What a Way to Go is my second read from Bella Mackie and what a read! I loved How to Kill Your Family and the same dry wit and dark humour that was in those pages is here in What a Way to Go too. As you may have gathered from the cover art and title, this book is about an unusual death – that of Anthony Wistern.
Opening sentence: Looking back on it now, I wouldn’t change much about the night I died.
Start with a bang
What an opening sentence – talk about drawing you in and setting the scene! So yes, we have Anthony, our – recently dead – first narrator. There are two other main narrators, Anthony’s wife, Olivia and ‘The Sleuth’.
Set in Chipping Marston, Oxfordshire, Anthony, is a working-class lad done good, working his way up to CEO of his own finance company, Wismere Holdings. Married to Olivia (our second narrator), who does come from family money, they have four adult children – Jemima, Freddy, Lyra and Clara – and were quite the formidable couple on the premium party circuit.
It’s a mistake men often make, thinking their wives are stupid when they’re actually just full of rage.
It was at one of their legendary parties – Anthony’s 60th birthday – that he dies and his whole family are thrown into turmoil. You see, Anthony’s death could be seen as suspicious – it’s definitely a bit wild – and it’s very quickly that all his family’s grudges and grievances come tumbling out of the wardrobe.
I loved how What a Way to Go has its other-worldly spin with chapters from Anthony in death’s waiting room, watching his family as they deal with his death. Weirdly, I was watching Kaos in the same time frame I was reading this book and that also has a death/underworld waiting room situation.
The trouble with true crime sleuths…
The Sleuth is our third narrator – a true crime fan, she lives in the village where the death occurs, so basically feel it’s her crime to solve. A crime, by the way, that the police rule accidental death, but she’s convinced Anthony was murdered, and is going to do anything to prove it…
I’ve read a lot of crime fiction, I was obsessed with Agatha Christie novels as a kid, and I’ve got the knack for it.
As her chapters go on, we see her subscribers grow and grow. I thought this was interesting commentary on the rise of true crime podcasters and how they can hound people with little to no evidence – just a hunch and a phone, but are spurred on by the growing amount of people that validate what they are doing. Her chapters really add a great dynamic to the read.
What a Way to Go is an excellent, entertaining read – a crime mystery meets family drama, with a unique premise, highly recommend!
- Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC;
- Get your copy of What a Way to Go here;
- Published by The Borough Press 12th September 2024;
- 400 pages;
- My rating:
Books on the 7:47 