12 Ways to Kill Your Family at Christmas by Natasha Bache
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Prior to moving their family to Australia, Olivia and her husband, Miles, as well as their two children, must go spend a two-week Christmas holiday with Miles’s extremely wealthy and terrible family.
Olivia, a Romantasy author, from a family who couldn’t be more different than her husband’s, has always felt judged and out of place at the Weiss family estate. Nevertheless, she loves him and shall grin and bear it, because that’s what a good partner does.
As expected, his family is shockingly-rude from the get-go. It’s going to be a long two weeks. All the relationships are toxic and if Miles’s mother is around, the backhanded jibes are never far behind.
We won’t mention the tension you could cut with a knife due to the great inheritance debate over the multi-million dollar fortune. Olivia couldn’t care less about the money though, she cares more about the poor treatment that she, Miles and their children receive.
She can’t wait to get on the plane to Australia. Let’s gooo!
Soon after their arrival, an accident results in a family member’s death. Shortly thereafter, another family member falls victim to a terrible accident.
But then a third? Are we still believing these are accidents? As the bodies pile up, one after another, in admittedly quite creative ways, it becomes clear to Olivia that there’s a killer amongst them, but who?
Motivations and hostilities abound. It could honestly be anyone, or multiple people. It’s certainly not beyond the stretch of imagination that a plot to seize the inheritance could be in play.
When inclement weather cuts them off from the world, Olivia takes it upon herself to try to weed out the killer. Can she possibly get to them, before they get to her first?
The clock is ticking on a Christmas they’ll never forget. If they live to remember it, that is.
I had so much fun with this novel. It’s thoroughly deranged, but in a really fun way. I loved Olivia’s perspective. Her wry delivery and sarcasm, as well as the dark humor that Bache brought to the story made it wickedly-entertaining.
It felt quite cinematic as well. I feel like it would make a great holiday movie, like a Knives Out version of a holiday movie. I feel like it could translate so well into that format because of the drama and humor.
I was picturing Naomi Watts as Olivia, and Ewan McGregor as Miles. Not bad images to have in your brain, either one.
I also need to applaud Bache’s creative kills. I’m a Horror girl, and I love a unique or creative kill. Bache definitely delivered in that capacity here.
Another thing worth mentioning, that I really appreciated about this, was the relationships between Olivia, Miles and their kids. They were very close and remained so throughout the story. They felt supportive to one another, and were really the only bright light in this family.
I’m so glad I finally read this one. It was a great fit for my tastes in the Mystery genre. I loved all the twists and reveals. Messy family is drama is one of my favorite things in fiction and this took messy to the next level.
Thank you to the publisher, One More Chapter, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I can’t wait to read more from this author!