Immediate yes from chapter 1. A thrilling debut from Ande Pliego, the story is set around a writer’s retreat hosted by reclusive author J.R. Alastor. It features a cast of writers trapped in a real life murder mystery, all with secrets, hidden agendas, and motive to kill each other. This is not only a story about writers, but a book for writers. The story throws every trope into it, but done in a very self-aware, almost meta way. It also contains a ton of thought provoking lines, especially in the excerpts of J.R. Alastor's book that pepper the story as breaks between chapters.

For fans of Agatha Christie, Clue, and/or Knives Out

Recommend if you like:
- Locked room and/or closed circle mystery
- Opulent settings
- Strong character development
- Twists and turns
- Ensemble / multiple POVs
- Flawed characters

Cons:
- No spoilers, but some the characters motivations unraveled for me a little bit towards the end. I'm not sure the resolution fully landed with me, but it was a really fun ride getting there.

Highly recommend for fans of the genre, and I’ll absolutely be reading future work by the author. Note: the book does contain some horror with occasional graphic descriptions. Thank you NetGalley, Random House, Ballantine Books, Bantam for an advance copy of #YouAreFatallyInvited. Releasing Feb 11, 2025!

4.5 Stars rounded up to 5

Thank you to Penguin Random House and Bantam Books for an early electronic. All opinions are my own.

I cannot believe this is a debut. A book about books and authors, murders of all sorts, and a locked room mystery done so well. Entertaining to be sure.

Six authors of thrillers convene on a private island owned by the famous author and recluse, J. R. Alastor. Along with a couple of staff members and Mila del Angél, hired as event coordinator. Everyone has secrets. Of course they do. They also are masters of writing twisty tales of murder. When one author goes missing and is found dead, the finger pointing begins and the body count starts. Even better, the killer is using the author's own works as a manuscript for murder.

This book reads as if it were the game of Clue on the pages. Fun read and highly recommend.

If this is a debut, I can’t wait until we get more from this author. The story did feel pretty slow for the first 50-60%, and I think that will lose some people, but I sprinted through until the end. I loved the Clue elements and the sections divided into common mystery/thriller tropes.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

A fantastic premise, a locked room/island mystery populated with mystery writers. I was sucked in initially, especially when each of the writers were trying to figure out the fatal game being played, using their own experiences as mystery writers. Then story is unfolded so slowly and was told from so many perspectives that I kept getting confused about which perspective I was reading. There wasn;t enough distinction between the various voices. It was a convoluted story, and the characters were pretty one dimensional so that when the predictable big reveal came about I really didn't care about it. I can't really recommend this one.

thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for an advanced reader copy.

I had such a fantastic time reading You Are Fatally Invited. I’m a massive fan of the murder mystery genre as a whole, so I knew just from reading the blurb of this book that I absolutely needed to get my hands on it.

You Are Fatally Invited is like a modern day And Then There Were None, which is one of my absolute favorites in the genre. Give me a secluded island and a twisted killer, and I’m bound to have a great time! It was such a wonderful ode to murder mysteries and their tropes, and it played into those tropes in a very fun, meta way. In typical murder mystery fashion, I spent the whole book formulating my theories to see if I could guess the killer before the main character(s). Some things I was dead right on, while others I definitely didn’t see coming, and I absolutely love that!

I’d highly recommend this book to any murder mystery lover, but especially those that are fans of Agatha Christie and looking for a modernized version. You Are Fatally Invited was a fun, twisty, and addictive read for me. I struggled to put it down!

Thank you so much to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the early review copy of You Are Fatally Invited. All opinions are my own!

I liked the locked room/island premise at first but then it felt claustrophobic after a few chapters. Intriguing but dark. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this story in exchange for an honest review.
Okay, first of all, WOW. 4.5 stars! This story had so many twists and turns that actually made sense, it kept me turning the pages literally begging for answers. I always feel like the mark of a good book is if I want to skip to the end and read what's going on. I'm going to tell you right now, DO NOT. Every chapter has something exciting and emotional. The only reason for 4.5 stars is the fact that I felt like I was a dying man in the desert craving water, and didn't find any until the end of this story. I would've liked a crumb of reveal before the final ending, just something that didn't make me feel like "yes, yes, yes but WHO IS A MURDERED IN THIS STORY."
I loved our morally gray Mila. Sweet baby girl, you're wild and I love it. Down to clown but also has the ability for redemption and real human emotions? Yes please. The way all of the characters came together, some stronger ties than others, was amazing. I like that not everything was a super obvious connection, and was all believable enough that I didn't have to wonder. I felt like this story was wrapped up so nicely!
If you're looking for your next great read or a slump buster, this is it.

What a ride! I loved this one. Twisty from start to finish—the mysteries were so layered and interconnected that even when I thought I may have had one figured out, there were two more giving me a run for my money. This read like a delightfully dark game of Clue, with the “sinful” identities of all retreat attendees a mystery, each burdened by a secret, and a writing retreat that grows deadlier by the day, parsing out who was who before the end had me shouting at the pages: “WHO IS IT??” At one point I wrote out the identities like a clue card trying to match them up, looking for the little details that implicated someone or cleared someone else. Such a fun book, especially all the little thriller/horror artifacts that made cameos (I’m looking at you, Lucille).

This reminded me of Clue, a twisty thriller where everyone is a suspect. There were a bit too many characters for me. I was getting a little lost with all the moving pieces, backstories, and reason everyone wanted to kill everyone else.

Thank you for the advanced reader copy Netgalley & Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam.

Ohhhhhhh yeah!!! This is my favorite type of book. They're on an island and don't know who or where the "host" is. Everyone starts getting picked of, one by one and when I tell you I was on the EDGE EDGE of my seat, I mean it! I love love love this book. I will definitely be going to buy a physical copy to keep on my bookshelf !

Yes, there are a lot of characters and a lot of POV's, but this is a fabulous locked room thriller that gets close to horror and it will be one that will be talked about for 2025

The premise of this book is great, and I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, it went off the rails pretty quickly. I'll outline a few things I had problems with below.

- Multiple narrators, but the voices were not distinct enough to truly differentiate characters or to really care about any of them. And throwing in a Spanish word, seemingly at random, to signify the Latinx characters are speaking was...a choice.
- You have to suspend your disbelief way too far. I won't post spoilers, but we're supposed to believe so many people in one person's life just happened to end up as famous authors?
- I'm not sure if this book was originally meant to be marketed as a horror novel, but the author seems to frequently confuse horror and mystery tropes/devices. All the characters are mystery writers and the interspersed chapters of "how to write a mystery novel" seem meaningful. But then they make a big deal of the memorabilia room which is filled with props from horror movies and shows. And there's a whole chapter and game about the "final girl" - definitely a horror thing!
- Speaking of the props, they're used as murder weapons in this book and, my friends, I'm here to tell you they don't use sharp objects on sets. The props are...props...

Overall, there was just way too much going on. The book feels unfocused and by the end I found it was so disjointed I didn't even care what happened to the characters. Honestly, I was rooting for them all to die.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 STARS ⭐️
This is a locked room, isolated setting, an unseen host, characters getting picked off one by one thriller that employs ALL the tropes in the book (literally) and DOES THEM SO WELL! I know there are so many readers out there chasing the high of reading Christie’s And Then There Were None for the first time, and this one is the only one from a modern author that even comes close. And let alone for a debut novel? Amazing. The title is fantastic and the cover is also absolutely stunning. The only reason I couldn’t give this 5 stars is that even by the time I finished the book I just couldn’t jibe with the author’s voice. It just didn’t flow well, and one of the characters writing with the use of the word “you” to refer to another character was more than a little confusing. Otherwise, I can’t wait to see what Ande Pliego does in the future. Song pairing is Seven Devils by Florence and the Machine (a devil for every author invited to a mysterious writing retreat) 😈✒️✉️

PUB DAY: FEBRUARY 11TH 2025 🥳

This was a load of fun. In the vein of And Then There Were None, this novel uses the tropes of the "locked island" (in this case) mystery to great effect. When a small group of successful writers are invited to a(nother) major, mysterious writer's island home off the coast of Maine, they start to get knocked off, one by one, and anyone could be the culprit.

I loved the different character voices and discovering all of their secrets--and they ALL have secrets, including the hostess, employed by the mysterious writer who has collected all these folks together. I suspected the antagonist from early on, but it didn't stop my enjoyment of the overall journey.

There was maybe a plot hole or so that requires a bit of glossing over, but in a genre that can feel overdone, this novel still felt fresh and original. I'm looking forward to seeing what this author does next.

Fast-paced Clue-like thriller with a cast of characters each more devilish than the last. With a lush setting and a locked room vibe, this will capture the attention of readers who like high stakes, literary drama, and unlikeable narrators. Fun and fast read with movie-ish feels.

This book was really good, it reminded me of an older Agatha Christie book! The twist are great and it was a really good read! The characters made me think once or twice!

This was mysterious. It's set on a writing retreat of one of the most popular mystery authors of the generation, but everyone invited seems to be led astray with what the true purpose of the retreat was. Especially when people started dying. Then it is a race to truly find out who is behind the name. Would recommend.

I really enjoyed Locked Room thrillers and thought this one was really well done. Told from multiple characters' viewpoints, this fast paced story has lots of complex characters, is action packed, and has a nice little twist or two at the end. Very atmospheric, it reminded me of "And then there were none".

The killings were pretty brutal and gruesome but other than that, I loved this book!

Ok wow. This book was A LOT. CLUE is my favorite board game AND my favorite movie, so when I saw the Clue game board-inspired map, I knew I was going to be hooked. And I was - immediately. A secluded writers retreated hosted by a mysterious, but ultra famous host? Yet unkown connections and secrets and games to be played, puzzled to be figured out? Yes.

And then WHAM it is so much more. SO much more. This thriller boarded closer to horror than I usually like, but I was so ensconced into the story that it only made me semi-grossed out. I will say, I REGRET reading this at night, because I did not get a good night's sleep any of the days I was reading.

Completely unpredictable, amazing characters and character ARCS, perfect pacing and an intricately laid out story that moved from POV to POV at just the right moments to keep you guessing and dying for answers.

Yes, this needs to be on your TBR.... I will be scared... I mean thinking about this one for a long time.

This had a few too many characters and too slaw a pace, however the intensity of the setting was well done.