⭐️⭐️ 2 plod along stars.

Started well then it just got confusing between the different characters. The plot made no sense and I lost track of who knew who.

The sections with chapters from the authors books confused things more and then when the deaths started each one got sillier and sillier.

By the end I really had no interest in who lived or died.

You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego is a neat homage to the classic locked-room murder mystery with a modern twist. What starts as a slightly over-the-top, gothic setup—a secluded island, a mysterious host, and a gathering of thriller writers—quickly grows into a compelling and layered narrative as the characters’ voices shine through.

The premise of six bestselling authors navigating a deadly game orchestrated by the enigmatic J.R. Alastor is both meta and engaging, especially as their own thriller-writing instincts come into play in a life-or-death scenario.

Though the conclusion veers toward the predictable for seasoned mystery readers, Pliego keeps things interesting by delivering a few unexpected turns as the threads come together. The pacing is brisk, the stakes are high, and the interplay between the characters adds a dynamic energy that keeps you turning pages.

For fans of Agatha Christie-style mysteries and contemporary thrillers, this is a solid and entertaining read. It’s not flawless, but the blend of gothic flair, creative twists, and self-aware storytelling makes it a fun escape for mystery enthusiasts.

You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego is a thrilling and darkly atmospheric mystery novel that draws readers into a world of suspense and intrigue. The plot centers around a high-stakes invitation to a party, where the guests soon realize that their lives are in danger. Pliego’s writing is sharp, with unexpected twists and a sense of unease that builds throughout the story. The character development is solid, with complex personalities that add depth to the unfolding mystery. While the pacing can be slow at times, the overall tension and gripping narrative make for a captivating read. I loved reading this book, found it gripping to the end.

A dense yet engrossing spin on the 'remote island' mystery subgenre, You Are Fatally Invited is a fun, tense read following a group of writers ensnared by an invitation to a writing retreat and soon find themselves fighting for their lives against a mysterious killer. Taking beats from classic Christie and whodunits like The Last of Sheila, Pliego sometimes overdoes the POVs, but what's left is a satisfying, meta-layered take on a classic formula and a really enjoyable read.

I’ve seen nothing but good reviews about this since I was kindly sent my copy by @netgalley in return for a review. I knew I would be getting to it ASAP this year.

The premise was brilliant. I enjoyed the setting and the dialogue. It was a complex and cleverly created and devised plot. I always wonder how these authors get these ideas. What a talent.

For me though, I found that I had to keep going back to the start of a chapter to remind myself who’s POV I was in. It got quite confusing and complicated and it felt way too long for my liking.

Considering there was a mystery and I knew there would be a revelation at the end, I hate to say I guessed it pretty early on. Getting there felt like it took forever, but saying that I did enjoy the way the story ended.

I’m definitely intrigued to see what other people think when they get to this one when it’s published, and would recommend if you like dark, gruesome, murdery, locked room, isolated island type of story. The fact it was a writer’s retreat definitely sold it for me in the synopsis.

Thanks you again @netgalley and @bantambooksuk for sending me a digital copy 😋

A clever take on Then There None! A really engaging and enjoyable read. I loved it. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC copy.

I was so excited to read You Are Fatally Invited, and it definitely did not disappoint! It’s a locked-room mystery with similarities to And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, with elements of the game Clue! Even though I found identifying one of the mysteries quite easy, the execution of the book was brilliant, and there were many more clues and mysteries that I definitely didn’t manage to guess, with big plot twists throughout! I was gripped the whole way through the book and I would definitely recommend this book to any thriller lovers and fans of Agatha Christie!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bantam Books for letting me read this ARC!

A clever, modern take on the classic "And then there were none" trope of murder mysteries. I did find myself a little confused by all of the characters and how they interlinked, but eventually it came together and I really enjoyed this. I look forward to seeing what else Ande Pliego does in the future cos I really enjoyed the style and references.

I love reading books that use Agatha Christie "And there were none" novel as a plot device, so, I've read a lot of them. "You are fatally invited", was, by far, the best of them. I enjoyed it almost as much as Agatha's. It was sublime. Full of twists, mystery and new devices that elevated the plot.
In fact, I'm going to look - and hope - for more books from Ande Pliego, and read them as soon as possible.

I really struggled to put this down once I got started! Very easy to read, fast paced with LOTS going on.

I enjoy multiple POV in a book although I did feel like there were a few parts where I had to go back to remind myself which characters POV I was reading. I also liked that sometimes you actually purposefully didn't know exactly who's POV you were reading (the thief, the therapist etc!)

I thought Mila was a great character, and I loved her character arc.

I'd recommend this to anyone that enjoys crime and/or thrillers!

I'm excited to see what Ande Pliego does next :)

What a wild ride that was!
I was pretty sure who the mysterious killer was from the start, but it was either overconfidence or the clues were so well hidden that when it came down to one of two people, I was utterly convinced.. and WRONG 🤣

A twisted game playing parallel to a murder in the group, made it feel like Cluedo meets Inception! Were they linked, and did one person's have an effect on the other parallel..?

Loved it.

Thanks to net galley and the publishers for my ecopy in exchange for a review.
I really enjoyed this book. It gave me Agatha Christie and then there were none vibes. A group of authors invited to a remote island on a writers retreat by a well known but secretive author. When slowly one by one they are picked off and all have something in common, they are all hiding some kind of from their lives. I loved the suspense , character building and plot that kept me turning the pages and guessing. I will be recommending to others !

Firstly, a huge thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me access to read and review this book early.

Loved it! The short chapters and the premise of the story kept me hooked! It’s a yes from me and I’ll be looking out for more from this author

As a thriller reader, we all know a writers retreat in a remote location is destined for disaster. You anticipate everything that can go wrong. This made the book a little less enjoyable for me because I did find it predictable at times.

I was drawn in by the synopsis, and really wanted to enjoy it but it didn't quite meet my expectations. Overall I found it a little underwhelming.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was really interested in the premise of this book but unfortunately it jumped around far too much between characters and it made it difficult to get into.

There seemed to be a lot of conversation between characters but a lot of it lacked substance, distracted from the plot and didn’t add a lot to the overall tension.

This is an enjoyable take on the island retreat novel where a murder occurs in a closed community - in this instance, a writers’ retreat.

As with many debut novels, the writing is a little uneven in places and the multiple viewpoints can become confusing, for example, when a character’s section is given the name of their crime instead of their own.

If you are a Christie fan, you will recognise the debt owed to ‘And Then There Were None’, which does act as a bit of a spoiler and the final sections are a bit frenzied and a little too unlikely.

Overall, it’s a fun read, enjoyable if not entirely original, which tires in with one of the themes of the book.

With thanks to Ande Pliego, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and NetGalley for an arc of this novel.

‘The Dinner Party (n.): wherein the characters are summoned to a secluded yet always opulent estate, usually by an enigmatic host who may or may not appear. Murder and mayhem inevitably follow.’
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A wonderful new take on my favourite book of all time. This ode to And Then There Were None, for me, was delivered with brilliance! I was GLUED to my kindle as I furiously went page to page falling ever more into this gripping mystery
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I loved the style and layout of this one, it felt like a fresh and unique way of telling the story whilst also still paying homage to the original. Then add on top of that, making it a writers retreat where our ominous mastermind’s book on murder writing has its chapters intertwined with the main story? Chef’s kiss. I LOVED IT.
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Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the early copy of this one!

An interesting premise: an anonymous author who goes by the pen name of J. R. Alastor invites other crime writers to their private island for a writer's retreat. Will they finally find out who he or she is?
Certainly not on the first night, where he fails to turn up.
And also, unexpectedly on the first night, one of the crime writers is found dead - murdered. Whodunnit?

Details are revealed throughout the story about the crime writers - it turns out they all have secrets, which Alastor wants them to confess. They refuse to, and end up being killed, one by one, by methods they have used in their own novels.

But who is Alastor, and where is he? Is he on the island.... or is he one of the crime writers?

I found this overlong, overcomplicated, and at times confusing to read. I had to go back quite a few times as speech changed from one person to another without any clear indication. But all the way through it keeps you guessing, as you try to work out who Alastor could be.

The twist at the end was a bit tame - I was almost waiting for a counter-twist.

Having said all that, it's a great effort from a new author.

This was a fab debut! I throughly enjoyed the whole book. The characters, story and twists made me fall in love with this very quickly! I am keeping my eye out for more from this author!

A group of bestselling crime novelists are invited to the private island estate of mysterious fellow crime writer, J R Alastor, for an exclusive writing retreat run by event coordinator, Mila. As the guests arrive on the island and the retreat begins in earnest, it suddenly becomes apparent that their host has planned far more than just a luxury literary getaway. Can the experts in writing crime fiction use their knowledge of the genre to solve the challenges that await and escape the island with their lives?

I felt the story had a really strong start and I finished the first chapter excited to see what came next. After that, I found I struggled to remain engaged until around the halfway point when the challenges became a lot more interesting and I’d begun to piece together more about each character. The story is told through the points of view of the different characters and switches regularly, and I did find it tricky to distinguish Fletcher and Ashton initially, and also Olivia and Violet. Violet didn’t really come to the fore, I thought, until closer to the end of the novel when she took on a more significant role.

The second half of the novel had me absolutely hooked, however, and I had to stop myself from skim reading to get to big reveals from each challenge the authors faced! I enjoyed trying to guess the characters’ backgrounds, motives, allegiances and connections and also the nods to classic crime fiction tropes, shared as snippets from a book written by their host, J R Alastor.

This is a really strong debut from Ande Pliego and I hope to read more by her in the future.

Thank you to the publisher, and to NetGalley, for access to an advance copy of ‘You Are Fatally Invited’ in exchange for this honest review.