Today I’m joining the blog tour for You Are Fatally Invited. My review is written with thanks to Zoe O’Farrell for inviting me on the tour and to the publisher for my copy of the book.

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…

Review:

I signed up for the blog tour for You Are Fatally Invited because I found the premise really exciting and I was not disappointed. The setting is a private island, which is described in great detail, on which is held a writing retreat for six crime writers. These writers all come to the island with secrets and I was really intrigued to find out what the secrets were and what the consequences would be. I was kept engaged the whole way through.

The chapters are narrated by the six writers and Mila, who has been employed by the host, anonymous writer, JR Alastor, as the event coordinator. As there are so many viewpoints, it did take me a while to become confident in who was who, but I loved the insight this gave us into the personalities of these characters, and the events in their lives which have led them to this situation. I didn’t find any of the characters particularly likeable, but they are compelling and extremely well developed.

The plot is very clever, and I love how Andé Pliego puts the story together using common conventions of crime writing, which, as a regular crime reader, I was easily able to recognise and appreciate as a wonderful joke with the reader. The story becomes more tense as it goes along and I found it very difficult to tear myself away, especially towards the end. There are several facets to the mystery and I did not solve any of them, but I really enjoyed the ride!

It surprised me that Andé Pliego is a debut author as You Are Fatally Invited is so accomplished. I can’t wait to see what she does next!

You Are Fatally Invited is available from Amazon.

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