NetGalley ARC | You Are Fatally Invited

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐

Tricked by a cover again! I know, it is my own fault, judging and all, but COME ON. The cover is gorgeous.

J.R. Alastor (pseudonym), a renowned author, hires Mila to host a writing retreat. Alastor will be hosting it at his private manor tucked peacefully away on an island off the coast of Maine. Mila is excited for the opportuity - for many reasons. She's a former aspiring writer herself, and she desperately needs to get revenge on one of the attendees.

The guest list is small, just six well-known authors who have all mastered their craft and are writers of thrillers and mysteries. They know the tropes inside and out, can toss out red herrings, create misdirection and mayhem, and are above all else, deceitful.

Alastor and Mila have planned a whole week's worth of events and the plan is to use the cover of the retreat to take her revenge. But before she can, a different guest ends up dead and Mila realizes things are not what she thought, and Alastor may not be who she believed.

Then the storm comes along and they are cut off from the mainland. More die and Mila has to figure out what the game really is before she is next.

Well, this was a big fat disappointment for me. It had all the things I love: small group of unlikeable characters, no contact with the outside world, and murder.

It was hard to even decide how to rate this one. The plot itself I really enjoyed, because this type of thriller is my favorite. Do not, however, for one moment compare it to And Then There Were None. I see that as a alllllll the time and nothing ever even comes a tiny bit close. It's one of the greatest murder mysteries of all time. 

But there were too many POVs and some of the voices were not distrinct enough to carry their own chapters; I had to keep going back to the beginning to see who I was reading. Other characters were basically caricatures of pretentious and self-absorbed authors who had no idea they were about to finally being held accountable for some past behavior because they's JUST SUCH TALENTED WRITERS. As the game progressed wildly off-course, the chapters with various sins as titles were added and those were even worse.

Even so, I was enjoying the mystery itself - until the reveal. It fell flat and was so disappointing because it was something I considered early on after the first two deaths, but then dismissed because I felt like it was too obvious to actually be the thing that this all led up to. What an unsatisfying ending for such great build-up. I am always willing to suspend some belief for a fantastic reveal, but this was too much for me.

So again, I am torn. The plot itself was great and I loved the build-up. But the uncompelling characters and suspension of belief needed for the reveal are the reason for two stars.

I guess I would recommend with caution. Don't say I didn't warn you about the bad bits though.