aspect has many suspects and twists, and a contemporary investigation method makes this engaging and immersive. It is a detailed but pacy story that uses sensory imagery to draw you into it. The satirical comment that runs through the narrative, which is politically astute and socially aware, gives the story authenticity and contemporary relevance that I enjoyed. I like the characterisation. There are many unlikeable characters, but you still invest in their lives and want to know what happens to them and how they will react.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

📚 review 📚
what a way to go - bella mackie

ya’ll know i am a sucker for bougie rich people drama - especially when they get what’s coming to them. bella mackie did that with such gusto and hilarity with how to kill your family and she’s done it again with what a way to go.
honestly when i saw that bella mackie was releasing a follow up that involved more people murder, i prayed to the publishing gods that i would get an early copy and i must have been particularly pious that day cos here we are!

in what a way to go, we meet the wisterns, a dysfunctional and obnoxious family unit who are holding a party for patriarch, anthony’s sixtieth birthday. only, to wife olivia’s chagrin, the whole thing gets cut short because anthony manages to get impaled on a spike and dies.

everyone in that family has secrets, none of them are good people (except maybe freddy. he just wants to plant trees) and all those secrets and double crossings start to come out as anthony, looking on from an afterlife waiting room ala beetlejuice but without a moulding ghost in a stripy suit, tries to figure out how exactly he came to be impaled. in life, he isn’t the only one trying to prove what happened - a local amateur sleuth is also on the case and is convinced there is a murderer on the loose. as their follower count grows and anthony’s secrets start to come out, some interesting points are raised about the nature of the true crime community and the consequences of being an awful human.

told with bella mackie’s usual humour, this is another funny, intriguing book about some seriously dysfunctional rich people and those that get pulled into their orbit.

thank you @netgalley for the early copy. what a way to go is out now

3⭐️⭐️⭐️



✨ different povs
✨ darkly funny
✨ psychological thriller



✨ a influential finance boss found dead on a lavish 60 th birthday in the Cotswold .
A psychological thriller which has the base of ‘whodunit’!
✨ tbh, this is a very slow paced of a story. I almost dnf it but I want to finish it as it was my first book on this author. Funny and witty at the middle of chapters until it gotten boring again.
Predictable ending and I thought it would be different kind of recipe .



Thankyou for the opportunity to read this arc for a honest review.



🫶🏼 shaye.reads

A very entertaining book with a difference. It’s not often you get to hear from the dead man themselves, trying to find out how they died.
A dysfunctional family with money to burn caring only about themselves are described perfectly. The style of the writing is great, the book flows effortlessly and keeps you reading on and on. The humour is there throughout but cleverly understated and not custard pied in your face.
I haven’t read the author’s previous book but I intend to remedy that based on this engaging read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this book!

The premise of this book is so good but it didn’t gel for me as I couldn’t read anymore but I think it’s because I am in a slump and not because of the book.

It’s a book o hope to come back to but I have tried to pick it up from the 15% mark so many times with no luck!

I was looking forward to Bella Mackie's second novel as had enjoyed her first and this did not disappoint. A dysfunctional family dragged into the tabloids following a death. The idea of a 'holding' place while you had to puzzle out your own death gave a new dimension to solving the crime with watching your family.

Can't wait for her next one.

A witty and entertaining whodunnit which sees the victim, Anthony Wistern, observing the aftermath of his demise from the great beyond, tasked with remembering the last moments of his life before he can “move on”. With a family desperate to inherit his money, a mistress, a number of defrauded investors and a true crime fanatic also wanting to solve the mystery of his unexpected death, the story is funny and engaging and easy to read.

This was so much fun to read- an entertaining darkly funny thriller with plenty of twists.
I love Bella Mackie's writing style and brutal commentary. Personally, I would have preferred the book to be a little shorter as there were a couple of occasions I felt my interest lagging, but overall I did enjoy it!

This was one book that tested my patience a lot and I would have given it up if it wasn't an ARC. I was really excited to read the book initially because the author's previous work-How to Kill Your Family was popular on Bookstagram and I had missed reading it.

Anthony Wistern gets killed by being impaled on a spike on his grand 60th birthday party, organized by his wife, Olivia. It turns out that Anthony was highly successful and owned an investment company but there were quite a few people who hated him enough to want him dead, including his own children and wife. Few chapters are narrated by Anthony himself, where he is in a limbo-like state waiting for the memory of his last few hours on earth to return to him and find out how he was killed. Without this knowledge he cannot move on to the next phase of death.

The book was quite enjoyable in the beginning, but I really hated all the characters including the one called Slueth, who desperately wants to believe that Anthony was murdered and wants to investigate this crime. I didn't really get why this character's name wasn't revealed until the very end, especially when there was no angle to it. In brief, I did not enjoy reading this book and it put me into a book slump for the entire month of August.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy of the book.

Murder mystery that fizzles out

Beginning with a not-so-secret reveal that the recently deceased is a narrator in this kaleidoscopic novel, the action and the detective story that follows are narrated by the deceased, his wife and an internet sleuth, revealing the true story behind his sudden death at his own sixtieth birthday party. Could it be his avaricious children? His put-upon wife? or could it be something to do with his business in financial investments? Or just some ridiculous accident?

As one of the narrators is the deceased, we get a glimpse at the purgatory he ends up in, trying to figure out his last moments, the last thirty minutes of his life erased in the bureaucracy of the afterlife, before he can move on to the next place. What that place is... you'll have to discover for yourself and let me know if you think the preceding thousands of words have set you up for the denouement.

Three stars.

Anthony Wistern has everything most people ever dream of, that is until his 60th birthday when he unexpectedly dies. With his wife and children set to inherit his fortune secrets and lies creep out from every corner. With the topic of murder arising in steps “The Sleuth” a YouTube amateur investigator looking to solve the crime, can she beat the police to the murderer and will she live to tell the tale.

The waiting room for the afterlife gave me quite a laugh, it made me think slightly of Beetlejuice. I really hope that’s not where we are headed though. Having Anthony’s point of view where he is watching his family brought a fun little twist to the regular murder mystery.

I enjoyed the story but I think it is aimed at the teen to young adult reader and as such I would recommend to this age group. I would say it is an easy to read dark comedy, murder mystery with a twist.