This book hooked me at the beginning even though the characters were a bit difficult to keep track of. Then things started to drag on and I lost interest.
Thank you Random House Publishing Group Ballantine and NetGalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

When a group of writers accepts an invitation to a remote island for a retreat, they aren’t sure what to expect. All too soon, the attendees begin to understand that their livelihoods - and possibly their lives - are in danger in this well-plotted homage to the locked room mystery. Fans of suspense and traditional mysteries will love it.

I teetered between 3 and 4 stars on this one… we will say 3.5 rounded up.

The title of this book is perfect - You Are Fatally Invited. You’re diving into a Clue meets Saw-like, locked door mystery where a mysterious host, a famous anonymous author JR Alastor, invites several thriller/mystery authors to a weeklong retreat at his secluded island manor for a writing retreat. He employs Mila, a scorned former aspiring author, to help plan and lure his victims… err guests… to the event.

Alastor has planned games based on all the tropes to force the attendees to confess to various crimes or offenses, or die. Let’s just say Final Girls is a trope for a reason (or is it?).

This book was a fun, quick read, and a wonderful debut. I was hooked from the get-go. My only complaint (driving my rating to 3.5 instead of 4 stars) was there were so many point of views, it was difficult to keep them all straight. Not only did each attendee have a POV, but so did Mila, and some of the attendees had additional POVs where the reader knew them by the crime and not by their name. If I’d read this in one sitting, I think it would’ve been fine. But with picking it up several times over the course of a few days, I needed a murder map to keep everything straight.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I think that the best way that I can describe this book is a more complicated version of the board game of Clue, with way more twists and turns that will keep you guessing all the way up until the very end. I loved that we got to see how things started from the point of view of the accomplice, before she realized that things were definitely not going according to plan. I found myself going back and forth so much on who I thought was behind it all, and I really enjoyed that.

Final Rating: 4.25

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine, Ande Pliego, and NetGalley for the eARC of this book. This is my honest review.

“Sometimes the art of fiction isn’t in how intellectual it is, but how well it makes you actually forget the world around you. Sometimes, binge reading to escape reality can save a person’s life.”

DNF at 20%. I started reading this book on 2/21 if that gives you any idea on how little it held my interest. The premise sounded so up my alley. A secluded island. Thriller writers on a deadly retreat. But oh my I just could not care about one character. Honestly I was bored bored bored and just forcing myself to keep going.

I am still a work in progress with dnf’ing but I’m getting better. I think this book could be great for some thriller addicts, though. I even tried listening to it. The writing is atmospheric and I so wanted to love it. But nope. At least I tried. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Publishing, and the author for the complimentary ARC.

Mila is set to host a writing retreat. She has an exe to grind with one of the attendees. When a murder happens at the manor, she realizes that she must outwit the murderer or become the next victim.

This novel had all the right ingredients for an engaging mystery—an atmospheric setting, a locked-room premise, and a cast of intriguing characters. Yet, despite the promising setup, it struggled to hold my attention. The pacing felt sluggish, dragging well past the halfway mark before anything truly compelling happened. By that point, I was already disengaged.

One of the biggest challenges was the sheer number of characters. Instead of adding depth, the large cast made the story feel cluttered and confusing. Without a strong connection to any of them, their fates felt inconsequential, making it difficult to invest in the unfolding drama. Attempts to build tension relied too heavily on overused tropes, and moments that should have been suspenseful instead felt predictable.

That said, the ending delivered some solid twists, adding a bit of excitement just when it seemed too late to turn things around. While others have raved about this book, for me, it struggled to break free from the conventions of its genre. The potential was there, but it never quite lived up to it.

Rating: 2.5 stars (rounded up to 3).

“You Are Fatally Invited” by Ande Pliego is a locked room mystery. Six thriller authors get invited by a mysterious author to a private mansion on an island off the coast, each one harbors a secret wrongdoing- little do they know, that’s exactly why they’ve been invited. To pay for their sins.
This book was pretty much what you’d expect. The authors are gradually being eliminated, while trying to play the games that will allegedly keep them alive. Meanwhile, you’re trying to figure out if the killer is a guest OR someone hidden on the island. If you like this kind of mystery, it’s easy to go along for the ride.
I used to love a locked room mystery. Agatha Christie will forever be in my brain as the master of mystery using this technique. However, I feel like in recent years, this theme has been overused. And when a theme gets overused the book is either predictable or wild for the sake of standing out. Either way? Not a win.
Overall, I wanted to love this book, but the beginning felt slow and some elements felt flat. I wanted to give this book 3.5 stars, but am rounding up to 4 because I’m not gonna use blame my theme burnout for my rating!
Thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for an ARC!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: This is a tough review to write. I am writing it when I haven't read as much of the book as I typically do before review..... stick with me though I still have two cents to give. I kid you not, I tried to read this book over 10 times both on kindle and on audio. It has so much that I should like, it breaks the forth wall, comments on itself, has an island and guest being brought together. This has literally everything I should enjoy. Alas, I never could get past like 10 percent and I think that's worth noting. There is something about the way that it's written that was disappointedly hard to connect to and at times hard to follow. It is really hard for me to put my finger on, but I just could not find enjoyment in this so matter how much I tried. I even waited two months to make sure it wasn't just a mood problem..... it's not. I think this book just isn't for me. There is nothing I can really pinpoint except the writing and storytelling.

The identity of bestselling author J.R. Alastor has been a well-guarded secret for 30 years, so when a handful of authors are invited to Alastor's island mansion for a writing retreat, they're all excited to go and meet the master in real life. But he's not there when they arrive, and his assistant, Mila, doesn't seem to know when he'll arrive. And before long the authors quickly learn that their host has no intention of revealing himself, as the authors start dying one by one, just like murders they wrote in their own books.

It's hard to tell if this locked-room story is a mystery (there are so many tropes!) or a thriller (there is so much suspense!), though that shouldn't prevent people from checking this book out. Yes, there are a few twists that felt a bit unnecessary or obvious, but for a debut novel, it was still a lot of fun. I'm intrigued by what Pliego will bring us in the future.

Such a fun concept and wild ride! Twisty and fun, You Are Fatally Invited is a treat for fans of Agatha Christie and locked-room mysteries.

I’ve probably said this before but when a book gives off Clue vibes, I’m immediately reaching for it. You Are Fatally Invited played with the isolation trope so well 👏

I ended up binging this one during Thanksgiving weekend because I had to know what was going on. Ande Pliego did a masterful job at the pacing. The chapters are short, we’re switching between different characters with countless reveals or red herrings and set ups and it never felt boring or stretched.

Not only are we hoping to find out who the mysterious J.R. Alastor is, there are multiple sub-plots we’re trying to untangle and I can happily say I was wrong about all of them.

If you’re a fan of the book within a book trope, you’ll love this. We get really up close and personal with J.R. Alastor’s upcoming release while also learning about each author’s work, which I can’t help but wish we could read too. Especially the horror ones 😉

Multiple point of view locked room mystery. Great plot and pacing. This was an impressive debut novel, and I look forward to reading more from this author.

A fun locked-room thriller, six thriller authors are invited to a secluded island for a writing retreat put on by an elusive author. This was pretty interesting. I loved the initial "murder mystery dinner" feel on their first night, and it just amped up from there. Slowly, authors are going missing or coming up dead. So who is the killer? And what motive do they truly have.

I loved the concept of the authors being taken out by their writing M.O. - whether their characters dead by axe, falling, drowning.... it's all up for grabs in this thrilling book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this early release in return for my honest review.

Pub Date: 11 Feb 2025

I am always up for a good locked-room mystery thriller and devoured You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego. You are cordially invited to the island of the coast of Maine by renowned anonymous author J. R. Alasto for a writer’s mystery retreat. Come along with six authors, all successful in their own rights at crafting murder, mischief and mayhem. A word of caution not all of you will make it off the island.

An addictive debut from author Ande Pliego! Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie who love a suspenseful, dark locked-room murder mystery or in this case a group of writers, all with secrets trapped on an island.

The tale begins with six authors arriving at the docks to board a yacht. Each has received an invitation for an exclusive mystery retreat from the famous author J. R. Alasto. They are met at the boat by Mila, the host of this week’s event. Alasto is a recluse who has never even been photographed but all agree his works are outstanding. Each hopes to glean some inspiration.

The tale that unfolds is deliciously suspenseful as the authors find themselves in a deadly game. It all begins on the first evening at dinner. Alasto doesn’t make an appearance, but gives them a game to play. When the first body appears, things turn deadly. Is Mila involved? What secrets do each of these authors possess? Is this a game of revenge?

Pliego blended mystery, thrills, games and clues with horror in this deadly tale. The set up was perfection and added to the tension. Mila communicates with Alasto through her smartphone. Hidden cameras are set up all over the island and manor. The authors invited are Fletcher, Rodrigo and Olivia (a writing duo), Violet, Ashton and Cassandra (rumors say she is a black widow). Each is a successful author in the mystery genre and we learn their backstories, including Mila’s. As I’ve stated, each has a secret and those are slowly revealed as the suspense and danger increase.

Twists, turns, and horrifying moments will have you reading past your bedtime. The author kept us guessing, and the players terrified. The pacing was well done, but I am not sure if there was perhaps a smoother way to share the back-history of each of our guests. While important, it slogged up the beginning with information dumps. Once we got past that, I could not set this one down. I cannot wait to see what this author brings us next.

Clue board game + writer's retreat on a remote island turned murder scene = one heck of a mystery thriller. And I'm a hard one to win over in this genre.

This story expertly weaves together multiple points of view to drip clues and you quickly realize the pasts are muddied and rife with possible suspects. Every time I thought I might have an idea of who-done-it, I wasn't so much proven wrong as given another reason it might be someone else.

A famous author curates a guest list of writers to his remote island for a writers retreat. Through Mila, the event coordinator, we quickly learn that the host has ulterior motives for his choice of attendants and the planned reveals of nightly murder mystery games. However, things quickly veer from the itinerary when one of the writers is found dead, causing the retreat theme to begin to feel a little too real.

This wasn't overly gory, however there were a few scenes in which got a little graphic, if you're sensitive to that. Pliego expertly teased my 'need to know' inclination, so while I wasn't like on the edge of my seat anxiously consuming the pages because I needed more to ease the tension in my chest, she certainly had me flipping pages because I needed to unravel the mystery and figure it out. I'll definitely be reading more from her because this book was wonderfully written!

Ande Pliego’s debut is a twisty lit-themed locked room mystery. When reclusive anonymous author J.R. Alastor invites six thriller authors to his private Maine estate for a writer’s retreat, they’re sure they’re in for the time of their lives, but something much more sinister awaits them.

This book is a clever riff on Clue and And Then There Were None, serving up an entertaining tangled web of secrets, lies, and death. This engaging story doesn’t take itself too seriously, loaded with classic thriller tropes, all delivered with a bit of a wink as one by one, the authors are unalived in ways that mirror their own books.

This plot kept me guessing the entire time! Who is Alastor? How are the characters connected? What are their motives? Who’s next?!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine Books for providing me an advance copy of this book.

This was soooo good!! I love a good thriller and this was just that! When an author shows up dead on their retreat, it’s a game of cat and mouse to figure out who did it!

A writer's retreat with a twist! I'm a fan of the gripping locked-room mysteries and this one did not disappoint. I could not put this one down! Very suspenseful read!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 rounded up

The mysterious and successful J.R. Alastor has kept their identity a secret for years. When J.R. invites 6 thriller authors to a week long retreat on a private island, the invitees jump at the chance to work and learn with the renowned author. But upon arriving at the private manor and meeting their stand in host, Mila, the authors soon discover something else is going on. Mila has games and riddles lined up and guests soon begin to disappear. When one turns up dead, even Mila is questioning Alastor's identity and motives. With the body count rising, who will make it off the island alive?

I went into it with some pretty high expectations after lot of positive early reviews. However, it did fall a little flat for me. The locked door, Clue vibes storyline was exciting but the story did drag a bit. There are many characters to keep track of and the narrative is told by a few of them, changing POVs with the chapters. I started out reading the physical book and was struggling to keep going. Then I switched to audiobook and enjoyed it more. The audiobook is done with a full cast and what was a slow burn reading, kept me more interested with the audio. It wasn't a bad book at all, just didn't thrill quite like I was expecting it to. Some twists I figured out early on and others were a surprise. This is the debut novel for Pliego and it was a solid one. I will be looking for her future reads as she develops as a writer!