AN INSTANT INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER“Wholly original. Scarily clever. Completely mesmerizing. You will never look at family road trips the same way again.”—Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling authorA most anticipated book by Hello Sunshine ∙ Cosmo ∙ Entertainment Weekly ∙ Betches ∙ Hollywood Reporter ∙ Parade ∙ PopSugar ∙ OK! Magazine ∙ Hello Giggles ∙ Bustle ∙ Yahoo! ∙ She Reads ∙ Book … Hollywood Reporter ∙ Parade ∙ PopSugar ∙ OK! Magazine ∙ Hello Giggles ∙ Bustle ∙ Yahoo! ∙ She Reads ∙ Book Page ∙ CrimeReads ∙ New York Post Best Book of the Week ∙ Goodreads
From the twisted mind behind mega hit My Lovely Wife comes the story of a family—not unlike your own—just with a few more violent tendencies thrown in….
Beth, Portia, and Eddie Morgan haven’t all been together in years. And for very good reasons—we’ll get to those later. But when their wealthy grandfather dies and leaves a cryptic final message in his wake, the siblings and their respective partners must come together for a cross-country road trip to fulfill his final wish and—more importantly—secure their inheritance.
But time with your family can be tough. It is for everyone.
It’s even harder when you’re all keeping secrets and trying to forget a memory, a missing person, an act of revenge, the man in the black truck who won’t stop following your car—and especially when at least one of you is a killer and there’s a body in the trunk. Just to name a few reasons.
But money is a powerful motivator. It is for everyone.
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Favorite Quotes:
That’s my husband, Felix, the pale one with the strong jaw and white-blond hair with matching eyebrows and lashes. In a certain light, he disappears.
Krista’s out of the car now, hands on hips and her back arched, which can’t be a good sign. She’s one of those suburban women who have never seen real trouble and think it only happens on the Internet.
Portia stands in front of me, her eyes unwavering, and I believe that she believes the truck is following us. In a movie, this would end with hillbilly cannibals, but we aren’t in a movie.
My Review:
This book was an arduous read and heaving with an appalling and vile cast of annoying characters doing dastardly things. The entire family was exasperating, reprehensible, horrid, and despicable. They had been beastly as children during their first run of this peculiar choice of road trip and were three times as horrific as adults while they retraced their original trek. I reviled and despised them all, yet their witty snark and shrewdly paced, intriguing, and mysteriously twisty tale kept me rapt to my Kindle and unable to stop reading.
I was absolutely furious at the ending, stamping my little foot and turning the air around me blue with invectives. Yet I must give this guileful and wily author her due, as her provocative missive was cunningly crafted, deviously clever, and cannily plotted. I would caution her neighbors to tread lightly, ply her with treats, never ask for favors, and always keep a sharp eye open.
What did I read? It started as a story of 3 siblings along with 2 of their spouses going on a trip across the country while retracing a trip they took with their grandfather years earlier. Then people were being followed, things went missing, there were deaths, missing people, drugging’s, and so much more.
He Started It is a slow read. It kept me entertained but it didn’t move at a fast pace. There was a lot of details to the locations and the reasons for the stops along the way. The details were all necessary due to the tying together of the two trips. I was intrigued at the different places they stopped and the memories of what happen at each stop. The characters all had their own memories of the trip but they came together for a very intriguing story.
The ending… I just don’t even know what to say! Holy Moly!!!
Downing’s style remains in a league of its own, with to-the-point crisp language and snappy dialogue readers are taken on a gripping and edgy adventure.
I was a huge fan of My Lovely Wife so when I saw Samantha Downing was releasing a new book called He Started It I obviously had to read it. This was definitely one of my most anticipated 2020 releases and it did not disappoint!
He Started It is compulsively readable and addicting, and it could easily be read in one sitting. I had to read it in two, but I did not want to put it down. The pacing is very quick while being a bit of slow burn, and there is plenty of mystery surrounding both the story and our main characters: Beth, Portia, and Eddie. It felt like the perfect beach read to me because it is thrilling yes, but also thanks to the pacing and just how fast it can be read. I love Downing’s writing style and there are plenty of things in this book I found funny, but it was also serious in that it touched on abuse.
Reading this was a little like watching a train wreck in the best possible way. He Started It is full of devious characters and drama, and I loved that it switched between present, the first road trip, as well as journal entries. There is plenty to keep the reader engaged and all you want to know is what happened on the first trip and how this trip will end.
The book does end on a bit of a cliffhanger which I am undecided about, but overall He Started It is a fantastic thriller full of mystery and intrigue which I highly recommend! So far, My Lovely Wife is still my favorite of Downing’s but this is a close second. If you didn’t like her last book I would still recommend trying this one out because it felt different to me, in a good way! The twists also surprised me and even though Beth was pretty awful overall, I still loved her character which in turn made me enjoy the book even more.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy of this book, all opinions and thoughts are my own.
Downing ups her game in this deliciously twisted tale of family deception. He Started It has layers upon layers of clever, shocking twists that begin in the first chapter and never let up. Breathless pacing and terse, impeccable writing create a phenomenal reading experience. I am obsessed!
I absolutely loved it: whip-smart, lean, deliciously dark and addictive. One of the best thrillers I’ve read in a long time.
A dark, twisting road trip into hell with a family you wouldn’t want to live next door to. I’ve never read anything like it!
A thrill ride through the darkest parts of the American landscape — funny, scary and twisted until the explosive final page.
HE STARTED IT is one of my most anticipated reads this summer. Ever since I read THE LOVELY WIFE, I have been waiting for Samantha Downing’s new release. Of course, Downing blew the heck out of this book, returned with a vengeance, and I LOVED IT! In this book, she takes her readers on a road trip to hell and back.
Beth, Eddie and Portia’s grandfather dies and leaves an inheritance with a few conditions. The siblings must take the same road trip they took with their grandfather when they were younger – a 14 day road trip, stopping at all the sites and staying at motels along the road. As we go through this trip with this family, we get little bits of the story and their pasts, along with the secrets these siblings have been hiding.
The writing was genius and the build up to the amazing conclusion was one of the best I have read. I thought that the characterization was brilliant so was the way the chapters were set up that moved the story so well, you just can’t help turning those pages to just one more chapter.
I am truly a fan of Downing’s writing, and adore the mind bending twists you will never see coming.
WELL DONE!!