Samantha Downing | HE STARTED IT

Plot (via Goodreads):

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.

Review:

Samantha Downing...what a brilliant and terrifying mind. After the complex and dark My Lovely Wife, I have been curiously anxious to see what Samantha Downing came up with next. When my copy of He Started It arrived, I was completely blown away with curiosity as to what was between the covers in this new story! The synopsis to this one looked completely different than My Lovely Wife and more complex so I was excited to finally have my hands on a copy. After the first page was gobbled up, I knew I was in for a wild ride.

He Started It is a twisty family drama thriller that is so different from My Lovely Wife. One thing present in this one that I loved was the dark comedy that was sprinkled throughout combined with a dangerous prose and a story-line that just kept building and providing a multitude of twists and turns. In typical Downing fashion, she uses her characters and their personalities to assist with the pacing of the story and it is even better this time around. I love how she can have her reader get to know the characters she's built in the same way that you would get to know people if you met them in-person. If it's one thing I will say about Samantha Downing, it's that her characters are just top-notch and so vivid, but luckily fictional for some of them as they are diabolical at times and eerily secretive.

I loved the pacing with this one, but what was especially great was that there were some great flashbacks that were parallel to the present-time story and added so much depth to the plot. I think the family dynamic with this one was actually really great and this one was more psychological and dramatic than He Started It until about halfway through and then the plot became more intense and suspenseful. If I could compare this to anything else, the first thing that comes to mind is Joyride meets This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper. It is equally family dynamic and thriller - including a creepy and exciting stalker story-line. I cannot recommend this one enough and I love how Samantha Downing can toy with her readers through her writing. While this one is different than My Lovely Wife, I found it just as devilish and fun and you can definitely see the growth in Downing's writing.

Special thanks to Berkley Publishing for this copy in exchange ofr my honest review.

Rating: 5/5