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.

I adore a good locked room mystery, they're my favorite mystery trope by far, and this one didn't disappoint.

A group of authors gets invited to a special workshop at the home of a reclusive author. Nobody knows the author's real name and the mansion is on an isolated island far away from any kind of society. The setting was giving Clue and I was so here for it. Do the writers know each other? Are they connected in some way? Why this particular group of authors? And what does their host have in store?

I enjoyed getting to know our cast of characters here. The twists were fast and surprising, the riddles/challenges were fun, and I didn't call all of the ending at all. The part that I did figure out, I wasn't 100% sure I was correct about until the reveal, and it didn't detract from the enjoyment of reading the story.


A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

This was a wonderful and fun mystery to read that centered around one of my favorite subjects: authors! Six authors are invited to a "writers' retreat" that's been spearheaded by Alastor, who remains anonymous, and Mila an aspiring writer. Mila has put in all the hard work of setting it all up and creating games and clues for the authors. Her sole purpose is really to get revenge and kill one of the guests; however, she's surprised when things go awry and someone is murdered.

It was fun trying to figure out who murdered the guest(s) and if possibly it was actually Mila and she was an unreliable narrator. The first game they played was easy enough for them to figure out the answer to it, but it wasn't all that easy throughout. One of the things I loved and would give almost anything to experience myself is an author museum in the manor where the event was held. All kinds of paraphernalia to look at and peruse...I would love that!

I have to admit that I never actually predicted exactly what was going on, so I loved that it wasn't predictable.

It's safe to say i was nowhere close to figuring out this twisty thriller, and I couldn't have enjoyed it more!

When I opened this book and immediately saw a Clue style map, I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning. There was mayhem and mischief afoot at Wolf Harbor Estate, and I loved every clue and red herring from beginning to end. 

With a secluded setting, a suspicious group of characters, a dinner party, murder mystery games, and plenty of twists, this book managed to fit nearly all my favorite mystery tropes into one story. I appreciated that the author didn't take things too seriously and acknowledged the common tropes and well-known sources of inspiration that influenced the setting and plot. It added such a fun element to the story.

There's so much to love about this clever, diabolically puzzling mystery. You Are Fatally Invited is without a doubt the ultimate locked room thriller and is a real treat for lovers of whodunnit mysteries.

Thank you so much to Random House and Ande Pliego for this debut. It was such a fun take on And Then There Were None with a writing twist. The book was about an exclusive writer's retreat on a private island hosted by the anonymous author J. R. Alastor. Former aspiring writer Mila is hired to host the event, and six thriller authors are invited to join the fun. Alastor and Mila created a week of games and riddles, but Mila has more than fun in mind. But then a guest turns up dead, and it’s not the murder Mila planned. As a storm cuts off access to the islands, the guests have to survive the weekend or risk being taken out one by one.

Thoughts: This was a modern And Then There Were None with a fun twists. The pros to this are many. The characters were eccentric and fun to read about. Everyone was hiding something and everyone was connected. The backstory to the weekend was duplicitous and dark and the murders were gruesome and theatrical. It felt like there were lots of plot points to be revealed and it was fun to watch them unfold.

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. 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine | Bantam for the opportunity to read You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego in exchange for my honest review.

I was really excited about this book at first—the premise sounded like a fun, twisty thriller. Six authors on a creepy, isolated island, riddles, secret passages? It had all the right ingredients. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me.

The biggest issue was keeping track of the characters. Each author has their own baggage and crimes, but they all blur together. On top of that, some characters were called by nicknames in one chapter and their real names in another, which made it even more confusing. I kept flipping back to figure out who was who, which really pulled me out of the story.

Then there were Mila’s chapters. They’re written in the second person, with lines like “You walked in the door” or “You said this,” which felt weird and disconnected. Instead of immersing me in the story, it made me feel like I wasn’t sure what was happening—or who it was happening to.
The pacing didn’t help, either. It felt so slow, and several times, I thought I was close to the end, only to realize I was nowhere near it. Even when things started to pick up, I struggled to stay invested.

That said, the atmosphere was great. The storm, the manor, the creepy vibe with secret passages—was fun. If the rest of the story had matched that energy, it could have been a real page-turner.

The ending, though? It went way over the top for me. I usually love a good twist, but this one felt too far-fetched to land. By then, I hadn’t connected with the characters enough to care about who was guilty or why.

Overall, You Are Fatally Invited had some cool ideas, but the confusing characters, slow pacing, and strange narrative choices made it a tough read. Some people might love its meta, trope-filled style, but it just wasn’t for me.

It was at times hard to follow the story but I loved all the twists and turns and trying to figure out who did it!

A fun whodunnit to unravel. A great number of characters to keep straight drove me a little batty, but it was a good story.

Much thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the digital ARC of this book, to be released February 11, 2025.

A beloved thriller author with an unknown identity invites other thriller authors to their home on a secluded island for a writers’ retreat. Unknown to the guests, the host has more planned than just brainstorming and networking…

I enjoyed this book well enough. The plot was interesting and I was never quite sure who was causing what mischief, which kept me guessing. However, there were also a lot of characters to keep track of, none of whom I really cared about at any point in the story. That kept the stakes from feeling as high as they should’ve been. I also feel that the tense in which the author chose to write was ill-fitted for this story, but I don’t want to say more and spoil anything.

I am intrigued enough that I will keep an eye on this author’s future works. They clearly have some good ideas and I think they have potential to improve with more experience!

A brilliant locked room mystery! Initially, this was a bit confusing to keep straight given the multiple POVs and intertwining mysteries. As the story progresses things become more clear. Full of twists and unexpected events, this is complex and well crafted. I enjoyed the adult "real-life" version of the Clue game. You Are Fatally Invited is a must for any thriller lovers, especially if you enjoy locked room mysteries!


Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was very excited about this book and dug in right away, but after about half of the book, I was tired of where the story was going. I actually put it down so I don’t know who done it.

3.5 Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a decent locked room mystery set at a writer’s retreat hosted by an anonymous mystery writer. I was captivated by the story but it fell apart a bit by the end of the mystery. Still an enjoyable read overall.

This book will have its hooks in you from the moment you turn the first page. Set at a private manor coast, the anonymous author J.R. Alastor hand picks a group of writers, all of whom have connections and crimes that must be exposed. Mila, an aspiring writer herself, jumps at the opportunity to help host the retreat, especially since she has a past with one of the writers.

It soon becomes apparent to all those involved in the retreat, that not everything is quite as innocent as it first seemed (but then again, none of the writers are innocent either). When the first guest turns up dead, the writers find themselves thrust into a week of games, riddles that they may not survive.

For those who love murder mysteries that will keep you guessing up until the very last page, this book is for you!

This was a fun locked room mystery! The theme is very meta as a group of thriller writers attend a writers' retreat on an isolated island and must survive classic thriller tropes as the body count begins stacking up. To survive, they must match the cast of characters to their sins, confess their crimes, and escape the Clue-like mansion.

This book swaps POVs frequently, so I felt that some of the chapters were a bit repetitive, and some of the twists were fairly easy to deduce given the myriad of clues the reader is given along the way, but it was still a really entertaining ride.

Thank you @randomhouse #ballantine #bantam @netgalley #partner for the gifted copy of this eARC!

The invites are out and let me tell you…I’m glad I was NOT invited to this retreat! Locked room thrillers I think are forever my favorite and this one was so deliciously twisted and proves once again why I love them. This writers retreat is set on a private island and all is well until one of the authors is found murdered. This book has a lot of characters but Ande does a great job of having each character uniquely written so it was very easy to keep track of them! I loved how the host of this writers retreat was in the game and that they were to confess their greatest crime. I could not figure out the who was behind it all and was truly perplexed the whole way through! This book just fun, twisty, filled with so many unreliable characters which I absolutely LOVED! This is perfect for any murder mystery readers who are in the mood for a mind bending whodunnit!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of "You Are Fatally Invited" by Ande Pliego. When I say I absolutely raced through this book, I sincerely mean it. I loved the multiple POVs as we follow an event planner hell bent on revenge for an undisclosed reason. I liked the pacing, the way events unfolded, and the mysterious and anonymous author whose identity stayed hidden until the end. You will not regret jumping into the tale of egocentric authors trapped on an island being mysteriously picked off one-by-one!!

Wow wow wow! This is by far one of the best books I’ve read this year. It’s Clue meets And Then There Were None, both of which I beyond love. I was left guessing up until the end! The varied view points of not only the know characters but the unknown roles as well kept me questioning what I thought I knew. I was also very happy with the ending. A top notch debut that I will recommend to everyone I know.

<b>Insufferable</b>

Read [book:And Then There Were None|16299] instead. Or watch the movie <i>Clue</i>. Both would be infinitely more enjoyable than this book.

This is a story where a writer waxes poetic about the "noble virtues" of being a writer. It's all very mastibatory and annoying. Gag. The characters all had the same views and it didn't matter who's head you were in, the author's own opinions seeped through which was VERY off putting for me. I personally enjoy writing and have author friends, but if any of us were this full of ourselves I would hope someone would call us out on our horrible personalities.

Too many first person POVs with no distinct voice for each character. Old, young, men, women, they all sounded the same which means it was too easy to forget who's chapter you were reading. I had to go back many times to the chapter heading to remind myself who's chapter it was. There weren't that many characters but

The plot was ... confusing and slow and just not good. The ending wouldn't end! It kept going and going even after the ultimate unmasking was done. The final details revealing the mystery are all done in exposition (boring) and information was repeated from different angles over, and over again. I started skimming, reading only one sentence in each paragraph. Even with doing that, information was still repeated.

The sensory details were the only thing I enjoyed. Safe to say, I won't be reading any more books from this author.

I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Story: 0 stars
Character Development: 1 star
Writing: 1 star

The cover on this one caught my interest . Then I read the premise and was even more intrigued. Unfortunately, this was a miss for me. I couldn’t seem to keep the characters straight which made picking it up to read feel like work.

A very good thriller. The story kept me on the edge of my sit waiting to see what was going to happen next. I couldn't figure out until the end who was going to get it next and how. I like the way the characters advance the story and who they thought who was who, but they were mostly wrong.
I like how the atmosphere of the island enhance the crisis of the characters and the feeling doom of the plot, it was very effective.

I normally don't go for Thrillers but was asked to try this and I was surprised how good the story was and how satisfying the end was. If you like Thrillers you will definitely like this.

I want to thank Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam and NetGalley for an advance copy of a story about retribution.