A year into adulthood and Scott’s place in New Seattle is in jeopardy due to her lack of a personal brand and her low, low place on the People List. When a fantastic chance to make something of herself lands in her lap it is almost immediately followed by disaster. Brilliant stage actress and long time number one on the People List has died, and Scott is accused of murdering her. Scott is determined to prove her innocence and find the real killer, even if it means risking what standing she has or putting herself in harms way. Relying on her CC, an AI companion chipped right into her brain, Sherlock Scottie is on the case of her life, one that will reveal far more than a single killer.

I do not know what to do with this book. Neve Maslakovic's All the Whys of Delilah's Demise is not badly written exactly, but it was difficult for me to meet it where it wanted to go. The setting was fascinating, but did not feel as thought out as it probably should have been. The characters had serious potential, but often felt a bit flat, and Scott felt both very like she had originally been much younger and like she did not really fit the setting. The plot itself felt more than a touch fragmented.

We have this version of the world twenty minutes into the future where this massive event rendered most of the world unlivable and most technology nonfunctional. So, bubble cities were built to allow humanity to survive. But each city can only support so many people, leaving vast swaths of the population to die out for the sake of those lucky, valued few who made it in. In New Seattle, that means that the population is capped at ten thousand people and that people need to be regularly transferred to either a life of labor in the greenhouses that support the city sent out into the wilderness to make their way as best they can or die. This is a brilliant concept and so much could be done with it, there is space to dig in a million different directions. New Seattle chooses who leaves via an ongoing social media popularity contest between everyone in the city because the city founders decided that they wanted to keep only the people who did the most for their community. Again, brilliant concept, this could be an absolutely cutting critique of social media culture and how it affects people's well-being. The idea of a person's social media standing deciding where they can live and the kinds of jobs they can get and how much they make is terrifying, but we see surprisingly little of it. Scott is clearly poor but it never feels like she is actually in danger of winding up sleeping on a mat in the hallway. The setting is rather deliberately unkind but also curiously unwilling to delve into that unkindness.

Which brings us to the characters, mostly to Scott herself. In a city where everyone is custom built from genetic material from New Seattle's founders and raised in a group setting, Scott is desperate to learn who her parents were because, even though it is forbidden to access that information and she has already been punished for trying, she wants something that no one can take away from her. As with many things in All the Whys of Delilah's Demise, this could have been brilliant. What does it say about Scott that she has grasped on to something that she does not have because no one has as the thing that cannot be taken from her? This could almost have been the core of the story to begin with, but it feels like it barely got dug into much less resolved. Similarly, Scott knows that her standing on the People List marks the difference between living in society or being kicked out. She knows that her low standing puts her in a precarious position but just kind of does nothing about it until she picks a dumb fight and gets dropped to the bottom. All despite the fact that her two PALs are both in the top five hundred and she could probably just talk to them and be fine. This is one of the bigger places where I just cannot get to where the book wants me to go, I had no faith that Maslakovic would actually kick Scott out of New Seattle and so all the tension of her being at the very bottom of the People List was lost.

Scott frustrates me because she is at the center of all these really interesting ideas that just sort of veer off mark. Contrast the other characters who are only frustrating because they all feel flat. Scott's very popular PALs the hot boy next door athlete and the fabulous hard-working chef who is dedicated to her boyfriend are both just developed enough to play off of Scott a little, but no further. The top ten, the most popular, standout people in the city, felt flat, not quite like stock characters but close. Like they were filling space rather than moving things forward. So many characters could have just been swapped around and I am unsure that I would have noticed.

The mystery that drives everything forward suffers a similar fate to the secondary characters. What caused Delilah, the number one of the People List, to take that fall from her apartment balcony? Given the setting, that is a legitimately solid mystery to dig into with a fair few options on what might have happened. The continued attacks build into that, bringing up questions of who would want to kill the number one and how could they manage it. It feels almost like it could be a curse, with a couple of really cool scenes that were legitimately creepy. But then we also get the five minutes or so of a forbidden romance between Scott and one of her PALs. We get the reveal of Scott's parentage and what feels like a complete lack of consequence. Scott trying to figure out who might be behind the murders is interesting but also feels inconsequential. It is all a bit of a mess in a way that left me with several notes that were some variation on "why this though", especially once the actual antagonist showed up from what felt like out of left field.

And that is sort of where I live with All the Whys of Delilah's Demise, it is a rough mix of solid ideas and brilliant concepts that just fail to land. It wants for more focus on some plot points and deeper thought on others. It frustrates, not because the writing is bad but because it is so close to good that it feels worse than just poor writing would. I feel like Maslakovic has the potential to be a really fantastic author, perhaps she already is. I want to check out some of her other stuff despite this one not working for me. All the Whys of Delilah's Demise gets a two out of five.

this one was engaging! I loved it and had a great time reading! the MC was so well written, the mystery and the pace was something which totally worked for me and the twists shocked me. Overall, it was a fun read and I had a great time reading it

i loved the use of scifi and mystery, this book was a lot of fun to read and had a great mystery in the book. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and this story.

Be warned, you may find a bunch of pop-cultural references throughout this review 🙂

Reading this novel, it was really hard to shake off all the similarities with some of the popular movies, books, and TV shows preceding this novel- such as Black Mirror, Stephen King's Under the Dome, The Hunger Games... Despite all the given similarities, this novel held its uniqueness with the setting which I loved.

Given today's society, I know it's not so hard, but just try to imagine: What if your whole life- and by the whole, I mean literary everything: social status, employment, money, reputation- everything is valued through the colorful gems you receive from the other members of the society which are, for most people, likes on today's social media. Based on those gems, you have a rank in the society, and those on the bottom of the food chain are easily kicked out every single week. Those on the top of the food chain are glorified and have everything at their disposal. But, staying on top might cost a few lives.

I was simply drawn in by the idea, the fragments, the thought of where this story is going... BUT!

Almost everything in between felt like a bunch of hot mess. A lot of characters were thrown into the plot of this novel and for many of them, I simply wasn't sure what was even the purpose of their existence, let alone the path they're taking. A lot of fragments of the story were simply hard to get attached to, were hard to track. This resulting in the fact that I almost gave up reading a couple of times. Stubborn as I am, I managed to finish reading the novel, but I had my struggles.

Another pop culture reference coming your way: this novel left me with the same feeling the Game of Thrones series finale left me with. I love the idea, I love the concept, I love the setting, I love some of the characters. But the path from beginning to the very end a lot of times was just a bunch of hot mess and I didn't like most of the path that was taken from start to finish.

In the end, I just want to thank NetGalley and Cosmic Tea Press for the ARC of this novel.

I can't resist the pull of a book set in the PNW, these days, especially SFF! When I saw this one, "a whodunit set in an all-too-possible future where brand is everything," was set in the dome city of "New Seattle," I made sure to sign up for the ARC. Overall I really enjoyed it, especially the fun, unique blend of genres and the humorous narrative voice. Because it's part murder mystery, we get a look at the many different spaces and histories of the town, as Scottie investigates its residents with her best friend, Dax, and her AI chip, Cece. The town ranking system, AI neural implants, and post-apocalyptic Dome City setting are the key speculative fiction aspects of the story, and while none of them on their own feel particularly novel, blended into the murder mystery it really makes for something fun and original. I'd recommend this one.

A very fun and strange mystery taking place in a dystopian future where 10,000 people live under a Dome. Scott, our MC, and Delilah, the first victim, hold throughout the story as interesting characters.

While this wasn’t exactly a thriller, I was engrossed in this world where social climbing can lead you to thriving, or being exiled into the Outside, an unpredictable environment of cold and extremes, unprotected. The bubble and censored nature of the Dome made everything quite exciting, all of the characters were rather suspicious and Scott was willing to go the distance to find out more.

If you enjoy mysteries that aren’t in the typical contemporary boat, try this! Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing for the ARC.

pretty captivating mystery from start to finish and Delilah was a great main character for a mystery! 3 stars

If you like Black Mirror, you’ll probably enjoy this book. An entertaining, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny whodunit mystery that kept me turning the page. I tend to be easily disappointed with mystery/thriller reads (I wouldn’t call this a thriller, though), but I thoroughly enjoyed the story.

All the Whys of Delilah's Demise is basically everything I'm looking for in a book and trust me when I say it did NOT disappoint! Set in a future that could be our own, each person has a place. But more than that, each person has a number. The number that tells them where they can live, work, and eat. The number that tells them how they can dress, what they can afford. The number that rules everything. While these numbers can change, one bad mark can destroy everything. When the top-ranked start dying, Scottie is both determined to find out why and the number one suspect in their murder.

All of the things I loved: Dome book, AI ranking systems, dystopian, climate change parable, love, murder, mystery.

I don't want to say too much because the book is so great and I would love to read more in this setting, perhaps see the other domes, to follow those that live outside, to know more of what happens next in New Seattle, all of it.

5/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Cosmic Tea Press for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a great addition to the whole social media / dystopian / video game kind of genre. Whatever that is! Scottie is at the low end of the social strata and struggling to find herself in a world based on popularity. Think Hunger Games / Survivor but with a peer rating system that displays above your head. In some ways it reminded me of Super Sad True Love Story, but in a dome and with people being kicked off. I loved the concept of PALs and thought the Code was an interesting way to re-frame society. The murder and story line about who it ended up being was my least favorite part of the story. It didn't hold up, in my opinion, to the well thought out and developed world around it. I understand the point, but it felt like a cheap way out. Needless to say, I enjoyed reading the whole book!

This novel follows main character, Scott, in a futuristic world where everything is based on popularity and rank. After the number one ranked is found dead, Scott tries to unravel the mystery behind who the killer is, while putting herself and her friends in danger.

I totally loved this book. The mystery was really captivating and witty and I loved Scottie's character. There was a really cute romance and the sci-fi element of the story was fascinating. As others have said, it had a bit of a Black Mirror vibe, but it was done in such a unique way. Scottie's search for a family was really endearing and I loved Dax and the idea of PALs. All of the characters were dynamic and interesting and I really enjoyed the narrative style. I was iffy about how the story ended, but the rest of the story totally made up for that. The world was interesting and it seemed very real. Overall, this book was a really fun blend of sci-fi and a classic whodunnit mystery that I hadn't really seen before and it was beyond enjoyable. I literally could not put it down.

All The Whys of Delilah's Demise gives me Black Mirror Vibes. (Almost rhyme, smug face)

Set in the future in New Seattle, with 10,000 residents, popularity is everything and you don't want to find yourself in #10,000 spot. Coz if you do, seeya, you're off sledding out of the doors of the dome, into the very snowy outdoors where chances of frost bite and your nose falling off is, well, high. Gems are awarded between residents to determine popularity and a persons 'worth'. Delilah, number #1 however, has died, and recent graduate Scott (who's in the bottom 1000) wants to find out how, to give herself a brand, and rise up in the ranks to avoid seeing herself sledding out the doors.

On starting this novel, I thought okay, I've read some books with similar concepts before (a popularity screen to show all residents where they rank, service being given to a resident depending on how popular they are) and so I was interested if this would follow a similar pattern or whether it would go somewhere different, hold interest and become a novel hard for me to put down. The bonus for this novel, compared to those others I have read is that I really enjoyed the characters, all unique despite most sharing the desire to be 'number #1'. Always a sucker for the 'forbidden' love trope and the overall objective to hunt and find the killer. I definitely found myself wanting to read more and getting more attached to the characters the further I progressed through the novel.

4 ruby gems from me!

Thanks to NetGalley, Cosmic Tea Press and Neve Maslakovic for an eArc of this novel, in exchange for an honest review.

Delilah's Demise is a delightful surprise. Oh hey, that rhymes!

An intriguing dystopian future blended with a murder mystery with some scifi style brain chip technology thrown in for good measure!

Scottie is a 19 year old trying to make her way under the Dome of New Seattle, where popularity means success at life. The Tenners (top 10 on "The List" of the most popular Dome residents) govern the dome, not only having popularity but the best housing, food, money and many more perks.
Down the bottom of the list, Scottie struggles to get by with her few gems, and a bad gem marrs her record. The dome is thrown into disarray when Delilah, the Number One of the Tenners, is found dead. After being hauled in for questioning following the incident, Scottie feels there is more to this than there appears, and this sets her on a path of discovery... About the dome, The Tenners... And herself.

I really enjoyed this book and the concept was great, I found Scottie an engaging lead character, and the other characters and relationships interesting. This was a really original story and it was great to read something different.

This is a bit different than what I usually read. But I still enjoyed this book!
It was just so interesting and I wanted to read more.

When I first started reading, it was hard to shake the SIMS game visuals, but after a few pages, the story settled into a jaunty mystery that kept me turning the pages. I couldn't put it down. There's an interesting juxtaposition of lighthearted murder mystery and deadly dystopia. I don't know that I've read anything quite like it, and I enjoyed the slow awakening that Scottie experiences. While this is a common true-to-life journey for many young people as they step outside what they've been told and assumed, Maslakovic takes this maturation to a whole other speculative level, and the ending was a dark surprise. I enjoyed this one a lot.

Thank you to NetGalley and Cosmic Tea Press for the review copy.

I loved the concept of this story so much. The writing was a lot of telling less showing. I feel like this would be a great introduction to the world of dystopia for the middle grade reader.