Thank you to Dreamscape media and netgalley for providing me with a free audio arc in exchange for an honest review.

This fast paced mystery is perfect - it has the right amount of chaos, insanity and 'suspend you disbelief' moments to keep you on the edge of your seat. The narrator is written well-openly honest about much of the main storyline while questionably shady about her past.

One thing I will say is that the blurb felt a bit misleading in that it led me to believe the story was focussed on her trying to prove her brother's innocence but instead much of the focus is on her innocence.

10/10 for the dooms day preppers.

I received an audio ARC of the mystery writer via #NetGalley and the publisher for review *

Theo drops out of college and shows up at her brothers front door. With a slightly rocky/mysterious past, Theo is hellbent on writing a novel and her brother Gus takes her in. Soon after, Theo befriends a fellow writer, but when he is discovered murdered, things get really messy. There are tons of conspiracy theories and Theo finds herself in the middle of it.

I had a few complaints. This story was LOOOOONG. It took forever to develop, and then would have these rework abrupt time jumps. Like 3 years and now Gus has a cane and wtf did I miss?! I didn’t even feel like I knew the characters and what was happening.

The ending seemed VERY rushed. Like we took 8 hours to get to this point, and it’s done in 1 anticlimactic chapter. Also the fact that the author had every American in her story carrying a gun? Please, Gentill, go eat some Vegemite and recognize not every American is a gun-toter 🥴

My issue was, I read Woman in the Library and liked it… so I expected something similar/equally as readable. To be honest, up until like 70% of the way through, this was a 3.5/4 star book for me. The rushed ending, lack of excitement, and overall sense “wow this was underwhelming” leaves me at a 2.5.

Is this my new favorite narrator? Maybe. She is amazing! I loved this entire book. It has everything! I think it is a perfect example of American Culture and how we let corporations control us. I really felt for the characters and loved every weird twist. I couldn't predict a single twist in this book. I especially loved Horse.

A bingeable mess, even though I was consistently engaged from start to finish, the lack of commitment to a specific theme/tone made The Mystery Writer sillier and more disjointed than what I was expecting coming from Sulari Gentill, whose past few novels often incorporated an intricate literary ‘gimmick’ (such as After She Wrote Him, with its 2 writer protagonists writing each other’s POVs). Same attempt was made here, but with less impactful outcome.

Other readers have highlighted their frustration towards the protagonist, and I can see where they’re coming from: her behavior throughout is widely inconsistent. Sometimes naive to a fault, at the same time we are meant to believe her as someone with a decent understanding of law and attention to detail—she ends up being less of a fleshed out character, but a puppet for plot convenience.

The fragmentation continues with its plot, which starts out like a lighthearted cozy mystery, only for its latter half turning into some kind of Mission Impossible extravaganza with huge action set pieces and grave consequences. The novel also feature characters with very extreme world views, but for reason unknown presenting them as funny ‘quirks’ (isn’t it hilarious Americans carry guns everywhere and have doomsday shelters?), yet at the same time drawing provocative parallel between conspiracy theory and the power of storytelling. I was left in the constant whiplash, not sure whether The Mystery Writer is going for surface level entertainment, or something more in-depth.

The audiobook is expertly done by the narrator, but with many POV switches happening mid-chapter, sometimes it can be easy to miss listening without seeing the proper formatting on page.

At no point did I find The Mystery Writer boring, thanks to its cast of colorful secondary characters (compensating for its weak protagonist), and the constant hijinks. But I was annoyed by the haziness of its intent; it’s almost like the author was trying for Yellowface, making a razor-sharp commentary about the publishing industry ‘weaponizing’ stories, but chickened out so decided to wrap it all in comedy instead. If you have not read from Sulari Gentill before, probably don’t start with this one.

This was so different and had me on the edge of my seat. The beginning made me think it would go one way, and then an early twist changed the whole thing. There’s just one big thing I can’t wrap my head around. The end twist is that a man who sexually assaulted Theo when she was 10 was the older male author she wrote next to and fell in love with. Did he know who she was? How did they end up in the same bar half a world away from where they knew each other before? Other than that, I loved the mystery, the intrigue, the conspiracy theory threads, and the main characters.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media & Sulari Gentill for an audio galley of The Mystery Writer in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVED Woman in the Library so I was thrilled to receive the audiobook for Gentill's newest novel. Sadly, this one fell a bit short for me. At the time of listening to the audiobook, it was just "blah" - it kept JUST enough interest to keep me from DNF'ing it, but that's about it. In fact, even though I just listened to it recently, I am failing to recall any exact details to even summarize the story. Therefore, I'm quoting the synopsis below. As I sit here and read through the synopsis, it almost feels as though I never read the book (I did), as even the synopsis isn't ringing many bells.

For me, a forgettable book is the worst kind. A reader will always remember the good ones & they'll even remember the particularly bad ones.

I'm sorry I don't have a better review. I obviously will not be recommending this one.

I will give two positives, though - The cover art is great and I enjoyed the narrator.



Theo Benton decides to move to the United States to finally finish her novel, and she is soon drawn into a literary labyrinth where identity is something that can be lost and remade for the sake of sales and readership.

When her mentor and lover is brutally murdered, Theo wants the killer to be found and justice to be served. But when the prime suspect turns out to be her older brother, Gus, Theo does what is necessary to protect him—to save him. Then she disappears. But the writer has left a trail, a thread out of the labyrinth in the form of a story. When Gus finds that thread, he follows it, and in attempting to find his sister, inadvertently, or perhaps recklessly, threatens the foundations of the labyrinth itself. In order to protect the carefully constructed deceit, Theo Benton, and everyone who ever looked for her, will have to die.

3.5 stars.

This was a somewhat meandering, far-reaching conspiracy story that probably strikes fear in the hearts of authors a lot more than average readers. I found it less thrilling than frustrating and really wanted it to all get worked out faster. Liked the premise, mostly liked the characters, found it well-written and compelling, but the dragging was painful, and how long it took for people to figure things out was the downfall. Still a fan of the author, but I just didn't connect with this story so much.

This is the second title I have read by Sulari Gentill. I really do enjoy her storylines, and I think she is a good storyteller, but this is also the second book that I feel like the story went on just a bit too long. I found myself losing interest about 2/3 of the way through, and though I carried on and finished the book, I didn't see anything in the last bit of the book that could not have been done in a shorter amount of time. There seems to be a lot of dialogue that could have been cut short that may make it easier to hold interest in these characters, with less twists in the story along the way that may overwhelm readers.

Aside from being a longer read than I thought was necessary, I think Gentill does write very well, and I am very glad to have been given access to this book early, because I was looking forward to reading this after picking up "The Woman in the Library" last year. Thank you for allowing me to read and review!

Well, this book took me for an interesting ride. Theo is beginning her writing career, and befriends a famous writer who she later finds dead, and then we are off to the races. People are dying, people are going missing, and there's a few mysterious groups lurking in the background - but who is to blame? I thought it got hurried at the end with multiple long time jumps and could have used some editing in the middle to have a smoother transition, but was overall pleased with how it turned out. I also thought the plot was a bit over the top, but a lot of thrillers/whodoneits are.

I really enjoyed the first chunk (75%-ish) of the book. It was a unique mystery with lots of interjected info in the form of message postings by conspiracy theorists that add a bit of intrigue. At about the 75% mark though, the book shifted and I really struggled to finish it then. By the end of the book, my enjoyment really dropped and I just wanted the book to wrap up.
Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audio ARC.

I went into this story basing it off of my enjoyment of the authors last book, The Woman in the Library, but slightly blind to the plot of this story. This took some turns that I definitely was not expecting.

As I had the audio version, I really was able to get the tone of the story as the narrator was able to dictate with different accents well. I did feel a certain way about the characters until I learned more about their past and it made me look a little deeper than skin deep.

For the most part, the majority of the story takes place over a matter of weeks I felt - until it didn’t. I had some major questions towards the end of the book and, if you read, you too will most likely have similar (if not the same) questions/thoughts.

Still taking some time to digest this while it’s fresh in my mind as so much happened in this book that I’ll most likely continue to think about it for a while.

Thank you so much to the author, Sulari Gentill, Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the arc audiobook of The Mystery Writer!

After "The Woman in the library" I didn't have high expectations, but I was hoping for some fun. Unfortunately "The Mystery Writer" didn't deliver even in that department, as the fun was lost somewhere between main character naivete, some weird misconceptions about the publishing world and ridiculous time jumps that completely ruined the 3rd act for me.
I couldn't get over the scene where the main character is offered a representation by a literary agency that is so blatantly evil, my teeth hurt that the protagonist couldn't see it. The agent told her that she had to give up all of her social media and contacts and basically hand her personal live over to the agency. That should ring a flashing alarm in her head, but she just assumed that's normal? I couldn't like Theo, as she was soooo oblivious to how publishing work - nowadays it's expected from writers to run their own promotional campaigns using their private social media channels, so an agency trying to cut you off from all social contacts and the internet should give you a major red flag.
The pace of the whole thing was off, especially when the main character suddenly disappears for two years in the middle of the 3rd act.
And the final reveal explaining what was the villain's plan was simply ridiculous. I actually laughed out loud when I read it.
Fortunately the audiobook version was ok.

The Mystery Writer was quite the mystery/suspense. The elements make the reader ponder the validity of conspiracy theories while also leaving the reader with the ideas of other possible conspiracy theories.

I enjoyed how the story unraveled, though the beginning felt a little slow, it picked up as the story progressed, and kept me wondering what would happen next. It was definitely a story for thinking about society and how we are all influenced.

I also loved the cover!

I listened to the audiobook. The narrator did a fantastic job with different accents and different voices for each character, making them unique. I listened at 2x speed (1.75x speed is my normal).

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this advanced audio copy.

I have such mixed feelings about this one. While I did like the story in general (enough that I definitely wanted to finish it), I felt the pacing was a bit off sometimes. There were parts of the plot that I felt dragged for too long. And I’m not sure I ever felt deeply connected with the main character. Without giving away any spoilers, there is a development about 75% of the way through that kind of threw me and pulled me out of the story. I didn’t really find the direction that the story went to be all that believable or thrilling, which kind of left me feeling like the payoff wasn’t worth it in the end. I think my favorite parts of the story happened in the first half, with the themes of writing and publishing. Again, no spoilers, but some of the… tropes, I guess I’d call them… in the story just came off a bit weird and strange to me. I’m a little confused to be honest, not about what happened, but about how I feel about it all. I waited to write this review to digest this story more, but I’m still unsure how I feel about it. It was a good three-star, quirky, murder-mystery. I’m also not sure who exactly I’d recommend this to, it is definitely a niche one. I also listened to the audio version for some of it, and I thought the narrator did a great job with the tone and voice of the book.

This did not go at all in the direction I expected it to, which was mostly a good thing. I really enjoyed the narrator who I felt brought the story to life nicely. It was a little out there, and I did see several of the twists coming, but I still enjoyed it on the whole - not quite as much as The Woman in the Library, but definitely enough to leave Gentill on my list of authors to watch. She does have original and interesting ideas, and I do appreciate that.

When Theo decides to quit law school to pursue her dream of being a writer, she leaves Australia and moves in with her older brother, Gus, an attorney in Lawrence, Kansas. While writing her book in a local coffee shop, she meets Dan, a famous author who left New York City to lead a quieter life in Lawrence. Dan quickly becomes a mentor for Theo, and eventually their friendship turns romantic. When Theo discovers that Dan has been brutally murdered, she and Gus become the prime suspects, and Theo will do whatever it takes to protect her brother.

I was lured into reading this book by its description and beautiful cover, but ultimately I was left underwhelmed. There was a lot going on with different storylines and so many characters. I really enjoyed the murder mystery aspect of the story, and I would have loved it if it were just a cozy mystery without all of the conspiracy theorists and doomsday preppers. There were parts of this story that were hard to get into, but then there were parts that were so engaging that I couldn't read fast enough. Theo was a hard protagonist to root for because she was so naive and gullible. The side characters really saved the day, and Gus and his PI friend Mac were definitely my favorites.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Katherine Littrell. She did such a great job voicing all of the different Australian and American characters of all ages and genders. When I couldn't get into the digital version, Littrell's narration pulled me back in and kept me engaged.

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

After dropping out of uni, Theo travels to America to visit her brother Gus, and work on her novel. When her new friend and best selling author Dan Murdoch is brutally murdered, Theo and Gus are pulled into a dangerous web of murder, conspiracy and deceit.

This was such an enjoyable mystery. I didn’t feel pressure to try to solve the whodunnit, rather enjoyed sitting back and enjoying the twists and turns. I did find that I had to replay certain sections after the time jump, but I appreciated the complexity of the story. I loved the literary themes throughout, and really enjoyed the way the author wove together the various storylines into a rewarding conclusion.

I love that the narrator is Australian, and that the accents felt authentic. The character voices were easily discernible, and I found the narration really engaging. I’m really glad I read this as an audiobook, as I felt so immersed in the story.

Thank you Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed are my own.

A narrator can really help shape a book for a reader and even help suspend disbelief. This book may do better in audio or even adapted for screen than it does by a standard read.

The first half of this book was excellent. Theo is writing a mystery at a bar. She meets an author there who she becomes close with - then the bodies start piling up.

At first, I found the prose well done and the pacing nice. In the second half, the author started to jump around in time, telling telling TELLING what had happened in the months/years since the last unexplained hop.

The editing seemed much less thorough in the second half as well. Like, how does Theo, who reads books and is literally writing a mystery, not know what a burner phone is?

I understand why the American nuts were necessary to the storyline but those characters were a one-dimensional, plot-forcing stereotype that no American - left, right, or center - will relate to. (Also, no American adult is confused by the expression "Cheers." It's a thing in the US. My 4-year-old does cheers when we are both eating carrots.)

I liked Theo and Gus.

The resolution was too unbelievable for me. (How could such a thing be profitable??)

I fortunately hadn't read the synopsis, but yikes it gives away 90% of the story. If you're on the fence about reading this book, just read the back, add some weak romance and vague anti-American nonsense, and you know the story.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The audio version of this story is the best way to ingest this tale of talent and conspiracy. The narrator had an excellent speaking voice and elevated the book to another level. The pauses between chapters are a tad long but give good separation. The story itself was entertaining and worth the read!

The Mystery Writer📝
By Sulari Gentill👏🏻

Review👀

I could not, for the life of me, get into this book. I tried so hard, but honestly, it wasn’t for me. I'm not sure if it’s because I’m mentally all over the place, but the story did not sit well with me. I felt it was confusing, and I couldn’t understand what was going on half the time. I feel like someone else will love this; it just wasn’t for me.

Mystery⁉️
Thriller🔪
Crime🚔
Suspense🫣

2.5 stars
⭐️⭐️💫