This really kept me guessing with all the twists and every time I thought I had it figured out...I was wrong. A great take on the locked room thriller and amazingly layered to include all the ways the characters were connected.

My first read by this author, and it will not be my last. I am a sucker for a solid locked-room mystery, and I was not disappointed. This novel had a great group of characters and an ominous atmosphere. It kept me guessing until the end.

Tricked by a cover again! I know, it is my own fault, judging and all, but COME ON. The cover is gorgeous.

J.R. Alastor (pseudonym), a renowned author, hires Mila to host a writing retreat. Alastor will be hosting it at his private manor tucked peacefully away on an island off the coast of Maine. Mila is excited for the opportuity - for many reasons. She's a former aspiring writer herself, and she desperately needs to get revenge on one of the attendees.

The guest list is small, just six well-known authors who have all mastered their craft and are writers of thrillers and mysteries. They know the tropes inside and out, can toss out red herrings, create misdirection and mayhem, and are above all else, deceitful.

Alastor and Mila have planned a whole week's worth of events and the plan is to use the cover of the retreat to take her revenge. But before she can, a different guest ends up dead and Mila realizes things are not what she thought, and Alastor may not be who she believed.

Then the storm comes along and they are cut off from the mainland. More die and Mila has to figure out what the game really is before she is next.

Well, this was a big fat disappointment for me. It had all the things I love: small group of unlikeable characters, no contact with the outside world, and murder.

It was hard to even decide how to rate this one. The plot itself I really enjoyed, because this type of thriller is my favorite. Do not, however, for one moment compare it to And Then There Were None. I see that as a alllllll the time and nothing ever even comes a tiny bit close. It's one of the greatest murder mysteries of all time.

But there were too many POVs and some of the voices were not distrinct enough to carry their own chapters; I had to keep going back to the beginning to see who I was reading. Other characters were basically caricatures of pretentious and self-absorbed authors who had no idea they were about to finally being held accountable for some past behavior because they's JUST SUCH TALENTED WRITERS. As the game progressed wildly off-course, the chapters with various sins as titles were added and those were even worse.

Even so, I was enjoying the mystery itself - until the reveal. It fell flat and was so disappointing because it was something I considered early on after the first two deaths, but then dismissed because I felt like it was too obvious to actually be the thing that this all led up to. What an unsatisfying ending for such great build-up. I am always willing to suspend some belief for a fantastic reveal, but this was too much for me.

So again, I am torn. The plot itself was great and I loved the build-up. But the uncompelling characters and suspension of belief needed for the reveal are the reason for two stars.

I guess I would recommend with caution. Don't say I didn't warn you about the bad bits though.

A writers retreat gone wrong. when multiple famous authors are invited to a very prestigious island for a writer's retreat everyone is excited until there's a dead body. with everyone pointing the finger at each other they soon learn the host is playing a very cruel game of cat and mouse. the authors must give in and play his games if they want to survive. I overall enjoyed this one but, i feel this idea of a writer's retreat is getting overused and kind of overrated now but, it still had me on the edge of my seat.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of You Are Fatally Invited.

I would give this book a 3.5/5. I wanted to like it better than I did. The premise of the story is clever: several best-selling mystery and horror authors are invited to a writers’ retreat at a mansion owned by an author who has kept his true identity secret. As the days go on, they are encouraged to confess and repent their sins as they are subjected to tests/games based on a different trope each day. The authors need to work out who they can trust with their secrets—and their lives.

The issue I had is that the characters felt at once overblown and undefined. The narrator shifts through the chapters, and some of them I really couldn’t keep sorted in my head. As I read, I wanted something more to really sink my teeth into, but the plot felt like a gimmick, the resolution felt insignificant (as I worked my way toward it), and the people were shadowy caricatures.

This might turn into a cute movie (the rights have a film agent’s support, according to the acknowledgments), but as a book, it feels kind of superficial.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This had the potential to be really cool, but the book was bogged down with far too many characters and changing POVs for me to keep track of, and too many plot twists. I felt like there was too much going on with too many characters who I just didn’t really care about in the first place, so it was hard for me to be invested.

I'm a sucker for a locked room twisty mystery!

Alastor and Mila have masterminded a week of games, trope-fueled riddles, and maybe a jump scare or two—the perfect cover for Mila to plot a murder of her own. But when a guest turns up dead—and it’s not the murder she planned—Mila finds herself trapped in a different narrative altogether.

One by one, you’ll lose your turn.

With a storm cutting off the island, and the body count rising, Mila must outwit a killer who knows literally every trick in the book.

Until only one of us remains…

Honestly I wasn't expecting much different than any other mystery but I was pleasantly surprised! This was a fun rid full of twists and turns that I couldn't even guess!

While this was a fun twist on And Then There Were None, if you've read the original then you would definitely be able to identify the killer from the state.

There were a few character plot lines that didn't tie together well and seemed a little too drawn out but that didn't take away from it being a fun summer read.

I DNF this book, but I think it was a me problem. I’m not a huge fan of “locked room” thrillers so I think it just wasn’t for me! But I think someone who enjoys that trope would love this book. I like the invitation.

I loved this, it’s like a reading and writing retreat meets clue. I was honestly surprised when everything became clear and was revealed. A true murder mystery!

4.5 stars. Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine. This book is like get from point A to B and has a bunch or yarn between and you have to untwist it......and im still confused lol. Alaster a famous writer sets up like a writing retreat using a even coordinator Mila and invites 6 authors but they each have secrets and dark past and it turns into a shit show and I was here for it all. Theres not much to say but even with clues I could not figure it out lol and I'm usually pretty good about this stuff.

The following review was posted on Goodreads on 7.11.25:

There's a lot to love about YOU ARE FATALLY INVITED, one of which is the way it pokes fun at and plays with classic murder mystery tropes. With an appealing AND THEN THERE WERE NONE premise, it also intrigues from the very beginning, upping the ante with every chapter, leading to a breakneck, explosive finale. (I stayed up until 1 this morning, LONG after my bedtime, to finish it.) The plot is clever, too, with plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. (Although I figured out some of the answers, I missed a few things, too.) Not all of the characters in the book are likeable (naturally), but Mila is. I cared about her, in spite of her flaws, and wanted her to find peace. Pliego writes well, creating interesting characters, a complex plot, and an engrossing story using engaging, assured prose. Her debut does not feel like a debut. As an added bonus, YOU ARE FATALLY INVITED doesn't have any real profanity (a handful of Bible swears is all) or sex. It's got a lot of violence and blood/gore, but it's a PG-13 read in my opinion. (I wouldn't hand it to a 13-year-old, though.)

Of course, the story is more than a little far-fetched. Some people's motives seemed extreme and unrealistic. Also, the plot does get a bit convoluted and, while the important things are explained, there are some questions that never really get answered. In addition, the book is very depressing. It's been compared to Benjamin Stevenson's Ernie Cunningham series, but YOU ARE FATALLY INVITED doesn't have that kind of humor or charm. Still, I enjoyed this propulsive thriller. I'm definitely eager to see what Pliego does next.

If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG-13 for mild language (a few Bible swears), violence, scenes of peril, and blood/gore

First and foremost, thank you to netgalley and Random House Publishing for the e-ARC!

Unfortunately I was left fatally disappointed…

⭐️⭐️

I feel terrible writing this review because I really wanted to love it, but it was missing so many things. It had so much potential, but it fell very flat for me. I expected witty banter, misguided humor, and ‘wtf’ intensity equal to Netflix’s “The Menu”. Instead, we got a board game version of ‘Clue’ and a haze of confusion.

I struggled to connect with the characters. I got why the multi POV happened and tried to envision like how “Knives Out” was filmed with the different perspectives to catch the killer, but imo wasn’t executed rather well. I did think the puzzles and the idea of the participants’ efforts of figuring each other out via board game was clever, but as I said - just poorly executed.

This book unfortunately was not a page turner for me, and I felt like I was forcing myself to finish reading just so I can see how it ended.

What a breath of fresh air! I loved this spooky locked room mystery and all it's wild characters. Not only was island atmosphere perfect, but the "And Then There Were None Style" kept the story flowing at a consistent pace and made me feel like a sleuth along with the characters. I enjoyed seeing the diversity in age as well!

I especially enjoyed the "game within a game" elements. It was a surprise at the turn of every page!

I also really appreciated that there were little to no content warnings in this book. It makes it easier when recommending this to just about any reader!

this was the most good faith and then there were none retelling that i have read, and i really enjoyed it. it was well written, well plotted, and deeply enjoyable, though i could have done without the romance.

I immediately loved the premise of this book, although it did instantly feel familiar - and unfortunately for me that became part of its downfall. As a thriller reader, this felt very much like stories I’ve read many times before.

That’s not always a bad thing - sometimes familiar stories are even more enjoyable, but with a cast of pretty generally unlikable characters, it was difficult to connect with them and therefore keep them separated in my mind. I felt I had to really work to follow along.

I maintain that I enjoyed the premise but the execution on this one was unfortunately just not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This is a relatively typical locked-room murder mystery, but the people invited to the exclusive writer's retreat are not your typical characters. Before you start thinking that this is a cozy mystery, given the plethora of amateur sleuths, let me assure you there is very little that is cozy about this novel.

A reclusive, but highly successful, thriller writer has invited a group of crime writers to his private island for a retreat. The guests presume that they will get to meet JR Alastair, and that in itself is a reason to accept the invitation.

The chapters told from various characters' POV are broken up with excerpts from Alastair's writing book (it is kind of like Stephen King's book On Writing, but all about using tropes to create fear). There are also a few chapters that are excerpts from the other characters' books. While I enjoyed the latter as they are part of the plot (Alastair has made edits to suit the games the characters are supposed to play during the retreat), but former felt like too much of an interruption.

There are a ton of twists and more than a few secrets, so it is impossible to figure out who is killing the writers (or even to know for sure that some have been killed and not just missing). Just like the characters, the reader is also trying to figure out if Alastair is one of the guests. Since there is not even an author photo, no one can identify him (is Alastair even his real name, or is it a pen name, and could he be one of the female authors?).

This terrific thriller would be perfect to read during a thunderstorm. The plot isn't very realistic, but don't think too hard about that and just enjoy the ride of this great piece of escapism reading.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Friday - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2025/07/you-are-fatally-invited-by-ande-pliego.html

So I always love this plot where people are called to a location and it turns out they have something in common and then they're dying one by one. It's not always well done, but man! I finished this and thought about it for quite a while. It's hard when people aren't likeable, but this was fun because my opinions kept changing on whether I liked them. The twists were well written enough that they felt natural and the ending added more to the story. Can't wait for more by this writer.

I really like books like this that have a lot of twists and turns...when they're well written. This one was really well written and kept me fully engaged with the story.

Great premise but ultimately didn’t work for me. I love the idea of thriller authors convening on a secluded island but the writing fell flat and I just never got pulled in.