I really enjoyed this debut, Locked Room Mystery told from different viewpoints. Some of the world's best mystery writers are invited to an island for a writing retreat. The writing included clever misdirection and the ending was not one I saw coming. However, the ending did seem to get a little far-fetched.

Locked room thrillers are enjoyable and this premise was intriguing - a group of well-known authors with secrets locked in. I was excited to see how introductions were made and the story played out.

I found most of the characters lacking depth, so my interest level waned.

I enjoyed the multiple narratives and the twist at the end. The obvious use of tropes was enjoyable. I can see how some people might dislike it - obvious use of tropes can adds entertainment and purpose. I liked it.

Overall, I was underwhelmed with the story.

I loved this clever debut thriller. Pliego leans into the genre's tropes, but the story still feels fresh. It kept me guessing (and guessing wrong) most of the way. I would have given it five stars if not for the pace lagging in the middle. I'm already looking forward to this author's next book!

You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego is an incredible DEBUT novel that I cannot believe is a debut!

This story about a writing retreat is locked room at its best!

Six thriller writers, with planned games.

The retreat is at an island with a big storm and no way to get to and from anywhere.

A murder is planned, but when someone else shows up dead, all bets are off and its everyone for themselves.

I loved this book so much! Highly recommend.

This is one of those books that I feel like will be insanely popular and well loved. It’s got great atmosphere and the locked room mystery is very well done. There’s a lot of characters to follow and a lot of secrets being kept. It was very entertaining.

The high concept of Ande Pliego’s You Are Fatally Invited is And Then There Was None run by Stephen King if he was J.D. Salinger.

Six famous thriller writers have been invited to the secluded private island estate of anonymous superstar author J.R. Alastor. They all know each other, or know of each other, as industry successes do — but they all have secrets that are bound to come out.

I doubt anyone much remembers the movie The Last of Sheila, but it’s one of my favorites, and I was strongly reminded of it here. The plot is similar: a mysterious mastermind starts picking off celebrity guests on a remote vacation weekend out of a twisted sense of justice.

The chapters of You Are Fatally Invited are interspersed with quick sections from Alastor’s guide “on writing fear”, a fake how-to that serves as a Greek chorus on what’s going to happen. Surprisingly, it’s actually good writing advice even outside of the story.

Writing about writers is tricky, as it can become navel-gazey, but this was very much a page-turner — I kept going long after I should have gone to sleep just to find out what happened and who was behind it all.

Why is there no way to say that a book is 6 stars!

When I first started reading the book I felt like there were a lot of characters I would need to keep track of.
You had J.R. Alastor the host of the writing retreat and an anonymous author.
Mila - the one who had it out for someone at the retreat but was the event planner
Fletcher: Fletcher was a jerk and truthfully my least favorite character
Rodrigo and Olivia - An ex lawyer and his wife who now wrote books together..
Violet - A young bud aspiring author.
Ashton Carter - I thought he was an idiot and a charmer.
Cassandra - Labeled the "Black Widow"
Then you had a chef and a housekeeper. I don't actually remember the names.

This book took me down a winding staircase, locked me in a room, through random blunt objects at my head, and had my mind reeling. Not from confusion but from utter awe. Ande Pliego you are a saint. With your writing skills I know that readers will love to be engulfed or "enflamed" in your books. This book was amazingly written and left me guessing the whole time.

3.5 stars - You Are Fatally Invited is a murder mystery filled with plot twists and dark humor. The many POVs were very confusing - but the great plot kept me interested enough to keep going. This is a great book for readers who like escape rooms and solving riddles. Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam for the early e-book release.

For Fans Of: Kill for Me, Kill for You, Peter Swanson
Avail: 2/11/25
Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
Genre: 🔪 Thriller
Violence: 🪓🪓🪓
TW: Death by water, fire, guns, blades, needles (most off-page); corpses

Synopsis: An exclusive thriller writers’ retreat hosted on a private island turns lethal when one of the authors is found murdered and the anonymous author who invited them remains MIA.

Thoughts: I love this book. So. Much. Think Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” meets the board game Clue meets deadly escape room. If you’re just in it for a great romp of a read, you can’t go wrong. But if you’re also a writing nerd or love a meta novel like me, Pliego’s debut delight to the last word. I’ve read plenty of self-referential novels that acknowledge their adherence to the conventions of the suspense genre. But this novel is next level. Because the characters are writers—and find themselves controlled by another’s narrative—they analyze their actions as though they are characters & evaluate events through the lens of common tropes. And that’s just the HOW of the novel. The WHAT is just as good. I spent the whole book, along with the characters—themselves masters of deceit—trying to identify the shadowy host. Are they one of the writers? Are they hiding on the island? And Pliego absolutely plays fair with the reader, throwing in a throw-away clue towards the novel’s end. I can’t say much more without spoiling this carefully crafted tale. Do you love books inspired by classics? Crave new takes on old tropes? Live to puzzle out games within games? Then read You Are Fatally Invited.

Thank you to Random House & NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

What’s your favorite Agatha Christie novel?

This author is really great at keeping secrets from its readers. The plot is a masterpiece of twists and turns that leaves the reader guessing. The characters are all mystery writers who themselves have become characters in a mystery. They are well developed and have interesting stories. The setting is absolutely stunning and filled with secrets. This is a totally amazing story that is not to be missed.

**Book Review:**

*You Are Fatally Invited* is a thrilling, twist-filled ride that will keep any mystery fan on the edge of their seat. Drawing inspiration from Agatha Christie's *And Then There Were None* and the classic Clue game, this locked-room mystery takes you on a dark, suspenseful journey with a group of thriller authors trapped at a secluded manor. The mastermind behind the retreat, bestselling author J.R. Alastor, has a hidden agenda: he plans to use the writers as pawns in a game of revenge.

Event planner Mila del Angel is hired to organize the retreat, but she's also there for personal reasons—to seek vengeance on the writer who stole her book and ruined her life. However, her plans quickly unravel as Alastor has his own secrets and vendettas, and when one of the guests dies unexpectedly, the group’s dark pasts come to light. As more writers are killed off, Mila is forced to navigate a web of lies, deception, and deadly games, unsure who she can trust, including Alastor himself.

The book’s multiple perspectives and intertwining mysteries can be a bit tricky to follow at times, requiring careful attention, but the clever twists and gripping execution more than make up for it. While the identity of the thief is relatively easy to figure out, the deeper mysteries keep you guessing until the very end. The characters are complex, with each harboring their own dark secrets, which adds layers of intrigue to the story.

If you're a fan of Christie's intricate puzzles and locked-room thrillers, *You Are Fatally Invited* is a must-read. It’s a smart, complex, and engaging mystery that will leave you eagerly turning pages, eager to uncover the truth. A perfect pick for thriller addicts looking for a brilliant puzzle to solve!

I ATE this book up. The premise, the characters, the twist. Honestly 5 stars from me. Getting to know these characters was amazing. All writers, all connected and intertwined deeply. But who is this infamous Allastar? I THOUGHT I had it all figured out. BUT it all comes together beautifully at the end. Unreliable narrator? OR vengeful author? You'll have to read to find out!

A thriller writers retreat on a private island turns deadly when one of the authors is murdered. Hosted by a renowned author and a former aspiring writer, the retreat includes six thriller authors who are experts in deception and mayhem. As a storm isolates the island and the body count rises, the participants must outsmart a killer who knows all the tricks.

This book takes readers on an exhilarating journey! It seems like a popular trend lately for books to be set on an isolated island, with no cell service, and a mysterious murderer lurking in the shadows. However, there's a reason why locked room mysteries are so captivating!

With a diverse cast of characters and multiple points of view, it may take a moment to get a handle on the story. Some parts may feel a bit drawn out, but everything eventually falls into place. In situations like these, I often turn to audiobooks to enhance the experience by following along with different voices.

The characters are complex, and their backgrounds are gradually unveiled as the story progresses. While the pacing may feel slow at times, the ending seems to wrap up too quickly. The island setting, coupled with an approaching storm, heightened the eerie and realistic atmosphere.

If you enjoy the suspense of a secluded island mystery and the challenge of piecing together clues to uncover the culprit, then this book is a must-read!

Thank you, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam for digital ARC copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Good locked-room mystery, which I love. The characters were interesting and I didn't see a lot of it coming.

This book. Is so. Good. I know it's a cliche to say a book "kept me up past my bedtime," but for real. I'm usually an asleep by 9 pm kinda girl, and staying up until 10 is "late" for me. Last night at midnight my spouse came to bed and pulled up short - "What are you still doing up?" I told him, "I had to find out who dunnit, and now I only have a few chapters left so I may as well finish it." He shook his head at me, rolled over and fell asleep, and I was up until 12:30 am finishing this book. I think I put it down to go to the bathroom a few times, otherwise I devoured it all in one fell swoop. (My kids were thrilled, they got to watch their tablet at the table because Mommy was reading, LOL!)

You Are Fatally invited is like watching the Clue movie with Tim Curry (which one of the characters references in the book, and I laughed so hard), and is written in the first person past tense with chapters told from several different points of view. I am astounded that this is Ande Pliego's debut novel, and you'd better believe she's on my radar now and her next book will likely be an auto-buy for me. Yes, that's how much I loved this book.

Ugh, there are a million things I want to gush about, but basically everything is a potential spoiler so I will just say - this book kept me constantly on my toes. I kept thinking I had who Mila's target was figured out, as well as another major plot point that I can't even say because spoilers, and then something would happen and I'd change my mind. In my mind, there were three big "whodunnit" elements to figure out - which author is Mila targeting? who is J.R. Alistair? and who is (I can't tell you cuz it's a spoiler!) Not once did I think I had who Alistair is figured out, and I was pretty sure I had the other two figured a few times, had one of the roles narrowed down to two people, and then BAM! Plot twist here! Big reveal there!

There are a few plot threads left dangling or unexplained, and I debated with myself on if they are enough to change my rating from 5 stars down to 4.5, but no. I just loved this book so much, and have such a book hangover and am RUINED for any other book (for a few days, at least) that it gets a full 5 enthusiastic stars.

If this is Ande Pliego's debut novel, I can't wait to see what she does next. (Let's just hope she's really the one who wrote it... haha!)

I love locked room mysteries, so this was right up my alley. I loved how it played with tropes and I enjoyed the characters. It was a little confusing keeping track of all the characters at the beginning, but through the course of the novel we got to really dig in to them all. Through twists and turns, I could not put it down. Definitely recommended.

Ande Pliegi’s debut novel takes us to a secluded island in Maine, where Mila, former aspiring author, has been hired by the elusive Alastor to host an invite-only writers retreat with six of the most prolific thriller authors. As Alastor’s “games” quickly get out of hand, the reader is left trying to piece together who all is involved and, ultimately, the true identify of Alastor.
I did enjoy the play on typical murder mystery tropes, but unfortunately it took a solid 60% for me to get into the story. It might have been my personal investment after coming off a series of easy holiday reads, but I felt like I had to think too hard to solve the puzzle myself. The latter half was more entertaining and redeeming, so I settled on three stars in the end.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC copy of You Are Fatally Invited in exchange for an honest review.

Trying to get her marriage back on track, Amelia books a mountain get-away..which turns out to be a former prison. What keeps this plot moving along is the switching of points of view between four characters. The romantic weekend is disrupted with a murder and things go gpdownhill for Amelia quickly. There are some unexpected twists and turns leading to a satisfying ending. I received a free advanced-reader’s copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving my review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A darkly humorous mystery. If you’re looking at this book, odds are you’ve read or watched your fair share of mysteries and know the tropes. Pliego leans into all the familiar mystery structures as a group of mystery writers gather for what they think is a writer’s retreat. See the foreshadowing there? It certainly wasn’t the relaxing time to hone their skills this cast of characters thought it would be.

I enjoyed the twisting of the familiar, leaning into the well-worn plot lines in a tongue-in-cheek way, as well as characters with layer upon layer of secrets. This was a murder mystery that has all the same ingredients but ends up tasting different than the others.

You are Fatally Invited is a locked room mystery by debut writer Ande Pilego. I found this story fast paced and original- a great addition to the genre. The book introduces us to an eccentric group of bestselling mystery authors who are invited to a private island by a famous but anonymous thriller writer. The writer guests have their own secrets and soon realize they are not safe on the island. As the guests get picked off one by one, the reader can only guess as to who the killer is and who will be the next victim. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves atmospheric thrillers, multiple POV stories, and locked room mysteries.
Thank you NetGalley, the author, and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.