Okay, hey. Taste Test number one! I’m reading up to page 97 for this first section, which is roughly chapter 14. Let’s get into it.

Part 1: Start – Page 97 (Up through Chapter 13)

The 10 Commandments of Detective Fiction

Before we even crack into the story, we get the 10 Commandments of Detective Fiction by Ronald Knox from 1929. And I love this. I eat this kind of thing up. It’s giving literary nerd Easter egg. But are these here to guide us or to mislead us? Are we meant to follow the rules, or is the whole point that the author is going to break them?

Also — it says “fold here” at the top of the page. I’m not against folding, but I can’t bring myself to do it. Anyone else feel personally attacked by books that ask you to deface them?

Meta Layers on Meta Layers – Breaking the Fourth Wall

Then we hit the prologue — and wow. The narrator is straight up breaking the fourth wall, talking directly to us about how he’s writing the book we’re reading… It’s so meta. It’s like the book is winking at us the whole time. I don’t know if I like it or if I want to throw it across the room, but I respect the choice. I will say after a quarter a way through the book I will say the charm has started to win me over. I wonder what this is like via audiobook. Would someone in the comments sound off what this is like?

Family Dynamics and First Impressions

The family tree is giving soap opera. We’ve got:

• Lucy, the sister-in-law who was definitely in an MLM at some point (just say pyramid scheme, Ernest — it’s fine)
• Michael, the criminal brother who may or may not have run somebody over
• Erin, the soon to be ex-wife, quirky
• Sofia, the stepsister surgeon with secrets (love that), some dark past
• Katherine, the dead father’s sister. The one trying to keep everyone together
• Audrey, the mom who seems angry
• Marcelo, Lawyer and step father
• And our narrator, Ernest, who is… something. I’m still figuring him out.

Everyone’s got dirt under their nails, and the chaos between them all is delicious and I like that. We are clearly building up to a huge explosion of family dynamics and I eagerly await to see what Audrey has to say to her sons.

Also when we throw the money into the mix I am curious to see what happens with everyone. Clearly Michael has not forgotten it, Erin is aware of the money, Sofia is also aware and needs 50,000 for something untold, and then there is the keeper Ernest.

Is This Book… Funny?

Here’s the thing — I was not expecting this book to try and pull humor, but now as I write this, I remember reading that the author is a stand-up comic and now it makes sense. The commentary is so snarky and self-aware. Ernest will describe a whole scene, then immediately roast himself for how long-winded he is or how he is purposely only giving us a small portion of the information. It’s weirdly charming? But also… a little back and forth.

Would this work better if the asides were in parentheses or footnotes? Maybe. I don’t know. What do you guys think?

The Deaths

Okay so the prologue gave us a map to the amount of death we are going to get in this book. And because of the 16 DEATHS we are getting, I truly thought that the family a mob family, or a group of assassins or something. Little did I think that it was going to truly be a family of proposal and accidental killings.

But then in the chaos of the family — boom — we get our first current murder. We get a man found dead in the middle of the white snow of this ski chalet. No one knows who he is, no one knows how he died but Sofia is sure that he was burned and died to lack of oxygen. Something happened and its fishy since the Cunningham-Garcia family is notorious from their past and now a body shows up. I guess we have to keep reading to really see what is going on.

Okay really quick, the ending with the police officer wanting to arrest Michael. I mean I could not have planned that any better as the ending of Part 1. If we were going to do the Page 99 test, this would certainly pass, I mean we are 2 pages shy of 99 but I can only guess what is going to happen in 2 pages with that kind of claim.

Quarter Thoughts

Alright, we’re stopping at page 97 for now, and I’m feeling… medium. I’m into the premise. I’m into the layers of secrets. But the writing style is one of those things where I can’t tell if I love it or if it’s driving me slowly insane. Every time I start to get annoyed, it hooks me back in with something clever.

So far, I’m giving this one a solid 3.5 cups of coffee out of 5 — interesting, kind of pretentious, but keeping me awake.

What do you guys think? Are you into the whole meta-narrative thing, or does it feel like it’s trying too hard? Do you have any theories yet? And most importantly — is Lucy definitely in a pyramid scheme but which one is it?

Let me know in the comments, and we’ll pick back up with the next section soon!