Then Things Went Dark
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Author: Bea FItzgerald

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley, Sourcebooks and Tantor Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Six people land on a desert island ready to make their reality show debut. The contestants are suitably glamorous and dramatic—and also hungry to prove themselves. The stakes are high, and with millions of viewers watching, losing is not an option. But three weeks and eighteen episodes later, five of the six contestants sit in a Portuguese police station, none of them winners.

Twelve million people were watching when Rhys Sutton died on camera, and someone must pay for the crime. The best friend, the rival, the girlfriend, the lover, and the sworn enemy are left standing. And of course, no one is talking. But how do you keep secrets when the world has been watching? Especially when, just a day before his murder, Rhys was the most hated man on television.

My Thoughts: A realty show debut where the contestants are very hungry and eager to win, at all costs. You have an actor, an influencer (but of course), a chef, an activist, an entrepreneur, and a musician all striving towards the end of the reality show and all want to win. All of the characters have unique personalities with the corresponding bad behavior. However, the actor, Rhys Sutton, stands out the most and is just pure evil. It is no surprise he ends up dead, however, there are at least 5 suspects with many more behind the scenes. There are cameras everywhere within in and outside the house capturing their every moment. How are secrets kept when millions of people are watching? Will the others turn on one another to oust the murderer?

The story is narrated by multiple characters in two timelines. One timeline being the present with the police investigation unfolding and the other timelines starts 3.5 weeks ago when the contestants arrived at the house on the island. The characters were well fleshed out and developed, they had depth, they were mysterious, secretive, flawed, and absolutely creative. The author’s writing style was complex, multifaceted, suspenseful, twisty, and kept me invested from cover to cover. The characters are built up with their backstories, even filled with a little drama. The plot is delivered in twisty layers, like an onion layers. Then the conclusion was perfectly imperfect with one last twist.

I had both the digital and audio ARCs of this title. I preferred the audio version. The narrator, Zura Johnson was fantastic, the voice variation matched the character distinction, especially when there were so many main characters. The pitch and flow were spot on, allowing me to listen at 2x speed with no issues keeping up. This was the perfect psychological thriller that was gripping, captivating, compelling, twisty, and kept me on the edge of my seat until the very last word. This is a first read from Fitzgerald for me and it will not be my last. It was both satisfying to read and the conclusion was fitting. I highly recommend picking up today.

This book was just not for me and unfortunately it ended up in the DNF pile. I hated the storyline and the characters. I am sure that this book is very much someone’s cup of tea but it was not mine. This is probably a book that I shouldn’t have requested an ARC for. I hate reality TV shows. I think that they are unrealistic and cringy and the people on them are superficial and attention seeking. I felt the same way about this book. The storyline had me rolling my eyes so hard that I thought they would be permanently stuck in the back of my head. The characters were so unlikeable and not a single one had a redeeming quality. There were way too many and I disliked them so much that I didn’t even want to get to know them. I try to finish ARCs because I feel it is my duty but I just couldn’t with this one. I forced myself to the 25% mark but just couldn’t make myself finish.

I thought this was gonna be an addictive juicy read but i was bored and pushed through to finish it, was not for me

What a fun twisty read! I love a little reality TV moment, and I was honestly more entertained by this premise than I thought I would be!

The reality show turned murder mystery premise had me intrigued, but unfortunately I did not enjoy it at all. Every single one of the characters were awful, the mystery itself was uninteresting, the writing was not good... just overall not an entertaining reading experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me a digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This was an ok thriller. The story follows a group of friends who are on a weekend trip when a sudden blackout traps them in a remote cabin. As tension rises, secrets are revealed, and trust starts to break down. While the suspense builds throughout, the plot feels slow in parts, and some of the twists are predictable. The characters are interesting, but I felt they could have been developed more. It’s an okay read, but not as thrilling as I hoped.

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC!!

The writing style was engaging, mimicking a reality TV show with multiple perspectives, confessionals, and social media posts. However, the social media elements felt unnecessary, and the increasingly unlikeable characters made it hard to connect.

The ending was the biggest letdown. After so much buildup and mystery, it felt anticlimactic and lacked impact. I wanted to love it since I love island reality shows but it just wasn’t there unfortunately.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and Bea Fitzgerald for the early copy to read and review via NetGalley.

TLDR: DNF 62% I love the premise of this book, but it just was too slow paced for me.

This book was SO slow. I thought this was going to be a fast-paced thriller full of dramatics, mystery, and reality-star celebrities. It took me three weeks to get this far into the book (which is a lot for me considering I typically finish books in less than a week, at most). Then I set the book down one day and never cared enough to come back and find out who killed Rhys or if it was really an accident.

The breakdown in each chapter was also really confusing to me. I didn't realize that at one point you're 'watching' the show, another you're in the contestants' heads, and then you're in the investigators' heads (who have their own drama going on - which I don't even know if it was necessary to the book. And if it wasn't, it didn't need to be in there). There could have been more separation between each of these sections within chapters, which I think would have helped with the pacing of the book.

Unfortunately I was unable to download this book before the archive date, so I'm not able to leave a review. I look forward to reading and reviewing books by this author in the future.

Thank you, NetGalley, SOURCEBOOKS Landmark | Sourcebooks Landmark, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Six people land on a desert island, ready to make their television debut. Now, after three weeks and eighteen episodes, one of them is dead and six out of five are the suspects. Millions of people were watching when Rhys Sutton died on camera and, at that time, he was the most hated man. Who killed him and why?

Then Things Went Dark is a brilliant novel, following different contestants, a cast of people ready to do anything to win. Even kill? You have to read to discover that! Bea Fitzgerald proves herself to be again a brilliant and genial author, mixing murder mystery with a reality show and creating an intriguing and complex cast and the reader is able to follow each of them, through their chapters, until the very end and the real truth.
I truly loved reading this book, it kept me glued to the pages until the end and I loved it.

A unique premise but I found the large cast of characters challenging. I did enjoy the mystery but had a couple of questions at the end.
Many thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Big Brother Meets Survivor in this whodunit thriller. Six contestants are stranded on an island- all wanting to be the most "iconic" during a reality live stream. And then one dies... or is murdered? No one knows even though the cameras were supposed to be rolling.

There were too many timeline jumps, POV switches, and episodes to social media posts to keep it straight. I couldn't keep the characters straight and spent most of the book confused... it was very disjointed and hard to follow. The challenges and reality show parts were just weird and not well thought out. The romances were superficial and just reminded me of Big Brother DRAMA. Not my cup of tea.

The last 25% of the book did pick up, as we were trying to find out what happened to Rhys.

This was an okay book but not something I would rave over. It was like other suspense and thrill books I have read. It was an easy and quick read

I need to like at least one character in a book to enjoy reading. I was not a fan of the characters, so this one missed the mark for me. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

So, this is a reality show gone bad!! What a train wreck, but it caught my interest and I enjoyed the book.

There were 6 contestants on the island, and one of them, Rhys ends up dead. They must determine if a crime happened, and if so the network would be unable to show the final episode. The other 5 contestants all had a reason to want him dead. So they are all separated and held while the investigators try to find out who wanted him dead the most and who may have killed him.

Good story, interesting characters and I enjoyed the story!

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of this book

Decent thriller with a 'reality tv' twist that I found fun but also unsurprising with the thrill behind it.

This was like a reality TV show meets a murder mystery, and I couldn’t look away! Six celebrities (well, kind of) are dropped onto an isolated island off the coast of Portugal, all competing for a massive cash prize. But the real competition? Making it out alive.

Told through shifting timelines and mixed media formats, the story flips between the chaos on the island and the aftermath, where Interpol is left to sort through the wreckage—while the whole world watches and judges. It’s packed with unlikable characters you’ll love to hate, sharp social commentary on fame and reality TV, and a whodunit angle that keeps you guessing. Dark, satirical, and full of drama, this book felt like a guilty pleasure reality show—messy, chaotic, and impossible to turn away from.

This has:
- Reality TV competition vibes but make it deadly
- Multiple timelines + mixed media format
- A cast of characters so unlikable, you won’t know who to root for
- Sharp, satirical take on fame culture and media sensationalism
- Twisty, unpredictable, and unputdownable

Thank you, Netgalley and SourceBooks for this gifted arc!

6 famous people, a chef, an influencer, a musician, an entrepreneur, an activist, and an actor are put on an island for a new tv show called Iconic. They are all competing to see who is the most iconic.

We start out like normal reality tv with drinking, showmances and sex. There is a confessional for everyone to talk about the others in the house. When someone ends up dead the police have to decipher whether it was an accident or if it was murder.

This book is told with the perspective of the tv show episodes and the current police investigation.

I liked the premise of the book however some of the characters were hard to like.

The premise of reality tv show on an isolated island has been one a lot of mystery thrillers have tried out lately. This one missed the mark for me a little bit. The characters were all awful, and the switching between areas on the island felt a bit confusing at times.

This book will have you hooked from the beginning!! I loved it!

Then Things Went Dark by Bea Fitzgerald is a thrilling and suspenseful novel that takes readers behind the scenes of a reality show gone horribly wrong. The story centers on six contestants who land on a desert island to compete in a high-stakes reality competition, with millions of viewers tuning in to watch. What starts as a glamorous, drama-filled show quickly spirals into something much darker when one of the contestants, Rhys Sutton, is found dead—on camera. Now, five remaining contestants find themselves in a Portuguese police station, under suspicion of murder.

Fitzgerald crafts a compelling narrative that blends the allure of reality television with a gripping whodunit mystery. The tension builds as each of the five suspects—the best friend, the rival, the girlfriend, the lover, and the sworn enemy—holds onto their secrets, making it clear that no one is innocent. With the whole world watching, the characters are trapped in a web of lies, motives, and hidden truths that unfold at a breakneck pace.

The novel is cleverly structured, shifting between the present investigation and flashbacks to the drama on the island, revealing the complex relationships and the growing animosity among the contestants. Fitzgerald’s sharp writing keeps readers guessing, offering twists and turns that lead to a shocking conclusion.

Then Things Went Dark is a captivating mix of mystery, suspense, and social commentary on the nature of fame and the destructive side of reality TV. It’s a gripping page-turner that will keep you hooked until the very last page.