3.5 stars!

I love reality TV and I'm on the hunt looking for the perfect reality TV thriller for me. Regretfully, this wasn't it. I feel like this was a really shallow commentary on the vapidness of fame, and I didn't really care about the person who was murdered unfortunately. I do think the reality TV part was fun, but I just needed the mystery to be better,

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A-MAZING!
This is a fabulous novel about a reality show done wrong. Told from multiple points of view including police reports we learn about the brand new reality game that was set on a small island...

What the contestants didn't know was that the reality show was live streamed at different times of the day. Millions watched and participated in popular votes. When the most popular of them all, Rhys, is murdered, there should be millions of witnesses, but it is a mystery unsovled!

Who is running the show? who is behind the scenes? Can anyone win? And who killed Rhys?
Pure fun, diabolically addictive - Then Things Went Dark #sourcebooks #beafitzgerald #thenthingswentdark

I really wanted to love this book but it fell kind of flat. The writing was okay, but the plot was a little unlikable. I think this premise of this book the idea was solid, but execution left something to be desired.

This had a great premise and cover but it sadly fell flat for me. It was hard to find a character I could relate to, I thought they were all so awful, tbh! The challenges they faced as well seemed very trivial and not very thought out. This missed the mark for me unfortunately. Thanks for the ARC in exchange for an honest opinion!

This book has such a great premise - reality TV show of 6 D-list celebs thrown on an island for a month, competing to be the most “iconic.” We’re told right away that one of the contestants is found dead in the finale, and the story unfolds with each chapter representing an episode on the show. We get an inside look into these extremely unlikable characters, and a bit of what they’ll do for fame. I think there’s a bit to say about a book that can get me so enraged at character to where I had to pull away and remind myself it’s fake :).

The part that didn’t work for me was the entire police investigation at the end of each chapter, it added extra characters and a subplot that was pretty pointless. The writing in each of the chapters was also inconsistent and the reality show plot and challenges felt a bit thrown together. I’m also super disappointed it didn’t somewhat redeem one of the characters in the end - won’t go into this too much to avoid spoiling but I thought it would have went along so well with how the character was described initially.

Then Things Went Dark follows a group of celebrities living temporarily on an island for a reality show that is going to crown one of them as the most iconic of the group. Throughout the book we learn each character’s reasoning for wanting the title and cash prize, and follow the investigation into the death of one of the contestants.

I was not the biggest fan of this book. All of the characters hooking up with each other made it difficult to differentiate them, so it took me a while to remember who was who in regards to their back stories. It also was difficult to become interested in the story line when a lot of the focus was on them hooking up with each other.

The ending was very interesting to me, the author did a great job with it, and it was worth the read. This wouldn’t be one of my go-to recommendations but it would be a decent summer read.

I would like to say thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and Bea Fitzgerald for providing me with an ARC copy of this book in return for my honest review.

This had all the drama. I love when books are about reality shows and this one was done really well. It took me a minute to get used to the narrative style but I grew to appreciate it.

3.75

This was a very different reading experience to the author's debut book (which I enjoyed) but not a bad one. It was fast and intriguing for the most part. None of the characters are even a smidge likeable, but then again that's the point so the author's done a great job creating thoroughly hateful characters with toxic behaviours who're all out for themselves and nobody else and have tons of secrets to hide. The ending felt a bit anticlimactic in comparison to how the narrative was built up (a back and forth of present-day storyline at the police investigation and the throwback narrative of the cast on the show), but still a fun pacy thriller.

Thank you to Netgallery and Sourcebooks Landmarks for an early release copy of Then Things Went Dark by Bea Fitzgerald, this book will be available for purchase on August twenty-seventh of 2024.

I really enjoyed Then Things Went Dark! I found all the characters to be thoroughly entertaining, the plot of the reality tv show kept things interesting. The characters felt fleshed out, we get to know quite a bit about each of our characters and I thought it made the story even more interesting. I liked all of our characters in here even Rhys, I thought he was going to be unbearable to read about but the author definitely writes him in a way that it rather tolerable to read.

The plot is written well and kept me entertained but the main bit of drama on the show feels to be the toxic relationship between two characters and I just wish it was a little more then that. I was pleasantly surprised with the addition of the lgbt aspects in here however I was kinda disappointed that we didn’t get a solid queer relationship. I’m definitely looking forwards to reading more from Bea Fitzgerald, I think her writing style is detailed and fleshed out. I really liked the way she would switch perspectives of our characters mid chapter, it was written in a way that made the switch smooth.

I absolutely loved this book!! I couldn’t put it down.
I just loved all the characters. I highly recommend this book.

Review: I enjoyed this book, but it was a little slow going for me. I loved that it read like a reality TV show as I love reality TV! But I was having a hard time getting into the book at parts because all of the drama going on and I felt like some parts were dragged out. Another thing I liked is how after every episode, you went to the police interrogation regarding the murder so you would get snippets into the lives of the contestants. All in all, it was a good book. Thank you @sourcebooks and @netgalley for my advanced copy!

First of all, thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for granting me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was not what I had hoped for it to be. I really wanted to enjoy this book, I truly did, however I just could not. The book is written in episodes so it reads just like a tv show--there are 17 episodes and then the finale episode, 18 in all. The writing style was hard to adjust to in the beginning, however the story was also just hard to get into. I wanted to give up and quit reading several times throughout. Once I got about halfway through I was accustomed to the writing style and the storyline got better, so I stuck it out and finished. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I feel that the final chapter, the "finale" was anticlimactic and lead up to much of nothing. The entire book was spent showcasing drama between the contestants, much of the time Rhys being at the center of it, so any one of the fellow castmates could have done it which was the whole premise of the book--who killed Rhys and why.

I feel like the book fell flat and that last chapter was the only one with the slightest bit of mystery surrounding it. The rest of the book was unneeded filler that was too drawn out and didn't have enough twists and turns and shock that a thriller should. It semi-established the characters, I'll give it that, however it didn't do a lot for the overall plot of the book. There were truly only a few pages of the book that could even be considered "thriller" or "mystery" to me because the rest basically just told a story that was lackluster in all honesty. There was not much of the story that was devoted to motives of why one would kill Rhys, just unnecessary everyday drama--nothing worth killing over. Even the very ending didn't seem to be enough to murder someone over. The cumulative effect of all the characters contributing in the last chapter should have been something that was explored a lot earlier in the story and I feel it could have made for a better book and story overall.

A book for our times! A dark and twisty novel meets reality TV and no doubt anyone who has ever watched a reality TV show can see that just maybe we are one small step away from this happening IRL. The concept of this book was gripping, the characters were nasty (wish there was at least ONE I could get behind...) and it started out strong. Near the 3/4 part of the book, I found myself thinking - not unlike I have in the handful of reality shows I've attempted to watch - enough already! Get to the point! Who "wins"? And sadly....the ending was disappointing. Where's the after show???

I'm giving this book a 3.5 but since I can't use half ratings on here, I'll just write it in.

This book Follows 6 people who are on a deserted island ready to become the most "iconic" person on reality tv, for everyone to watch and judge. During the 3 weeks, the contestants earn points by winning competitions and gaining positive public opinion, and the person with the most points wins.
One of them died on camera for everyone to see, now someone must pay for the crime. They all have their own motives for wanting Rhys Sutton dead but who among them is capable of killing.. just the day before his murder he was the most hated man on television. Now no one will win the title or money.

For me this felt like a reality tv show but in book form which wasn't badly done at all. I enjoyed the way she made it come to life and made it feel like I was watching it all happen. I didn't have any attachment or love for any character so that's why it's not higher rating for me. I feel like this book was more of a fun read over a serious one just like reality tv show is, so if your expecting more you might not get it. If you don't like or care for reality tv this book may not be for you, but if you enjoy it this might be a good one to read. You get drama, relationships, gossip, and so much more. Will be reading more by this author though because I did enjoy this one and would still recommend it to others.

(Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark, Bea Fitzgerald and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be released on August 27, 2024.)

I liked the beginning of this book. it was intriguing and twisty. Most of the book I really liked but it was near the ending where it sort of felt like things didn’t work for me. There is a certain kind of ending that I can’t stand that, of course, this book has. If the story had a different ending it would have been a 4 star read. I wasn’t a fan of this ending so instead it gets 3 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

DNF at 29% for now.

I am not sure if I just started this at an odd time while I was in the middle of too many other books but so far the book feels confusing. There are too many characters and either I completely missed when they were all introduced and explained or it just was not done very well. I found it very difficult to keep everyone straight and some of the characters blended together. For that reason I found myself not wanting to pick it up to finish.

The way the story is told with each episode a chapter is unique and something I enjoyed. The premise of this book sounds like something I would like and I am very much open to giving this book another shot.

Not going to post my review on Goodreads because I may read this closer to the publication date and give it another chance.

Thank you for this arc.
I love drama filled thriller mysteries. This one was filled with all the drama and sass that comes along with average celebrities on a reality tv show. It kept me guessing till the end.

Thank you NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for allowing me to read this book early.the book was enjoyable and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a more modern twist on the traditional murder mystery.

“Twelve million people watched Rhys Sutton die. ”
Here are reasons to read the thriller book:

Reality island - 6 contestants gather for a reality show on an island
Dynamics - this show is streamed live as well as being edited, and the premise is to be ICONIC which means relationship dynamics are front and center
Death - but there is a death, and while it does take place on camera, the question is, was it murder?

This month’s Youtube reading vlog (posted May 15th) is all about things that take place on an island. While this book doesn’t come out until August, it was a perfect subject matter for this vlog. However, I am not sure how effective it was at being a thriller. The plot went around and around the same subject and inevitably became tedious. I’m not even totally sure of the outcome of the mystery to be honest. I have not read anything by this author before but I am not sure if this book was successful at being a thriller.

In the book Then Things Went Dark by Bea Fitzgerald is about six quasi-celebrities getting stuck on an island and having to do challenges so in the end they could be the ultimate winner of $250,000. All want fame and fortune there is an Aris, a tech guru, an activist a singer from a popular band an actor and a chef. There’s two females and four males and Reese the actor seems willing to sleep with them all but settles on the Instagrammer and The Eris but only after he has slept with the chef Isco. Everyone except for the rockstar Theo seems to have ulterior motives for being on the show or at least at first in the end all their intentions are questioned. The challenge is given to the six contestants by the show lack morals so to be successful they either had to ignore their own or be glad they had none to begin with. In the book every other chapter have the detectives trying to figure out who killed loverboy an actor Reese. I thought the author did a great job capturing the real personalities of the type of people who would one go on the show into vying for fame and fortune. I found this book to be very intriguing especially Theo who was such an interesting character I wish the author would’ve gave them easier names I mean Reese, Theo and Joseph or not hard but the other names were ridiculous. This review however is not on the names of the characters but on the book which I definitely recommend and although I thought it could’ve been better I still read it all in one go and for the most part enjoyed it I just don’t like a book when there is no one to root for I want to thank Sorsa books landmark for my free arc copy via NetGalley please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.