Really enjoyed this refreshing take on a very popular genre. I typically don't like stories that break the 4th wall, but this was done extremely well. Very meta and forced the reader to consider their involvement with mystery novels, which has echoes of the public's fervent interest and consumption of true crime stories. Just because we didn't commit the murder with our own hands doesn't mean we weren't complicit. Clever, really well done!

2.5 rounded up. Ok, so I actually do LIKE the new sub-genre of "Meta Mystery" books & there are many of these new plot devices that I've found both smart & enjoyable... unfortunately, "West Heart Kill" just tries a bit too hard to be clever and it really lost me in the last quarter or so with the whole "play" thing and it's "reader" ending. There was everything I enjoy here - locked room mystery, call backs to "Golden Age" mysteries, the creepy setting & more - but for me, it just "jumped the shark" into over-the-top. My sincere thanks to Net Galley & the publisher for the "read now" link and complimentary DRC, thoughts are mine...

Could not get through it, but I'm not sure if I was the audience. Felt too clever by half, without engaging in the early pages.

Everyone is a suspect. That is what makes this book so much fun and involved.
A murder mystery with twists and turns.
Well worth the investment, Highly suggested.

Finished this @netgalley on a flight, and think it will be a very popular book when released this fall, but unsure if it was for me. A microscopic look at the mystery genre formula, West Heart Kill follows the recent trend of breaking the third wall and asking the reader to sleuth as well. Here it felt at times condescending and others too demanding of the reader. If you want a twist on the whodunnit and have enjoyed books like “Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone” you may very well love it.

Well-played, Dann McDorman. Well-played. The witty West Heart Kill takes us behind the scenes of locked room mysteries while enthralling us. It's a dazzling debut. McDorman magnificently tells the tale from different points of view. And, in a twist, provides history lessons along the way. His skill is that these educational asides do not hurt the momentum of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed West Heart Kill and look forward to what the McDorman does next. Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, Knopf, & NetGalley for the advance reading copy in exchange for my honest opinion. #WestHeartKill #NetGalley

Another solid entry to the ‘meta murder mystery’ sub-sub-genre, West Heart Kill follows the footsteps of titles such as Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone and The 7 1/2 Death of Evelyn Hardcastle, where the narrative overtly examines and deconstructs its own tropes, much like the Scream film franchise does for slasher films. West Heart Kill might be the most ‘academic’ and fourth-wall breaking one I’ve read thus far, providing readers with an abundance of historical facts about the development of the murder mystery genre, as well as a philosophical analysis on why we find comfort in reading about killing people.

At times this commentary overlay can be a little over-powering, especially towards its finale; it felt like I was reading an academic essay and less of a fun whodunit. While I admired the direction of its ending, which completely subverted convention, it couldn't hide the fact while it was conceptually compelling (and supported the 'thesis' that was set up at the start of the book), it didn't quite make for a satisfying closing (I'm too hardwired for murder mystery to end a certain way!).

Whether someone will enjoy West Heart Kill largely depends on their familiarity with the genre; for seasoned readers, the historical facts and analysis would be a welcoming addition, but I can also see by discussing the tricks under the hood, it can be too scholarly for those who just want a straightforward murder mystery. Not a wide recommendation, but there is undoubtedly an audience who will find this thoroughly enjoyable.

I love mysteries, but not this one. It started out ok. It quickly became a class in literature. I never knew when it would go from story to mystery writer facts. I really disliked the confusing end. It should have been two books. One would be a mystery and one would be a textbook on mystery writers.
Thank you NetGalley for this suggestion, but this one was not a winner.

This book has multiple personalities.
Not the characters, but the book itself, as if it just wasn't entirely sure what it wanted to be. Overall, it's a locked-room murder case on a large private hunting camp for very wealthy families.
That's the setting. And it starts out in an interesting fashion, gently leading the reader into the scene and carefully introducing the time and place. All the characters and their relationships are listed as the cast of a play.

But over the course of the novel, the narrator speaks to the reader as if we were together watching a show which needs constant explanation. We follow the detective's moves and observations over the course of the visit in more detail than those of the others.
From time to time there are leaps out of the story and into bits about other books, as well as essays on the history of mysteries and fictional murders. The narrator stops to explain rules of mystery writing. For a while, the story is presented as a script for performance.

Any of these could be interesting in themselves, but the book jumps around in ways that don't seem to be relevant to the story, and after a while became tedious. I much prefer a novel which follows a straight line more than a random collection of knowledge which takes my attention away from the plot.
I rarely attempt to figure out who killed the victim(s) and in this case I would've been totally at a loss if I had tried.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book. I liked the atmosphere of the book and the various techniques used by the author which differentiated it from other mysteries. I wasn't crazy about the sections where the author provided the history of classic mystery writing; I would have preferred not to have had the distraction from the story. I also was a little disappointed in the ending, but I'm sure there are readers who would have found it more clever than I did.

Unfortunately I didn’t get this book at all I had a hard time getting in to it from the get go and finally DnF’d it about halfway through.

Unfortunately this just didn't work for me. The homage to the genre felt a little bit too heavy handed at times and really took you out of the story. Trying to keep track of all of the authors that were mentioned made this seem much more of a non-fiction book about the authors love for the history and roots of the genre than the story itself. The mystery itself would have been a great novel without the excessive amount of background information. I ended up finishing it solely out of curiostiy of the mystery, but could have put it down and not been too bothered.

A very original, twisted story. I don't think it will suit everyone's tastes, but it was a fantastic read nonetheless. It's rare to stumble upon a book that is mind-boggling and fun at the same time! Recommended.

From the very first page, it is apparent that this is not a typical murder mystery. While some familiar ingredients of a classic murder mystery are in place - the setting is an isolated, members only hunting lodge, abundant weapons are stored on the premises, an assortment of wealthy, somewhat jaded, members are there for a holiday weekend, an unknown guest is snooping around, and a serious storm is about to descend – something unique is going on. “You,” the Reader, are being directly addressed, perhaps even taunted, for thinking this is an ordinary mystery that you, with your history of reading this genre of books, will be able to easily figure out and breeze through. “You” are warned that focusing on the over-worn tropes of countless mystery stories – the faulty piece of equipment, the outsider, the innocent items that could become lethal weapons, the unreliable narrator, etc – are not likely to get you anywhere in solving this as yet unrevealed crime. With regard to the narrator, this shifts throughout the story. Sometimes the narrator is the main character/protagonist speaking in the first person, sometimes the story is told in the 3rd person, often the reader is addressed directly as “you” in the 2nd person by someone unknown, and later the voice shifts to the first person plural “we.” What you do know is that “you” are being teased for thinking you know a lot about these types of books and feeling confident that you can easily solve mysteries before the truth is revealed if the author is “fair” in providing clues. Who can resist such a dare, and so you, the reader, are lured into this book, a veritable game of “Clue.” You are anticipating some dreadful act, and you must start assembling facts that predict what will happen, where, how, by whom, and why. With very skillful and clever writing, McDorman has created not just a murder mystery, but a fascinating homage to the history, construction, and techniques of some of the genre’s masters. To say any more in this review might let slip an important tidbit, or derail you with an unintended red herring. So, I will simply wish you luck in pursuing this delightful and original puzzle adventure. If you are a classic mystery fan, you will find this book intriguingly original and thoroughly fun !!
Thank you to Net Galley for this Advance Copy !

I'm giving this one three stars for having balls. This is an experimental way to write a mystery (with a running meta commentary on the construction of mysteries in the background nearly the whole time.) While I ultimately had issues with the construction, I appreciate a book that tries something new.

I actually liked the meta breaks talking about murder in general. They added a lot to the story, (like reading about the history of a great entree while you're eating it). I also got used to the changing POV. (Didn't love it, but tolerated it.)

But after awhile it felt like the ruse started to fall apart. Suddenly the narrator is one of the guests at the resort (or the guests acting as a Greek chorus?) Then the book shifts to a play structure with an omniscient "reader" who has all the answers (who has hereto been unidentified.) But maybe the "reader" is US? 'Cept I did not know all the answers!

Ultimately, the murder isn't never named and we're wrapped in layers of narrators and innuendos and the whole thing became a bit twee. I could have used like 45% less gimmick and more solid plot.

Anyway, cool idea. Execution was just alright for me, personally. Thank you to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

2.5/5 stars. Sorry! Meta fiction just isn't for me.

This book probably went right over my head. The characters were uninteresting to me and the book was hard to follow. I thought this was going to be more focused on the mystery itself. Overall, I agree with other reviewers, people are going to either love it or hate it, and unfortunately, I disliked it, but I think it's simply because I was set on it being mystery focused.

Thanks to the author, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, and NetGalley for allowing me digital access in exchange for my honest review.

I actually couldn’t finish the first chapter of this. It’s written in second person, and it was weird. It kept telling me how I felt, and I didn’t feel any of those emotions at all. I’m pretty sure I’ve read in second person before but it definitely doesn’t work for me. I cannot continue reading this.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy. This was my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dann McDorman for a free ebook in exchange for an honest review!

Rating: 1/5 Stars

While I really wanted to love this book - I did not. It was super hard to get through and not enjoyable at all.

I throughly enjoyed this book. An homage to the classic golden age mystery novels, this one set in the more sleazy decade of the 70s, manages to upset all the traditional elements of the genre, while at the same time educating the reader on these elements. The writer consistently breaks the fourth wall, drawing the reader into the story. I think any mystery aficionado won’t be able to keep themselves from devouring this book. Highly recommended.

Mysterious deaths at a remote hunting lodge during the bicentennial make for a great premise. In between segments of the story, the author also explores classic detective stories and the murder mystery genre, which was fascinating and also allowed for foreshadowing in the main story. The narrative style switches frequently, moving from third person addressing the reader, to first person, to first person plural, to a screenplay. This made the story feel disjointed and I don’t think it quite lived up to its potential. An interesting read if you love a classic “whodunnit.”