Everyone in This Bank Is a Thief: A Novel by Benjamin Stevenson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**4.5-stars**
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Everyone in This Bank is a Thief is a fabulously-fun installment to the Ernest Cunningham series. It successfully channels all the quirky meta-vibes that Readers, including myself, have been enjoying in the previous books.
This is the 3rd-novel in the series, and there’s also a fun novella set around the Christmas holiday. At this point, our protagonist, Ernest, is a successful crime writer who’s honed his craft frequently via hands-on experience.
The mystery in this story takes Ernest in a new direction though, when the bank he’s at for a loan meeting, gets held-up and the people inside suddenly find themselves taken hostage, including Ernest and Juliette.
As the event starts to unfold, Ernest begins to notice unusual things about the robber and the situation in general. It seems there’s more than money at stake. What is he really after, and what is the actual aim of this heist?
As Ernest gets to know everyone in the bank, and as he starts to put the various puzzle pieces together, even the hostages become his suspects.
I’ve enjoyed following Ernest’s character arc over the course of these novels. He’s very much evolved and I feel like this story was a perfect glimpse into the life he’s living now. It’s such a change from when we met him in the 1st-book.
I liked that Stevenson went in a different direction with the plot of this story as well. It’s not just another murder mystery. The bank setting and the cast of unknown characters added a fun new direction for the series.
I listened to the audiobooks for all of the novels and the narration by Barton Welch is absolutely fantastic. He is Ernest Cunningham to me. I cannot recommend the audio versions enough, if you have them available to you.
I read this in a day. It was so quick and easy to get through. There were a ton of twists and unexpected turns, I had no clue where this was really going. It was such a fun ride.
I’d love to get a physical copy of this one for my collection, as this is the rare mystery I would love to read again and annotate. There were so many interesting clues along the way that I’d love to analyze more closely.
At this point, it’s fair to say Benjamin Stevenson has found a fan in me for life. I’m not sure what the long-term plans are for this series, but I’m certainly hoping for more installments. There’s so much more fun to be had!
Thank you to the publisher, Mariner Books and Harper Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. This series brings me such joy and I can’t recommend it enough!