Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC. This was sooo promising- and hit the mark sometimes, but not all the time. I love how it essentially poked fun at every thriller trope while simultaneously using most of them effectively. I really enjoyed so much about this book.

I absolutely loved it. You’d think being led through the chapters and tropes would ruin it but it somehow made it better.

What happens when an anonymous host teams up with an assistant who wants revenge to bring a group of authors to a private island for an exclusive retreat? Deception, games, and murder. All the authors have secrets, which the anonymous host has planned to vengeance on, in time, after they’ve played some realistic and very personal murder mystery games based on the books they’ve written. Our assistant has secrets to keep of her own, including her own murder plot against one of the guests who stole her book and published it under her name!

This book was a fun murder mystery that kept me guessing. I honestly didn’t know who ‘Alastor’ was until the end, and there was one little twist I didn’t see coming. However towards the end, some parts were written in a confusing manner, which I believe was on purpose but ultimately took away from me understanding how plot points were coming together. The book is written in multiple POVs and at one point she doesn’t use the characters names but references them, before we know who those references are referring to. So that was an ineffective writing tool in my opinion that should’ve been explained / written better, without going into too much detail as to spoil things.

Overall it was a fun read!

I love a good locked room mystery!

Throw in a group of mystery authors all hiding a secret and it's so much fun!

"When renowned anonymous author J. R. Alastor hires former aspiring writer Mila del Angél to host a writing retreat at his private manor off the coast of Maine, she jumps at the chance—particularly since she has an axe to grind with one of the invitees. The guest list? Six thriller authors, all masters of deceit, misdirection, and mayhem.

Confess the crimes, survive the tropes."

We meet the cast of authors one by one, all hinting at a dark secret, some prepared to die and some in denial. We also meet the assistant helping plan the event and also a murder.

But twist-- there's part of a plan she doesn't know about and now she's just as at risk as they are.

This book is so fun, the characters are either love them or hate them-- we never get a clear read on anyone-- as is the nature of a good mystery.

I read this in one sitting because it's such a fast paced, fun read.

Welcome to the most unhinged writer’s retreat you’ll ever attend—complete with secret identities, trope-y games, stormy weather, and oh yeah, an actual murderer on the loose. Ande Pliego’s You Are Fatally Invited is like if Clue, Knives Out, and every thriller author’s group chat got trapped together on a remote island and decided to play a deadly round of plot twist roulette.

Our narrator, Mila del Angél, once an aspiring writer herself, is roped into co-hosting this retreat by the mysterious and famously anonymous J. R. Alastor. The guest list? Six wildly successful thriller writers with egos, grudges, and secrets thicker than a hardcover first edition. Mila has her own secret plan—let’s just say it involves a little vengeance—but things go sideways fast when someone else turns up dead…and it’s not the person she had in mind.

The real delight here is the meta-ness of it all. The retreat is built around classic thriller tropes, and the authors know exactly what’s “supposed” to happen—which means they’re constantly trying to outplay both the game and each other. It’s a wickedly clever setup that plays with genre conventions while also delivering plenty of juicy reveals, red herrings, and “wait, WHAT?” moments.

✨ What I loved:
- The layered, trope-filled mystery within a mystery
- Mila’s morally gray voice—equal parts clever and conflicted
- The closed-circle, storm-stranded setting (classic, and it works)
- The insider nods to thriller-writing that any book lover will appreciate

⚠️ What kept it from being a full 5 stars? The pacing dipped slightly in the middle, and with so many characters, it took a while to keep everyone straight. But once the body count picked up, so did my page flipping.

If you like thrillers that know they’re thrillers—and aren’t afraid to poke fun at themselves while still keeping the stakes deadly serious—you’ll be fatally entertained by this one.

📚 Perfect for fans of The Writing Retreat, One by One, and any locked-room mystery with bite.

I love a locked room mystery, so I was excited to read You Are Fatally Invited! This book did not disappoint. I enjoyed the multiple POVs and the alternating chapters with sections of the famous author/character J.R. Alastor's own book. Each twist caught my by surprise, and the pacing of the plot was perfect. I would recommend this book to fans of Lucy Foley and a famous mystery writer who I won't name for fear of major spoilers.

A locked room mystery set on a private island with a full cast of characters will ALWAYS be for me and You Are Fatally Invited was no exception! Super fun and twisty with short chapters and a fast-paced plot. Perfect for fans of And Then There Were None and Knives Out!

I give this book praise for its intricate plot and atmospheric setting, noting its appeal to fans of Agatha Christie and classic whodunits. However, some of the character development is lacking, making it difficult to distinguish between the various authors on the island. ​

Despite these critiques, the novel's clever use of genre tropes and its self-aware narrative have been highlighted as strengths. For readers who enjoy suspenseful, dark locked-room mysteries with a modern twist, You Are Fatally Invited offers a compelling read.

It sounds like a dream invite. Six authors of suspense, thriller, mystery and horror are invited to a reclusive island retreat by the best-selling and anonymous writer JR Alastor. It’s an honor reserved for a select few, all at the top of their game, and it’s irresistible. And so they come, in late October, to a remote island off the coast of Maine, 17 miles offshore, and the sumptuous home. The retreat has been organized by Mila del Angél, event coordinator and former aspiring writer whose motivation is clear to herself–this is her way to avenge herself on one of the other writers. She and Alastor craft a perfect murder-mystery weekend, with games, writing sessions, and more.

From the beginning things go wrong, beginning when one of the writers disappears the first day. By the time his dead body is discovered, a sense of dread is settling over everyone, including Mila. Alastor has somehow discovered that each writer hides a dark secret, and he has decided to enact vengeance on each. He claims to Mila that only by confessing their sins to each other can they be set free. But, as one realizes, that opens them all up to police investigations, loss of income and status, and a lot more. Who will be willing to risk all in order to set things right?

You are Fatally Invited echoes Agatha Christie’s famous And Then There Were None. There’s the island location, the group of people all with dark secrets of murder or manslaughter well-hidden in their pasts suddenly exposed, etc. The novel pays homage to Christie’s work while setting up a thoroughly modern take on it, with different characters and a unifying theme not apparent until the end. It’s creepy all right, and keeps you on your toes as the number of potential suspects gets smaller and smaller. Different chapters take us into different character’s heads. For me personally (admittedly a queasy person), it danced right up to the edge of the amount of gore I can handle, but the characters kept me engaged and reading till the end. It was definitely worth it! Recommended!

“Six thriller authors, one private island, and a killer plot twist...”

You’re in for a treat with the debut "You Are Fatally Invited" by Ande Pliego if you’re a fan of slower-paced, character-driven stories focusing on complex relationships and clever but subtle twists.

The whole setup—a murder mystery party on the private island of a mysterious and reclusive thriller author—had me hooked from the start. Who wouldn't be intrigued by that? I was super excited to dive in and discover a new author.

The book kicks off with some mysterious incidents that lead to some tense moments, but it took me a while to get into it. With so many characters and narrators, it was a bit of a challenge to keep track of who’s who.

The second half read a little easier. While it still had that leisurely pace, the plot became more engaging with twists that were easier to follow. Even though it didn’t have the intense excitement I crave from thrillers, I appreciated the depth of some characters and how Pliego wove the mystery together.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for the eARC they provided via NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

#YouAreFatallyInvited #AndePliego #Ballantine #RandomHousePublishing #NetGalley #ARC #capcut #lefttoread #reader #read #honestreview #thriller #bookreviewer #thrillerbooklovers #thepulse #lovetoread #lovebooks #booknerd #readaholic #bookstagrammer #booktok #bookish

Locked room thriller with best-selling authors on a private island. Yes, please! This is a book I was excited to read for these reasons. It gave a special twist on the locked room thriller trope. I enjoyed the differing points of views. The read was a quick one for me, as I kept turning pages wanting to know what was going to happen next. A strong read by a debut author, though the packing lulled in spots. Overall a thrilling read and I'll watch for the next book by this author.

YOU ARE FATALLY INVITED by @andepliegowrites felt like a mix between an Agatha Christie novel and the movie Murder of Crows! Thank you to the author, @netgalley and the publisher, @ballantinebooks for the e-ARC.

🪨🪨🪨

J.R. Allister, the infamously mysterious author has invited a group of his fellow writers to his private island for an author's retreat. They all arrive hoping to finally meet the elusive thriller writer, until people start dying. Turns out, J.R. Allister did not invite them for a life-altering writer's retreat, but they will still have their lives altered, and perhaps ended. When they all realize that the deaths of each author mimic the deaths of characters in their own books, everyone trys to control their environment to not be caught in the trap they laid for their own creations. Everyone is a suspect, and no one can escape.

I thought this locked-in, isolated island who-doing-it style of mystery was a trip. I really enjoyed the clever stacking of POVs to both lay breadcrumbs and also misdirect. There is even a narration POV for the unknown killer in second person which took me a second to get on board with but ended up being one of my favorite POVs. The audiobook was a full cast of narrators for each character and they all rocked it. This story is not overcomplicated nor even fully original, but has its own pizzazz. The characters are diverse and their juxtaposing personality clashes made you even more suspicious of each of them.

Read this one if you like mysteries like those of Christie that have a specific formula but also their own unique twists. This novel came out last month and is available to read now!

You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego

Do not even think about reading this piecemeal. There are so many moving parts, people, histories that are constantly being introduced that you need to stay in that reading chair or you'll miss out on the hunt: for this is a game and the players are ruthless.

A private invitation from an anonymous author to a writer's retreat on an island sounded like the best opportunity for these six writers to come together and share skills and meet in person. Why these specific novelists? What was unknown, was that there was a thread that held them together with the reclusive host, who had decided that the pasts of each of these novelists needed to be exposed and that they suffer retributed justice.

This is a real life game of Clue and Agatha Christie rolled together. The host (who no one has ever seen in person) has decided their fates will be determined by what they have written in their own novels. They slowly understand that their host wants retribution and that will be resolved by the storyline they wrote.

The relationships between the characters change constantly for them to survive. The reader is absorbed in all the finger pointing and slow, doling out of clues till the final chapter when there comes the moment of disbelief.

A spooky house with hidden rooms and clues, a well timed storm, the inclusion of technical gadgets made this spooky, murder thriller all the more exciting. The author actually had to invent six different stories within this book for each guest. It was an engrossing scenario.

This book was too slow paced for me. I can like a slow burn but this was super slow. I lost interest about 20% through and couldn’t get into it any further in the book.

I never tire of a whodunnit mystery, and the premise of this book definitely hooked me into reading. A group of thriller authors are the prime suspects in "You Are Fatally Inivted", by Ande Pliego. While the novel is similar to many other mysteries, it was worth the read, with a great twist! This is the perfect read for a rainy weekend!

*Extra bonus point for the beautiful book cover!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

A Messy Web of Ideas That Never Came Together

I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately, it just didn’t deliver. There were far too many perspectives, each introduced with little depth or payoff. Instead of enriching the story, the multiple POVs made it feel disjointed and chaotic—like I was constantly resetting just as I started to get my bearings.

On top of that, the whole "book within a book" element was overused and underdeveloped. What could have been a clever literary device ended up muddying the narrative even more. It felt like the author kept adding layers for complexity’s sake, without making sure they actually served the story.

The pacing was all over the place—dragging when it should have moved, and rushing through parts that deserved attention. And let’s talk about the tropes: every one you can think of was in here, but none of them were done well. Instead of subverting expectations, they felt cliché and tossed in without real thought.

Worst of all, I never felt invested in the outcome. With so many plot threads, flat characters, and a lack of emotional depth, nothing really landed. By the end, I just didn’t care what happened.

Disappointing, especially because there were some interesting ideas buried in the chaos. With a tighter focus and better execution, this could have been a very different review.

Wow, a new to me author that I would definitely read all over again! This book definitely had all the "game of clue" vibes with a side of "murder mystery show" tied into one. There are multiple POV's which is great if you can enjoy that but I'm not a big fan although I did get past it with enjoyment. At the end, it was a great read, highly recommend for those that love the above that I mentioned for sure! This author was on point with all of that.

I guess this book was just not for me. I love a well written mystery, but this book was a disappointment for me. The pace was very slow, filled with filler and lacked character development. I thought the concept of a retreat of famous authors all brought together to meet a more influential author for a workshop was great until one by one they are killed. The problem I had was that it was difficult to keep the correlation of characters and their crime together.
Thanks to Netgalley & Random Publishing Group for the ARC.

What starts as an exclusive writers retreat hosted by a famous anonymous author turns into a Locked room mystery set on a secluded island. But the author is looking for something other than to further the careers of the attending authors, he/she is looking for revenge unless they confess their sins. A storm traps them on the island and one by one deaths start to stack up.

A cast of unlikable characters trapped on an island for a writers retreat that turns lethal, quickly. This is an interwoven whodunnit tale, with six authors, an anonymous host author, and an aspiring writer turned host, who are all stuck together to discover their ugliest secrets and see who survives the week.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.