Thank you for allowing me to review this book. I am giving my rating based on my own personal opinion and not that of any other party.

This is in my Top 5 Best Thrillers list for me personally. I was hooked from the start since the premise was kind of along the lines of the Agatha Christie classic “and then there were none”. I’m really funny in that when one character died very early into the story I told my friend who was reading this book at the same time as me that thought. Never even thought about what I said until we both finished the story.

However, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out the true killer until it was revealed towards the very end of the book. To me that marks the signs of a great story because it wasn’t easy to figure out. It had you thinking in a whole lot of ways because each character by themselves was more than what they seemed.

When renowned anonymous author J. R. Alastor hires former aspiring writer Mila del Angél to host a writing retreat at his private manor off the coast of Maine, she jumps at the chance—particularly since she has an axe to grind with one of the invitees. The guest list? Six thriller authors, all masters of deceit, misdirection, and mayhem.

Confess the crimes, survive the tropes.

Alastor and Mila have masterminded a week of games, trope-fueled riddles, and maybe a jump scare or two—the perfect cover for Mila to plot a murder of her own. But when a guest turns up dead—and it’s not the murder she planned—Mila finds herself trapped in a different narrative altogether.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this novel. I was not drawn to the story as I expected to, so I did not finish it.

A private island, an incoming storm, and a murder all add up to create this locked room mystery. Told in alternating points of view, this story left me guessing until the end. I would almost put this on the edge of a cozy mystery with the element of romance and the epilogue of happily ever after.

this was so fun! i loved the way this was written with drops of 2nd person POV throughout. the full cast audiobook was a great pairing with the book as well. i was hooked, and now i want to go back and re-read for all the clues!!

Revenge is definitely on the menu for this writers retreat. Each person comes with their own agenda and you will be guessing until the end.
Don't start reading this one late at night! You are hooked from the beginning, it is a dark read as this story is all about the dark side of each person. I really enjoyed this book.

Invited to a secluded island for a writer's retreat, the authors have no idea the games that await them, but the lure of finding out the identity behind the great JR Alastor is too great for them to ignore.

Mila has been in contact with Alastor over email, and with this writer's retreat she'll finally have her chance to get her revenge against the person who stole her manuscript and with it her confidence as a writer.

But things quickly start to go wrong, and Mila finds that Alastor hasn't shared everything with her. If she's not careful, she won't find herself hosting the games, but a player in them as well. Unsure of who to trust, and with more of them turning up dead, Mila and the others must do all they can to get out of this alive. Because playing by the rules might not be enough.

A great locked room/island mystery. It was a bit of a slow start, and there were definitely many unlikeable characters that made it hard to root for, but I was strongly hoping for the core group by the end of this one!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy. The cons were that if you read the original, the killer was extremely obvious. The idea of the tropes were fun, but both the murderer and the thief were obvious as soon as the ideas were introduced. There were a few things that didn’t make sense within the characters, and a few things that wouldn’t make sense in reality, but it was a fun book and a great way to spend my time reading.

This book kept me entertained the entire time and I enjoyed learning about the characters as we continued. Especially as other POVs were brought up and described what they were doing. Overall a great premise and story!

2.5 mystifying stars, not rounded up

“There’s nothing new under the sun, including what can be said about writing.”

Authors of thrillers are invited to an exclusive private island, and things turn fatal for some of them. ‘Fatally Invited’ is a locked room mystery that I wanted to get out of.

The author tended to overuse ‘scary cliches’ and dramatic language. Within a page: “I almost stopped breathing,” “chased by a shiver,” “flexed his hands in exasperation,” “I don’t want them to be in anyone’s crosshairs” and “Fear seeped through to my core.” Speaking of a stolen laptop, the narrator character writes, “Somewhere, someone had my unfinished projects and abandoned novels and all the contents of my brain, my soul, dumped out in front of them to dissect.” I prefer the main protagonists to grow and show strength rather than continuously whining and lamenting.

The chapters are very short with introductions, which chopped the story up even more. I know that sometimes one needs to suspend belief when reading mysteries, but the escape box/ elevator was too much. Then a character who died came back to life? I am not often confused when reading, but You Are Fatally Invited mystified me, not in a good way.

“At least in fiction, you stand a chance against the monsters.” You are Fatally Invited had its share of monsters: the over dramatic writing and the characters, none of whom I liked. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Nothing good ever happens on a private island, it seems, and in this case, it was no different when a group of thriller writers gathered for a retreat, and one of the authors was soon found murdered. The audio was a fun way to read this one; I thought it enhanced the story. A storm is coming, and the remaining authors must scramble to figure out what is going on and who is behind everything before another one of them is gone. This was so fun to read; the setting was right up my alley, and I enjoyed trying to guess what in the world was going on here.

Thank you to Random House and PRH Audio for the copies to review.

I was hooked from the very first chapter of You Are Fatally Invited. This book combined so many of my favorite tropes. It was stranded island meets writing retreat meets locked room murder mystery. It felt like Knives Out, which is one of my favorite movies to watch over and over. At no point was I absolutely certain of what was to come, and the suspense was delicious. This book was just what I have been trying to find in so many other thrillers recently. Thank you, Netgalley, for the opportunity to read.

I love isolated, closed room mysteries reminiscent of And the there were None. So I was eager to read You Are Fatally Invited. A writers' retreat with authors who all have secrets and a mysterious host who doesn't seem to want to make an appearance. What more could a girl want?

I thought this was fairly enjoyable. I did restart the book a couple of times because I kept getting the characters confused. None of them were particularly likable. The beginning was a bit slow for my taste and really didn't pick up until about halfway through the book. Once it did, I found myself enjoying it a lot more. I did NOT call that ending at all. So that twist definitely saved the book for me. Ultimately, I would recommend it. If you can stick with it until the halfway point, you will love the second half.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

This book follows a group of writers who are invited to a special event with a very reclusive author. Things quickly unfold from there.

I was really looking forward to this book but it was not for me. I felt like the writing just did not grab me and the characters all blended together. I am so sad that this one didn't work for me.

I hope others love this one!

This really kept me guessing with all the twists and every time I thought I had it figured out...I was wrong. A great take on the locked room thriller and amazingly layered to include all the ways the characters were connected.

My first read by this author, and it will not be my last. I am a sucker for a solid locked-room mystery, and I was not disappointed. This novel had a great group of characters and an ominous atmosphere. It kept me guessing until the end.

Tricked by a cover again! I know, it is my own fault, judging and all, but COME ON. The cover is gorgeous.

J.R. Alastor (pseudonym), a renowned author, hires Mila to host a writing retreat. Alastor will be hosting it at his private manor tucked peacefully away on an island off the coast of Maine. Mila is excited for the opportuity - for many reasons. She's a former aspiring writer herself, and she desperately needs to get revenge on one of the attendees.

The guest list is small, just six well-known authors who have all mastered their craft and are writers of thrillers and mysteries. They know the tropes inside and out, can toss out red herrings, create misdirection and mayhem, and are above all else, deceitful.

Alastor and Mila have planned a whole week's worth of events and the plan is to use the cover of the retreat to take her revenge. But before she can, a different guest ends up dead and Mila realizes things are not what she thought, and Alastor may not be who she believed.

Then the storm comes along and they are cut off from the mainland. More die and Mila has to figure out what the game really is before she is next.

Well, this was a big fat disappointment for me. It had all the things I love: small group of unlikeable characters, no contact with the outside world, and murder.

It was hard to even decide how to rate this one. The plot itself I really enjoyed, because this type of thriller is my favorite. Do not, however, for one moment compare it to And Then There Were None. I see that as a alllllll the time and nothing ever even comes a tiny bit close. It's one of the greatest murder mysteries of all time.

But there were too many POVs and some of the voices were not distrinct enough to carry their own chapters; I had to keep going back to the beginning to see who I was reading. Other characters were basically caricatures of pretentious and self-absorbed authors who had no idea they were about to finally being held accountable for some past behavior because they's JUST SUCH TALENTED WRITERS. As the game progressed wildly off-course, the chapters with various sins as titles were added and those were even worse.

Even so, I was enjoying the mystery itself - until the reveal. It fell flat and was so disappointing because it was something I considered early on after the first two deaths, but then dismissed because I felt like it was too obvious to actually be the thing that this all led up to. What an unsatisfying ending for such great build-up. I am always willing to suspend some belief for a fantastic reveal, but this was too much for me.

So again, I am torn. The plot itself was great and I loved the build-up. But the uncompelling characters and suspension of belief needed for the reveal are the reason for two stars.

I guess I would recommend with caution. Don't say I didn't warn you about the bad bits though.

A writers retreat gone wrong. when multiple famous authors are invited to a very prestigious island for a writer's retreat everyone is excited until there's a dead body. with everyone pointing the finger at each other they soon learn the host is playing a very cruel game of cat and mouse. the authors must give in and play his games if they want to survive. I overall enjoyed this one but, i feel this idea of a writer's retreat is getting overused and kind of overrated now but, it still had me on the edge of my seat.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of You Are Fatally Invited.

I would give this book a 3.5/5. I wanted to like it better than I did. The premise of the story is clever: several best-selling mystery and horror authors are invited to a writers’ retreat at a mansion owned by an author who has kept his true identity secret. As the days go on, they are encouraged to confess and repent their sins as they are subjected to tests/games based on a different trope each day. The authors need to work out who they can trust with their secrets—and their lives.

The issue I had is that the characters felt at once overblown and undefined. The narrator shifts through the chapters, and some of them I really couldn’t keep sorted in my head. As I read, I wanted something more to really sink my teeth into, but the plot felt like a gimmick, the resolution felt insignificant (as I worked my way toward it), and the people were shadowy caricatures.

This might turn into a cute movie (the rights have a film agent’s support, according to the acknowledgments), but as a book, it feels kind of superficial.