Scandals, scheming, alliances, and betrayal. Everything you would expect from Reality TV, what you don't expect is watching a contestant die. Rhys Sutton is the most hated man on television and then, he dies. Police race to uncover the truth surrounding his death. Who was responsible or was Rhys's death truly an accident?

I really enjoyed this book. The formatting was fantastic. I felt like this was an actual reality TV show put to page. The characters and situations described by the author were written so clearly that I could almost see them in my head. I thought I knew what happened surrounding Rhys's death about halfway through...I in fact did not know! I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a who-done-it mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for providing me with the ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

Goodreads review - This book was such a fun read! It would be the perfect book to read on the beach while sipping something fruity. As someone who loves a good reality TV show, it felt like I was reading an episode of Celebirty Big Brother. The way the author was able to capture an emotionally abusive relationship was spot on, and felt like the embodiment of the Taylor Swift song "Tolerate It".

Notes -
I genuinely loved this book. My only notes are that it may be helpful to add like a profile section at the beginning. A lot of reality shows introduce contestants on social media, so a social media post about who they are and their background would be a cool addition to making it feel more real!

Second, I think the fast-forward at the end of each episode to the detectives trying to figure out who murdered him should have been broken out into a mini-chapter. It wasn't really part of the episode, and was a little jarring to jump forward to the interviews.

The third note is about the subplot of the detectives sleeping together - this really added nothing to the story and was kind of confusing. I could do without that.

A wonderfully dark and engaging thriller set in the cut-throat world of reality TV, when the stakes go way beyond the regular “likes” and turn into a life and death scenario.

This was reality TV/fame culture to a "t"...I love reality TV (guilty pleasure, what can I say?), but struggled to digest it in book format. I loved the plot, but the back and forth between the (many) unlikeable characters was rather offputting and made it tough to get into. 2.5 rounded up to 3.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the gifted eARC to read and review.

Thanks to NetGalley, Bea Fitzgerald, and Sourcebooks Landmark for the advanced reader copy. I received an advanced reader copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The writing style was unique in that it was written as though one were watching an actual reality television show. There were different perspectives, individual confessionals during certain moments, and even thrown in social media postings. The social media parts did feel thrown in though and seemed unnecessary. Each character appeared to be worse than the first, which pretty much sums up reality show contestants.

The ending is what made me take off a star for the review. It was just an ending. Nothing really special and it did not enlist a big reaction. There was so much build-up and mystery, so it was not very satisfying.

4.0

Setting: Portugal
Rep: bisexual protagonist; gay protagonist; lesbian South Asian protagonist; pansexual protagonist; multiple queer side characters

I downloaded this when it was read now on Netgalley as I love a good mystery that involves reality tv and a bunch of "famous" people stuck together. It wasn't particularly twisty - the end didn't really come out of nowhere, and I would've liked to have seen the viewer reactions to the final episode - but I enjoyed the social media aspect and the queerness (even both of the detectives are queer!) and it was a fun read, if not the twistiest!

On a sun-drenched desert island, a reality show takes a sinister turn as six contestants strive to prove their worth. With high stakes and intense pressure, what begins as a quest for glory transforms into a harrowing nightmare. Over eighteen episodes, the contestants become entangled in a complex web of betrayal and intrigue. The climax, witnessed by twelve million viewers, marks the tragic end of Rhys Sutton on camera, thrusting five survivors into the hands of the Portuguese police. Their dreams of reality show success shattered, they must now confront real-life consequences.

In the day of hard-core social media and unrealistic reality TV, this book fits right into the current cultural narrative. I was initially intrigued by the murder mystery and was not too excited about the reality aspect (even though I love Below Deck, but cannot go as far as any of the Real Housewives). Surprisingly to me, the TV episode chapters are what drew me into the story and kept me engaged. Even though I cannot say that I really liked any of the characters that much, and I certainly was not a fan of Rhys, I was fascinated by the murder.

Side Note: I didn't think the cop romance part was necessary. I don't think it added anything to the story.

Then things went dark is a twisty gripping novel of suspense and details. You will love this gripping book and be left wanting more! I recommend Then things went dark!

Enjoyed so many things about this one, and that title is just perfection.

The writing was so clever--each chapter starting as an episode of the show, fluidly using third-person-omniscient to give us peeks into each character's perspective, and then switching to the present police investigation. Bea Fitzgerald does a great job contrasting each character's perception against each other, to the point where a few times, you're really not sure what to believe. I liked that some of the characters had ulterior motives to being on the island, but I did think there would be more of that--especially with a certain two characters. I kept waiting for the twist, sure that things weren't as they seemed, but instead they really were haha. So perhaps that was an issue with my expectations!

Party-influencer-life really isn't an interest of mine, so personally I didn't read it for the reality-show aspect, but I knew that going into it and enjoyed the book. I think those a bit more connected to pop culture would really enjoy it.

So grateful to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc!

3.5 stars rounded up.

I loved this book! It was a unique writing style, with so much going on and it really drew me in. We learn right away that there is a murder and we know who the victim is. Now it’s a matter of finding out what happened and why. Each chapter is an episode of a reality show, and just like reality tv, there are confessionals scattered throughout. The story also includes the police investigation, social media comments from viewers, etc, so you become immersed in the plot. It’s a really great modern spin on the classic mystery. I look forward to recommending this book to others. Thanks for the opportunity to read!

I’m sorry to say I didn’t love this one. A murder takes place on a reality show, on a desert island. I just couldn’t get into it.

📜Then Things Went Dark
✍️Bea Fitzgerald
📠Sourcebooks Landmark
📚Mystery/Thriller, Fiction
🗓️Pub date: August 27, 2024

⭐️⭐️⭐️

✨Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

✨The most hated man on television had 12.4 million viewers watch his death. Rhys Sutton, along with five other fame-hungry contestants, enter a reality show with a reward of $250,000 that ends in blood and disaster.

✨A small island (more like a rock) off the coast of Portugal, showcases the contestants with its sweeping views of The Atlantic, with not really much to do, besides sleep with each other, drink, fight, gossip, and keep their secrets close to the vest. The contestants all have a lot to hide, no one to trust, and everything to lose.

✨The contestants have a competition to win on every episode (but nothing as exciting as I thought it would be) and whoever wins, gets certain privileges.

✨A mix between the watchful eye of Big Brother, the desperation of Survivor, and the dignified wealth and bickering of a Real Housewives show, the story cuts between the contestants’ on screen narrative, real-time happenings, blurbs of social media threads, and the police investigation.

✨While different love interests spark between several of the contestants, others are left pining and in the dust, and leads to a tell-tale rift between the group.

✨It’s an interesting and creative spin on storytelling and the narrative as told through episodes of a tv show is unlike anything I’ve ever read. The characters are all unlikeable in their own ways, and therefore, I was unable to build an emotional attachment to any of them. The way the story is told, there’s no internal dialogue, cutting off emotion from characters.

✨Well-written and definitely entertaining, Then Things Went Dark is a race to the finish line, but not the type any of them had expected.

I struggled with the writing style. Each chapter is an episode by there’s also random confessionals interrupting the narrator as well as social media comments and then random police interviews and dialogue. I was struggling to follow what has happening through it all. None of the characters were likable and while that’s admirable in a way it doesn’t give me anyone to root for.

I had a hard time getting into this book. To many characters introduced with not enough detail to remember who was who.

This book follows six contestants as they film a reality competition show, and also are questioned for the murder of Rhys. I was excited to start this book, but I had a hard time staying engaged.

Every character is mostly terrible, and I really did like that. An unhinged agent of chaos is great, but four or five of them are even better. Rhys was actually my favorite until he began a relationship with Araminta and turned into a jealous, possessive psycho. He'd almost entirely dropped his earlier attempts to unnerve everyone else and began focusing entirely on her reactions with the other contestants. Kalpana and Isko were weak characters that failed to fill the void he left after this happened. Jerome was really terrible the entire time, but forgettably so.

The writing style didn't really work for me. I didn't understand why supposedly American characters were calling people "arsehole" all the time. I don't think I enjoyed the omniscient narrator mixed with the confessional commentary AND social media interactions lumped alongside the time jumps to the investigation. The chapters are titled as episodes, but the questioning from the investigators didn't really align with those events, and may have been better served as separate chapters. Additionally, the subplot with the two inspectors involved in a secret relationship was entirely unnecessary, and I feel like the reactions to that almost came across as homophobic. I also wasn't thrilled that the only openly pansexual character was portrayed as promiscuous (the STI joke, cheating on his girlfriend with multiple people, turning around and hooking up with Isko moments after breaking up with his second girlfriend, and all of that merely hours before expressing his undying affection for Araminta again) and then he wound up dead. I'm tired of seeing bi/pan characters given this treatment in books. There are ways to make a villain without falling into harmful stereotypes.

I really wanted to like this more, but I don't think it was the right book for me.

A train wreck I couldn’t peel my eyes away from. I loved how trashy reality tv and a murder mystery were joined to create a great book. The characters were both simultaneously likable and hated. Had a fun amount of romance and the perfect amount of drama.
I loved the social media aspects at the end of each chapter to see how their “real world” was perceiving their actions.
The ending gave me all the answers I needed but I felt like it didn’t give me what I wanted. I also was confused why the cops had a romantic relationship it really didn’t add to the overall of the story.
Overall will be highly recommending this book to all.

Suspenseful and twisty! Loved then premise of a reality TV show mixed with a little murder. Recommend to fans of the genre!

Good book! This book had a bit of everything! It had suspense, intrigue, action, murder, jealousy, revenge, mystery, gas lighting, a great who done it, great plot twist and some crazy twists and turns! The storyline was very interesting and had me glued to my Kindle! I definitely recommend reading this book as it was well worth reading! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

This seems to be a popular plot lately. Sometimes it’s a good story and other times it’s not so good. I did not like any of these characters and the book itself just didnt do much for me. I didn’t find myself interested in much of any of it. Maybe it’s just overdone these days.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me with an Advance Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited about the premise of this book, murder mystery, reality TV, and high stakes all around. This book certainly did not disappoint With True Crime meets Reality TV, Then Things Went Dark follows 6 well-known contestants in a reality show competing for half a million dollars. The contestants, and the world are shaken when the tragic death of Rhys Sutton is caught on camera and all 6 of the contestants are viewed as possible suspects.

This book is filled with high stakes, intense situations, and drama drama drama. While many of the characters themselves didn't hold my interest or steal my heart, the plot and story kept me going through this book and I found it thoroughly enjoyable. The book also swapped between TV episodes of the show and police interviews of each of the contests, providing an interesting dynamic and contrast in how the characters perform and interact of different "audiences".

Overall, the book was enjoyable and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a more modern twist on the traditional murder mystery.