A deliciously dark and witty novel, How To Kill Your Family (HTKYF) is the debut novel from Bella Mackie, journalist and author of Jog On. Grace Bernard is on a mission to avenge her late single mother by murdering her estranged millionaire father and the rest of his family one by one. If it’s possible to murder with style, imagination and panache, then Grace certainly manages it. Or at least she thinks she does.
In her twenties and living in London, Grace is narcissistic, obsessed with her own cleverness and entirely sociopathic. Although that’s nothing compared to her father’s side of the family, each more selfish and despicable than the next. It’s an odd feeling to find yourself rooting for the murderer and yet here we are, willing for Grace’s machiavellian plan to succeed.
This book excels at cynicism and Grace’s view of the world is one I think a lot of us might get behind, to some extent (not the murdering part, I hope). Her depiction of her best friend’s family, for example, with their liberal guilt and unconscious privilege is a joy to read. I won’t reveal anything more about the plot but I would urge you to give this book a read.
I love an anti-hero. But I love a cynical, fashion-forward, female anti-hero even more.
HTKYF is out in paperback in the UK on Thursday 14th April.
