I was at a loss for this one.

So many storylines going on, different perspectives, lots of characters, and just overall a lot going on. The act 3 switch and subsequent disappearance of Theo was a bit much for me, it seemed a bit out of character.

If you're a complex novel reading kind of person this is the one but it wasn't for me

This was my first book from this author and I promise you it will not be my last, what a great story!! I was a little hesitant at first when the story seems to show signs of conspiracy of a Frankenstein Project, but it worked so well with the main story!
Theodosia shows up on her brothers doorstep in America after dropping out of the Australian university and wants to become a writer instead of a lawyer. As she finds a local coffee shop to start writing her book, she meets up with a famous author Dan Murdoch. Their friends is fast and feelings are starting to evolve between the two of them when Dan gets murdered and it appears that Theo is the number one suspect. This is where the book gets wild and super interesting! Publishers are shady and twisted, Theo gets herself further and further in the weeds of more murders and the people finding a conspiracy with the whole ordeal are out for blood.

The only negative I have about this book that knocked it down from 5 stars to 4 for me was the last quarter of the book. The entire book was well paced and provided just the right amount of details until the last quarter. Then it kind of just jumps to the ending. It felt a little rushed and like he was just trying to wrap things up. I did like how there were no loose ends and all my questions were answered, but I think it could have been a bit more detailed in the end.

Overall this was a EXCELLENT book and I will be seeking out more reads from this author.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

3.5 stars

In Gentill's latest THE MYSTERY WRITER, Theo (female) arrives at her brother Gus's house after having dropped out of law school and deciding to become a writer. Theo soon decides to continue writing at the local hangout Benders, and there she meets Dan, a published writer, who is also there to write. They start up a friendship (and more!), but when Theo discovers Dan's dead body, she is pulled into a mystery where her brother is the main suspect. Gus's friend Mac, who is from a doomsday prepper family, is also pulled into the mix.

There was a slow start to this, which I really enjoyed as I settled into the story. The slowness continued until past it had worn out its welcome. A lot of the middle is about the logistics of hiding, which frankly wasn't that interesting. And then there was a burst of 10-15% of the book toward the end that read like an action novel, and it was almost too chaotic. So the pace was rather uneven, and for most of the time I felt like Goldilocks (mostly wanting a faster pace, but toward the end wanting a slower pace).

I liked the atmosphere for most of the book except toward the chaotic end. There was some intrigue. I felt like the author had some things to say about publishing via the story, which I liked, but it was much more subtle than, say, YELLOWFACE.

I felt like the author held us a distance from the characters. Mac was my favorite character. Perhaps that was because I got to see Mac interact with his family. I was intrigued by the family Gus and Theo came from, so I was frustrated that we didn't get to see more dynamics with their parents.

I wasn't wowed by the author's previous thriller THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY, so perhaps I should have skipped this because this author may not land for me like she does for others. It was an overall solid mystery, but there were a few elements that didn't quite work for me (the pacing, felt like I didn't get a close view of the characters, wanted to explore more of Gus's and Theo's dynamics with their parents).

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ok first speaking as someone who doesn’t have siblings but always wanted them the sibling love in this book was amazing. They would truly do anything for eachother.

There was a lot going on at ask times with this book and that was kind odd confusing for me but I really enjoyed this book a lot.

Theodosia Benton leaves her home in Australia to join her brother Gus in Lawrence, Kansas. She’s dropped out of law school, giving up her parents’ plan for her to follow the family tradition, choosing instead to follow her own dream of becoming a writer.
Through pure luck, or, perhaps karma, she is befriended by Dan Murdoch, a famous novelist, in the coffee shop/bar where she spends her days writing. He takes an interest in her writing, and mentors her through the months it takes to finish her book. Finally, it’s done, and a prestigious agency wants to put her under contract. She tries to give Murdoch the good news, but it seems that he’s ghosted her. When she goes to Murdoch’s home, she finds out why. The door is open, and she stumbles through a pool of blood to see his dead body.
This sets off a series of events that sends her life, and the lives of those close to her, on a path straight to Hell. She’s the primary suspect in the murder, and her brother, in trying to defend her, gets caught up in the mess. Soon, everyone she is close to is in danger.

I really enjoyed Theo's journey from the start. She is quirky and ultimately searching for the life for her when realizing being a lawyer isn't for her. I like how this showcased we can change the direction of our lives, even when there is outside pressure from others. I loved the relationship between Theo and her brother, Gus, and of course, the dog, ironically named Horse. The relationship between Theo and Dan was interesting and I was immediately waiting for the shoe to drop with the build up Sulari provided right from the beginning. The writing was in a way ominous as you knew what was going to happen but the writing still pulled a reaction from me which is huge because I usually don't like when I already know plot points. Theo was surprisingly naïve with her interactions with people which I wasn't expecting and I found myself telling her to be more cautious and wanting her to speak her mind and stop following with whatever someone was saying. The mystery surrounding Dan as a person and the addition with the snippets with the conspiracy theory had me hooked. Once Dan was murdered, things really took off and you get to see so many of the twists and turns play out which kept me wanting to read more. There were parts that kind of dragged and I felt didn't flow the best but overall I thought it was a good read and was different from other books I read which I loved.

It took me a little while to get through the book but that is not a reflection on the actual book itself. When I had time to read I was engrossed and flew through the pages with ease. Overall, this was an enjoyable read for me and I recommend it!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thoughts: Wow. This was definitely not what I was expecting. It was much more. First of all, it’s a thriller, not a cozy mystery. The main character, Theo, sometimes comes across as naïve and meek, but by the end, she has grown into a stronger person. I loved the character of Mac, and Gus wasn’t too bad either. And the dog, Horse, was adorable. The plot was at times a little confusing, but did work out in the end. In fact, the end surprised me a little, but in a very good way. It’s definitely not the kind of work I usually read, but I’m glad I did. It was very different and intriguing.

Recommendation: Recommended.

Disclaimer: Disclosure of Material: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book with the hope that I will leave my unbiased opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

I decided to read The Mystery Writer, based on the previous Sulari Gentill novel that I had read, The Woman in the Library. No two books could be so different. I learned a long time ago to always complete a novel, once started. Sometimes a writer will surprise readers with something totally unexpected. That was not the case with The Mystery Writer. Finishing this novel was a real struggle. All of the conspiracy stuff was a distraction that was confusing and served no purpose. The relationship between brother and sister and their family had possibilities that went unfulfilled because of other distractions.

The Mystery Writer takes a lot of work and constant rereading to try and understand the point of so many confusing digressions. Reading The Mystery Writer was a great deal of work and without the hoped-for reward. It is rare for me not to enjoy a novel. However, I realize that not every book appeals to every reader. Reading tastes are highly individualistic. Films are the same way. My grandsons loved a very strange film that won many awards, but I totally missed the point. I kept wondering why they were laughing.

Thank you to the author, Poison Pen Press, and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review. I encourage people to read all of the reviews for any book they consider purchasing. Many people enjoyed The Mystery Writer. I am just not one of them. 2.5/5

This book certainly had an interesting premise that would appeal to many readers who are fascinated by authors and their process. The story of a hopeful author trying to get a book published while wrestling with issues in the rest of her life was interesting, but I must confess there were clues dropped like lead weights that alerted me far too early in the story to a likely solution to the mystery.
I’m not suggesting this story is a waste of time, but by the end it really jumps the shark. If you don’t mind some over-the-top situations and solutions, give it a try.

Theodosia Benton leaves Sydney, Australia and school and goes to her brother Gus, a partner in a law firm in Laurence, Kansas. Gus supports her efforts to write full-time and she then meets another writer, Dan Murdoch. When she discovers his body and that he was murdered, the police suspect her. Mac Ethridge, a private investigator and friend of Gus, is asked by Theo to look into Murdoch's death, but when two more bodies are found, all three are now suspects while at the same time, Theo's life is in danger.
A tense story that builds slowly to a thrilling conclusion with cut throat publishers, doomsday preppers and maniacal fans.
Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this e-galley of "The Mystery Writer".

"The Mystery Writer" by Sulari Gentill presents a unique blend of mystery, literary exploration, and conspiracy, making for an intriguing narrative. The story revolves around Theodosia Benton, who abandons her legal career to pursue writing, leading her into a hidden literary world where identity is malleable.

I enjoyed Gentill’s approach to interweaving conspiracies throughout and I thought this was such an interesting take; showing just how pervasive conspiracies can be. While ultimately much of the novel, especially the final conspiracy twist, felt unlikely, I thought that this perfectly fit the novel - as don’t all conspiracies seem unbelievable until they’re proven true? Yet, this book is confusing in the beginning. It has chat room sessions in between the story and as a reader they lack context. You are wondering what it all means.

There were places in this book where I felt Gentill lost the plot a little, and I wasn't sure how it would all come together. The last 20% of the book was a RIDE, so it did throw me off a little. I wish we had gotten more about Mac's family and how they were involved in all the conspiracies.

However, once you start to figure out what is going on, you cannot wait to see what is going to happen next. Could a conspiracy be in play?

I would say this is more of a cozy mystery than a thriller, but still enjoyable.

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the eARC of this book!

Much like The Woman in the Library, this book was great in premise but not in execution.

Theodosia Benton has chucked law school and flown halfway around the world to show up on her brother Gus's doorstep in a tiny Kansas town where he practices law. The details of her departure are fuzzy but she has decided to give herself the opportunity to pursue her true passion: writing. With Gus's encouragement, Theo finds herself becoming a regular at Benders, a local bar where she sits with her laptop and works on her novel. And Benders is where she meets Dan Murdoch, a bestselling author who just happens to also frequent that establishment.

Theo and Dan strike up a friendship, mainly discussing Theo's historical mystery with Dan giving advice and support to his new friend who is slowly becoming more than just a friend. As they get to know each other, Dan also starts to share details about his own novel in progress and the inspiration he's been drawing from online forums devoted to pedaling conspiracy theories. Things are going well until Theo shows up at Dan's apartment only to find him dead on the floor and Theo is suspect number one. With the help of her lawyer brother and his private investigator Mac, Theo sets out to find Dan's killer but in the process unearths an even larger conspiracy far beyond what Dan could ever have imagined in his novels.

There were parts of this book that I really enjoyed but I had a hard time with the conspiracy theory angle and how it fit in to the overall mystery. I often felt myself being yanked away from the heart of the story to read these strange ramblings that were meant to be a forum for sharing bizarre theories. By the time I finished reading I was relieved that it was over and was left feeling rather unsatisfied with the conclusion. I definitely would not have chosen to read this book had it not been on NetGalley.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Theo is not happy in her life. She decides to make sone changes because she wants to write a book. This decision she makes will change her life in many ways. This book was a quick read.

For the most part I enjoyed this story very much. The relationship between Theo and her brother, Gus, was realistic and fun to be part of. It reminded me of the best playful times with my own brothers, and the bond was deep between them.

When Theo discovers the murder of her friend and mentor, Dan Murdoch, she is in so much shock she has a hard time functioning. The police consider her a main suspect and that thread of suspicion is pulled through the bulk of the story.

The author did a great job creating tension and wonderful characters. However the ending fell short. I can't say how specifically without giving a spoiler and I don't want to do that.

Conspiracies abound in this tale of an aspiring writer gets deeply involved in a publishing organization that isn't what it seems to be. As the body count starts adding up, the story takes a bizarre path that requires the reader to suspend disbelief. The ending jumps a very large shark.

I couldn’t put this one down! At the heart, it was a murder mystery, but it has so many other elements—conspiracy theorists, writers, cozy coffee shops, romance, and murder without the gore. Although the ending felt a bit rushed, the story kept me guessing and turning pages until the very end. A unique and interesting story! Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced copy!

I have mixed feelings about this one. Parts of it I enjoyed, the character of Theo and her growth, I liked the concept of the book and I get what it was trying to achieve. It didn't quite get there for me though. It was entertaining as a story of good vs evil and a look at conspiracy theories, so if i take it as just that...... 3.5 rounded up

Not enjoyed this one as much as I had the author's previous book. I felt that the book was overtly long and predictable at the same time as it became increasingly bizzare as it progressed.

Thank you NetGalley for an Advanced Reader Copy.

The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill had a lot of promise in the beginning. Readers are led to believe that they're reading an intricate mystery and eager to see how it unfolds.

When this book opens, each chapter is kicked off with a few posts from a conspiracy forum. The tension is high. However, everything that was set up falls apart. Later chapters are missing the conspiracy forums in the opening. This was a major loss for The Mystery Writer.

I wish it was more consistent with the conspiracy forums. There really could have been a way to put that snappy and thoughtful insight at the beginning of every chapter. It made the reader which characters represent which usernames, and what are their motives. If it was continued, like it was almost promised to the reader, it could have really added a lot of magic and mystery to the novel. It very much irked me that the format of integrating the forums was was abandoned.

When Gentill stopped including the forums, she abandoned her premise. There is nothing worse in a book than a lost premise.

Later, she picks it up again. This was all a huge mistake. Authors, if you're taking a risk like inserting a make-believe forum into your novel, you must commit. You cannot take big risks like that without a 100% commitment to the bit. If you're going to jump, jump. If you want to dive, dive. Otherwise, it falls short. If you're taking a risk with your work, take it all the way!

Why on earth would an author abandon her premise? It baffles me. What is the point of writing without a premise? I thought that when the author abandoned this structure, there would be a reason, like the forum was shut down, or something to that effect. Nothing. Just lazy, half-assed writing. What an intriguiging start, and to leave it in the dust like that was a shame. I wish this book was so, so much better.

Gentill did not only lose her premise. She also lost her plot, which I am sure is probably more noticeable to most readers. Now, let me discuss this aspect with a metaphor. I want to act as the book doctor here, and make a diagnosis. I can tell you exactly why The Mystery Writer felt like it lost the plot. I can get to the root of the issue in this novel.

Dan's death that happens at the 25% mark, but it should've been at the 50% mark. In a story's structure, the big change is supposed to happen in the middle of the story. We are supposed to have an 'I can never go back to the way it was before' moment with the protagonist halfway through. When this happens too early, we are only set up for trouble.

This author dropped her midpoint far too early. It is a sad assesment, but I must tell you the truth. I know she could have given us more of Dan, set up more tension, and raised the stakes. But the big murder happened so fast, it made the emotional revelations at the end fall short. So Jack Chase was Dan? Well there's so much other nonsense happening, to compensate for an early midpoint, that the reader no longer cares.

When the midpoint comes too early, authors insert randomness into the novel that doesn't belong there. There should have much more emphasis on the meat and potatoes of the story. Instead it went in a hundred diffferent directions on a wild goose chase.

All that unecessary stuff makes the story convoluted. There should have been a lot of characters, scenes, and nonsense cut. There should have been much more focus on the relationship in the beginning, and feeling the loss of the main character. I felt like the novel could have gone so much deeper. The tension she built with the agent, and certain comments about funeral arrangements, were abandoned. There was no payoff. This was ultimately unsatisfying to read. I thought we were going to get something way more real and interesting. It eneded up one-dimensional.

Another symptom of my diagnosis, a midpoint that arrives too early, is the things are are built up, the mysteries we are wondering about, in the end are addressed with one line, with no emotional impact at all whatsoever, because way too many other things are going on. I am referring to the Jack Chase revelation, and the guy with the spider tattoo is almost dropped and there is no impact.

I hated how the climax started to become too broad, too far reaching. The magic of the story was so fluent and effortless in the beginning, I really wish that carried all the way through. Things would have been different if she killed Dan at 50% instead of 25%.

In the end, I was not surprised at all to find out this author is a panster, meaning she does plot her books beforehand. It shows.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed by the way this book panned out. I was so invested at the beginning, so eager to see how it all fit together. It just... didn't. Which was a huge let down, because I had high hopes from the beginning. I thought it was going to be a five-star read.

Worst of all, it seems like the author made the climax so far-reaching, because she was reaching for some political statement. I'm sorry, but this did not meet what was set up at the beginning. The author’s personal opinions tained the work. It felt like she was beating you over the head with her politics.

Some characters were not characters at all, but charicatures of things the author clearly does not understand. It came off as tribal. It came off as so dreary and pathetic. These characters served no purpose. I thought they were at least building up to something bigger, but they merely existed to fulfill the author's political narrative.

It is sad to see writing become so tribalistic and close-minded, even in a made-up universe. I am sure this put off many readers, even those who may agree with her. I like to think that most people can see past politics, to the real person. I like to think that's why we read, to understand opposing sides and what makes characters work. This read more like Republicans =DUMB and that's THAT. Very low brow. I like to think we all can share something in being human. I like to think there is something deeper than political affiliations. Gentill clearly does not see it that way.

Also, the one-dimensional political analysis made the main character look like a mary sue. Little Theo baby could do no wrong! She's just a lost, little Australian, shocked by the guns in America! If you don't like guns so much, why come to America? Especially rural America? I'm sorry it's really not even nuanced in the slightest. Once again, I must emphasize how unfortunate this is because I thought the book was going to be a lot deeper than that when I started reading.

I really don't like when novels become overly political, especially when there is nothing in the title, description, or cover to indicate political biases. You know readers from every corner of the political spectrum are going to pick up the book, and you just insulted half of them. It's not a good move, and ends up alienating much of the audience. Actually, it made me feel pity for the author, as I can't imagine being so terrified of firearms, but I digress.

My final critique is this novel has white wall syndrome. In the beginning we are following two writers discussing their writing process. They discuss building a sense of place, so I thought the lack of place in the real novel was meta. I thought it was clever and intentional. I thought it would build into a bigger point. I thought that was some kind of clue, and it would come back later. But I am afriad, that did not happen. The author just doesn't have the skills to build atmosphere. Even when the setting shifts to another continent, everything feels exactly the same.

I am giving this book a generous three stars, because even though it lost the plot AND the premise, I still could not put it down. This is the first book I've read by this author, and I am curious to read her more acclaimed works.

Never has the descriptive “it’s complicated” rung so true for me as it does now, as I endeavor to describe my relationship to this book.
To begin with the clear wins- the sense of place is wonderfully strong, and the characters are so compelling that I found myself emotionally invested throughout. The author certainly knows how to build a plot and has a beautifully instinctive sense of what motivates people, and thus, her characters.
So from the early pages, I was in, enjoying being along for a wild ride of a story and happily anticipating the reveal of the *mystery* within “The Mystery Writer.
However, I do feel that for the last quarter of the book, the author lost control of her vehicle and it went careening off from what was a well lit motor way onto an ambiguous (and seemingly under construction) dirt road.
So while I enjoyed this enough to rate it highly, (and thank you NetGalley & publishers for the privilege) I walked away feeling like my suspension of disbelief had been stretched to such an uncomfortable capacity that I didn’t feel entirely won over by what was otherwise, a truly original read.