What do readers think of He Started It by Samantha Downing? Write your own review.

I reviewed "My Lovely Wife" before it came out and have yet to figure out the ending. "He Started It" is the same; the story is completely different but I was still unable to grasp the ending. Read it yourself and see if you agree!

This is not a nostalgic family road trip story. This is a dark, twisted tale, laden with lies, seething with secrets. The voice is hard, harsh. The characters aloof and cold, keeping everyone, including each other, from getting anywhere close. And yet, we are compelled to keep turning those pages, to finish the journey, even if we have a sneaking suspicion we won't like where we end up.

A family of not-very-nice people goes on a road trip to scatter Grandpa's ashes and thus fulfill the conditions of his will and inherit his fortune. Everybody is a liar and only out for themselves. Because you never know what the truth is the book twists and turns until you're dizzy. This is a fast read because you keep wanting to find out the truth. Unfortunately, the author commits one of my biggest pet peeves. The ending is ambiguous and feels like driving off a cliff. I actually had to check to see if my book was missing the last chapter. I would have rated the book a solid 5 if it hadn't been for that fact.

First sentence in book. You want a heroine. Last sentence. Here we are, at the end, and we still don't know who the heroine is. You'll have to figure that out for yourself. So many twists and turns in this book. Just when you think you have a handle on it, a twist and you have to rethink. So challenging who is telling the truth and who is not. I think they all were liars and had secrets.

Why would their grandfather require his grandchildren to re-live a trip they took with him when they were young in order to inherit his fortune?

They were doing it by the book because the attorney was adamant that it was the only way he would release the money.

The trip was not fun, but they did remember some of the places they went.

It was ok for the first day, but then everyone was getting on each other’s nerves, someone crashed into them and seemed to be following them, they had to stay in cheap motels, and had a flat tire.

There is also a diary one of the children shares with us that reveals secrets that everyone doesn’t know about.

The book had chapters that left you hanging, but I was getting tired of this trip too.

HE STARTED IT dragged on and on with flashbacks of the original trip and the current trip.

I kept reading because I wanted to know where this was going.

This was not a favorite book nor one that I couldn’t wait to get back to.

The ending was nothing outstanding, but since the story flowed, my rating is 3/5.

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

While I loved the premise of a dysfunctional family forced on a road trip, I found the book failed on many levels; The characters, all of them unlikable, are never fully developed. Even the grandfather whose death starts this journey is completely unbelievable. The dialogue and personal interactions between the characters never felt real. While the plot twist at the end was a real surprise (and well-done), by that point I had ceased caring about any of the characters and just wanted the ride to end.

I really thought I was going to love this book. It started out really well and the story was intriguing. I liked how it flipped back and forth between the present day road trip and the road trip that happened when they were children. However, I felt disappointed when the story made a sharp right turn and pretty much all of the characters became unlikeable and not even the slightest sympathetic. After the long, meandering trip, the ending seemed short, abrupt and wholly dissatisfying.

He Started It is a lot like reading Hansel and Gretal, except the author uses carefully placed plot bombs instead of breadcrumbs to lead you down a tangled trail of deceit, greed, violence, and revenge. Even with the cannibalistic witch, H and G's walk in the woods was preferable to the family road trip, or should I say trips, from hell a group of siblings embarks on— first somewhat unwillingly as children and later driven to as adults to fulfill their grandfather's dying wish— and claim their inheritance.

With millions at stake, alliances are made, plots are twisted, and secrets are revealed, little by little. It's hard to know who to trust. And that was my problem with the book. While it was cleverly written, and the story did keep me guessing, the ending was unsatisfying and the characters were so conniving and unlikable that in the end, I didn't really care who started it or for that matter, who won.