I received a free review copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest unedited feedback. Thank you NetGalley & The Borough Press!

Anthony Wistern is a filthy rich financier with a picture perfect family & a lavish lifestyle. Little do they all know, their world is about to come crumbling down when Anthony dies. His perfect life isn’t quite as it seems… would his family really kill him to inherit his millions?

Darkly funny with a very clever narrative like I’ve never seen before, this is far from your usual whodunnit.

Bella Mackie is the queen of writing unlikeable characters that you just can’t get enough of!

I really enjoyed the multiple POVs and the story kept me engrossed from start to end. I also really liked how it touched on the true crime obsessed society that we live in & the sense of entitlement that it brings.

If you like reading about awful rich people, dysfunctional families, revenge & female rage, this is the book for you. The way that Bella Mackie writes female rage is just so accurate & relatable (even if you don’t have rich people problems like the Wisterns).

DNF @15%

This is not the most original concept but coupled with the worst POV choices, it makes for a boring read.

"They might've taken my death as a win, but they were in for a nasty surprise when the will was read out. Even though I'd lost my life, I'd still come out on top. It takes a special kind of man to do that."

Anthony Wistern is wealthy beyond measure. His way to the top was not on the straight and narrow though. At his 60th birthday party, he dies in a gruesome way. The police think it was an accident but from his position at a kind of halfway house for the dead, he thinks he was murdered. He cannot pass on to the afterlife until he remembers what happened.

There are plenty of suspects – his four money-obsessed children, his wife who may have gotten tired of his affairs, or even his business partner. Now, a true crime armchair detective is on the case. She doesn't believe Anthony's death is anything but murder, and she starts uncovering clues.

This is a quirky whodunit that had me gripped from the start. It's loads of fun trying to discover who the killer is. The dialogue was sharp and witty, and I had plenty of smiles. I didn't manage to work out who was responsible for Anthony's death, which is always a bonus when it comes to mysteries.

This is a clever mystery that will keep you guessing. The characters will surprise you. We have the viewpoints of Anthony, his wife Olivia and the true crime-obsessed sleuth.

Highly enjoyable.

It the party of the year. Anthony Wistern is turning 60th and no expense has been spared at the bash at their Cotswolds home. When he is found dead in the lake, impaled, grief isn't the first thing on his wife's mind. She can't understand how he has managed to upstage her again. She was planning on leaving him early the next morning after putting up with his philandering and lies throughout their marriage. His four children are interested in what the multi millionaire has left them> From his viewpoint in the waiting room, he can see what is going on and can't do anything about it All Anthony needs to do to move on is to tell the powers that be how he died. The trouble is he can't remember. He spends his time viewing the family. Meanwhile, the true crime podcasters are convinced that he was murdered. One of them is being given tips by an insider, you just know that it's all going to go pear shaped. When the will is read and the family find out that they won't get what they were expecting, suspicions rise within the family as well.
A fun read. This family are just horrible.

The concept of this book really intrigued me + sounded like something I’d enjoy but unfortunately I found it underwhelming. It’s slow paced & I couldn’t connect with the plot so I found it difficult to maintain an interest.
There are some witty moments + dark humour which is what kept me reading.
Although this wasn’t for me, I can see others loving it.

★★½ ROUNDED UP ⬆️⭐️
———————
I want to thank NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for the opportunity to review this book.

I was a big fan of how to kill your family. It was fun and fresh and I think I read it in a couple of days. Because of that I think I had some really high hopes for this one that just weren’t quite met…

It started off really promising! I loved the concept, the character voices felt fresh and unique. It was so funny (I was literally reading bits out loud to my friend as I was reading it on a beach trip because I couldn’t get enough!)

But all that sort of… tapered off. It ended up taking me ages to finish this book bc I’d read a good chunk but felt like I’d got nowhere.

I do think if I’d had more time to sit down and read this book in larger sections I would have enjoyed it more, but in the end it just felt like a bit of a slog to get back to.

Saying that, it was still funny throughout and there were parts I did find really interesting and fun to read. The plot was strong and it’s a good read if you love a good murder mystery.

Review posted on @reytgoodbook on insta on 10/9/2024

I hate not finishing a book but I came close to it a number of times with this book. It was beyond slow and at some points I just didn't even care what had happened to Anthony. It picked up a little towards the end but not quite enough for me.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

This was a fun read, albeit one that took a little while to get into.

It opens with the birthday party - and death - of the wealthy Anthony Wistern. Impaled on a spike in a pool, his death draws interest and suspicion from far and wide. If he was murdered, who did it? One of his ungrateful grown-up children? His wife? Who else had cause to hate him?

There are three main viewpoints - the murdered Anthony himself, his wife Olivia, and a true crime obsessive - the 'Sleuth'. None of the viewpoint characters, nor the murdered man's children, are particularly sympathetic, and I think it does mean it's a little tougher to get into this one. You're less driven to find out who did it, if you don't care too much about the implications.

But it is well-written, with some very funny and wryly-observed lines. With Anthony's viewpoint (and I don't think it's a spoiler to say this, as it's basically part of the premise), we also get to see a touch of the afterlife - or the inbetweeny-life - and that's really quite funny too.

So it works well as a dark comedy and it's interesting to see how it plays out, and who will get their comeuppance. I just wish I had someone to root for!

When Anthony Wistern, financier and CEO, dies at his 60th birthday party, he ends up in purgatory. Forced to watch his family through CCTV until he remembers how he died, he is unable to move on to “the next stage” until he works it out. His adultery and misdeeds are all uncovered whilst his family argue over the money, his wife has her own secrets and they’re just a truly awful bunch of people to boot. They’re part of the 1% and none of them seem to have any idea that they’re horrible at all.

On the other side of the story is The Sleuth, a podcaster who starts to try and solve what she is sure is a murder and acts as a fab plot device to move the story on without spending too much time with the entitled Wisterns. She’s got her own issues, with a sick mum and a need to solve something after the mystery of her dad’s death is unsolved in her eyes.

It’s a slow burn mystery rather than a pacy thriller, with lots of satire and dark humour thrown in for good measure. You really want both Anthony and The Sleuth to work it out and yet enjoy his discomfort in not being able to. I also enjoyed how whiny they all are about how it’s all terrible while eating at the finest restaurants and living in their country house to escape the London one. It’s a reflection of how you expect anyone you’d ever meet with more money than sense to behave! The ending is just chefs kiss perfect and left me smiling too.

I flitted between the arc ebook and audiobook, and the audiobook in particular really brought the personalities to life. Definitely worth a listen to if you like an audiobook.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for a free arc and audiobook in return for an honest review. 4.5/5

A wealthy financier dies at his birthday party. Was he murdered or was it an unfortunate accident.
An online crime sleuth seeks the truth. Meanwhile the family finds out their finances are not all they thought and the financier was running a scam. Infighting ensues as each tries to grab a slice of the remaining money whilst Anthony looks on at the antics in Purgatory. He needs to know how he died to move on.
An entertaining unusual crime drama.
What really happened and who is the guilty party. There are enough candidates.

a fun and interesting look at a family who implodes and self destructs when their patriarch is found dead at a party. there follows a foray into true crime blogs, family secrets, and how money can warp everything. enjoyed the perspective from purgatory and even though i didnt love the ending, i had fun reading this one

I loved HOW TO KILL YOUR FAMILY so I had really high hopes for this one and I was not disappointed at all, Full of Bella's great way with humour, sarcasm and darkness.

I really loved how different this book was as a concept, I thought the whole ‘afterlife’ gave a really different lens to the story and just a whole different connection to the characters inner thoughts and reflections, it felt really different to anything I have read before and I really liked that as I think that can be quite hard to come by when you read a lot

I thought the writing was well paced and there was a lot of variety between the perspectives meaning it moved along pretty fast. I did at times find the Sleuth chapters a bit on the long side but I’m not sure if it’s maybe because I just love family dynamics and wanted to get back into that. I did find this book very different but I wouldn’t say it was twisty or as gripping as maybe as I’d like for this genre.

The characters in this one were flawed to say the very least but it definitely made for some very interesting moments. I think that Liv was actually my favourite character, I mean, I definitely wouldn’t want her as a mother but some of her one liners were *chef’s kiss* and really made me laugh.

I absolutely love a family saga so the aspects of the family drama was definitely my favourite part of this book in terms of the actual story. I thought the relationships between the sisters/parents was very interesting- drama that happens to be rich people drama is just my favourite reading experience- if anything I’d have maybe wanted more of this (but again that’s a personal love for that kind of thing)

There was quite a few funny one liners throughout that were so candidly relatable (and somewhat savage) and I do really enjoy that about the authors writing style.

I do think there was almost too much going on to really get to know the characters on a deeper level, I would have liked to have had less siblings maybe? Or spent more time with them in that dynamic as I think it almost got lost alongside the mystery at times.

Although I understood why the Sleuth chapters were there and the integral role those chapters played in the overall story and the unravelling of the actual murder, I didn’t find them particularly compelling and if anything I found the almost broke the pace a little for me. I found myself reading them wishing I was back with Anthony or Liv. This book was definitely easy to read and enjoyable however I wouldn’t say I was particularly compelled to turn the page or didn’t find myself thinking about it when I wasn’t reading it.

I would definitely recommend this book to someone who reads this genre, it almost feels like a fail safe book recommendation for me- one that you could recommend to most people without taking into consideration their specific preferences or the amount that they read.

One quote that definitely made me laugh was “Liv could carry a grudge against and inanimate object if she felt it has wronged her” such a mood

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins Uk, HarperFiction for an ARC.
A brilliantly written book by Mackie who can write dark humour about a death.
A dysfunctional family with lots of money are the centre puece of the story. Ceo of the company Anthony dies, a women scorned, his wife Olivia, hates him for not getting his financial affairs in order and thus leaves his greedy children everything and ends up leaving her nothing and a self proclaimed sleuth who thinks Anthony's death may not be natural causes but murder. The plot thickens!
The narrative is from the pov of 3 characters Anthony, Olivia and the sleuth. There are other characters as well, some likeable and some not.
This makes for a really good read and at times quite funny as Anthony still has his pov when dead in the death departure room as he wonders how he died.
If you read How to kill your family and get away with it you are definitely going to love this!

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. I didn’t get on with the writing style and even halfway through the story did not grab me.

I really enjoyed the idea of this! Anthony dies in suspicious circumstances at his 60th birthday party and arrives in a processing centre! He cannot move on to the afterlife until he can remember who killed him. He is allowed to watch his family after his death to try to jog his memory. It is very funny seeing him watching what people think of him yet still not being able to remember how he died! He becomes the most annoying person at the centre! A great read.

If ‘What A Way To Go’ was a debut it would have been a good start. However after reading Mackie’s first book I was disappointed with the follow up.

A great premise, with characters you may love and definitely others you'll love to hate.

The story is told from 3 different perspectives Anthony and Olivia Wistern and the Sleuth.

Anthony Wistern, CEO of Wismere Holdings, an influential financial wizard is celebrating his 60th birthday which his wife Olivia has thrown an amazing party of who's who and the rich. However, things take a turn and Anthony end up dead. Anthony can't move on from limbo until he's remembered his death, so is keeping an eye on his family to try to gather clues.

Then we have Olivia the ice queen scorned wife, who has been left penniless by her careless husband with her ungrateful, greedy children.

And finally the Sleuth, who is a big true crime fan, who thinks Anthony has been murdered and becomes obsessed with trying to unmask his killer.

This is a slow paced, dark humour book, with plenty of intrigue and characters who all seem capable of heinous crimes, with a wonderful bluntness and family dynamic being played out, but are any of them capable of murder?

An enjoyable read, with plenty of wit and sometimes a little charm, great if you like rich, smug and arrogant characters and their downfall.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.

I will publish on Amazon & Instagram on Publication day

Dark humour and a surprising POV makes this story a great follow up for Bella Mackie, author of How to Kill Your Family.

The story begins with the death of a high profile business man and we follow the fallout from three different POV.

A really enjoyable read.

What A Way To Go centres on the wealthy Wistern family after the unusual death of Anthony Wistern and what happens after with his wife and 4 children. An edge of sci-fi with an afterlife view from Anthony mixed with the perspectives of his wife and 'The Sleuth', a local true crime vlogger. I really enjoyed Bella's first novel, How to Kill Your Family, but I found the chapters very long. This book is the opposite! Short and snappy chapters that I could not stop reading! I absolutely love the style the book is written in and Bella does an excellent job at making you love to hate most of the characters. It's a very clever book, dark and amusing. One of my favourite books of this year and I cannot wait to read whatever Bella Mackie writes next.