One part mystery novel, one part commentary on the genre, West Heart Kill is a unique read for those who enjoy mysteries. I enjoyed the commentary, finding it an education, especially on some of the classic mystery writers, and felt like it was nicely mixed into the actual story of the novel. Thank you Net Galley, Dann McDorman and Knopf for the ARC.

An interesting plot, with characters I found compelling. The atmosphere of the setting’s buildings and landscape were so well written I immediately felt as if I was there, walking beside the detective. Overall, I enjoyed the ride of this murder mystery…. Except that the book’s interruptive style of including sidebars of various authors approach to this genre were, for me, a distraction I could do without. If you enjoy a good “who done it”, this book might be for you!

Whew!

I finally finished reading this story, I thought it would never end. The beginning is unusual, the author explaining how to write a mystery novel. The plot thickens as you learn a detective has been invited to the Bicentennial weekend’s festivities at West Heart Country Club. Things get murky as more and more people are added to the cast, to the point that it becomes a chore to try to remember the names and their relationship to each other. The detective is the main character at this point, hired to infiltrate the group for inside information.

A horrific storm hits the area and West Heart is completely cut off from the rest of the world when people start dying. Now we have a murder mystery that is interspersed with infidelity and interruptions by the author comparing the story with other famous tales from literature. I’m getting bored and it is getting more difficult to convince myself to continue reading. I finally did finish the book, though, and found the ending to be quite disappointing.

I received an advance copy of West Heart Kill from NetGalley, this is my honest opinion of the book.

West Heart Kill is a mystery novel set in the 1970s. There’s an unnamed narrator who reminded me of Kolchak: The Night Stalker (which fits because Kolchak was a 1970s show). Except in West Heart Kill, it’s not a friendly reporter narrating between scenes. It’s a narrator that feels cruel, or at least above it all, playing with the reader like a mouse in a maze. It made me wonder just how reliable the narrator is.

The story is brilliant. Kudos to McDorman. But a brilliant story doesn’t mean that it’s entertaining. The meta and the trickery (like leaving out certain information in the list of characters) started feeling too cutesy after a while. But that’s just me. Others will LOVE this book. It’s so fresh (and yet uses old hat tricks, like I said, brilliant).

One thing’s for sure. I’d REALLY like to see West Heart Kill on the big screen!

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance reader copy. I am happy to give my own opinion.

A group of wealthy couples and families gathers at their hunting camp in the Northeastern U.S. over the 4th of July weekend in the late 1970s, Among them is detective Adam McAnnis, college friend and guest of one of the members. Over the course of the weekend, secrets are revealed and bodies pile up. Part locked room mystery, part encyclopedia, part interrogation transcript, this story is told from multiple viewpoints and ultimately suffers from a lack of cohesion and direction. What should be a clever device leads to an unsatisfying and anti-climactic conclusion.

Thank you netgalley for this arc!

What a wild ride! Unpredictable but also such a cluster of different things that it was enough to keep me engaged and turning the page

DNF - page one. This book insists upon itself. I would give zero stars if I could.

This is where I thank the publisher for the ARC, and I do. I just wish I could travel to an alternate universe where this book made sense to me. Made it with a lot of struggle to page 200, then lightly skimmed to the end.

From the back cover:
"The elements of the classic murder mystery... ...but it's the daring structure and mischievously subversive narration..."; It goes on, but sad to say the reality of that second part of the quote is what lead me to 1 star.


The narrative style, while unique, was not my taste. The narrator (aka the writer) speaks directly to the audience (aka the reader) occasionally.... i couldn't.

I am struggling to find the right words to describe my feelings about this book. I am a mood reader and was looking for a mystery or thriller. West Heart Kill appeared as “read now” on NetGalley, so I snatched it up.

I quickly could tell that this wasn’t your typical murder mystery. It reminded me of “Knives Out,” specifically Benoit Blanc. There were parts that I flew through and was really engaged in. Others, I struggled.

Throughout the plotline, the narrator stops and gives you a history of mystery novels and authors. This was not for me, but I could see how some people would enjoy it.

I also became very frustrated with the ending. I think that there were a ton of great ideas, but this book might have tried to do too much, and it fell flat for me

Talking directly to the reader - telling me what I may or may not be thinking - was completely off putting to me. While I absolutely hated this, I do feel my husband would love it. I came for a thriller / mystery and felt it was more literary fiction than anything else (which isn’t my jam).

I did not feel any connection to the characters or the story itself.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

West Heart is a hunting club in NY. A detective was invited to come for a weekend and no one knows who invited him and why he came. You learn about the families and their secrets in the club.

The structure of this book was different than I was expecting. It tells you how to write mystery novels. I think I liked it. I found myself getting lost in the middle of the book during some of these sections and at times not following the story well. I did like the section on Agatha Christie, and I liked learning about her disappearance, but then remembering I was in a different story. As far as a mystery, it was interesting, but I was a little dissatisfied at the ending. I had a thought that this would be an interesting book to re-read, because there is a lot that I probably missed with it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was intrigued by the idea of this book: a mystery novel in which the classic elements of a mystery novel are examined as you read the book. I actually enjoyed the actual plot and the characters in the book. The constant fourth wall breaking was interesting in the beginning as well. I found, however, that the sections that were mere explanations of various mystery tropes detracting from the story. Things got really strange at the end and while the action of the actual story revved up...the ultimate answer to the mystery? Well it just wasn't. This book seems to have very mixed reviews on Goodreads so maybe it works for some, unfortunately it just didn't for me.

An electrifying western thriller that grabs you from the first page and doesn't let go. Gripping plot, vivid setting, and unforgettable characters make it a must-read for fans of the genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor Publishing for giving me an advance copy. All thoughts and opinions are mine!

DNF at 12%. I think this one is really going to be a personal preference book. Yes, I know as a reviewer that all books come down to personal preference but it feels more true with this book.


I knew when I picked it up that the style would be more meta-textural style and that it won't move in the standard of mysteries. I approached it, ready for the ride but unfortunately, the book's tone really put me off. There are two "narrators", a third-person narrator following McAnnis, our lead, and a second-person narrator that directly addresses the audience and is fully aware that this is a murder mystery.

This second-person narration is what puts me off because it's not inviting or enticing. It's too teasing and a little too "Oh, aren't I clever?" at times. It feels less enticing and more like someone trying too hard to seem mysterious and quirky.

When the narrator switched to the third-person and a more traditional style, it was easier to flow with the book but the moment it shifted, it just pulled me out of it. Yes, I know McDorrman is trying something different intentionally here. I'm just not a fan of it.

Maybe if I heard this book on audiobook, I'd be more forgiving, especially with a skilled voice actor.

If this book rocks your world, I wouldn't be shocked but for me, the tone isn't my cup of tea.

(That said, there's a character who seems cunning named Meredith Blake and I need someone else to tell me if they immediately thought of The Parent Trap remake. Just me? That's fair)


TW: Alcholism, ableist phrases, mentions of forced institutionalism.

“West Heart Kill” has an unconventional structure much like “Everyone in This Family Has Killed Someone” or “Knives Out” — a second person meta mystery apparently meant as an homage to the genre that includes the reader in the solving the mystery It takes some getting used to and, in fact, within the first pages the narrator outrightly suggests “it’s not exactly what you’re looking for from a mystery.” The change in narrative styles can be irritating at times (including an annoying questionnaire asking you to vote for potential victims and perpetrators), but for the central plot, we have a detective hired by an unknown person to look for anything unusual at a hunting lodge during a stormy bicentennial weekend in 1976. The unusual eventually includes a suicide, unraveling backstories, and two more corpses. Of course, with the changes in viewpoints, the possibility that there’s an “unreliable narrator” is ever present.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4. The uniqueness of the storytelling is what makes “West Heart Kill” noteworthy. As a mystery, however, it’s commendable but not as thrilling as I hoped for.

Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor and NetGalley for a free advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO The closest to green eyes are Jane’s hazel ones.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO, The book actually opens with this quote: “That corpse you planted last year in your garden, has it begun to sprout?”

What intrigued me about this book was the summary promising a remote location, several guests, a murder, and everyone is a suspect…Quite like Agatha Christie…

I don’t want to seem unkind or overly critical, but I could not go past the first 50 pages. The writing is brilliant, but there are so many characters and subplots, and the copious descriptions of what goes on in the protagonists’ mind that I was feeling like I could not grasp everything that was thrown at me at every turn… I finally decided that I read for fun, and I was not having fun, but was rather trying to learn in school, and my teacher was drifting from one subject to another.

This book is definitely the work of a most detail-oriented author who has done a lot of research to include period appropriate facts…but for me there were too many details that did not help the storyline.
This book was made available to me by NetGalley to read and post an honest review. Thank you.

West Heart Kill is a very, very meta murder mystery.

The mystery itself is set up like a classic "locked room murder" focusing on the guests at a hunting lodge in the 70s, cut off from the public after a storm washes the bridge out. Shortly afterwards, the bodies start piling up, and our detective must figure out the who, why, and how before it's too late....

It brazenly dissects its own tropes and our acceptance and obsession with violence and murder in the written word, breaking the fourth wall, jumping from perspective to perspective, and actually incorporating the reader into the dialogue at certain points. While I found the construction of the book and the informational vignettes fascinating and absolutely brilliant, I can definitely see this one being tough for anyone who goes into it hoping for a simple whodunit.

The ending was utterly unique, and left me feeling both deeply unsatisfied and wildly appreciative for the commitment to deconstruction of the genre, ruthlessly highlighting our hardwired need for a tidy ending, particularly within this formula of storytelling. It both is and is not hard to review this one without giving everything away, and while I can't say I would recommend this book for your summer reading, I think die-hard murder mystery fans or readers who appreciate uniquely constructed narratives are going to find this one very interesting.

West Hill Country Club is an unusual place, a remote hunting lodge where everyone is a suspect. Private detective Adam McAnnis joins an old friend for the weekend and a body is found then before the end of the weekend two more are found. Fun mystery!

This book just wasn’t for me, the writing style was unique but there was just a lot going on. I found myself confused and a little overwhelmed.

The description made me want to read this book but it is not keeping my attention. It had alot going on and I could not keep up, I was confused.

What an odd book. And an amazing read. I couldn’t pause from turning each page. The storytelling defies genres and the author breaks the fourth wall so to speak, which was at first distracting but ultimately serves the book well. I recommend.