The first thing that convinced me to pick this book up was the title, which clearly indicated that this was a thriller with a theatrical twist. I have never read a book with this sort of theme before as I am not a theatre person, but it didn't affect my enjoyment of this book.

The main thing I enjoyed about Exit Stage Death was the twists and turns. While I did guess the final reveal of the perpetrator, the lead-up to the reveal was still highly engaging. I appreciate that many readers may not guess the final twist or may not be bothered if they do guess it, so I don't believe this is something to mark the book down on. Furthermore, I also feel that the ending was a little rushed. After the final reveal, everything is resolved pretty quickly, which ruined the build-up for me.

However, I found the characters, particularly minor characters such as Louis, to be pretty flat. They all had a dedication to theatre, but there wasn't much development beyond that, other than Aaron and his true-crime obsession. Aaron's obsession with true crime sort of felt shoehorned in to me, since he was the only character who had an interest other than drama.

The flat characters did not ruin the story entirely though, especially for what is a fairly short book. I do think it would be stronger if the characters were more 3-dimensional, but its overall purpose of being a murder mystery is fulfilled. I would recommend this book to people who prefer books that are more plot-driven than character-driven.

Another great thing about this book was its unique format of having parts in the style of the script amongst the prose. This really creates the atmosphere of a theatre piece and the character's dedication to theatre. There are a few instances where text that is supposed to be in script style is not italicised, though I'm sure this will be fixed when the book is published.

Overall, while this book did not entirely work for me, it was still an enjoyable murder mystery. I would recommend this to readers who enjoyed books such as the A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series and more plot-driven books, as mentioned earlier.