The things went dark follows 6 well known / celebrity contestants who are competing for the prize of half a million dollars (or more so trying to revamp their dying careers with a fresh public appearance)

The contestants include: a rockstar, an actor, an entrepreneur, a chef, an heiress and a women’s activist.

They all claim to be there for honourable reasons, but it quickly becomes apparent they are all harbouring some dark secrets in their past.

When two of the contestants begin dating, causing a third contestant to spiral into a jealous rage, tensions start to build and everybody starts to play dirty.

When the competition reaches an all time climax causing one of the contestants to fall to their death, the local police are now in charge of going back through footage to decipher whether the death was truly incidental or whether foul play was involved.

The purpose of this book is definitely to highlight fame culture and how pompous and vapid people can be, and as a result not a single character was likeable. Although that was the point of the plot, it makes it hard to stay engaged and invested when you truly don’t care what happens to any of these people.

I liked the idea of the plot, a 24/7 filmed reality tv competition with people who will fight tooth and nail to win, but it just didn’t vibe for me and I found the execution not extremely enthralling.

The most interesting plot line for me was definitely the romantic relationship between two contestants. For the majority I was rooting for them and hoping that their feelings were actually genuine and not just a show for the cameras. The end conclusion felt a little abrupt but we did get our answers.

What I did like: the overall plot, the setting, the format (swapping between police interviews and flash backs from the reality show episodes).

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for an opportunity to read this book!