Title: He Started It

Author: Samantha Downing

Genre: Thriller

Publisher: Berkley

Publication Date: July 28, 2020

Links: Goodreads | Amazon* | Book Depository*

Rating: 4 / 5 Stars

Source: Digital ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley

Well, this one was a wild ride! He Started It is a sibling road trip book like you’ve never read before. The Morgan siblings have just lost their grandfather and in his will, he is requiring that they take a road trip just like the one he took them on when they were children in order to receive their inheritance. Sounds harmless right? Nothing is what it seems with this family.

The story is told from Beth’s perspective, both in the past and present as well as diary entries from the previous road trip. Beth is the middle child between Eddie, who is just a few years older and Portia, who is the baby of the family. It seems none of them have grown out of their roles and because they haven’t seen each other in years, things are tense.

The intensity ramps up as they realize they are being followed by a black truck with two people who seem to be sabotaging their rental car. Each sibling is holding secrets about their shared past and the time since they’ve been apart and everything starts unraveling the longer they are cooped up together in this cross-country trek.

When I say this is a wild ride of a thriller, I am not joking. There are twists and things happening that I definitely didn’t see coming. I didn’t find any of these characters “likeable” in any traditional sense, but of course that only adds to the insanity of their stories. If you liked Samantha Downing’s My Lovely Wife, I think you’ll definitely want to pick up He Started It. While a completely different story, she has a way of telling stories about terrible people that make you never want to put the book down.

Thank you so much to Berkley for sending me a copy to review!

“Portia laughs. Sometimes we are a family of assholes. You can blame that on Grandpa, he started it.”

-Samantha Downing, He Started It 

Samantha Downing currently lives in New Orleans, where she is furiously typing away at her next thrilling novel. Find Samantha here.

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