To start off: i di technically read this book last year, but i just really wanted to write about it so im counting it within my this year bookshelf sorry

I think exit is genuinely one of the funniest books i have read in a while (not surprising, given my tendency to read exclusively books about people killing themselves or at least wanting to a little bit). It reminded me a lot of the TMC series in terms of writing and, sure, the fact that the main character is an elderly british man currently trying to solve a murder before it comes back and bites him in the ass. Several moments throughout the book i was giggling out loud at the phrasing, the dialogue or simply the absurdity of everythign that went on. I will not say it was a perfect book, or even that it was as good as the TMCs, but, it was very very good.

I already mentioned the writing style. It is funny, dry, incredibly British. Suits my humor perfectly with a combination of slight sarcasm or snark and the fact that the book realises what it is and what it is doing (a comedy book; making people laugh) and does not try to be more than it is at the detriment of the story (cough cough we solve murders)(what who said that). It really reflects humans as exactly that, humans. There is no overly annoying mary sue-ification of the main character, but he is funny through just the fact that you recognise the internal dialogue as what may sometimes go through your own head. If i dont get lazy/forget ill get my book as soon as bea finishes and ill find some examples of this.

The same goes for the dialogue, really, though i would say that is maybe slightly exaggerated to make it funnier or more dramatic. I dont really remember if im honest, but the gist of it is that it was funny and most often realistic and never boring.

The characters were also (mostly) just fun. I think thats maybe the main thing about this book, if im honest, its just Fun. Though they are all fairly flat (not that i expected much else in the current genre) and slightly caricaturised, they served their purpose of making me laugh and making an entertaining story. I will say that i was disappointed by the stereotypation of some of them (more on this later), and I think the story would probably have functioned just as well without them, but in the grand scheme of things it did not do much to tank the whole review in my books (heehee).

Ok now to get into the juicy parts: what did i NOT like. I will have to get a bit more specific here, so if you at all care about spoilers maybe stop reading for a paragraph or two, ill lyk when its good to tune back in again.

Mostly what i disliked, is that i feel like the author was trying to go for some sort of shock factor through plot twists, which sometimes worked and sometimes did not. wait ok no more on this later hold on i need to finish my point first. I did not much care for the way they wrote the cleaner. At the start i really did, i thought the point being made was how criminally undervalued cleaners and in-home nurses are. I thought the commentary was that this poor girl, i meant this figuratively but actually also literally, is doing these cleaning jobs to provide for a big messy family that is all trying to get by. She is so exhausted by both the home life and her work and also being pregnant that it impacts her ability to properly do her job. This was the direction i thought we were taking, but i feel like it was massively undercut by reducing her to 'dramatic member of staff slept with and fell in love with rich son'. While, yes, okay, at the end there was some sort of atttempt to rectify this by also making this an act of desparation, i feel like this was a cheap choice that we could have done without. I think we could have even had the plot stay mostly the same and just left out the fact that they did it. idk it felt mostly unnecessary and cheap to me.
I could have looked past this, if they did not then do the complete opposite with the police officer. He is a fat loser who wastes all his money gambling, and we are just supposed to feel bad for him. There is barely any redemption or attempts to 'justify' his behaviour as there originally was for the nurse, but still we are supposed to have some sort of sympathy for him. very annoying. anyways, what was i going to say.

Ah yeah, i wanted to talk about their other plot twists and foreshadowing. I feel like there was so mmuch of all of it that i have many things to say, both good and bad, but ill pick some highlights quickfire style. The brick i thought had potential but eventually disappointed me, as it feels like the payoff was way small for the emphasis placed on both the brick and the rubber band at the start. I like that the main guy ended up being the guy from gambling, and i also like that quite quickly you get this sort of eerie feel that youve seen mr exiteer already and it grows throughout the book. I like that the old guy who meant to die (dont rememer his name) knew who mr exiteer was immediately but like acted it out a little bit to be dramatic about it later, but imo the reveal was a bit on the dramatic side. Though predictable, i like that he died on his boat. I rEALLY liked that he had been feeding the wrong cat the entire time i thought that was really funny. I have to say i found the whole arrest and police investigation equal parts funny and equal parts kind of cliché. At first i immediately figured that they had taken him in for a separate case entirely, but they did manage to pull me back in with the negotiation and the severity of the tulip case. Amanda being the gf was also immediately obvious and i dont think for me it added much to the story, nor did it really ruin things or whatever so i guess im fine with that.

random highlight reel: as mentioned before i loved the cat bit and i greatly enjoyed the police investigation as soon as they made it funny and ridiculous rather than like expected and cliché. Im not usually a fan of like physical comedy but i quite liked the way they made him constantly escape and climb back through the fence/tree, but mostly because of the internal monologue they gave him. I love mabel (? the dog? am i getting this right?). i love ms chatty neighbour (did they have to make her in love though?). didnt really at all get the significance of the elaborate gambling stuff, i feel like a lot of that was kind of just a story in itself that maybe tried to do or be something bigger than it was on paper but that i feel is maybe not necessary when youre writing a funny book?

lowlight reel: i retract my previous statement that it doesnt try to be more than it is because i just remembered they literally blow up the entire house. that was, um, dumb. Also another unnecessary fakeout. did not get the giggle out of me that i think it was meant to. Like i was happy that he was out of bed but like idk i feel like the blowing up was a bit dramatic.

no more spoilers you can come back here

Okay either way im starting to ramble i think its maybe time i cut it. My point still stands that I really enjoyed the book, and the fact that i managed to actually forget the stupid writing in favour of how funny it was is i think a good indicator of this. I read it in less than a day and the only reason i stopped reading it at all was beacause my plane landed and they really wanted me to leave the premises. So there you go. I would recommend this book to absolutely everyone, no matter what genre youre usually into. Though maybe with a warning to just let it all happen, focus on the fact that its funny and its lighthearted and the premise of the whole thing is, inherently, hilarious. Dont get too hung up on clichés, dont try to mystery-solve too hard, mostly just enjoy the ride (i say this in the sense of do mystery solve because its fun, but dont get all crazy with it because thats not what this book is made for). Anyways. I think i maybe gave this four stars if not five, it is a good book and a fun book. Go read it.