A fun read Quite innovative to a three way who dunnit Firstly from the victim in the next world,interspersed with family relevations and an entirely absurd third party sleuth. Enjoyable yet gripping at the same time

I’m not sure if it’s a thriller, a mystery, or a dark comedy, but whatever it is, Bella Mackie’s new novel is fizzing with fun and originality.
The best-selling author of How to Kill Your Family has delivered a delightfully witty story about a wealthy and terrifyingly dysfunctional family.
Anthony Wistern is ridiculously rich, his wife and children don’t really care about him or each other, so when he dies in a highly suspicious fashion, everyone falls under suspicion.
Trapped as a dead man seeking answers we’re presented with the story of his death from the point of view of several different characters as we try to piece together what really happened and how Anthony died.
The story cracks along at a good pace, it’s witty, clever, and laugh out loud funny.
With thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an ARC.

I really enjoyed this book, the different perspectives to move along the story were great and the plot was original and fun. My only slight disappointment, and what led to me giving four stars instead of five, was that the ending felt quite abrupt. Other than this, I was hooked the whole way!

This kept me guessing the whole time, and I didn't predict the plot twist until the end. It took a little time to get into multiple POVs, however, each character would always hint at something that no one else knew and every character was always scheming against each other so it made you want to keep reading.

The book starts with Anthony's death right away, and we're left to wonder if it was an accident or murder. We follow his wife and four children and see the effect of his death on their lives and reputation as part of London's high society when secrets start to be revealed. The Wistern family does not seem like a family you would want to be a part of, as they are all obsessed with money and appearances. There's also a girl, who goes by ''the sleuth,'' who is obsessed with the idea that Anthony was murdered and starts to create an online following sharing her conspiracies.

Overall, I did enjoy this and I don't read many murder mysteries/ thrillers so it was a nice change!

I loved everything about Bella Mackie’s first fiction book, How to Kill Your Family. The dark humour, the wit, suspense and the unlikeable main character that made you secretly love her, this book was a delight.

I was so excited to get my hands on an arc of her latest release, What a Way to Go.

Anthony Wistern is a wealthy man. Beautiful wife, photogenic children, materialist possessions, societal prince and a tendency to cut moral corners. So when he dies at his 60th birthday party, his family are poised to inherit his fortune.

And that when they all fall under suspicion, and the lying begins…

I loved the premise of this story, and Bella Mackie is so good at writing terrible characters with no moral compass. But, where I believe she excelled in her previous story by somehow making a serial killer likeable, I just could not get on board with any of the characters in this story.

They were all just awful from beginning to end, so when the mystery was finally solved, it didn’t particularly care or root for any of the characters.

But, I appreciated the storytelling, the three different narrators in Anthony, his wife Olivia and an anonymous social media sleuth determined to uncover the truth. There was excellent dark humour throughout and the story kept me engaged until the end, with lots of reveals and twists throughout.

An enjoyable murder mystery full of unlikeable wealthy idiots!

This was a thriller that may definitely be more to others' tastes than mine. The story of a dead CEO who can't move into the afterlife till he figures out how he died + a callous and possibly humorous family left behind make for an interesting cast, but I unfortunately didn't find them very interesting as they just seemed to blend into each other, and a lot of their personalities other than wanting a cut of the inheritance weren't quite apparent.
This book is probably largely satirical with the way everyone's main focus in this seems to be reputation; it gets repetitive after a short while and I didn't enjoy this factor of the book as a reader. There were elements of a plot and it really sped up at the 50% mark but I just couldn't get properly into it. If you love watching celebrity reality shows, this may be something you'll enjoy.

A very British romp through the awful life - and for some, afterlife - of the ghastly Wistern family and assorted hangers-on.

After the mother of all 60th birthday parties, the body of Anthony Wistern is found impaled on a lake ornament in the grounds of his Cotswold mansion. His death is more a cause for avaricious speculation, rather than sadness on the part of his acquisitive family but a local true crime enthusiast smells a rat and is determined to find the truth.

This is very much a tongue-in-cheek laugh at the expense of a certain type of posho as well as the modern obsession with true crime podcasts. Serious crime fiction it is not but it is definitely lighthearted fun of the type reminiscent of some of the post war black and white films such as Kind Hearts and Coronets.

With thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction and Bella Mackie for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A dark humour in this book . Mostly about an extremely wealthy family with multiple properties, this book is mostly centred an their house in Gloucestershire. Anthony, the father turns 60 and an enormous party is held at their home, only problem is that deep into the celebrations, he is found dead in their lake. There are quite a few around who have a reason for wanting him dead . This book is told from different points of view, his own, that of his wife, but also by the Sleuth who starts podcast/tic-tok feeds looking into his dodgy dealings and the possibility that he had been murdered.
The characterizations are well done and I liked the descriptions of places, including the holding area after death. The plot is quite intricate and quite drawn out , my one criticism of the book. In my opinion it could benefit from being a little shorter and more punchy . But this is a fairly entertaining read on the whole..
Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC in exchnage for an honest review

✨REVIEW TIME!✨

What a Way to Go by Bella Mackie
⭐️⭐️⭐️
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After wealthy CEO Anthony Wistern dies under mysterious circumstances, each of his remaining family members fall under suspicion.

But who murdered Anthony Wistern? And why?
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Full of scandal and with mixed-media storytelling, I had a lot of fun reading this ARC. It was thrilling, engaging and had a blast trying to figure out this whodunnit murder mystery.

There were twists and red herrings left right and centre but I felt like I’d achieved something after guessing the outcome correctly.

Thank you to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to review this arc

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

Wow does Bella Mackie know how to write. I was engrossed in this book as soon as I started reading. I loved the 3 POVs; our dead man, his wife and our true crime loving sleuth. It worked so well for telling the story!

Bella creates the most addictive characters, even if we don't actually like them. I just wish we could've followed the Wistern children a bit more, I found their reactions to some situations hilarious.

I loved it and yet again, I can't wait to see what Bella writes next.

I enjoyed this, the characters were interesting (likeable is hard because of the nature hahah) but I had clear faves and clear ones I was weary of. There was some twists and turns, and the premise was really cool and well executed!

I did struggle a little to get into this one more than her previous novel, but once I found my footing I enjoyed myself and the story. Her skill at being able to convince you to enjoy the unlikeable characters is a true gift!

Having loved Bella’s first book too, was really overjoyed to get my hands on this one. Thank you for letting me read! Super excited for more of Bella’s work in the future.

The truth will out, as the fallout from the demise of Anthony Wistern rains down on his surviving family. In another darkly funny and engaging mystery from Bella Mackie, What a way to go is a fabulous read and perfect for for anyone who loves the drama behind the lives of people with more money than you ever dream of.

Ultra rich Anthony is celebrating his 60th birthday withvhua dysfunctional family and friends when he dies in unfortunate circumstances. The question is.....was it an accident or was he murdered? Until he can discover the truth about his demise, Anthony is destined to stay in the netherworld, unable to progress to the next stage. Only problem is, there are so many people who disliked him and had reason to kill him that there are an awful lot of potential suspects.
Whodunnit? This is the second of Bella's books I've read and although I enjoyed it, I don't think it's as good as her last book.

On the night of his 60th birthday party, Anthony Wistern dies and ends up in purgatory. In order to move to the next stage, he has to watch his family through CCTV until he remembers how he died. In the meantime, his family keeps fighting over money and uncovering his secrets while harboring their own, and a true crime podcaster tries to solve what she is sure was a murder.

I was immediately intrigued by the concept of this book, and, for the best part, it truly lived up to the expectations. The writing was very easy to get into and the story was very well paced, even though it did slump me a bit at times, and I found myself thinking some parts could have been a bit shorter, especially when it came to The Sleuth chapters.

It wasn't as twisty as I would've expected it to be, but the family drama really carried on that aspect and made for an interesting time. The relationships between the characters were particularly interesting to me, and the characters themselves were very fun to follow, in their own awful way.

There were many funny bits, and I overall had a great time reading this, and it was fun to follow along as everything unfolded.

Many thanks to HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction & NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

This is one of those books which will sell like hot cakes but is nothing more than OK.

It thinks that it’s cleverer than it is and in trying to do too many things doesn’t really impress in any of them. It’s trying to be funny; it raises a smile once or twice. It’s trying to be satirical; it falls very short. It’s trying to be disruptive in terms of form and genre; it just looks like it’s trying to find the easy way out of narrative problems.

As is always the case in novels like this, it’s all tell and no show. The novel is told from the POV of three characters, each in the first person, which I appreciate is there to frontload the unreliable narrator element but it also means that the reader is treated to endless explanation and interiority which is like trying to force down lumpy gravy whilst someone is shouting in your face.

Possibly the most irritating part of the novel are the intermittent news stories and features that appear. Why do authors do this? They never pass as having been anywhere near a newspaper which is deeply ironic here as Mackie’s father is the former editor of The Guardian and she was formerly a journalist.

If you want to enjoy a story about a dysfunctional family read What A Carve Up! This novel is a pound-shop version of Coe’s masterpiece.

However, whatever I say will make no difference to the sales of this novel.

This is the first book that I have read by Bella Machie, and it has a refreshingly unusual concept.
Ultra wealthy Anthony Wistern, CEO of Wismere Holdings is given a 60th birthday party by his elegant, socialite wife, Olivia. Attended by their children Freddy, Jemima, Lyra, Clara and two hundred of the most elite movers and shakers. The party is swinging, all is going well...........until it isn't, Anthony is dead.
This is where the story becomes interesting, Anthony is stuck in limbo at an in between place, he can't move on until he remembers how he died.
This story is set in the Cotswolds, it is written from three points of view, Anthony, Olivia and a sleuth who lives close by, a sleuth who thinks that Anthony has been murdered, a sleuth who is determined to prove her point.
As the story unfolds it becomes clear just what a dysfunctional family they are, it has dark humour, what will happen to the money ?
The story is a bit slow at times but on the whole quite enjoyable.
Thank you Harper Collins and Net Gallery for this ARC, my review is voluntary.

I really loved this book. I thought having one of the characters in purgatory trying to figure out his own death was such an interesting element to the narrative. I enjoyed how Mackie was able to create characters that you kind of aren't rooting for but there are also moments when you do feel compassion for them (even if it is brief). The Slueth was also a good persepctive to see things from and I thought it was a really great reflection on the way true crime has sort of become a bit too much.

This book made me laugh out loud multiple times and the final twist at the end was a true delight

I should start by saying if you enjoyed How To Kill Your Family then you are definitely going to LOVE this novel.

We follow the story of Anthony Wistern and his family, celebrating his 60th birthday at their country house, with a carefully curated list of guests. Anthony is found dead at the party skewered like a kebab on a pole in the garden lake, what happened, who is to blame?

The story follows Anthony as he goes to a processing centre of limbo (excellent visuals of the beetlejuice waiting room in my head here) where he must work out how he died before his soul can be free.

The story unfurled into a deliciously dark, humourous romp, with family betrayals, politics and secrets all central strong themes. We learn about Anthony's put upon wife Olivia, his four entitled children and their significant others and are joined by an amateur sleuth, a local women with a penchant for true crime and an obsession to get to the bottom of what happened.

Great characters, well paced plot have you spying on the family and trying to work out just what happened....and then the ending....twists galore! Absolutely brilliant.

Thank you to netgalley for allowing me to review this book. I absolutely loved the concept of this book. s such a great concept and grabbed me straight away. I found every character unlikable and uninteresting. There are three points of views, this was interesting and having the added view from outside the family unit was great and a very different style. This gave the plot another element otherwise I would have been bored. I liked the humour and tone of the book but it didn't grab me as much as I would of liked.

I loved How to Kill Your Family, so was very excited for this second book from Bella Mackie. Full review to follow asap!