I tried. I really did. But my heart tells me it's time to DNF and move on. This felt more like reading a screenplay than a novel. The goal of the book is to engage the audience, however I was more enraged than I was engaged. I'm not a fan of when authors continually tell me how to feel or what to think, and this is all this was. Nope, definitely not for me.

This was an interesting whodunnit that is a celebration of mystery novels. At the request of a client, a PI nabs an invite to a ritzy hunting club from an old college buddy to investigate the people there. Readers learn more about why he's there and who hired him as we go along and bodies start to drop. There is a narrator that breaks the proverbial fourth wall who often goes into historical concepts from important mystery novels. I found it both novel and distracting. I appreciate what it was trying to do but felt pulled out of the story and manipulated by where my attention was being directed. I was also confused about the end. I'm still not sure I understand who the killer is.

4 stars, rounded up from 3.5

West Heart Kill is a clever twist on a traditional murder mystery, with the author constantly “breaking the fourth wall” and speaking directly to the reader. In one sense, this took away from the narrative flow of the mystery story, but the sidebars were often extremely interesting - such as the ones that referenced “golden age” mystery writers John Dickson Carr and Agatha Christie, as well as others. It’s a very “meta” murder mystery.

The action takes place at an isolated hunting club in upstate New York (West Heart is the place name) in 1976: specifically over the July 4 holiday weekend. The book has very long chapters, one for each day, from Thursday to Sunday. There are natural break points in the chapters, so the lengthy chapters shouldn’t put off potential readers. Adam MacAnnis is a detective, who suffers PTSD from his experiences in Vietnam. He has been hired by an unspecified person (you eventually find out who) to observe and report back on anything unusual at the club. An old friend of his is a member - well, his family has been members for years - and Adam inveigles an invitation to accompany the friend on his holiday getaway.

There are a lot of characters to keep track of, which did become an issue for me; I kept getting them mixed up, as there’s a lot of interaction and connections among the members. Lots of infidelity, for sure.

There is more than one death over the four days, and there’s a surprise twist about 80% in. (I don’t do spoilers!) The ending was abrupt and I wasn’t thrilled about that, but I still am rounding up from 3.5 to 4 stars, because I found the whole thing very clever and a nice break from a straightforward mystery novel.

Note: Not sure it’s essential to know, but the word “Kill” in the title has a couple of meanings. The obvious one, plus the fact that it denotes a body of water (Dutch etymology) and is fairly common in place names in New York and New Jersey, such as Arthur Kill, Cresskill, Catskill, Peekskill, and so forth.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book, although I was rather late to it. I bounced between the ARC and the published audiobook, courtesy of my public library. The narrator, Robert Petkoff, did a good job with the various voices All opinions are my own.

Loved the premise and the structure—locked room mystery with some fourth wall breaking by the author…fun! For whatever reason, I found it really confusing to follow all the characters and ultimately it was such a slog. I think I DNF at 80% which is not typical, but I just couldn’t do it anymore!

I received an ARC as a reviewer for NetGalley.

Interesting twist on a locked room mystery. Adam McAnnis joins his old college friend at his family's private "hunting resort" that is a year-round getaway in the woods for certain families. Someone ends up dead and Adam investigates. However, this is not a usual mystery. In fact, the characters are the least interesting part of the novel. Instead, the author treats us to historical tidbits about mysteries and language, as well as interjecting thoughts as if you were interacting with a narrator off-screen.

The best parts were all the extras. The story plot itself was just OK, and the ending left something to be desired. However it was super clever overall and I can't dock more than 1 star.

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This was somehow so boring! I was seeing so many recommendations for it, even found it on some best of the year lists and I could just barely get through it. Disappointing.

This book was to much going on and completely lost interest in the actual mystery. This book follows Adam a detective who ended up spending time with a friend in West heart and was there to help investigate a murder.
The writing style in this book was just not for me. There were multiple POVs that got a little convoluted at the end. The narrator in this was confusing as to who it was and broke the fourth wall to me this was so distracting that I really lost interest. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

West Heart Kill is a mystery novel that is hard to categorize. I don’t want to give away any spoilers so this is going to be difficult to review. The story opens with two men in a car heading to a “private hunting club” for rich families for the Fourth of July weekend. The two men have been recently reacquainted. Could the reunion have been under false pretenses, who knows? One man is the son of a club member, his family have been members of the club since its inception. The other man was a college friend of the former, until he had to drop out of college. He is not rich, he is a private detective and son of a homicide detective. Will there be a crime committed this weekend? Will the PI be called on to solve it? What kind of mystery will this story be?

Full of clues and many “sins” being committed, this novel will have to guessing which wrong doers is trying to cover their tracks. West Heart hunting club is full of secrets but which are ones someone will murder to protect. If you are a mystery fan, the informational tangents about the history of crime novels and how they evolved will be of interest.

The novel breaks the fourth wall at times and really pulls in the reader. I think this would make a fantastic book group selection. There would be a lot to talk about.

This is one the strangest book I have ever read in my almost 6 decades. Detective novels are not my favorite genre, but the blurb for the book on an email from NetGalley.com peaked my interest, so I requested the ARC. This is my voluntary and unbiased review.

The author seems to be trying to emulate the old time radio detective serials and the early b&w tv shows. The point of view keeps changing, which I found annoying and periodically, it went out on a complete 90 degree tangent. The protagonist, Private Detective Adam McAnnis, comes to West Heart Club to celebrate the fourth of July weekend, invited by an old friend, who he manipulated, for the invite as he is actually on a case. Several times I almost decided to stop, but by then I was already too invested. I can't say that I especially liked any of the characters, except for the young boy, Ralph.

I think that those who love the genre will like this book, but it is not my cup of tea.

A private detective accompanies an old college friend on a trip to a private hunting club named West Heart. Not long after arriving at West Heart, the murders and mysteries begin. The story is told from the perspective of the detective and a narrator who provides anecdotes about well known mystery writers and their writing styles. What could have been a unique way to incorporate real world facts into the novel, read more like filler. There was way too much talk about Agatha Christie. The story telling takes a strange unnecessary turn during the last third of the book. What started off as a fun rich(ish) people doing bad things murder mystery morphs into an experiment in storytelling with a unsatisfying ending,

"A scream suddenly pierces the air. Startled glances are exchanged on the porch, a drink is spilled, a baby begins to cry, and your muscles tense; you sense this is one of those plot leaps that writers use to punctuate and propel the narrative, like those bursts of biological creativity that scientists claim shock evolution into action. But you are unsettled; just pages into the book, is it too early? Should a mystery unfold in a more demure fashion? Aren’t the suspense and anticipation the real secret thrill of the book, rather than (let us be honest) the all-too-often disappointing dénouement, the magician turning over his cards for an audience that realizes, bitterly leaving the theater, that they’ve been had?"
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"Other people’s secrets are easy. It’s our own that are hard"

I am not particularly a fan of video games, the large immersive, role-playing ones. Nothing against them. They are simply outside my experience for the most part. But I do know that a lot of the experience, the joy of these games, lies in figuring things out. If I do this, what happens? What if I do that? Where might secret intel reside? How can I get to it? It strikes me that for many readers, particularly for readers of detective stories, the experience is comparable, however different the physical approaches might appear. The internal processes are quite similar. Reading West Heart Kill is a bit like having a game designer walking you through the construction of the game as you play it, reminding you of the usual rules, and teasing you a bit about whether you will actually figure things out or not, suggesting tricks and traps that writers (or game designers) employ to keep you off base, while remaining entertained.

I am a bit obsessive when I read mysteries, keeping lists of characters with their attributes, keeping track of timelines, locations, motives, et al, so am primed for such things. The game here is an overt one. The author is challenging you to figure out whodunit. If you accept the challenge you need to figure things out before the final reveal, otherwise it is game over for you. It is not that you finish the book with no points. Figuring out the mystery, the how, why, when and where, may be the top prize, but a skillful writer will offer plenty of rewards along the way, whether you succeed or fail. I did not figure out ahead of time the large murder questions, but I did suss out some of the lesser puzzles, and there was at least some whoo-hoo!-figured-it-out satisfaction to be had in that. There are further benefits to be had.

The West Heart of the title is a private club (membership fees are exorbitant), high on wealth (well, presumed wealth, at least), and low on morals. Secrets abound, as one might expect. The residents, many of whom spent their summers there as children, have considerable difficulty with marital vows, in particular, and then, of course, with that whole thou shalt not kill thing.

Adam McAnnis is a thirty-something private investigator who has been hired to hang about, keep his eyes open, and see if he spots anything off. His connection is with an erstwhile classmate, from whom he manages to wheedle an invitation. The place is isolated, and will become more so as an expected storm seems likely to close off roads and cut off communications. Sound familiar?

Many of the elements that make up this very meta novel will, particularly as McDorman lays them out for us, addressing readers directly. The weary detective is one:

"How often is he both lonely and alone, suspicious of everyone, accepting betrayal as the rule, not the exception? The deceits that begin to unfold the moment the client walks through his office door. Nights spent in parked cars watching illicit silhouettes behind shaded windows, receipts pulled from dripping trash bags, a five-dollar bill waved between two fingers before a junkie’s fixed gaze . . . the debased work of hundreds of cases, a file cabinet full of tragedies and comedies and tales too ambiguous to categorize."

Or one particular character type:

"As a general rule, in murder mysteries, the least likable character is the most likely to die. But devious writers can anticipate your knowledge of this cliché and thrust a character like Warren Burr into early prominence to surprise you, later, with an entirely different victim. Or, perhaps, more devious still, circle back and kill him off in a double bluff—destined to die all along, exploiting and perverting your expectations from the start. Of course, some writers, among them not the least skilled, use much the same trick to mask and unmask their murderers . . .'

These permeate the story, as McDorman pokes you to figure things out. He even provides lists of characters and clues to help you along.

It does not take too long for first mortality to occur. McAnnis takes on the role of investigator, publicly this time. We tag along as he interviews each of the suspects in turn. McDorman has a bit of fun, even concocting one interview with a dead person.

We are treated to small essays on this and that, methods of killing people, for example, or an etymology of the word Murder, or on Agatha Christie’s mysterious disappearance, or on well-known writers using pseudonyms, or on the rules for mysteries, or on unresolved literary murders, and more. These are small, delightful diversions.

Voice is handled differently from the norm here.

"The novel takes place over a long July 4th holiday weekend —Thursday to Sunday — and so I had the idea of writing each day from an additional different perspective: “he”... “I”... “we”... etc. Thus, each section is stamped with its own particular identity. And of course, the “you” voice explores why the perspective suddenly shifts, and how that plays into the intrigue of the plot"… - from the Bloomsbury interview

In fact, this works to keep one off-balance a bit. But there was some ambiguity even within the voice, at times, that I found off-putting. For example, there are sections in which the resident population is represented by a sort-of “we” voice. Then it mixed with an omniscient narrator. While there was certainly a purpose to it, it came across as jumbled to me.

Asked what drew him to the 1970s as a time in which to set his novel, McDormand said,

"The superficial reason is that it was fun! The hairstyles alone defy belief. Some of the most entertaining hours I spent “working” on the novel involved paging through mid-70s clothing catalogs; that led directly to an entire paragraph early in the book that is just a listing of the trademarked (and fabulously named) artificial fabrics worn by the characters: Acrilan®, Fortrel®, PERMA-PREST®, Sansabelt®, Ban-Lon®…

More substantively, the zeitgeist of the 1970s felt intensely familiar to me. We’d lost trust in institutions and in each other; the old solutions didn’t work; the new ones seemed inadequate; a creeping disillusionment had overtaken the best of us, while the worst seemed full of passionate intensity. As an era, the 1970s seems extraordinarily relevant to writers and readers today." - from the Bloomsbury interview

There are plenty of suggestive atmospherics, like a part of the considerable property that is used for hunting (hunting what, exactly?), or a traditional bonfire that might be used for the destruction of evidence, (or maybe eliminating a pesky witness?) primitive maps, hidden paths, mysterious people seen at a distance on ill-lit trails, a dark and stormy night. All great fun.

Of course, there is another traditional element in the mystery novel. Be sure to bring along your fishing pole. There are red herrings aplenty to land.

I found this to be an entertaining read, but there were bits that did not sit well. There is an event that happens near the end, which I will not spoil, that created a bit of a vacuum, that space being filled in a way that, while very creative, still felt forced and unnatural. Certain scenes are written as plays, which seemed cutesy. Not saying these were not entertaining, but why?

Many of us who read Stephen King continue to do so because there is pleasure to be had in the reading, the engagement, the flow, the scares, even though many readers often find his final reveals to be unsatisfying. In a similar vein here. There is much in West Heart Kill that is great fun, that engages us and prods our brains to kick into gear when a less meta approach might just leave us to cruise through the read in a straight line. It encourages us to play, rather than just watch. That is worth a lot. The elements that bugged me made it less than a five-star read, but it will certainly stand out from the pack for seasoned readers of crime novels for its interactive approach. Game on.

Review posted - 01/26/24

Publication date – 10/24/23

I received an ARE of West Heart Kill from Knopf in return for a fair review. Thanks, folks, and thanks to NetGalley for facilitating

A twist on the classic locked-room mystery, West Heart Kill attempts to engage with the reader by breaking the fourth wall and discussing murder mystery tropes and the reader experience throughout the book.

The concept is an interesting one, and I had high hopes. However, it fell flat for me. While I enjoyed the attempts to narrate the thought process of the experience mystery reader, the execution felt amateurish. And the mystery iteself was boring.

In the end, I finished the book as quickly as I could, wanting to see the conclusion of the structure. I probably should have just given up early on when I wasn't interested.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #Knopf for a free copy of #WestHeartKill by Dann McDorman. All opinions are my own.

This novel had an unusual and complicated format for the locked room mystery, which just did not work for me. I wanted to like this book better than I did. It is probably one of those "love it or dislike it" kind of novels.

I received this novel from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

West Heart Kill is an homage to the classic murder mystery, specifically reminiscent of an Agatha Christie novel. There were parts that I really loved, and some that did not work well. I really enjoyed the 1970s time period, the setting and the cast of characters, especially our main character. I admire the unusual format, including the many asides and the partial screenplay. And I do appreciate when the narrator breaks the fourth wall, though I did not think it worked as well here as it did in Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone. The large cast of characters, while entertaining, were a little difficult to keep straight and the mystery itself felt a bit overcomplicated. Overall this a strong debut and while it did not completely work for me, I would be interested in what he does next. 3,5 stars, rounded down to 3. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an advanced digital copy.

I always love a good murder mystery. My favorite board game is clue and I usually pride myself on being able to guess what is happening but this one did keep me guessing just a little bit. If you enjoy authors such as Agatha Christie, Janice Hallett then this book is right up your alley!

I enjoyed this and it's a very different format then most mysteries, but there was something missing for me.

This book is a whodunit, but its like no other whodunit that I've read before. To describe it would ruin the range of emotion you experience while reading this wonderful book.

Maybe locked room mysteries aren't my thing, But I loved Anxious People by Fredrik Backman so I thought I would love this. It was okay. It didn't keep me super engaged and I found a lot of the writing hard to follow, the characters unlikable, and the setting boring. The writing style was beautiful and I would love to try more from this author because I truly think its perhaps the type of book vs the actual writing itself.

"West Heart Kill" by Dann McDorman addresses the classic mystery novel tropes and attempts to trick the reader by sidestepping them. I didn't find myself interested in the cast of characters that McDorman assembles and was a little bored of the on-the-nose plot. Other mystery readers might like this one, but it just didn't interest me.

An author takes a risk when breaking the fourth wall. Here, there is not only a brief aside to the reader but a whole attempted dialog. I found it tedious and didn't finish the book.