You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

An exclusive locked-room murder mystery party hosted by a legendary thriller writer on his private island for his fellow thriller writer friends turns lethal when a guest is found murdered in this twisty debut novel.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

February 2025; Bantam; 978-0593871577
audio, ebook, print (384 pages); murder mystery

This is a relatively typical locked-room murder mystery, but the people invited to the exclusive writer's retreat are not your typical characters. Before you start thinking that this is a cozy mystery, given the plethora of amateur sleuths, let me assure you there is very little that is cozy about this novel. 

A reclusive, but highly successful, thriller writer has invited a group of crime writers to his private island for a retreat. The guests presume that they will get to meet JR Alastair, and that in itself is a reason to accept the invitation. 

The chapters told from various characters' POV are broken up with excerpts from Alastair's writing book (it is kind of like Stephen King's book On Writing, but all about using tropes to create fear). There are also a few chapters that are excerpts from the other characters' books. While I enjoyed the latter as they are part of the plot (Alastair has made edits to suit the games the characters are supposed to play during the retreat), but former felt like too much of an interruption. 

There are a ton of twists and more than a few secrets, so it is impossible to figure out who is killing the writers (or even to know for sure that some have been killed and not just missing). Just like the characters, the reader is also trying to figure out if Alastair is one of the guests. Since there is not even an author photo, no one can identify him (is Alastair even his real name, or is it a pen name, and could he be one of the female authors?).

This terrific thriller would be perfect to read during a thunderstorm. The plot isn't very realistic, but don't think too hard about that and just enjoy the ride of this great piece of escapism reading.

Buy You Are Fatally Invited at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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