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After the events in ‘Everyone in my family has killed Someone’ Ernest Cummingway returns trying to find inspiration for his new book. Invited on The Ghan as it travels across Australia for a literary event as one of the authors things once again take a murderous turn. Told in the style of the previous book Ernest speaks directly to the reader .There is a very golden age of crime/Agatha Christie feel to the novel which obeys all the rules. I enjoyed this novel but wonder if it would be better as audio listen. That said Ernest is quirky and in an odd way quite loveable despite all his numerous faults. It could be read as a standalone book, but probably enjoyed it more if you have read the first one. Overall I was entertained by it, but it had lost a little of its novelty for me. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ERC of this novel in return for an honest review.
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You had me at “on a train”! This book is a masterpiece of metafiction, skilfully weaving together the best tropes of crime fiction to create something brilliantly original.
Everything is told with sarcastic asides and amusing comments, which makes this book a really enjoyable read.
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4.25*
Thank you to NetGalley and Michael Joseph/Penguin Random House for a digital review copy of "Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.
I wanted to check out this sequel to Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone because I liked the fresh take and highly meta approach taken in that first book. At times it didn't work for me but this time I would say that Benjamin Stevenson has nailed the approach and narrative voice and for me it was better than the first book!
In this second instalment, set shortly after the first, our fourth wall-breaking narrator, Ernest, has been invited to a crime writers convention on a luxury train travelling the length of Australia. However, amongst the myriad of writers and fans he finds himself caught up in effectively a locked room murder mystery when one of the keynote speakers is killed and it's a race against time to solve the case before more victims are claimed.
I really enjoyed the case, the perspectives and the secrets unravelled in this story and felt that Ernest's character was much better balanced this time. Maybe it's because I read the first one and was used to it, but this time the direct commentary felt less jarring to me as a reader and I definitely felt more invested in keeping up with the clues and mini spoilers provided throughout. Despite everything being given to us I still didn't guess the who or the why and felt very satisfied with the denouement.
My main reason for a 4.25 instead of higher is that I did feel that the story was a little drawn out in places and for me took a while to get going. By the half way mark I was fully all in but it took a little while for me to get there. Despite that I thoroughly enjoyed the ride and I will definitely be reading more - after all, after struggling with his second novel how on earth is Ernest going to handle a trilogy, I'm so intrigued?!!
Everyone On This Train Is a Suspect is released on February 29th 2024
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I absolutely loved Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone - the first in this series - when I read it a while back and, to get the best from this book, indeed to allow it to make full sense, you really do need to read that book first.
So... Ernest is now a proper writer and starting the often tricky second book. It's not going well. So he is very excited to be invited to a crime-writing festival hosted by the Australian Mystery Writers' Society. Even more so when he finds out that it is held aboard the Ghan - google it, it's impressive!
He thinks he will get inspiration for his book and also make some rather nifty connections, as well as enjoy the fame. What he doesn't factor in, is the murder of the key-note speaker that occurs early in the journey. And how he, and the rest of the authors present, channel their inner fictional detective side and try to investigate. But he is the only one with the real live experience of murder so it should be him that cracks the case...
Ok, so I have to admit that this book did take a good while to really get going. There is a lot of setting up and it does drag a wee bit at the start. But never enough to be fully annoying just a wee bit irksome. And to be honest, wholly necessary for what has to come later. So, stick with it, it is worth it in the end.
As with the previous books, the delivery is unique. The narrator breaks the wall and talks direct to the reader on occasion. Giving them extra hints - suck as the number of times the killer's name will be mentioned. With a tally of suspect name mentions thrown in every so often for good measure. All a bit tongue in cheek, and I would imagine a bit marmite for some, although I love that sort of bonkersness in a book. It's also very funny in places. Proper laugh out loud, clever funny.
It's also quite layered with the plots and subplots and all that stuff. The author does do a lot of juggling but he manages to keep all the balls nicely in the air until they all come tumbling down together at the delicious end, which I never saw coming, even with all the hints along the way.
All in all, a cracking follow up to what is now shaping up to being a series to watch out for. Really looking forward to seeing what shenanigans Ernest gets embroiled in next time. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.
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This is a very cleverly written book: a sequel to a crime novel about an author writing a sequel to a crime novel. It’s setting distinguishes it from other murder mysteries - I loved the descriptions of the Australian outback as the train travelled through. I didn’t find the main character particularly likeable, and readers will definitely find this book more satisfying if they have read ‘Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone’ before starting this one.
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Hurray, a sequel that’s better than the first one in the series!
Recovering from the death of most of his family, Ern and his girlfriend, Juliette embark upon a journey across Australia on one of its most famous trains, the Ghan. Ern has been given a substantial advance to write a novel and hopes that appearing on the panel of the 50th Anniversary programme of the Australian Mystery Writers’ Festival will provide inspiration.
Since Ern is a ‘fair play’ mystery writer, he gives us an idea of what’s in store from the outset, as well as roundups throughout. This kind of meta humour can become a bit wearing if not handled well but the balance of humour, mystery and incompetence were perfect.
It’s a great, fun, light read and really did keep me guessing.
With thanks to NetGalley, Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House and Benjamin Stevenson for an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
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A joy! Very funny and also a genuinely cracking whodunnit. A fabulous follow up!
Ernest Cunningham, writer of how to write mystery fiction is back! Following his best selling book ‘Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone’, and unveiling a real life serial killer, Ernest has been invited on the cross-Australia luxury train the ‘Ghan for a mystery writers retreat. Albeit he is the least renowned and worst selling author there. However when the murders start, it’s down to Ernest to solve it again (or at least he thinks it is, which is a general point of contention to everyone else).
I loved book one and arguably love book two more! Stevenson’s humour and meta approach to story telling absolutely kills me. Book two can be a tricky venture but he has nailed it. Just enough returning characters and themes and so much amazing new content.
I love the opportunity to play the game with Ernest and I failed spectacularly. I enjoyed the ride too much. (Both the train and the story).
The comedy in absolutely no way undermines the mystery. The collision of the dramatic and the ultra real are united so well. A lot of the story breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to you the reader but this in no way detracts from the happenings and that is a bloody hard way to write and it’s done so well!
I want these books to continue forever (sorry Ernest, I hope more murder is coming your way).
Thank you Penguin Michael Joseph and Netgalley for my ARC
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Put simply, Everyone on This Train is a Suspect is sublime. It’s ridonkuously clever and brilliantly structured, with Stevenson demonstrating a Penn and Teller level of storytelling magic – giving away some of the secrets, showing you how a trick is done, yet still managing to surprise and amaze. There are lots of twists and turns, both in the mystery storyline and the relationships between characters, including Ernie and his amour Juliette, the former owner of the resort where the Cunningham family killings occurred. Juliette also wrote a book on those events, but chose to accompany Ernie on the Ghan trip even though she’s not on the festival programme herself.
There’s an unabashed playfulness, almost tongue in cheek, to Stevenson’s storyline and storytelling, where he’s both honouring and parodying classic Golden Age mysteries. Ernie offers clues along the way, such as the number of times he’ll mention the killer or killers’ name, updating the count at times for our benefit, and things once again get a little meta, while also being dosed with some high-octane action reminiscent of Western movies as the Ghan chugs through the Australian desert.
Along the way Stevenson seems to show us and his protagonist that death is not just a clever puzzle to solve - it has far greater impact than that. He does this via an extraordinarily clever puzzle, of course. It’s early on in the year, but Everyone on This Train is a Suspect may very well end up one of the best mystery reads of the year; a smile-inducing, brain-whirring magic trick, with heart.
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Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph for an advance reader copy of this book.
Sequels are difficult. They have to build on what has come before, offer something new while retaining that certain something that brought in the audience in the first place, all the while treading the tightrope of not feeling like more of the same at the same time as feeling like exactly more of the same. It is a heady conundrum and feels very much like a central cog in the structure of Benjamin Stevenson's "Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect."
The novel following hapless author-turned-detective Ernest "Ern" Cunningham follows on from Stevenson's sensational debut "Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone," which was a wonderful surprise with a unique blend of humour and literary subversion. Ern is simultaneously the most honest narrator you will find in fiction and the most dishonest, unreliable narrator with multiple instances of wordplay keeping you from the truth behind one of Stevenson's many clever twists. It never feels like cheating though and is often presented in an amusing way; Ern is halfway between being incredibly clever and incredibly stupid, a combination which works wonderfully.
Rather than focusing on familial drama and secrets, this time around we find ourselves on a train amidst other crime writers in Ern's world; Ern, along with his girlfriend Juliette, are quickly pulled into a murder-mystery when one of the attending authors is apparently murdered. By the time we reach the conclusion, more bodies have been added to the pile, we have experienced some great comedy and drama, but most importantly we have lived an outstanding mystery. There is something so satsifying about the way Stevenson wraps his characters in a complicated tapestry and gently prods at them until the whole thing unfurls and reveals itself.
Benjamin Stevenson is now two for two on spectacular mystery novels that hit you fairly hard in the gut at the end. There is true genius on display here, as with the previous novel. This is a sequel that not only breaks the apparent sequel curse plaguing storytelling, but it does so in remarkably stylish fashion. We can only hope for a third novel that can keep the momentum going.
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This takes the "rules" of detective fiction, runs with them and gently pokes fun at them. Were all the rules listed completely followed? I didn't know and really didn't care. I was enjoying reading the book too much to keep checking. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I went out and bought a copy of the previous book. I hope there will be more. Thanks to Netgalley.
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Not for me I’m afraid. There were too many characters to try to keep track of, and it took so long for the murder to happen that I got bored waiting. The leading man’s girlfriend was more interesting than he was, so that I found I didn’t want to hear him speak, and it would’ve been better had she been the lead
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Although a bit bit of slow burner, it is well worth sticking with this book. Beautifully written and truly a masterpiece.
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Well written, 'golden age' style murder mystery with a little meta thrown in.
Stevenson has a brilliant turn of phrase - almost too good! His knack with a humorous simile or well constructed sentence can sometimes slow up the flow of the story.
There are also A LOT of named characters in this, and no murder til about 40% way through the book.
But I think the main drawback with the Ernest Cunningham series is the lack of personality of its lead character - I never really got a sense of who he is or what makes him unique.
That said, the meta touches are a joy as always and there are some well worked twists and turns.
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rnest Cunningham is invited to the Australian's Mystery Writers' Society, and it's aboard a train named Ghan. The train is quite famous one, and travels between Darwin and Adelaide.
But, things did not go as planned, and someone gets killed in the train. So, in the train we have five authors who have the skills to both solve the murder or cleverly hide in the plain sight.
Once this book was approved, I immediately started reading it. Once a few pages in (somewhere between prologue or not prologue), I felt urge to read the first book by the author. The writing from the first page just pulled me in to the book.
It doesn't matter if you are not mystery reader, read this book for it sheer witty writing. Ernest Cunningham promises you a fair play, and he delivers it.
Cunningham plays fair right from the start. As a reader, you have the full scope to solve the mystery along with him. What I really like about this lead is that he is charming, clever, witty and flawed at the same time. Quite like the previous book, this one also has a small pool o f characters, and most of them are introduced in the beginning of the book. The book includes map which gives reader idea about the train journey, and the inside of the train as well. Every single page comes up with something new, and you can visualise everything happening right in front of you.
The ending of the book comes as surprise, which doubles up when you get two epilogues at the end. The book will make you laugh, want more of it, and at the same time keeps you intrigued by the mystery.
As a reader, there is some apprehension when it comes to sequel, Ernest Cunningham has surpassed all expectations in the second book. The dialogues are such that you can actually hear them inside your head.
The book gives absolute vibes of Golden Age mystery books, and is perfect for fans of Christie or Doyle.
Thank you, NetGalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House, for the copy of the ebook.
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Ernest Cunningham is back in a second novel and is attending The Australian Mystery Writers Society aboard The Ghan, a train crossing Australia. He is joined by other famous authors but when one is murdered they have to quickly turn into detectives.
Having enjoyed the first novel featuring Ernest Cunningham, I was keen to read the second and pleased that I did. This followed on with the same writing style, with Ernest as the narrator and plenty of humour. The storyline is very clever and it all comes together very well. There are some nice surprises and plenty of twists!
There are a lot of characters to get your head around but they are well written, although some come across as caricatures. I found that the pacing dipped somewhat in the middle but the ending made up for this. Overall, a fun, imaginative, entertaining thriller and I hope the author produces further similar stories. What’s not to love about a book about books? Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in return for honest review.
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I loved, ‘Everyone in my Family has killed Someone,’ and this second mystery featuring Ernest Cunningham, sees Stevenson having great fun with the genre. Again, this is told in the first person and sees Ernest Cunningham on a train to celebrate the 50th Australian Mystery Writers Festival. He has received a substantial advance for a novel, but it is proving harder than he thought. Perhaps it is too much to hope for that there will be a murder that he can use as a springboard to another success in the same format as his previous work? As the train rumbles across Australia, full of possible victims, suspects, crime writers who feel they are qualified to solve any murders, and lots of motives, what could possibly go wrong?
This is a really fun read. If you enjoy the narrating style, you may also like Anthony Horowitz’s Hawthorne series, of which the first is, ‘The Word is Murder.’
However, going back to the Ernest Cunningham books, I hope that many further disasters occur that enable him to get past that difficult second book and move onto his third! Loved this and recommend it highly. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley for review.
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I really enjoyed the first of Benjamins Stevenson's books. This one didn't grab me quite as much but still broadly enjoyable, and a good cast of characters throughout! I think I may need to revisit this at a later date too.
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I LOVED the previous Ernest book, so was thrilled to find him back but also (having not read the blurb) totally surprised. As Ernest begins: "So I'm writing again. Which is good news, I suppose, for those wanting a second book, but more unfortunate for the people who had to die so I could write it." Hence my surprise because a bit like the film 'Home Alone 2' I couldn't quite see how it could feasibly happen again. But just like 'Home Alone 2' the plot worked. Again in Ernest's words: "Seven writers board a train. At the end of the line, five will leave it alive. One will be in cuffs. Body count: nine."
If you haven't read the first Ernest book (you definitely should) hopefully I'm conveying what a great character Ernest is. So funny both in his actions - accusing his girlfriend of murder partway through proposing - and his narration. I also particularly love the tongue in cheek way the author as Ernest takes the mickey out of the genre; thrillers that contain fight scenes laden with luck and mystery writers having to find a way to remove the possibility of characters using Google. So, no question a 5-star read (in my opinion)!
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Another great read in the sequel to 'Everyone in my family has killed someone.'
Our hero this time finds himself on an exclusive train journey through central Australia, as part of a book convention. As you would expect, things take a nasty turn when fellow authors start to die, and there is only one person who can solve the crime - but will he sift through the clues before he himself becomes a victim?
I love the author's writing style and the book is very pacey. It also made me look up the cost of the trip as it sounded fabulous! However the Ghan is sadly out of my reach!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
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Amazing read! I managed to read this book and its prequel in 4 days.
The first person narrative of this book is refreshingly different. I LOVED the fact that it read more like a conversation between friends.
The humour used lightened the book up. I’ve never read a book quite like this one, and I was pleasantly surprised by the format, tone and how easily o was drawn in.
5* for both this and its prequel.