Description
‘An antiheroine able to best villainous male protagonists such as Patrick Bateman any day’ OBSERVER
‘Chilling, but also laugh out loud funny. Another corker of a debut’ SUNDAY TELEGRAPH Cosmopolitan’s best books of 2021 Grazia’s best books of 2021
* Kill my family
* Make a claim on their fortune
* Get away with the above
* Adopt a dog
Meet Grace Bernard. Daughter, sister, colleague, friend, serial killer… Grace has lost everything. And now she wants revenge. How to Kill Your Family is a fierce and addictive novel about class, family, love…
and murder.
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‘I’ve struggled to recover my reading mojo since lockdown. This turned out to be the thing that sparked it back to life… Funny, sharp, dark and twisted, Grace is a character I found myself rooting for even as she committed the most vile misdeeds’ JOJO MOYES
‘Funny and furious and strangely uplifting. Grace is a bitter and beguiling anti-hero with a keen eye for social analysis – even in her most grisly deeds, you never stop rooting for her’ PANDORA SYKES
‘Addictive… Grace Bernard is one of the most intriguing and bewitching protagonists I’ve read in years’ EMMA GANNON
‘A funny, compulsive read about family dysfuction and the media’s obsession with murder’ SUNDAY TIMES STYLE
‘You’ll be gripped… Grace’s emotional detachment throughout will give you chills’ Rated 5 stars by COSMOPOLITAN
‘Hilarious and dark’ ELLE
‘Ironic twists and caustic commentary on everything from liberal guilt to the consumerist con that is “selfcare” sharpen this debut novel’ OBSERVER
Brilliantly tongue-in-cheek stuff from the Vogue columnist’ IRISH INDEPENDENT
‘Original, funny, unique and such a refreshing read’ PRIMA
‘A deliciously dark debut novel’ RED
Sarah TURNER (verified owner) –
I absolutely loved this book – so original, refreshing, different to anything else out there at the moment. I have seen comparisons to Killing Eve TV show, and I can see why – a strong kick-ass anti-heroine who we can’t help but love and root for despite their murderous tendencies! But there is more to that than this. There is a real connection to the reader / the audience through the narration which was warm, sarcastic, funny and very authentic.
The book centres on Grace, writing her story from prison where she has been sentenced to life for a murder that she strangely didn’t commit – the murders she has committed (all 6 of them, all family) are not known about! This is her confessional.
Dazzlingly dark and funny – I think this is going to be a real winner. Loved! I did not want this to end (but oh, the ending is good!)
Tracey Harriman –
I think 99% of people who bought this book did so purely because of the title. Genius!
I have a very small family, and have no desire to kill any of them…
But
Isn’t there someone in everyone’s lives who you could just do without? Who you might have a teeny tiny fantasy about accidentally on purpose pushing in front of a bus?
Oh come on!! It’s not just me!!
So, undoubtedly the title draws you in.
The writing keeps you there.
Grace tells her story directly to the reader. She talks through the plans she made, the acts she’s carried out and at no point looks for sympathy or tries to justify herself. She is very ‘matter-of-fact’ about her actions. It’s all justified in her own mind, she doesn’t need to justify it to anyone else. She finds herself in prison for a crime she didn’t commit… and for that she is extremely annoyed! And yes, she does see the irony.
Grace does come across as somewhat sociopathic. She really does only seem concerned by her own feelings, with little or no regard for anyone else’s. So she isn’t particularly likeable. But she is written so well! It’s hard to say whether the story is character driven or plot driven, because they are so well entwined that one wouldn’t work without the other. Grace is completely and utterly the only person who would have worked with this story. If she had been written any other way the story would have fallen flat. The killings needed Grace.
Bella Mackie has a real challenge on her hands now to follow up with a second book that can match up to this.
I only hope (for her family’s sake) that this story wasn’t semi-autobiographical.