I love a good murder mystery and I thought this sounded so interesting ! I think the writing style was creative but I don’t think it was for me. It was just kind of hard to follow and think I would have preferred a basic style and would have enjoyed it more.

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for the eARC in exchange for a review!

Ok, I WANTED to love this, but for me the narrator who kept hopping in and out of the story was so distracting! It also annoyed me because the narrator was so egotistical. I just couldn't stand him. I know that that was sort of the point, but still. The way it was written completely took me out of the story.

The book was a let-down based on the summary that I read and seeing the cover. I didn't like the world building of the book and the writing felt obnoxious to me. I stopped after around 77 pages.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
I found this book to be disappointing: rambling plot, unappealing characters and a poor ending.
Felt like I was reading a book while receiving a lesson on writing a specific genre of book…wouldn’t recommend.

This book had the best “Clue” type vibes! I loved the who-dunnit style story. One of the things that did stand out was the constantly pov switch. While I normally do like POV switches there were times where it felt like a bit much. Overall this was a fun and engaging story that kept me guessing in all sorts of directions.

West Heart Kill is a great locked room mystery read with a fresh twist. I loved the narration and the fresh take on an old trope. I had fun reading this one and I recommend it.

thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, Knopf for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.


An unusual and twisty mystery that is told from an odd point of view. The story is told by an complete outsider who sort of guides you along and narrates the story and explains and unfolds what a mystery consists of. I found it to be helpful but also a bit annoying. Most of the time I just wanted to get along with the story and I often lost track because of the interruptions.
Overall a neat murder mystery but probably not one I would revisit or like to see repeated.

This was a quirky book.The style of writing made it difficult for me to read. It was almost like reading a script of a radio show or TV show. I definitely think there is a certain audience that would love the style of storytelling. Overall the story was good and I liked the 1970s setting. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

2.5 ⭐️ rounded up to 3

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 💭: I struggled with this book and debated whether I wanted to review it at all.
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The cover and description give the vibe of an old-school-murder-mystery, which grabbed me immediately. ⁣⁣
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Unfortunately, the story takes a totally different direction. In fact, it takes about 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 different directions. 🙄 ⁣⁣
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I wasn't bothered when the author continued to break through the fourth wall, repeatedly speaking to "𝘠𝘰𝘶, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳..." I wasn't even bothered by the sudden change to screenplay format 75% through, even though most reviewers disliked this. ⁣⁣
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What DID bother me, was the constant breaks from the story to give random nonfiction accounts (such as: the history of the word "murder," popular "rules" authors use when writing murder mysteries, and tons of info on Agatha Christie 🤷‍♀️). I skimmed over most of this, as it felt unnecessary to the plot and I wanted to read a murder mystery, not a research paper. 𝘕𝘰𝘯𝘦 of this would have bothered me, though, if the core story turned out to be brilliant. But there was nothing original about the mystery itself. 90% of the plot was revealing who amongst the suspects was sleeping with another suspect's husband/wife. And the ending was....nonexistent? If it was meant to be groundbreaking or thought-provoking, it was not. All I felt at the end was like I'd been duped into reading a book with no real conclusion. ⁣⁣
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As a reader, I don't need my books to be overly ambitious. I don't need them to redefine a genre. I certainly dont need cheap gimmicks. What I need is a good story I can get into, well developed characters I can root for (or hate), and an ending that satisfies.⁣⁣
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This story let me down on all three points. ⁣⁣
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That said, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the writing itself. I can't help but feel as though the author was led astray by an editor/publishing team on this one, which is a shame. With the proper guidance, this might have been great. 😒

I enjoyed the story but I didn't care for the writing style. The play format in the 2nd half of the book really turned me off. This murder mystery is set at a remote hunting lodge where everyone is a suspect, including the erratic detective on the scene. The characters were interesting and well developed. I had a hard time finishing.

The experiments in writing style of this book are interesting and would make for great book club discussion, but they also made for a book that wasn't very engaging..

This book is catnip for mystery lovers, it was so much fun to read. West Heart Kill makes use of so many great classic mystery tropes. The omniscient narrator in his meta form keeps pointing out the similarities to Agatha Christie's books to the reader: there are isolating storms and locked room murders. This technique makes the reader part of the mystery and guessing what's going on is just so much fun that I encourage you to jump in blind. This book is so very meta.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

West Heart Kill was an interesting mystery book. I wouldn't necessarily call it a thriller, though. In the beginning, I was a bit bored with how slowly everything was moving. Plus, this whole country club was not making that much sense to me. There was too much unknown, and I didn't trust any of the characters.

Then things started to pick up. Romance, mystery, and deaths. I wasn't sure if they were connected or not, but things just weren't making sense. It drove me nuts. Completely bonkers. Drugs, alcohol, and sleeping with whoever was available just kind of felt right in this weird ass place. Plus, I just wanted to know who hired the detective and what he was looking for exactly.

Honestly, there were some reveals and twists that I didn't see coming. I was completely shocked, and I had no idea what was going to happen next. Unfortunately, I wasn't a huge fan of how things ended. The confession really annoyed me because of everything that was revealed before that very last chapter.

In the end, I liked some of the characters and hated a lot more. I hope this place burns to the ground.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

West Heart Kill is an isolation murder mystery in the vein of the classic Agatha Christie novels. It is unique because most of the book is told in second person, the writer breaking the fourth wall and cheekily addressing the reader about murder mystery tropes and clues discovered throughout the novel. In this way it is very similar to the popular mystery book Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone. But, the tone of West Heart Kill is more serious. The writer also takes breaks from the story to give the reader little history lessons about the murder mystery genre- some of these excerpts I found interesting, especially the parts about Agatha Christie, while some I skimmed through.

As for the story and characters of the novel, I was fairly bored. It was hard for me to keep track of all the characters because few of them were unique enough to stand out to me. All the characters act like the stereotype of who they are- rich, white (straight and cis) people. And their troubles are what you would expect from those types of characters.

The mystery (or mysteries) present in the book did interest me enough to continue to the end but I was not astounded by any of the revelations. And the final twist- it felt like a smug, clever joke from the author that read to me as a disappointing cop-out.

I would tentatively recommend this if you liked Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone.

The biggest thing for me when reading a mystery is it's predictability. Based on what happens here, do I now know what is going to happen there? Does the author foreshadow too much leaving the mystery, missing?
I thoroughly enjoyed Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone, and I would say that West Heart Kill fits right there with it. While some pieces are predictable, Others will leave you feeling baffled as to why you didn't figure them out. West Heart Kill is a marvelously done puzzle in the form of a mystery that I think readers looking for a change from the usual will enjoy.

An interesting mystery, one that pulled me in right from the start. Unlike others, I initially didn't mind that the story spoke to the reader and engaged the reader into the experience. But somewhere around 70%, the story slowed way down by adding me to the narrative. The mystery lost its momentum and I found myself just wanting to be done. I liked the first two twists and reveals but the last one left me disappointed. It's unique, and for avid mystery readers, it might be fun to branch out just to read something different.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

West Heart Kill is an unconventional locked room mystery. The format of this book was very different but I loved it. I can see why others might not love the POVs and the formatting but I loved it. The book follows a group of people staying at the elite West Heart club. We mainly follow our detective Adam McAnnis as he uncovers everyone's secrets-including his own. We as the reader are even some what as a character and we get to be pretty involved in the story.



Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I tried. I really did. But my heart tells me it's time to DNF and move on. This felt more like reading a screenplay than a novel. The goal of the book is to engage the audience, however I was more enraged than I was engaged. I'm not a fan of when authors continually tell me how to feel or what to think, and this is all this was. Nope, definitely not for me.

This was an interesting whodunnit that is a celebration of mystery novels. At the request of a client, a PI nabs an invite to a ritzy hunting club from an old college buddy to investigate the people there. Readers learn more about why he's there and who hired him as we go along and bodies start to drop. There is a narrator that breaks the proverbial fourth wall who often goes into historical concepts from important mystery novels. I found it both novel and distracting. I appreciate what it was trying to do but felt pulled out of the story and manipulated by where my attention was being directed. I was also confused about the end. I'm still not sure I understand who the killer is.

4 stars, rounded up from 3.5

West Heart Kill is a clever twist on a traditional murder mystery, with the author constantly “breaking the fourth wall” and speaking directly to the reader. In one sense, this took away from the narrative flow of the mystery story, but the sidebars were often extremely interesting - such as the ones that referenced “golden age” mystery writers John Dickson Carr and Agatha Christie, as well as others. It’s a very “meta” murder mystery.

The action takes place at an isolated hunting club in upstate New York (West Heart is the place name) in 1976: specifically over the July 4 holiday weekend. The book has very long chapters, one for each day, from Thursday to Sunday. There are natural break points in the chapters, so the lengthy chapters shouldn’t put off potential readers. Adam MacAnnis is a detective, who suffers PTSD from his experiences in Vietnam. He has been hired by an unspecified person (you eventually find out who) to observe and report back on anything unusual at the club. An old friend of his is a member - well, his family has been members for years - and Adam inveigles an invitation to accompany the friend on his holiday getaway.

There are a lot of characters to keep track of, which did become an issue for me; I kept getting them mixed up, as there’s a lot of interaction and connections among the members. Lots of infidelity, for sure.

There is more than one death over the four days, and there’s a surprise twist about 80% in. (I don’t do spoilers!) The ending was abrupt and I wasn’t thrilled about that, but I still am rounding up from 3.5 to 4 stars, because I found the whole thing very clever and a nice break from a straightforward mystery novel.

Note: Not sure it’s essential to know, but the word “Kill” in the title has a couple of meanings. The obvious one, plus the fact that it denotes a body of water (Dutch etymology) and is fairly common in place names in New York and New Jersey, such as Arthur Kill, Cresskill, Catskill, Peekskill, and so forth.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book, although I was rather late to it. I bounced between the ARC and the published audiobook, courtesy of my public library. The narrator, Robert Petkoff, did a good job with the various voices All opinions are my own.