I dove into Hazell Ward’s The Game Is Murder expecting a straightforward whodunit—and instead found myself cast as the Lead Detective, charged with reopening a dusty 1970s cold case. Ward’s decision to shatter the fourth wall and enlist readers in the investigation is nothing short of brilliant. Clues are laid out like game pieces, witness statements read like puzzles, and every turn of the page feels like another move on the board.

What stood out most was how effortlessly the novel evokes the era: vintage details and period vernacular enrich the setting without ever bogging down the central mystery. Ward’s layered plot boasts plenty of satisfying twists, and puzzle enthusiasts will relish the challenge of teasing out tautly woven leads.

That said, there are moments—particularly in the middle—that wade into repetitive territory. Some interview transcripts and evidence breakdowns felt like déjà vu, slowing my momentum just as I was ramping up my detective’s hunches. And although a handful of characters burst with personality, others drift into the background, their identities sometimes melding into one another amid the sprawling cast.

Despite these hiccups, The Game Is Murder delivers a fresh, interactive spin on the classic murder mystery. Its inventive format and clever storytelling more than compensate for a few pacing stumbles. If you’ve ever fancied yourself a sleuth, this is your chance to prove it—look for it on shelves July 29!

I received an advance copy of this novel. All thoughts and impressions are entirely my own. Many thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the eARC.

What a very long, dull and convoluted read.
Weird imaginary characters and scenes, a murder that no-one cared about that took place 50 years previously.
Couldn't wait to end it and not going to lie, I definitely skipped a lot of repetitive waffle.

Hazell Ward’s The Game is Murder offers a fresh and imaginative spin on the traditional murder mystery. Rather than following a detective character, the book casts the reader as the Lead Detective, tasked with reopening a cold case from the 1970s. Ward masterfully breaks the fourth wall, turning the story into an immersive, game-like experience. This interactive format is one of the novel’s greatest strengths—engaging the reader directly and transforming the narrative into an active investigation. The atmospheric setting vividly evokes the era without overshadowing the plot, while the multi-layered mystery unfolds with rewarding twists and turns. Fans of puzzles will especially enjoy the intricate design and the intellectual challenge of connecting the clues.

That said, the book isn’t without its rough patches. The pacing lags at times—particularly in the middle, where certain witness interviews and evidence reviews start to feel redundant. While the interactive structure is engaging, it can also bog down the story when it becomes overly detail-heavy. Additionally, although some characters are vividly drawn, others lack distinction, making it difficult to keep track of the expansive cast amid the complex storyline.

Despite these minor shortcomings, The Game is Murder remains an engaging and inventive read. Ward’s bold narrative approach and clever construction make this more than just a mystery—it’s an experience. Ideal for readers who love solving puzzles and want to step into the detective’s shoes.

This is the ultimate locked room mystery for all Agatha Christie lovers out there. If you loved Clue, this the the right read for you!

I was really looking forward to reading this ARC because I think the concept of this book is really clever for a detective novel.
However, I found it hard to stay fully engaged.
The middle section picked up pace, though I’ll admit I ended up skipping a few parts. Overall, I did enjoy the story, but felt it became a bit too drawn out with all the testimonies and started to feel repetitive at times.

I was unable to finish the book. I found it difficult to follow the storyline and overall could not stay engaged with it.

My thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph publishing for a copy of “ The Game Is Murder” for an honest review.

I thought this was a very original and clever idea for a new style of whodunnit which, for me, was just the right side of quirky.
The writing style was humorous, and characters well thought out,even though sometimes people weren’t who you thought they were., or even there at all !
It was a book where a lot of the time you weren’t sure what was really going on but it was enjoyable getting to the end …if it is the end ?

This is a mystery for you to solve with the author twisting the plot not the clues

Sounds confusing but as you read you will see it's meant to be if it was straight forward where is the mystery. You get to be the detective (and a few other roles but let's stick to detective). When your invited to a murder mystery evening or is it a cold case to revisit. A lord of the realm went missing the Nannies dead and his wife (the separated wife of Lord murderer or is he)? Sorry the wife has been beaten and runs to a nearby pub to raise the alarm. The case was from the 70's but the event is in the present, as I say it's a cold case

This has plenty of twists that need looking at the clues or evidence never change but your understanding of them can. You get to investigate but it's a book so you feel your investigating this is a clever way to right a murder mystery and I enjoyed it. But beware the author get distracted with the side story that's your role and what the author and reader are. I know sounds confusing put like this but it's really not when you read it. Definitely a 5 star experience

This was an interesting read, definitely quirky and fun and unlike most murder mystery type novels. Only thing I would say is that it was a touch too long

The Game Is Murder by Hazell Ward is a chilling and cleverly written thriller that pulls readers into a dark world of deception, manipulation, and deadly games. Ward crafts an intense psychological narrative that keeps you guessing at every turn, masterfully blurring the line between hunter and prey. The story follows a mysterious string of murders tied to an elaborate game—one that forces the characters to confront their deepest fears and darkest secrets.

I had high hopes for this when I read the blurb....how sadly disappointed I am.

A detective is invited to a dinner party. He is tasked with solving the greatest unsolved murder mystery - an extremely thinly veiled retelling of the Lord Lucan mystery. At this party, the detective meets some of the main players: David and Daniel Verreman (the hosts), the original police detective, a coroner, and multiple witnesses. All the detective has to do is solve the murder by the end of dinner and not leave any loose ends.

This books is separated into 3 acts: In the first act everything appears as it should. We arrive at the party and go through some preliminary questions and there are even some spaces for us to sign a 'contract'. The evidence of the case is laid out and each of the people gathered gets their chance to add their bit to the story. By the end of the first act (about 30% of the book) you have a clear grasp on what happened and how the verdict at the inquest was reached. But this is by no means the end of the story.

We then enter Act 2. In this act the detective gets given a name and begins to interrogate the evidence. It is at this point that the book takes a wild swerve off the rails as we learn that there are not 13 people at dinner - there isn't even a dinner, it's just the detective and David Verreman in a decaying old house trying to work out the results. David appears to be suffering with some kind of psychosis as he talks to his 'brother' Daniel, an apparently separate part of his personality and not a real person at all. However, at this point the solving of the mystery was still interesting enough to keep my reading even though the writing had slipped into something that I couldn't get to grips with.

We finally enter Act 3: the court case itself which takes place in the basement of the old house. At this point all of the witnesses show back up again, though it is unclear if they are really there or if it is merely David Verreman acting out all the parts again. And for the third time we get taken through the evidence from both a prosecution perspective and a defence perspective. By this point I was worn out with hearing the evidence and just felt more and more tangled as the writing takes weirder and weirder turns - sometimes addressing you as the reader, sometimes having whole conversations between the author and the narrator, and sometimes looking at things from the perspective of the, currently being held hostage and drugged, detective.

After this third instalment of the evidence we are then posed a series of questions about the evidence - 31 in total, and given multichoice answers. At this point I was noting my choices hoping it would lead me to an ending based on my choices....it didn't. This section goes on for WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY longer than is necessary before we finally return to the dining room from the beginning of the story for the unmasking of the killer....

Talk about an anti-climax. After all that reading, after all that almost giving up because I was bored I had hoped for an ending I could believe and I was left very disappointed. This is another part of the book that takes longer than is necessary as each persons evidence and potential guilt is weighed against how this type of character appears in other detective fiction books.

To sum up - that was several hours of my life I'll never get back.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was expecting a choose your own style story with this 'interactive' murder mystery, but actually it's something a bit more out there, that left me at times baffled, and at times irritated. It's definitely something different, and I'm sure there are plenty of readers who will love it. And it's difficult to review without giving away all the different twists and turns (that I didn't see coming, nor did I always follow!) I was reading very carefully, convinced that I would be having to solve the crime at the end...that doesn't happen really, and it's a good job because I would have guessed incorrectly!

I wondered, as I read, if this would be better as a dramatisation - there are lots of bits breaking the fourth wall (talking to the reader directly) that would work well for an actor turning to the camera. In a book it's trickier, and I did rather enjoy the snarky narrator, and although I was confused by some of the tricks, I did like them to begin with. But midway through I began to tire of the repetition of the evidence yet again, from another character or from the same character but in a different way. It slows everything down, and it's irritating to read, especially if you're reading carefully on the chance that you might pick up on something you should be noticing. None of the characters are nice, as well, which makes it harder to read.

But if you're looking for something very different, and you don't mind a slow reveal, then do give it a try!

This book offers a novel concept (pun very much intended) and the chance for the reader to participate in the unravelling of an unsolved mystery based on a cold case.

While the book itself does not quite live up to the concept due to some practical limitations, including pacing issues, I did like the fact that it gives the reader something very unusual to work with and the opportunity to have a different kind of reading experience.

Plus, it was a nice way of giving a nod to classic crime novels of the past!

Unfortunately this title fell flat for me in a few ways. When I read the premise of this, it felt fresh and new, as I don't think I've ever heard of a mystery that explicitly involves the reader as a character - sadly I found the actual reading experience somewhat unpleasant. I also found it quite hard to follow what was being said by characters and hard as well to keep track of what had been done or said when we returned to it later. I'm sure this book will still have a large audience but it just was not one I could appreciate as much as I had hoped.

This was quite a compelling read and very engaging. I have never read a book like this where the reader is addressed as part of the mystery unfolding. It had me intrigued to see how the story goes.

That being said, I believe the book had some pacing issues especially in the middle. As interesting as the style was, somewhere in the middle it got repetitive as we heard the same thing from different characters’ pov. Some characters felt like they weren’t fleshed out well, that they were interesting but weren’t given enough time to develop.

All over quite enjoyable and a fun new experience!

I was really happy when I got accepted to read this as the description sounded new, interesting and exciting. I love puzzles and murder mystery so this seemed ideal.

I had expected it to be more immersive but because of the twists and turns it was hard to keep track and I kept having to go back to double check things.

I also kept forgetting characters and who had said what, and so there was lots of stopping and having to go back and find out.

I think a physical copy would've worked better, so that might not be an issue with the book more the format of the ARC, and I would definitely pick up a physical copy from the library and take another stab at it.

It did remind of the choose your own adventure books from my childhood, which I used to love, and I appreciated that.

I was looking forward to reading this book but it fell flat of my expectations. I enjoyed the writing style of the book as I have never read a book where you are in it as the reader. The pace of the book at the beginning was ok but as you went on it seemed to get slower with stuff happening but a lot of information repeated quite a few times which left me feeling like the book was a bit of a slog! The twists and turns within the book I did not see coming and I did not fully suspect the person until it was revealed. Overall the book was ok but the pace felt very off.

I was enthralled by the concept of this book with its novel approach to the classic murder mystery and enjoyed the theatrics of the introduction and set up.

There are many different accounts, warnings that people may lie and perspectives vary upon each re-telling of the same evening. There is quite the motley crew of characters around the dinner table and intricate descriptions of the different courses served.

Clues and red herrings abound and the narration is quite tongue in cheek with its mildly mocking, chiding style, berating the reader at almost every opportunity.

Beyond that something just didn't quite gel for me and as such I fear I may not have done the book justice - I will be interested to see if others take to it more and can imagine it would work very well as a one off televised drama.

My thanks to the author, NetGalley and Michael Joseph Penguin Random House for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t for me. I was really excited by the idea of this and appreciated the opportunity to experience a new style of book but the execution just didn’t work for me and my brain!

The unlikeable characters didn’t help and it felt very long but worse was the difficulty in reading, perhaps my comprehension and understanding enough to keep up with all the information from all directions.

Alongside that there are the almost “cut to camera” scenes where the reader is spoken to more directly which I felt jarring and bought me completely out of the story I was already struggling with.

Would be perfect for people who have far more patience than me, perhaps someone who could read it in just a couple of setting though I think the repetitive nature of it may become tiresome quicker!

THIS sounded like a good premise for a good read. However, I really struggled with the constant changes to environment and identities. Half way through, I was confused by the plot or lack of it. I thought it was trying to be too clever. I became unsure of the timeline and the similarity of the core crime to the Lord Lucan story didn't help. I gave up with it. I may go back to it later but I did give up on it in the end.