Grace Bernard is in jail for murder, not particularly surprising in a novel with the title, "How To Kill Your Family". What is surprising is the early revelation from Grace (not a spoiler as she reveals this information in the opening pages) that she has been convicted of murder, but not any of the murders that she actually committed! In this instance, Grace is innocent.
Our unfortunate protagonist then goes on to elaborate on her daily life in prison before explaining how to decided to become a murderer and talks us slowly through each murder.
She does so in a non-linear manner so we hear of some deaths just in passing and she will refer to tue scenario in depth at a later point.
The humour in the novel is decidedly dark and much of it comes from Grace's disgust at the privileged, pampered and nouveau-riche snobbery of her relatives. I certainly could see the humour here but found myself struggling to like or sympathise with Grace at any stage. Her single minded attitude could become grating at times.
For me, the most intriguing aspect as the story is when a relative decides to write to Grace and her life takes a sudden turn.
Over the past two years, there have been many novels along the theme of women taking revenge on ex-lovers/friends/attackers etc. And I think if "How To Kill Your Family" was the first novel in this genre that I read, then I would have found it more enjoyable but at this stage, I'm a little disinterested in the topic. And that's not a fault of the author, just me. Definitely the book for you if you like sarcasm, biting commentary on contemporary life and lots of murders.

this book has been on my the list for the longest time ever and i am so happy that i managed to get this book! i just want to start off this review by thanking the publisher for allowing me to have this book!

the title definitely grabbed my attention - i made sure i didn’t read this anywhere near my family because i didn’t want them to get scared of me reading it! i spoke to my parents about it when i finished reading it and their eyes popped out of their head with fear! now onto the actual review!

i am a short chapter lover, so i wasn’t too keen on the chapters being rather long but that did not take away from the tension and fast paced nature of the book. i just wish that the super long chapters were broken up a little bit just to make it a little easier to read. this book is dark, brutal, crazy and just one hell of a ride and i am obsessed with it. this is a very dark satirical book with so meant twists and turns.

i know grace is such a bad person, but…. i can’t help but root for her. i know i shouldn’t but i 100% do. her confession shook me. i really really shouldn’t like her, but i kinda do, she is awful and has done some truly horrific things, but she is so funny at times.

thank you again, harper collins and netgalley for allowing me to read this book. i am going to grab a physical copy of it right away!

This is a great book - funny, arch and with a really twisty plot. The character of Grace Bernard is brilliantly imagined - part psychopath and part critic of the modern world, she had the best put downs and one-liners. I didn’t see the twist coming (I usually do) so tat was fun too. All in all, a fantastic book.

Couldn't get into this book, long winded, long chapters and just a lot of irrelevant information we didn't need to know.

This was one of the most anticipated books I feel. I saw it everywhere. Filling up bookstagram, in every supermarket and looked catchy and filled with so much promise. The first maybe 10% it probably did but I feel it was at that point where it peaked.

Grace Bernard is an ok character; tenacious, driven, dogmatic and ruthless but it makes sense why she might feel bitter towards her father. The premise of the story, killing off her family members leading up to that of him is also interesting unfortunately it just fell short for me. It was unbelievable but I was compelled to find out about how she would reach her goal.

And so we come to the last three chapters. What an absolute let down. I felt bad for Grace for the rubbish that came in these chapters. A brother. Unsurprising given the character of her father but such a let down from the author.

So much promise, fell flat!!

I had heard lots of good things about this book and couldn't wait to read it. I really enjoyed it and the twists and turns. I'm looking forward to see what Bella Mackie does next!

Absolutely adored this one! - it is worth all the hype.
Hilarious, absolutely bonkers & utterly entertaining.
The perfect escape from reality, I can't wait to see what Mackie does next!

After a few heavier reads and a rather hectic couple of weeks, I was longing to dive into a funny, comfort read. So, of course, I plucked How to Kill Your Family from my never-ending TBR. What better way to relax than with a book about multiple murders?

The premise for this was great, and I was super excited about it going in. I enjoy a good mystery, love an unreliable narrator and am all for irony and sass in my MCs, so this seemed like a perfect fit. Alas, this is one of those cases where the execution just didn't live up to my expectations. The book started out strong but slowly started its slow descent downhill, right up until it crashed and burned at the end.

Grace is the illegitimate daughter of a millionaire who abandoned her and her mother, ignoring her mother's pleas for help as she was close to dying. After discovering this, Grace vows revenge and decides to kill every member of her father's family, leaving him for last. The story is narrated by Grace in journal form, as she is in prison for murder... except it's the only one she didn't commit.

I enjoyed the journal form, even though it made very little sense to me why Grace should ever want to commit to paper a full account of every murder she committed and so far got away with. Still, her narrating voice was snarky and sarcastic and perfect to set the tone for the book. This unfortunately didn't last very long, as soon she just became annoying and borderline offensive. The story started to drag from very early on, and I almost started to feel like reading this book was a chore.

We have a front-row seat to Grace's attempts at social commentary, which typically reduce to her hating everyone and everything and resenting the world for all that she missed. Although her feelings could be understandable, and could have been written in such a way as to allow for her character to grow, there was a distinct sense that we should be agreeing with her full stop even when she is spewing hate for no discernible reason. There were also a few very uncomfortable scenes and behaviours, which I just could not get on board with.

I didn't DNF this as I kept hoping I would actually start enjoying it, or at least find it funnier than I had so far, but unfortunately I never did. There were a few funny scenes here and there, but they were sadly not enough to carry the whole book. I also absolutely hated the ending, which just felt like an afterthought tacked on for the sake of one final plot twist.

While I appreciate what the author was trying to do here, the class commentary was just not effective and in fact more often than not was reduced to a slew of stereotypes and never-ending judgment with absolutely no foundation to stand on. For me, Grace was not the witty anti-hero she should be, but rather came across as an extremely unlikeable, self-centred and, ultimately, shallow individual. Sadly, this one was just not for me.

I really enjoyed this dark, whitty novel and although she did horrendous things I loved protagonist Grace.

It took me a little while to read as I’d heard mixed reviews but I’m glad I gave it a chance. The only criticism I have is the introduction of Harry I felt these chapters slowed my reading and didn’t match the intensity of the other chapters.

I loved this! Read in a day on my way back home from a holiday, it was the perfect book to keep me gripped. So different to anything else I've read too– loved the dry/dark humour.

A good story but an disappointing ending. I think there was a lot of though in each chapter and how the murders played out but gelt the ending lacked something, but not the point I wouldn’t recommend. Overall an enjoyable read

I absolutely loved this book - I.didn’t want it to end. Please tell me there is going to be a sequel! I need to know what happens to Grace next.

I had heard lots about this book before reading it but it was different to what I had expected.
I enjoyed the story but found lots of it long winded and full of unnecessary detail. I enjoyed the ending but would have liked to have had a bit more about Grace’s reaction to it.

I struggled to get into this but came back to it much later. I was hooked, I knew I wouldn’t expect the twist but it still shocked me. Loved it.

It's a good summer read. I'm not sure it's my type of novel - I never quite connected to the characters. But it kept me occupied on the beach!

I really struggled with this one, the unlikeable narrator just made it really difficult for me to get invested.

Oh wow did I love this book! This is one of my favourite books from this year!
It reminded me a little bit of one of my favourite films, Kind Hearts and Coronets, where a man decides to kill members of his family because he realises he can become a Lord, or a King (I can't remember) once he manages to off the people who stand in his way.

This story was just so much fun, light-hearted in ways and serious in others, with very little in the way of a message, which makes it even more enjoyable.

I didn't like Grace, but I'm OK with not liking her; I'm not sure that I'm supposed to like her. Darkly comic, somewhat convoluted, enjoyable and entertaining. A respectable first novel.

Imagine the injustice of being sentenced to life imprisonment for a murder you didn’t commit. Not that Grace Bernard is actually innocent. I mean, she HAS murdered six (or is it five? I lose count) members of her own estranged family. Not that they didn’t deserve it.

This was a dark, funny book, and I found myself laughing at the most inappropriate moments. Grace plans her murders meticulously: she finds out what each family member likes to do, where they live and who their contacts are. She’s calm, collected and seriously scary. Grace is a prime example of a psychopath. She has no real attachments, she’s calm and collected during her murders, and her life otherwise appears to be normal.

But if anyone had found the memoir she starts to write whilst jailed for the murder she didn’t commit, she would have had a much longer sentence.

As you probably know by now, I always seem to end up with a soft spot for the more unpleasant, dare I say, naughty, characters. If you count six murders as a bit naughty, then yes, Grace has been added to my list of favourite characters. She really is something special!

Thanks to The Borough Press for my copy of this book to read through NetGalley.

Absolutely amazing! The best book I've read this year. The type of book where the last two chapters shatter anything you thought you knew