Dann McDorman's knowledge of mystery as a genre, as well as its history, is not up for debate. While I did not fact check everything statistic and historical note included in the book, his awareness and interest in the subject of mystery novels is made keenly aware to the reader nearly immediately. He also writes an intriguing mystery with many persons of interest and clues to unravel. +

Unfortunately for me, the structure of the novel - with the main story being mixed with historical references and fourth wall breaks to interact with the reader - did not work. I felt that I was reading two separate books most of the time, trying to keep track of the mystery while being inundated with facts about mysteries in general. Furthermore, the 3rd act "play" in which the reader is a character felt confusing. It was like a choose your own adventure, but the choices were being made for you. I greatly enjoyed the mystery itself, but feel that the presentation of the story could have used some more craftsmanship. 2.5* rounded down.

Thank you to Dann McDorman, NG, and Knopf for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I sometimes just take a long shot on a book…even if it doesn’t resonate with me. This mystery is unique both in style and substance. For my pedestrian tastes the unique commentary threw me off to the extent that it intruded on the story. So I’ve concluded that this book is directed at a younger reader ( such as millennials) that may enjoy the tone of this story.

The structure of this story was so unique! I loved it! I couldn’t get enough of the narrator breaking down how mysteries are written, and pointing out cliches and tropes and plot devices. Some might find it distracting, but I thought it was great! Oh and there was also a mystery to be solved. A locked door mystery, my favorite. Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf for this gifted copy.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a little backlogged with my ARC’s but working diligently to get caught up. This story was set up completely different from what I was expecting! Most similar book plots just feel like they flow where this felt a little choppy to me, like you’re looking through a detectives notebook. I still found the story interesting and definitely hard to figure out who committed the crime. If you like detective fiction and country club murder books, be sure to check this out!

West Heart Kill by Dann McDorman is a murder mystery set in a hunting lodge. While entertaining, I found there to be too many characters and getting a bit confused on who was who. Otherwise, I enjoyed the whodunit, the setting and the mystery of it all. 3.5stars for me!

This was a pretty good book, but I did not like the writing style nor ending.

The concept of the reader being a witness to the events is interesting, but I did not like the style of a window that the narrator uses to talk to the audience. It was also distracting for the history of mystery books because it seemed like filler information to add to the chapter that was not necessary.

Overall, the storyline was okay, but the ending started to be apparent midway and I struggled to finish it since I figured the plot out.

This was okay. I was expecting less of the Narrator and more of the detective or what was happening with the other people in the book. That's not to it isn't well done but, at the same time, it wasn't my cup of tea. I'm not sure if I'll look up what the author has to do in the future. I didn't like the know it all feeling as I was reading the book so I think I'll probably stay away from future endeavors.

i kind of hated this book and i'm also kind of obsessed with it. it's pretentious as fuck but also somewhat ingenious.

Thank you NetGalley for this advance copy of West Heart Kill by Dann McDorman. This was such a fun an unique book in which the book breaks the fourth wall! The narrator is speaking directly to the reader, mentioning how a murder mystery should take place. The second person perspective is always so fun, and this book did a fabulous job of including the reader. I loved the cozy hunting lodge setting in upstate NY. I would recommend to anyone who loves a whodunnit and a locked-room mystery.

Thank you to netgalley.com for this ARC.

This book was also recommended on bookstagram and I was intrigued by the concept. I liked the description of the location as well as the characters. However, most of the characters were unlikeable and the breaking of the third wall just didn't work for me.
The mystery itself was good and kept me guessing til the end.

West Heart Kill drew me in by the cover and description but sadly this book was not for me. The book was diffcuilt to follow and was not interesting to me. I did not like how the author wrote this one like a how to manual instead of a story. Overall I sadly did not like the book and wished I liked it more then I did. Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for this book in exchange of my review of West Heart Kill.

I mean…who doesn’t love a whodunnit?! This one delivered! As one reviewer said: “West Heart Kill is a stunning, exceptional, and, critically, thoroughly enjoyable novel which will be devoured by devotees and casual enjoyers of the murder mystery alike. It's not for everyone, but those it's for are in for great fun. A terrific success.”

I really cannot fairly review this title since I abandoned it with less than 20% read.. The second person narrative irritated me to the point that I couldn’t read any more. Sorry!

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At the exclusive West Heart country club, couples live, play and enjoy life together in harmony. Or so it appears. Actually, everyone hides a secret. And three people are murdered in the span of one weekend. The reader gets to solve the mystery, with clues from literature.
I enjoyed the unfolding of the story. But the style element of narrative disruption made the book difficult to read at times.
I really did not like the ending - it gets 2 stars!
Fortunately, I can give the book 3 because of the interesting references to mystery novels and literature.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

West Heart Kill is a debut standalone mystery by Dann McDorman. Released 24th Oct 2023 by Knopf Doubleday on their Knopf imprint, it's 288 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback format due out from the same publisher in 3rd quarter 2024. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.

This is a classic style closed-circle mystery with an isolated setting, a fun set of suspects, and an eccentric/somewhat unreliable/incomplete narration. It's set in 1976, and engages the reader from the first page. The author is especially adept at setting descriptions and dialogue and the prose flows very very well.

Readers should understand that the author tosses the fourth wall out of the train in the beginning and never really sees the need to pick it up again. The plot and mystery itself are cleverly constructed and well engineered.

It's not a book to read passively. Expect to be moderately bewildered the first 20% of the book. Once the reader finds the balance, however, it develops moderately well. There's a lot of style over substance with all sorts of literary tricks (broken fourth wall, a play as a narrative device inside the story, changing narrator halfway through, "why" instead of "who" for the mystery itself, and several others) felt like too much and made for uneven reading.

The author knows his business, but in this case, less would've been more. It's clever, but clearly openly aware of its own cleverness.

Three and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Bicentennial weekend at a remote, exclusive hunting club in upstate New York. Private detective Adam McAnnis cadges an invitation from an old college friend and finds himself amongst the moneyed and dysfunctional. Festivities take a sinister turn when the club becomes the scene for a series of deaths.

In what seems to be an attempt to write a throwback to classic noir mystery novels, the author has merely succeeded in creating a confused primer on noir mystery tropes and an encyclopedia of all things 70’s — Jox sneakers, White Owl cigars, clams casino, shag hairdos. The only thing missing was a cheese log.

Constant shifts in perspective resulted in a storyline that is constantly starting and stopping. The author continually shifts the narrative from first person, with no clear idea of which character is the narrator, to second person in which the reader is instructed on plot devices and told how they should be perceiving what they are reading by the author. It was really very jarring. And the cherry on top…an unsatisfying ending.

I try very hard, even if a book isn’t my cup of tea, to not be overly negative or biting in my review. But as I read on I felt as if the author was trying too hard to impress…and I was not. In the end reading this was like stumbling onto a discarded script for a TV pilot…a poorly conceived mashup of Columbo and Sam Spade.

I started this early this year when I was initially approved for it on NetGalley. I was trying it as my nighttime read and I immediately bounced off the style, and decided to try again at another time, during the day when I wasn’t tired.

Well I tried again and I’m still bouncing off it.

I have a few issues:

McDormann is apparently a TV producer? And it’s written a lot like how I would expect a TV producer to write a stage script. There weren’t many dialogue tags (if any). Sort of like if you had a script and each line had the name of the speaker written next to it:
Detective: Hello
Protagonist: Hello.
Detective: How are you?
Etc.

Except we have quotation marks and no name to guide us, so it’s confusing to follow. So it looks more like this:

“Hello.”
“Hello.”
“How are you?”

Is this person talking to themselves? Are there two people in the conversation? Three? It just doesn’t work without any context at all.

He also breaks the fourth wall. Which I actually don’t mind, by itself. I think this has the potential to be a very immersive reading experience for the right reader…

If you can accept the stage directions he’s giving you. A lot of lines read like this: “You look down the hill and your eye catches the sparkle of the lake.” Or “You wonder what happened to the last guest they invited to join.” or “From this, you infer…” and “You don’t want a mystery filled with the distractions of…”

Except I wasn’t wondering or feeling that, or inferring anything, so my immediate response is just to say no.

I normally do love a book with a cinematic feel, but I think some respect should still be paid to the medium. Writing for TV and writing for a book are not the same, and it felt to me like the author forgot that.

I’m not adding it to my read shelf, because I only ever got 10/15% in.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

This was a very hard book for me to get through. The “teaching” of how to write a mystery novel was a definite downside from the start. I felt very disconnected from the book and characters from the beginning. I was so disappointed because the blurb made it sound like a book I would very much enjoy, but sadly, I didn’t.