Book review: A Will to Murder by Hilary Thomson

A Will To Murder by Hilary Thomson

Death by rap music.

A promising start to an interesting premise and funny story. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get myself into it. It is really hard for me to enjoy a book when I can't relate to at least one character. Before continuing, let me say that I did not finish the book. I read about 40% of it and then gave up. I don't do that very often but with limited reading time these days, I just can't continue with a book I am not enjoying. Perhaps I was just not in the mood for this type of humorous, slapstick mystery.

So, the premise: A family comes together in the large house of their wealthy father, who has just died of a heart attack because someone blasted rap music out of his car during a drive through town. He basically died of embarrassment. The family is there to hear his will and perhaps find out if the music was put in the car as a joke or for the purpose of murder. More deaths and crazy family relations ensue.

I had a hard time making sense of the dialogue. The way these characters speak was unbelievable to me, their reactions seemed forced and unrealistic. It made it hard to sympathize with them or understand them.The family is supposed to come from a wealthy home and so it seemed to me that the author was trying very hard to make them all sound like snobby stuck up rich folk. They seemed more like caricatures of the wealthy crazy East Coast family that you would see in a sitcom.

The things they said sometimes made no sense at all, especially the parents speaking to their kids, or the way they interacted with the help.  It wasn't believable to me and believable dialogue is so important to my reading enjoyment. It is the way I get into a story, relate to characters, and feel a part of what is happening. If this doesn't happen, I lose interest.

Perhaps the caricatures are meant to be, actually I am sure they are. This isn't a serious murder mystery and scenes are definitely there for laughs, but they just didn't work for me. I couldn't find the humour in it, but I am sure this would be perfect for others. My sister would find it hilarious.

2.5/5
Source: Author for review