After finishing this book I sat in a stupour for an indefinite period of time. For the final 15% of the book I don't think I breathed. It's safe to say I really enjoyed this thriller We follow Beth and her two siblings, Eddie and Portia, as they recreate a roadtrip they took with their granddad when they were younger. Once they complete the roadtrip, step by step exactly as it was first completed, they'll inherit their grandad's multi-million dollar estate. As soon as the trip commences, it becomes clear that the siblings are hiding deep secrets from themselves, from each other, and especially from the reader Our narrator, Beth, is the most unreliable narrator I've ever experienced. And I loved it. I didn't believe a word she said, nor her siblings, as we're told constantly that the entire family are liars. I honestly didn't even try to predict any of the twists, I was just along for the ride, and when they all barrelled at me I was shocked I am now even more desperate to read Downing's first book, My Lovely Wife, and my faith in thrillers has been restored once more *A copy of this book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Samantha Downing is the queen of surprise, she takes things where not many others do, making her books far from predictable. Beth is heading off on a road trip with her siblings, Eddie and Portia. However, this is no ordinary road trip, nor is it the first time they’ve taken this exact road trip. As children their grandfather took them away for a while, visiting many states and many strange locations. He has now passed away and a condition of his will is for his grandchildren to re-take the very same journey that they all went on many years ago, in order to inherit his millions. Joining them for the ride this time is Eddie’s partner Krista and Beth’s partner, Felix. Both bemused by the places they visit during the road trip, they go along with it, because just like the other three, their eyes are set firmly on the money that their partners stand to receive. Secrets from the past are unearthed and strange things start to happen on this road trip to hell. Is someone trying to stop them from reaching the end goal? Read this book to find out who really started it?! This book is a slow-burning, intriguing read, with a sucker punch of an ending! Samantha has cleverly crafted this story by dropping enough bits of information in to each chapter to keep you interested and to keep you turning those pages. The twists are totally unexpected, which I love, and each character has a dark side, making it hard for you to know whether you can actually trust any of them. I had many scenarios in my head for which path this story would take and how it would end. I couldn’t have been more wrong! A devilishly dark, totally original, twisty read.

After buying her first book, I at first was really worried that this book would suffer the sophmore slump. But it really didn't. This really had such an addictive quality to it and I left all the other books I was reading at the time in my dust to just be hook on this one. Thank you so much to Penguin and Netgalley for the advance copy.

I'm finding it difficult to review this book as, for me, it read more like a guidebook to quirky sights in the US with a few murders on the way than a gripping thriller. I enjoyed Beth's knowing comments to the reader, but found it difficult to engage with the rest of the characters or care about their road trip. I really loved " my lovely wife" and it's clever twists and turns, so am really looking forward to Ms Downing's next book. Thank you to netgalley and penguin books for an advance copy of this book

He Started It is about three siblings - Beth, Portia and Eddie - going on a two week road trip they took with their grandfather when they were children, in order to receive their inheritance after his passing. The story develops through middle sibling Beth’s narration of the present day road trip and the road trip she and her siblings took as children, as well as diary entries. My experience of He Started It was this: boredom, irritation, curiosity and ultimately dislike. I don’t know if the topic of a road trip would just fail in general, or if it was the author’s way of writing it all... I’ve never read a road trip story, but with this one, I was extremely bored. I’m talking about the experience as a kid when you were dragged around somewhere by your parents or school, and you were horrendously bored and wanted to leave. That’s what the road trip felt like here for the characters, as well as the reader... I couldn’t wait for it to end. All of the feelings like frustration with the pace and disappointment with the boredom came to ahead when there was too much condensed in the last 5%. All the information, all the twists, just blend together into one big string of happenings that altogether feels like nothing earth shattering. The reader gets no time to digest anything because the next info dump happens, then it happens again, and again, until they all made me feel entirely indifferent to what happened. Also, what I found disappointing was some of the most interesting plot events were not explored further. And similarly, I was disappointed to realise the diary entries were completely unnecessary other than to support a plot twist at the end, that felt entirely worthless. Where one might find the ending clever, I personally found it annoying. I have absolutely no qualms with telling you that this story ends on an irritating cliffhanger: one of those endings where the reader gets to decide what happens. The only good thing about this book were the characters. They’re mostly boring for the first half of the book, but by the second half they began to grab my interest. The author certainly captures toxic personalities that made me feel uneasy. I was really, really disappointed with He Started It. When I finished the book, I just sat and stared into space because I couldn’t get over how much I hated it. I was very upset because I loved My Lovely Wife and this was just such a let down. I very rarely give 1 star ratings, but it feels right to give one here. I definitely wouldn’t recommend He Started It, and genuinely would like to forget the whole experience, I’m sorry to say. Thank you to the publishers and Edelweiss+ for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for this honest review.