*I received a free copy of this book, with thanks to the author and Zoé of Zooloo’s Book Tours. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
Blurb: Six thriller authors. One writing retreat.
You’d die to be on the guest list . . .
The Host
Legendary mystery author J. R. Alastor’s books are sold all over the world, but no one knows his real name. After years hiding in the shadows, he has sent out six invitations to an exclusive murder mystery retreat on his private island.
The Assistant
Mila del Angél has been hired to ensure the week runs smoothly. She has yearned for revenge on a ghost from her past for years – and this could be her chance to get it.
The Players
The six bestselling thriller writers accept their invitations without question – it’s an opportunity any author would kill for.
The Game
What should have been a week of trope-filled games takes a sinister turn when one guest is found dead, and the others find themselves in the midst of a nightmare drawn from Alastor’s dark imagination. They may have written thrillers – but now they and Mila must survive one…
I immediately thought of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None – one of my favourite classic murder mysteries – at the opening of this story, as six guests assemble to travel to an isolated island at the invitation of an anonymous and mysterious host, and I was not disappointed! You Are Fatally Invited is what you would get if you took that premise and updated it to the modern world of internet and mobile phones, then added the game of Cluedo (and the film based on the game) and a guide to writing horror, mystery and thriller books, then gave the whole thing a good shake and poured it out over a couple of puzzle cubes.
I absolutely had to play along with paper and pen to truly enjoy this book and keep my guesses – or deductions – straight in my own head. This also helped me to keep track of the author characters and their little quirks (like Cassandra’s spiders, or Fletcher just generally being insufferable). Using the Cluedo card theme, I listed out all of the characters, the ‘occupations’ and the ‘sins’, plus any other clues that linked to them, then created a glorious spiderweb mess attempting to untangle who belonged to which backstory and how it fit into the bigger picture. And, while I didn’t do too badly (I just had two of the character backstories swapped with each other), I still couldn’t quite make that final leap to the solution and was managed to be surprised by the final tricks and twists.
Along the way, the author gleefully plays with horror, mystery and thriller tropes and meta references, throwing in loads of book and film references to some classics of the genres, and creating snippets of the ‘character’s’ own writings to tease us with. I do love it when tropes are played with to set up and/or foil reader expectations, and I can never resist a clever meta reference when it winks at me. Especially when the whole lot is grounded in my favourite subject of all – BOOKS!
Don’t expect the story to stick to the Christie original in characters, plot or motives – this is a fresh take despite the familiar trappings. I found this a thoroughly enjoyable take, though, on that golden-age classic and my bookish soul just couldn’t resist the writerly detail. I stayed up reading this book until far too late at night, just to find out who actually dunnit and why, and whether anyone at all would survive or whether there really would ‘be none’ by the finale.
I’m not telling you though… you’ll just have to grab your own lucky pen and ideas notebook and investigate yourself!
Smile fixed in place, I held out a hand as Olivia introduced me. I was about to be confined to an island with my wife, my former friend who shared a mutual dislike with my wife, and several strangers to witness the tension. Not to mention our anonymous host, whose books I’d worshipped most of my adult life— which might’ve been exciting if he hadn’t also invited someone else from my past. One of the only people who could single-handedly destroy me.
Cielos. I should’ve told Olivia the truth when I had the chance.– Ande Pliego, You Are Fatally Invited
Purchase Link: You Are Fatally Invited on Amazon
About the author
ANDE PLIEGO began writing stories when she discovered she could actually wield her overactive imagination for good.
A lover of stories with teeth, she writes books involving mind games, dark humour, general murder and mayhem, characters pushed to the edge of themselves, and most importantly, finding the hope in the dark.
When not reading or writing, she can usually be found dabbling in art, scheming up her next trip, or making constant expeditions to the library.
Born in Florida, raised in France, and having left footprints all over the globe, Ande is settled in the Pacific Northwest, USA, with her craftsman husband and little son.
X/Twitter: https://x.com/andepliegowrite
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andepliegowrites/
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