If you love a locked room murder mystery and an unreliable narrator, you'll love West Heart Kill! I loved the setting and McDorman is a cool, new voice in mysteries.

West Heart Kill is a twist of a story. There’s at least 4 layers of story here, that switches between story, perspective changes, a play, and mystery backgrounds and tropes. Personally, it was a lot of me. Part of that may have been due to reading another mystery book concurrently with this one. This didn’t hit the mark for me, but I also like my mysteries to be a little more…direct? Smarter readers may enjoy this one more, but this book gave me enough interest where I’ll still probably pick up the next one and see if I can figure that one out. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

This started off strong with a detective traveling to a mysterious club on an assignment unknown to the reader. Not too far in, we are presented with a list of characters and their basic relationships to each other. This is where the story started to fall off for me. I felt like the author didn't take time to develop each character well, which made them challenging to keep straight.

Much of the story is spent bouncing around between characters without gleaning much useful information. It was one of the hardest books to follow that I've encountered. If I had purchased this book, I would have stopped about a third of the way in and given up on the story, but I wanted to push through since this was an ARC provided by the publisher. After finishing the book, I'm still not entirely sure what exactly happened, or who's responsible. This might be better off as an actual screenplay instead of a book that switches into a screenplay towards the end.

I loved the setting of this book, and the overall concept, but the actual delivery fell short for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading West Heart Kill and highly recommend it to any devoted fan of murder mystery fiction. The ending is truly unique, in my experience, which is very rare. Overall this was an exciting read that kept me interested throughout.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

I had a hard time getting through this book — the style was very interesting and I’ve never seen it done in such a meta way before, but it got to be a bit annoying after a while.

The narration style is unique and different from the usual books I read. It skips between an unseen narrator and the detective, McAnnis. I prefer the parts following McAnnis, as it is more traditional and easier for me to read. There are a lot of suspects in this rich man's enclave, and sometimes it's difficult for me to remember who's who. Towards the middle, the book became more interesting and fun to read. But the ending was a total disappointment and not satisfying.

I received a free copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.

While I enjoy a good mystery - and West Heart Kill has all the attributes of one - this book jumped around a bit for me. I've been reading mysteries for decades, and there are many parts of West Heart Kill that drew me in...the setting, the suspects, the body count during a storm, but then the book did a 180 toward the end and turned into basically a script. It was jarring for this seasoned mystery reader. That said, I still think it is worth giving a go. Definitely more pros than cons. I was given a complimentary copy of this book, but my opinion is entirely my own.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for providing a free ARC of this title in exchange for my review.

I have no idea what this book is, wants to be, or thinks it is. It was all over the place. One reviewer called it a love letter to detective mysteries, and that's a better description than I can come up with. There's probably a good story somewhere in this book, but I got so distracted by being taught how to write a mystery novel or being in a play to really enjoy the actual mystery.

I guess the author was trying something new, to make a name for themselves, but I was not a fan.

2 stars for 'it was ok'.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Unfortunately, this meta-mystery genre book did not work for me. I appreciate what the author was trying to do and the inventive style. However, the underlying mystery was not interesting and the style made it hard to follow (or care).

Thank you so much Netgalley for approving me to read this arc in exchange for a review.
This was such a fun read! Absolutely devoured this book.

When I started West Heart Kill, I was expecting a drawing room mystery with a bit of quirky meta narration thrown in. I found the narrative breaks interesting and was enjoying the obvious nod to the conventions of a mystery novel.

After awhile, I started to feel the narration was getting a little precious and found it a bit much because it felt like it was a distraction from the mystery plot. I admit, at this point I put the book aside in favor of a less frustrating novel. I was intrigued enough to come back to it after a bit of a break, and at first I had the same reaction that caused me to put it down. After making my way through enough of the book to get to the murder, which was farther in than I would have liked, I finally settled into a rhythm and my opinion of the narrative breaks shifted.

The narration developed from the interesting aside into full out mini lectures dropped in amongst what felt to me like teases of plot, and I began to consider that possibly the plot was there to serve the narrator rather than the other way round. The murder plot feels more like a case study in a business or psychology class that supports the lecture. Once I got used to it, I really settled in to enjoy the book as an exploration of the mystery genre, and found the information in the narrative sections quite interesting.

I think if you’re looking for a straightforward murder mystery, this book probably isn’t for you. If you’re a lover of the genre and want a very meta experience, this is definitely worth your time.

Exciting, unconventional, clever (and it knows it). West Heart Kill is an enthralling and engaging read.

I was drawn in immediately and continued to be delighted with the shifts and progression of the story. I also appreciated the anecdotes and insights into the murder mystery genre that were sprinkled throughout. I rarely read murder mysteries and can see this being accessible to those new to the genre and avid fans looking for a fresh take. Recommended to any reader willing to go on a journey, perhaps out of their comfort zone, to experience a surprising and dynamic read.

This is an assured debut and I was thrilled to be able to read it. Thank you very much to Knopf and NetGalley for the copy.

I didn't like West Heart Kill. The thing I disliked most about it was that it was written through the eyes of the reader. And the beginning dragged on and on. I was so bored with it that I just couldn't continue. I gave it one star.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC! I love a good whodunit - in fact, it is one of my favorite tropes in a book. I had a hard time putting down this book once I started it. I'll admit it took me a little to get into it, but once I was in I was hooked. There were times I was a bit confused, but I think it added to the novel. I'll recommend this to my friends!

I had super high hopes for this book, but it wasn't for me in the end. Reading it on my phone didn't do the book any favors; at least a physical copy would've made it easier to flip to the character list at the beginning. In the end, I wanted more narrative and less mystery writing lessons.

I want to start by thanking the publisher for access to this book. I appreciate what the author was trying to do, but the writing style was just not for me. This isn't a bad book in any sense - it will do well among those who enjoy the "rich people satire" genre (which is why I requested it, I adore this era of storytelling). I found the narrative structure (similar to the "meta" style that is done in Glass Onion/Knives Out) somewhat distracting and challenging, but that's more a me thing. Overall I think this is a fun and unique book.

While I sometimes like myself a good whodunnit murder mystery, I just don't think this book was for me. The book was written very well and I think anyone who really loves "Clue" type books would really love this.

This book was amazing! I had to put it down to keep it from ending. I didn't want to finish it at all. I look forward to more book from this author,

I really enjoyed how this book made me feel like I was Nancy Drew. I’ve never read a book written this way. The author goes out of their way to make you feel like you’re involved in the investigation. Initially this kept me very interested and excited to see what I’d “find out” next. However it started to get redundant felt extremely drug out. I was just tired of trying to get through and to the point. Worth the read for the unique writing style. But not sure I’d purchase when it comes out.

Really wanted to like this more But 3 stars is the best I can do. There was a lot of clever “asides” I’ll call them. But you really could just skim thru them as they didn’t seem super relevant to the story. Not a bad book, but not my thing.