Everyone in This Bank is a Thief - Benjamin Stevenson // Book Review

 

Everyone In This Bank Is a Thief
Benjamin Stevenson || Publication Date - 30.09.2025

Trying to get a bank loan for a detective agency has never been so difficult...

Fiction | Crime | Mystery

Ernest is coming fresh off his Christmas Special, where he has travelled to the middle of nowhere for the possibility to begin a new life. The man who's nearly been killed multiple times, degloved, shot and hails from a family of killers - wants a bank loan. One to kick start his detective agency and hopefully, leave behind all the death that surrounds him.

Unfortunately for Ernest, this loan is begrudgingly more difficult to acquire than he had hoped. He's thrown into a hostage situation with a robber who wants a single dollar, and with every hostage in the room as suspicious as the next. So what does Ernest do? He assumes the position of the original bank robber and proceeds to solve not only the murder of the bank owners brother, but also his own. 

The Review (may contain spoilers)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me early access to this eARC for an honest review!

I will start this review out exactly as I had for the last. It's written from the perspective of Ernest recounting events from his past. A formula we are already well established with for this series of novels. This time, we listen to Ernest narrate the final letter he is writing to his Fiancé as he is locked inside of a safe that only he knows the code for, and no one knows he is inside of.

We are welcomed to the scene a little differently this time around, there is a missing persons mystery to be solved. To be awarded the bank loan he's been chasing to start his detective agency, Ernest is required to find the bank owners brother who went missing after changing the code to the banks vault. Ernest reluctantly agrees and is then charged with solving 2 murders, a bank robbery and how each person within the hostage party could be connected to something greater.

While these events have already taken place, rather than finding out through a post event memoir, we learn what happens through the lens of a decreasingly more oxygen deprived Ernest. As his life is being slowly taken away, he is writing a letter to his Fiancé breaking down all the events and ultimately to give her all the clues to assist in solving his own murder.

I did find the circumstances for this novel and some of the mysteries to be quite outlandish if I am honest. There was definitely some heightened absurdity for this book compared to the previous instalments, and I am still undecided whether it was a little too much. That being said, I did enjoy the novel none the less. There is definitely an element of creativity needed to pull these stunts off and I believe Benjamin did a fair job in keeping the reader engaged while also having fun with the story.

Overall Thoughts

Once again, as a fan of Benjamin Stevenson, I happily devoured this novel. With that being said, this being the third novel in the series, not much has changed in the formula of the writing. It will not be the case for myself, but I do believe that this novel will be where a lot of readers will likely drop the series if they were to stop reading it.

Unfortunately unless something fresh comes into the story from a narrative perspective, I don't believe it's a series which will continue to wow and impress people. I'm not too sure where Benjamin can go from here, but I will continue to keep looking forward to his releases and see if he has any new tricks up his sleeve!