A group of people at a hunting camp are picked off one by one. A treatise on the mystery genre in the structure of a mystery, West Heart Kill lacks the interest of a traditional mystery.

A really interesting take on the mystery novel! Although the setting is a classic of the genre--an isolated hunting lodge with a variety of guests/suspects, the book upends tradition in its presentation. The author/narrator frequently breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the reader by pointing out clues and more, so you feel as if you are part of the creative process of developing the story. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book, but the more traditional parts--characters and plot--did not work as well for me. And I found the asides regarding classic mysteries to be distracting, although fans of the genre may enjoy these mini history lessons.

Kudos to the author for bending the genre, and thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ACR of West Heart Kill in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was excited to be invited to read West Heart Kill. It seemed like a great murder mystery with a lot of promise. But oh, what could’ve been. The writing style of this book makes it complicated and hard to follow. I really wanted to enjoy it, but just couldn’t get drawn into it. I almost felt like it was an instruction manual on how to enjoy a murder mystery instead of an actual novel.

I really wanted to enjoy this book and I was excited to read it. Unfortunately, it was hard to get into and it lost me with the over explanation and details. The story itself was good, I just had a difficult time engaging with the book.

I couldn’t finish this book so take that for what it’s worth in this review. There seems to be a lot of buzz for this book, so I was excited to pick it up. I enjoy Agatha Christie and loved last years Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone, so I thought I would enjoy this. I found it hard to follow and pretentious, and ended up DNFing

West Heart Kill has an incredibly interesting premise but did not deliver what I thought it would. I think there is absolutely an audience for this type of read but it was not for me.

I really wanted to like this book. It’s right up my alley. Cozy mystery. Locked room mystery. Unfortunately, it lost me when every part of the genre and how the genre works was explained in detail. I assume it was trying to be clever and witty but I think it missed the mark completely. It felt like reading a textbook and it completely distracts from the main plot. I sadly had to put it down and did not finish.

While this book is completely out of my normal realm of genres, I can honestly say I was hooked early on. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, so this can be distracting at times. But I really liked the mix of murder mystery and historical notes on the genre. Any time I can learn something new from a book, fiction or non-fiction, I appreciate it. I loved Adam as a character so...

West Heart Kill by Dann McDorman was a story the completely blew my damn mind.
This is every bit of a classic murder mystery and I loved every second of it.
The writing is phenomenal here. Truly captivating and just incredibly well done.
The storyline itself was quite a unique one and filled with action, mystery, suspense, murder, and a few sparks of what could be which kept me reading until late at night and on the edge of my seat.
A compelling literary murder mystery debut that was just phenomenal.
Brilliantly written, intricately plotted and incredibly clever.
I can’t wait to see where this journey takes Dann, good places I hope because we need more of these!

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Knopf for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This book had my head spinning with the “who done it.” It read like a play which I enjoyed but the narrator kept going in depth(sometimes too deep) into murder mystery novels in history which most I know nothing about. Though he did explain to the point that I had some understanding.

I truly had no idea who was guilty or even a true suspect the entire time. The narration was almost banter-like while dissecting the clues and plot with you. Was the banter to help you figure it out or to throw you, that is the question.

One of the most unique mysteries I've read. Not the mystery itself but the method of storytelling by a narrator who speaks to the reader directly. I found it compelling and the mystery itself was good as well.

Interesting read and unlike any other murder mystery I've ever read. The unique writing style and shifting perspective kept me entertained and engaged. The setting and time period also gave the story a fun crucible to hang around in. The shifty and despicable cast of characters were fascinating and bizarre. While the story kept me hooked in, I'm a bit perplexed by the way it ends. Different and worth the read.

Very interesting book and a fun way to make a classic trope new and interesting. Mystery books are always a favorite of mine and reading one that broke the fourth wall in so many ways was a lot of fun I will also say I fully expected a different killer, so great job with that.

I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I opened this book. I've never read anything quite like it.
A few things did cross my mind though. I'm sure glad that it wasn't just me who thought this.
This book seems to have 3 different stories. Kind of hard to keep up with in my opinion
I did like the 1st person point of view however. That sort of helped.
Then it changed into something else entirely! I thought oh my!
A lot of suspects which did sort of make the story interesting.
I do think that this story will keep you turning the pages to actually see who it was.
The many twists and turns were interesting.
I will say that other people who love stuff like this may love it.
I'm sorry but this wasn't my cup of tea so to speak.

288 pages

3 stars

I really liked the author speaking to the audience, as if including the reader in the mystery.

That being said, I think this book was too erudite for me. I love locked room mysteries and was hoping for such. I like to be entertained when I read. I also read for escape. I didn’t feel as though this book were either. It was too much work. (Whatever that means.)

I am sorry.

I want to thank NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor/Knopf for forwarding to me a copy of this interesting, but daunting book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

I love a locked room mystery. This was quite good. It kept me entertained and guessing till the very end!
I just reviewed West Heart Kill by Dann McDorman. #WestHeartKill #NetGalley
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When I first started this book, I didn't know what to expect, and my first instinct was "this book isn't for me." But because I had agreed to read it, I decided to give it a chance and at least read a bit more. And within a few pages I was hooked. I was hooting with laughter and loving the second person sections where the author told me what I was thinking. I was really into it. I loved all the little history lessons and I added so many classic mysteries to my to-read shelf because of how they were described here. For the first 75% of the book, I was enthralled. I was recommending it to my friends, talking it up in my book groups, the works.

Then, I got to the climax, the remaining 25% of the book, and I was turned off faster than you can say "ugh." This lovely novel that I'd been enjoying became a play. I kid you not, a play, with characters on a stage and a plant in the audience and really weird descriptions for why everything happened. It was written so strangely at this point, that I could barely understand who committed certain crimes and why. Everything was distracting away from the actual content. And then there was the big reveal at the very end, and while I'm still not even sure I understand who the murderer is, if it's who I think it is, I could vomit. That's gotta be the worst ending for a mystery that I have ever read, and I've read hundreds. I've never been so disappointed in the whodunit. Even Gone Girl made more sense than this.

So now I'm stuck. I want to give this a decent rating because so much of the book was incredibly enjoyable for me. But so much of that enjoyment has turned to dust because of the ending. I might recommend future readers only read the first 3/4 of the book and ignore the ending, since honestly it would be better if you had no idea who the murderer was than finding out who the author decided it is. I'm so dejected right now because I really thought this book was something special in a good way, and it's the other kind of special. The kind that gets you all excited and then leaves you wishing you could erase sections from your memory. After all the talk about mysteries, the reader is left with a huge one at the end of the book--and I for one hate it when some things are left unexplained. What a disappointment.

I can't not recommend this book because there are too many interesting things in the pages. The sections about mysteries, the traits of good mysteries, and the history of mysteries are all amazing. Parts of the actual mystery are interesting, but only the parts in second person. The rest of the book I would recommend skipping for your own sanity. Talking just about the parts I enjoyed: If you rarely read mystery novels, this book probably isn't for you. You might not find this book interesting if mysteries in general don't captivate you. But if you've ever tried to write a novel or short story, focusing on characters' motivations, you'll love this. If you've read more than 5 mysteries in the last year, this book is for you. If you've ever gotten to the end of a mystery and, at the big reveal, wondered how the author could have slipped in so many (now) obvious clues without you noticing them, there's a chance this book will become a new favorite.

But stop reading when the play starts if you don't want a nasty taste left in your mouth.

I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Here are a few quotes for the book that I think will give prospective readers an idea if this book is for them. Please note that these quotes are from the ARC and may not reflect the book when it is published.

"McAnnis does in fact remember her, from a trip to the Blakes ’ apartment in the city, during college, but she was just a kid then, with the full horror show: braces, acne, awkwardness. But now she is an altogether different creature . . . and you think, as you read the passage that follows, of how all novelistic descriptions are essentially exercises in voyeurism and fantasy, especially when, as here, the words evoke the tropes of what academics call the male gaze: tanned thighs, ripped jean shorts, star-spangled red-white-and-blue-bikini-topped breasts, blond shag framing cheeks dotted with summer freckles . . . descriptions that, you’ve always suspected, reveal more about the writers than the characters they’ve invented."

"Since every reader is, by definition, a voyeur, you don’t hesitate to peek over the detective’s shoulder as he rotates the drug bottles to read the labels. Noting evidence of the affluent insomniac: Aspirin. Valium. Flurazepam. The merely embarrassing: Preparation H. Vagisil. The expected: Minoxidil. Premarin. And the intriguing: Ritalin. Quaalude-300. A writer so inclined, you reflect, could build a biography based solely on the contents of a person’s medicine cabinet. You think, also, that an overdose of sleeping pills is a frequent, if unreliable, method of murder."

"As a general rule, in murder mysteries, the least likable character is the most likely to die. But devious writers can anticipate your knowledge of this cliché and thrust a character like Warren Burr into early prominence to surprise you, later, with an entirely different victim. Or, perhaps, more devious still, circle back and kill him off in a double bluff— destined to die all along, exploiting and perverting your expectations from the start. Of course, some writers, among them not the least skilled, use much the same trick to mask and unmask their murderers . . ."

"Readers, like detectives, have nothing to go on but their own experience, and so, from the first sentence of this book, perhaps without even realizing it, you’ve been reviewing past fictions the way a sleuth might consult his case files for possible solutions or at least lines of inquiry. As a student of murder, you know that every crime initially presents with a virtually endless set of potential clues and storylines. But, properly pursued, every investigation takes on the shape of a funnel, ultimately narrowing to the motives that have driven men and women to kill for thousands of years—love, hate, fear, greed, jealousy—along with a panoply of lesser vices—lust, ambition, rage, vanity, shame, cowardice. And so, like a forensic detective who seeks to match crime-scene fingerprints to a database of known criminals, you understand that the answers to this mystery may be found in the case files of your prior reading."

Adam McAnnis, private detective, was hired to find out about the New England West Heart Club and some of its members. He calls upon an old college friend to get an invite to their 4th of July celebration. As McAnnis gets to know the people there, he finds that they all have secrets. A suicide, an accidental shooting and then murder, with all the members becoming trapped at the resort when a devastating storm hits. McAnnis now feels that he needs to find the killer.
This story is not just a straight forward mystery. To begin with we have the narrator filling us in on background, sidebars of stories, plotting and insights into writing a mystery. The protagonist detective moves the actual story along. Then the narrator becomes the collective "we" of the club members and finally the reader becomes part of the plot line trying to figure out "Whodunit".
This unusual telling of a noir type cozy murder mystery, even with all the asides, moves along at a quick pace holding the reader's interest until the final denouncement.
Thank you NetGalley and Alfred A. Knopf for this e-galley of "West Heart Kill".

5 sparkly stars, with a crown on top! A favourite of the year for sure. What a brilliant read for mystery lovers and fans of unusually structured books!

But while I loved reading this, I wouldn’t recommend it to every reader of mystery fiction.

If you’ve enjoyed, occasionally tongue-in-cheek, mystery books with a very strong meta element, like Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson or Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi and you get a kick out of the puzzle element of Janice Hallett’s novels, then you might want to check out West Heart Kill. I’m a fan of all those things and this was the perfect book for me!

On the other hand, if you want your mysteries to be straightforward and linear whodunits and you don’t care about the genre and its history, then this might not be the book for you.

The story switches between the murder mystery part, set at a hunting club and an almost nonfiction-like, genre analysis part. On top of that, the text plays with different narrative perspectives. First-person, second-person, third-person - all there! I found it super interesting and had an extremely fun time reading. But if this is not what you want from your fiction, it has the potential to be incredibly irritating. Maybe even boring.

For me, everything in this just worked. The structure, the mystery itself, the thematic content!

I’ll be thinking about this book for a while and I will most definitely be keeping my eye out for any future releases by Dann McDorman!

A bit too meta for me. This closed room mystery (a genre I adore) but with loads is nods to the classics (meh) and with a winking nod to the reader through a talk to the audience approach. Ok but not great.