Loved it!

A meta murder mystery, West Heart is a unique combination of a murder mystery and an exploration of murder mysteries in general. West Heart has its own mystery to solve, with a typical set of suspects (rich, unhappy, bored), setting (luxurious, isolated) and outsider put in the position of investigating them, but it also discusses from the first sentence what is involved in creating a murder mystery and how that relates to the one in this book. In fact, the first chapter uses an ulta-omniscient narrator that not only gives us the very general sense of how the mystery begins, but also predicts the reader’s thoughts about the unfolding story based on our presumed understanding of the genre. Later, the narrator compares the introductory scenes to other authors’ works, especially Agatha Christie.

It's not until chapter two that our outsider, a private detective named Adam McAnnis, takes over the narration… sort of. The chapter begins with McAnnis speaking in the first person, though our Omniscient Narrator refuses to stay silent for very long (“The monologue continues in this new claustrophobic perspective, the ‘I’ of the first-person protagonist…”) and continues to interject (and fully take over) here and there. By this stage, the Omniscient Narrator also takes time to explain different plot devices, histories of mystery writers, definitions, true crime stories, etc., usually with a subtitle to let the reader know we’re back into the study of murder mysteries rather than the West Heart story.

Chapter three or four adds another narrative style to the mix. An unknown speaker refers to all the club members as “we:” “The rain was still falling when we woke…,” then changes the entire format altogether and turns the final pages into a play to presents that essential scene when all the suspects gather together and find their secrets revealed.

West Heart initially does take work to read. Perhaps if I spent more time on the classics, it wouldn’t have required so much energy to focus. It was certainly easier and more fun as the book continued on. The style is playful and others will enjoy the book because of it. Clearly the author delights in everything to do with mysteries.

I can see university professors using West Heart in their literature courses to pick apart the mystery genre in all its glory.

I can also picture this book as a movie. It would be so fun! Bear with me: Mark Williams as an earnest professor of literature discussing the West Heart novel (the actual story only) with his students and serving as the Omniscient Narrator who wanders physically into scenes of West Heart to delve into different aspects of the genre or a piece of the story itself during a lull, perhaps being forcefully jerked back into a classroom when a student asks a question or makes a comment. One quiet, thoughtful student stepping up to give her conclusions in that final play scene. Perhaps the author himself stepping in to explain the final murder or the characters themselves breaking the fourth wall to answer questions or clarify a piece of the story.

Fun, playful and with its own unexpected twist at the end, West Heart is worth a read.

Thank you Knopf and PRH Audio for review copies! This is a fun whodunit, kind of a knives out vibe that worked for the most part. The ending will make a few readers sit back and have the feelings but I liked it. For me the main note is that this was the kind of read that jumped right into the story... which works for some but I am more of a character development person, I needed a little more context to fully get into the story so this one took me some time to get into. I enjoyed the plot, but a little more character development/orientation to the story is whatI prefer!

This book would have been better as an audio book. For me, it was hard to read as the book was written. I didn’t care about the characters or what was happening throughout the book. I requested the book based on the face it was described as a murder mystery. Just wasn’t my cup of tea.

This novel is unique, smart and clever. With that said, its the uniqueness that also made it weird for me. At times I had more questions than answers.I didn’t really care for the characters but I found them to be interesting and wanted to know more about them. The style of the story was different in that it didn’t have a typical flow for a mystery but that was the goal. I enjoyed this read overall but had to take breaks and/ or re-read portions just to make sure I was on track with main story mixed with the additional mysteries that were woven throughout. I recommend this novel for mystery enthusiasts because of its uniqueness just take your time with it in order to give it justice.

Wow! Rarely have I read a book when I honestly did not know how to write a review for it. West Heart Kill is that kind of book. Is it a mystery…satire…play script…reflection of where we are as a society…. As I read I would begin to get a sense of what I was reading and then it was almost as if a different author decided to take a turn totally changing everything and then it would be something else entirely. I have to admit that it made my enjoyment of this read seem very disjointed. To be fair I have had a lot to do and my commitment to sitting for a few hours focused on the story was limited which could definitely have impacted my understanding. Each time I picked up my kindle I found myself rereading to pick up the story line which was not as effective with this particular read.
Many thanks to Dann McDorman, Knopf, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc of this recently published book.

This murder mystery takes place at an elite country club in the secluded town of West Heart over a four day Bicentennial weekend in July 1976. Private Detective Adan McAnnis is invited to join the owning members at West Heart Kill but it’s unclear who invited him. The group is comprised of families that have all known each other through their entire lives. They are not necessarily friends but have a long history together with each other’s families. Three bodies are found over the course of the weekend. Are the deaths all related in some way or is there some other explanation for the deaths? What was the real reason that Adam McAnnis was invited? Interesting writing style though I’m not sure it’s for everyone. At times I felt it difficult to discern if the narrator was the protagonist or if it was written in first, second or third person or someone else altogether. I prefer a more conventional style of writing. This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the concept of this novel and found that aspect interesting throughout. I do like when authors kind of toy with the methodology or traditions of a particular genre. So, I went in with high hopes but overall West Heart Kill didn't quite pull off the intriguing concept in execution for me and I was left feeling unsatisfied. Still, I can respect what the author was attempting here (with a debut no less) and would definitely give this author another try.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy to review. All opinions my own.

If Wes Anderson wrote a mystery novel, this would be it. DID he write this? There was so much breaking of the 4th wall (is that even a thing in books?) that I couldn't get into the story. Which was certainly unique but also quickly annoying. The omniscient author was constantly reminding you that you were reading a story. A story with a complicated roster of characters, not much to distinguish them and not much to grab on to of interest. The constant asides had me referring back pages to remember where we veered off into narrator exposition. It was too exhausting to get through and I DNF'd well before the halfway mark. I might give it another shot if I can force myself to focus and not get fed up.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for gifting me a digital ARC of this debut novel by Dann McDorman - 4 stars!

Upstate NY at a private, isolated hunting club. Add a raging storm and a cast full of rich, unfaithful, scheming characters. End up with three corpses within four days.

Wow - this has to be hands-down the most unique murder mystery I remember reading! Taking place during the Bicentennial weekend, this book reads sort of like a screenplay, where the reader is part of the production. I loved all the side bits about the history of the genre and more. It was a tad confusing to me for some reason, but that may just have been where my head was at when reading. Because there's nothing better to me than discovering a new, creative way to tell a story - and this author nailed that! Can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

Wealthy city dwellers retreat to exclusive West Heart to hunt, swim, fish and relax. And, quite frankly, drink a lot and have affairs. Private detective Adam McAnnis visits West Heart over the July 4th bicentennial weekend, finagling an invitation from an old friend. But his reason for going isn’t for fun; Adam has been hired to do some investigating.

Then the bodies start piling up. One is found in the water; another is shot. And everyone at the club is stuck there because a massive storm makes the roads impassable. Adam takes it upon himself to investigate the deaths.

Of course, as he interviews people and adds that information to what he’d been gathering before the deaths, everyone seems to have something to hide. Who will die next, and who will be revealed as the guilty party?

This novel isn’t a straightforward whodunit. The writer is always switching up the point of view and the method of telling the story. And he regularly inserts himself into the narrative to share all kinds of information about murder mysteries, famous real and fictional mystery books, famous writers and their styles, and so on. It’s a fun conceit if you’re up for that kind of thing, which I was. I was just disappointed by the ending. The plot built up fairly well, mostly setting up for a satisfying denouement, but then it fell short. I saw what the writer was trying to do, but it didn’t quite work. I saw it compared to The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (or at least “If you’re a fan of 7 ½ Deaths, you’ll love West Heart Kill!”), but it is not the same. And I didn’t love it. Clever but it lacked the punch I was expecting.

If you're looking for a uniquely written, entertaining mystery, this is the one for ypu!

I wasn't sure initially how I was going to feel about yhe writing style of this book because it's so different from a traditional writing style, but it really grew on me and I had a good time reading this book!

The only thing I didn't care for too much was the very end, or "the reveal". It just kind of felt like the author wrote himself into a corner, and this was the only solution he could come up with. That doesn't mean I hated it, but I really wish it was different.

Overall, I'm really looking forward to see what else McDormann comes up with! He seems like a great new voice in the mystery genre!

Dann McDorman presents an ambitious debut with his novel West Heart Kill. This book tells the story of a private detective’s visit to a remote hunting club. But at the same time, McDorman gets a bit meta and breaks from the story to give occasional commentary about the detective genre. This makes it feel like this book is both part of the genre, but also subverting the genre at the same time.

Our detective, McAnnis, has come with an old friend to West Heart, a private hunting club with a storied past and a wide range of characters. It’s Independence Day and nearly every cabin is filled with revelers. McAnnis wastes no time snooping around the clubhouse, meeting various residents, and making everyone suspicious.

Soon there are some accidents, some midnight rendezvous, some deaths, and one big storm. The club is cut off from the rest of the world, trapping all the residents with a killer. Motives and suspects abound.

The point of view shifts throughout this book, which serves to leave the reader a little unsure of where they stand. Once we leave McAnnis’ POV, we never find out whose POV we’re seeing the rest of the story from. Then, in the final act, McDorman turns the narrative into a play starring all the main characters. This is where many of the secrets are revealed, through a series of arguments and explanations the characters give each other.

Ultimately, I think this was an interesting book with a unique concept. The commentary sections of the book were sometimes entertaining, but otherwise distracting. They pull the reader out of the story and include references to other mystery novels (references which are only effective if the reader is familiar with the works referenced). And after all that, the end of the book felt supremely dissatisfying. It felt as though McDorman was instructing me on how detective stories work, telling me this wasn’t like all the others, but also expecting me to solve the mystery myself. It could be an educational re-read now that I know what to expect, but with a TBR like mine, I don’t know when I’d ever get back to it.

10 out of 10. Absolutely loved it. Best kind of mystery novel. Nailed it.

Thank you netgalley!!!

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I really wanted to like this. It is VERY unique, It can be quite witty. It's a quick read and good for long flight...etc. The ending disappointed and the character development was not the best. This was a debut and I expect the author will work on his craft. The style was varied; this may be off-putting for some.

I read some reviews of this book fairly early on and disagreed with a complaint of some in that I was thoroughly enjoying the smarty pants narrator’s erudite asides and conceits. Sad to say, my review score plummeted from five stars to three on the last page. I was cheated in my expectations! Tsk, tsk, Mr.McDorman.

While I liked the story I did not like the authors writing style or interjection of mystery lessons.

A locked room mystery, in the form of an exclusive hunting club that is cut off from the rest of the world on the 4th of July by a particularly nasty storm. An invited guest, a private detective, is there for reasons not made clear to us at the beginning, and soon finds himself with 4 deaths to contend with. Everyone here has a history with each other, secrets and cheating and lying are the norm. I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher, and decided it would be the perfect read for 9 hours of flying. While the mystery and characters were interesting, the alternating chapters explaining how mysteries should follow certain rules, and the author explaining what we, as readers, want and look for in mysteries got tiresome after a while, and for me definitely took away from the story. After having had enough of it on the plane, I was interested enough to finish it up at home. Three and a half stars for me.

Thank you @aaknopf for the opportunity to read and share my honest review. ⁣
⁣
Quick and Dirty⁣
-murder mystery ⁣
-locked room ⁣
-lots of characters ⁣
-unique writing style⁣
⁣
Thoughts⁣
This is a no from me. This ode to the murder mystery genre is an assortment of narrative styles, perspectives, and an all-around mashup. It’s Knives Out meets Wes Anderson with intense call-and-response passages that got old. If you’re a hardcore mystery lover then this might be for you. If not, you might want to skip it. With many callbacks to the mystery writers throughout history, this is more of a study than a novel. The author breaks the third wall often to describe the mechanism being used to drive the plot forward, which is interesting but over time becomes tiresome. I did enjoy the characters and, at times, the overall adventure of the book, but in the end, it was too chaotic, repetitive, and on the nose for my taste.

I had no idea what to expect from this book, but I love a good mystery, so it seemed like a good one on which to take a chance. It wasn't a good one. It was a GREAT one. It is clever, ingeniously-crafted, and manages to be an excellent mystery while also turning the genre on its head - and even poking some fun at the typical conventions. McDorman has written a must-read for mystery fans, and I can't wait to see what else he might have up his sleeve.

Not the whodunnit we want, but the whodunnit we deserved. Doesn't totally separate from similar titles in the genre, but an undeniably fun time.