Anatol invites 5 of his oldest friends to celebrate his 30th. He has invented a game called Murder Motive Death. The idea is simple. Each person chooses 2 characters and writes a story where one kills the other and after reading them aloud a winner is announced. Points are awarded for real-feeling murders. Each friend has secrets they use to make some great stories. Each story makes them feel their resentment. It's interesting trying to figure out what is story and what is happening in real time. Who can be trusted?

Ink Ribbon Red by Alex Pavesi is a recommended murder mystery where the characters are writing murder mysteries.
A group of six friends gather on a weekend to celebrate Anatol's thirtieth birthday in the Wiltshire countryside. The group plays a game Anatol invented called Motive Method Death, which requires everyone to choose two players and then write a story where one kills the other.
Once you start reading, you will not be able to distinguish between reality and the stories the characters invent, as both are presented randomly throughout the novel. The start of each story gives clues to when the narrative that follows was written. This misdirection is a purposefully planned part of the reading experience, but if you don’t figure out that this is what is happening quickly, you will be confused and find yourself backtracking, which I do not enjoy.
The group of characters is interesting but underdeveloped in my opinion. The writing is good, but the experience required more devotion to experimental structural technique than I wanted.
Ink Ribbon Red may be a good choice for readers who like unique narrative structures in novels. Thanks to Henry Holt & Company for providing me with an advance reader's copy.

Ink Ribbon Red has an intriguing premise - a murder mystery in reality set amongst a guessing game of grisly murder stories.

Longtime friends of Anatol come together not long after his father's passing to celebrate his 30th birthday. What Anatol wants to do is a little odd and sets you on a path trying to guess what is real and what is fiction.

If you like mysteries, unlikeable characters, different perspectives, this is in your wheelhouse!

Thank you to Netgalley and Henry Holt and Co. for an ARC.

Reading in Between the Wines book review #88/125 for 2025:
Rating: 2 🍷🍷
Book: Ink Ribbon Red
Author: Alex Pavsi
AVAILABLE NOW!!

Sipping thoughts: I like mind-bending twisty stories that make you think. I think this one was way over my head. I might not have been in the headspace to read this one at this time with the way work is going. So I have to say I was totally confused and still don’t know what actually happened. When I started to get the story, the chapter would change, and I would get confused again. There are some people that would love the concept, and maybe I would at a different time in my life, but just not this time.

Cheers and thank you to @Netgalley and @HenryHoltAndCompany for an advanced copy of @InkRibbonRed.

#InkRibbonRed #AlexPavsi #HenryHoltAndCompany #NetGalley #ARC #advancedreader #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bokreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThrillers #GeneralFictionAdult

Author Alex Pavesi has written a new mystery novel, Ink Ribbon Red.

Using the mystery within a mystery theme, Pavesi keeps the reader guessing which is reality and which is fiction throughout the novel. The reader is introduced to six friends together for a weekend at a country house. The friends have a web of thin strands that interconnect them to each other. Each has a secret to protect.

They come together for a yearly gathering this time to celebrate Anatol’s 30th birthday. He introduces a game he invented called “Motive, Murder, Death”. He asks each person to write a short story about one of the other friends committing a murder of someone else in the group.

This is the confusing part of the book, where the stories each character is writing are mixed in with what is happening between the characters at the get together. The author purposely has blurred the lines between what is reality and what are the stories being created. Using the unreliable narrative keeps the reader guessing until the end.

Thanks to the publisher for the e-arc they sent me via NetGalley and congrats to the author for writing and publishing this book.

So it’s hard to write a review for this without being rude or overly critical…but this was not a good book. It’s filled with unlikable people and I still really have no idea what was going on or what was the point of the whole book. And the last few pages? Wtf? And I don’t mean that in a good way, at all.

So I have heard great things about the authors first book but I hadn’t heard much about this one. After reading it I see why. Sadly I can’t recommend this one. I’d give the author another chance though, I still am interested in his first book.

Ink Ribbon Red challenges the reader to figure out what is true and what is false as the characters in the story play a game where they make up the deaths of their fellow characters. This book kept me guessing on what was actually going on vs. what was fiction.

Ink Ribbon Red by Alex Pavesi
#eightyseventhbookof2025 #arc #inkribbonred

CW: death, murder (in so many violent ways), adultery

From NetGalley: Anatol invites five of his oldest friends to his family home in the Wiltshire countryside to celebrate his thirtieth birthday. At his request, they play a game of his invention: Motive Method Death. The rules are simple: Everyone chooses two players at random, then writes a short story in which one kills the other.
Points are awarded for making the murders feel real. Of course, when given this assignment, it’s only natural for each friend to use what they know. Secrets. Grudges. Affairs. But once they’ve put it in a story, that secret is out. It’s not long before the game reawakens old resentments and brings private matters into the light of day. With each fictional crime, someone new gets a very real motive. Can all six friends survive the weekend, or will truth turn out to be deadlier than fiction?

My thoughts: This book was bizarre. I’m not sure if I liked it, but it was definitely something different. I had no idea what was going on, until SPOILER you reach the part of the narrative where Anatol suggests the game. It’s at that point you realize that the interludes of murder you’ve already read and were confused by are the murder stories. Or are they?

None of the characters are likable. I didn’t care about any of them, so I wasn’t invested in whether they lived or died. But it was kind of fun to be confused for so long. I would look for the author’s next book based on this.

Thank you to @henryholtbooks and @netgalley for the advance copy. (Available now, pub date was 7/22/25)

Ink Ribbon Red is a cerebral twisty brain-teasing mystery/thriller by Dr. Alex Pavesi. Released 22nd July 2025 by Henry Holt, it's 320 pages and is available in all formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.

Trippy and cerebral. Readers will likely find that it takes a while to grasp what's real and not, what's actually happening, and even how the characters really relate to one another in terms of motivation and purpose. It will probably take half the book before most readers really get a firm(ish) grasp on what's going on. That will be a bridge too far for some. For the intrepid readers, the author really does a great job engineering a solid locked room puzzle and he's adept at writing stylish prose.

The characters are a disappointing lot; unlikable, whiny, immature, stilted, and frankly annoying. Can't imagine anyone would want to spend 10 minutes with any of them. They also don't seem to like one another even slightly (that's putting it mildly).

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 7 hours, 38 minutes and is capably read by Dino Fetscher. He has a well modulated tenor voice and does a good job with the disparate accents of both sexes and a range of ethnicities. Sound and production quality is high throughout the read.

Four stars with the codicil that the author disregards *all* the "rules" about pacing and fair play. It's a smart book written by a plainly intelligent author.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

My first Alex Pavesi novel but definitely not my last! Wow this one was a doozie! What starts as a thirtieth birthday celebration quickly takes a turn. So many hidden agendas with secrets and grudges galore.
Thank you NetGalley, Alex Pavesi and Henry Holt and Company for the opportunity to read and review this book

Unfortunately Ink Ribbon Red wasn’t a home run for me. Felt a big drug on and I was ready to be done with it. HOWEVER, I will say I think there is a large demographic of readers who will love this, so it’s getting a solid 3.5 stars.

The premise of this novel is undeniably original and immediately drew me in—a group of longtime friends reuniting for a birthday celebration, only to play a chilling game of Motive Method Death, where each person must write a murder story featuring another as victim or killer. The structure, weaving together the “real” narrative with the characters’ fictional stories, is clever and inventive, constantly blurring the lines between truth and imagination in a way that kept me guessing. At its best, the book offers a fresh, puzzle-like reading experience reminiscent of a Christie-style locked-room mystery with a metafictional twist. That said, the execution felt uneven: the pacing was slow in places, some of the characterizations lacked depth, and the tension never fully pulled me into the room with them. Still, the concept is fascinating, and readers who enjoy layered mysteries, experimental storytelling, and a dash of psychological intrigue will likely find this a thought-provoking read.

This is a DNF for now I think. I'm intrigued by the premise of multiple short murder stories written by a friend group and those stories revealing secrets and grudges being kept throughout the group. Unfortunately I've been struggling to get into this at this time. I might try again later.

Thanks Netgalley and Henry Holt and Co for providing this ARC to me!

A rather confusing book. I did try the audiobook as well. Neither were really for me. I felt like it was going in all directions and it just wasn’t for me.

"Then what shade is this?”
“I don’t know. Ink ribbon red?”
“Ink ribbon red...The color of fictional blood.”

“Grief is an awkward portmanteau of guilt, regret and disbelief. Because those are its three main ingredients."

The intricate intoxicating Ink Ribbon Red, by almost too clever psychological thriller author, Alex Pavesi, has been one of the hardest murder mystery thrillers to rate. Its often jumbled timelines make for complex twisty stories within a story. Yet there's such brilliance in its twisted premise.

Despite the surprising death of his father, Anatol invites his 5 oldest friends to his newly inherited home to celebrate his 30th birthday. His one request is to play the game Motive, Method, Death, that he invented, and they've played once before. Each person pulls one of their names from 2 hats. One name is a villain and one is a victim. Then they write a short story about why and how the villain kills his victim. Anatol judges the winner. Simple. It should be a "weekend full of fictional death."

But when one of them turns up dead maybe the stories of betrayal, lies and secrets among the friends isn't so fictional. Actor Dino Fetscher was beyond impressive with the often unlikeable narcissistic characters and their various inflections. From sarcasm to anger to indifference he nailed it.

We don't learn about the game until some scenarios have already played out. So a few events weren't real. Sometimes the present was the future or the past. By the end we learn the truth...or do we?

Reading and listening to Ink Ribbon Red, from its unique title to its twisty plot, is a bit confusing at times, often genius and always pure thriller entertainment.

I received free copies of this book/audiobook from Henry Holt & Company and MacMillan Audio via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

A group of friends gathers at one friend's family home to celebrate his birthday, a tradition for this group of friends, even as they grow older and see each other less often. They play Motive Method Death, a game where each person draws two player names and must write a realistic murder mystery in which one of the names is the murderer and the other a victim. These stories are placed throughout the book, and all take place at the house they're staying at, so part of the fun of this book is trying to determine which chapters are the main plot and which chapters are stories written by the characters. I thought this was a fun and unique concept that really kept me on my toes and had me hooked on this book.

Rating: 3 stars.

There were multiple times during this book where I stopped and thought "is this one of those books where you are supposed to take it apart and try to put it in the right order??" to figure out the plot. The jumping around, the multiple "stories" mixed with the facts, and the unreliable characters made my head spin. This book is 10000% someone's cup of tea, just not mine.

Thank you NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company/Macmillan Audio for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

While I can admire what Pavesi was trying to do with the stories within stories, this didn't work as well for me as their previous novel the Eighth Detective. The characters were all different shades of annoying and the only positive things about them were the different ways they 'died', or didn't die, it was confusing as hell.

Alex Pavesi clearly likes to play with structure in his novels. Which is fine in theory and can even be a huge plus if well executed. But I struggle with books where the story is retrofitted to conform to structure for structure’s sake, and that seems to be a recurring issue in Pavesi’s work.

This shared some problems in that regard with The Eighth Detective, but that at least had a good story to go with what was a pretty wobbly format. This one felt like it was written only to support the format, and as a result it feels more like a writing exercise than a novel, and one that doesn’t really succeed in that respect either.

The characters are neither likable nor interestingly unlikable, and the general theme in terms of why and how they ended up in these circumstances is one we’ve seen many times before.

I’m all for unusual structure in a mystery, but not when it exists only for its own sake.

Ink Ribbon Red is a layered, captivating thriller that blurs the line between fiction and reality in the most intriguing way. The timeline jumps and the stories the friends write about each other’s deaths add a unique, eerie twist that kept me guessing. It takes time to piece together what’s part of the game and what’s really happening, but the slow reveal of secrets—both imagined and real—makes the payoff worth it. You definitely have to stay sharp while reading, but if you love a mind-bending mystery, this one delivers. Fascinating and totally original.