Told with stories-within-the-story, the plot centers on a group of friends who gather for a weekend at one of their country homes to celebrate a milestone birthday and play a "murder game" each randomly draws one name as a victim and one as a murderer, an most write a short story describing a murder, to be read out judged at the end of the weekend. Soon the reader is unsure if a chapter is a real plot point, or simply one of the murder stories crafted by the participants. A late arriving friend begins to unravel the doings and soon figures out what is afoot. A very interesting premise, well written, but a bit confusing for the reader.

"A wickedly plotted new thriller, in which a group of friends play a deadly game that unwraps a motive for murder, from Alex Pavesi, the author of The Eighth Detective.

Anatol invites five of his oldest friends to his family home in the Wiltshire countryside to celebrate his thirtieth birthday. At his request, they play a game of his invention called Motive Method Death. The rules are simple: Everyone chooses two players at random, then writes a short story in which one kills the other.

Points are awarded for making the murders feel real. Of course, it's only natural for each friend to use what they know. Secrets. Grudges. Affairs. But once they've put it in a story, each secret is out. It's not long before the game reawakens old resentments and brings private matters into the light of day. With each fictional crime, someone new gets a very real motive.

Can all six friends survive the weekend, or will truth turn out to be deadlier than fiction?"

Oh yes, bring on Motive Method Death! A decidedly literary thriller.

Ink Ribbon Red is a brilliantly layered mystery that pulls readers into the shadowy world of vintage typewriters, forgotten stories, and the secrets they conceal. Alex Pavesi proves his mastery of the genre with an intricate, literary puzzle that both challenges and delights. The narrative's structure is clever without being gimmicky, and the characters are rich with nuance and hidden motives.

A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Clever but quirky and unsatisfying
The premise of Ink Ribbon Red in the book description was clever, and I looked forward to a fun read. I was sorely disappointed.
A group of six friends get together for a weekend at Anatol’s house to celebrate his 30th birthday and to console him on his father’s recent death. Host Anatol sets up a game in which the guests each draw the names of two other guests from a hat and then write a short piece in which one of those guests murders the other. Given the personalities of some of the guests, I can imagine this would be easy to write.
I was somewhat turned off immediately by the first chapter, which seemed muddled to me. That chapter actually takes place towards the end of the weekend get-together, and the rest of the book similarly jumps back and forth between dates and times. I did not warm up to Anatol and Janika in this chapter, and the other characters were also unappealing; I don’t think I would want to spend a weekend with any of them.
Jumping back and forth between dates made the book more work to follow, and I REALLY did not like this, but it was compounded by the fact, revealed later in the book but also noted by other reviewers, that some of the chapters were actually the writeups done by the guests.
This is further complicated by a trick Anatol has played in setting up the game. It is clever but makes the book even harder to “solve”.
If you are in the mood for a VERY challenging book, you might enjoy Ink Ribbon Read, so I will not go into more detail lest I spoil your fun, but I would not be inclined to read another like it.
I received an Advance Review copy of this book from NetGalley and Henry Holt and Company.

I liked this, mainly because it was not your typical murder novel. It was inventive, creative, sometimes funny and just plain different. The collection of unfriendly friends were interesting, and I really didn't spend too much time trying to figure out what was real and what wasn't. I just sat back and enjoyed the ride.

Clearly, this book won't work for everybody. It worked for me.

Will I read more from the author? Yes.

I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.

Thank you NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for this eARC

I was so engrossed by this book! I could not put it down. I was making notes trying to solve the mystery of the story.

Friends assemble for the holiday weekend at Anatol’s house. His father has recently passed away and it’s his birthday weekend. He is the host to this yearly get together among friends. These friends play a pretty grim game where they draw names for a victim and a murderer then write a short story about it. This year Anatol wants them to write the murder like it happened this weekend. Reading this book keeps you on your toes for the real murder/murders and the false ones.

I enjoyed this book and have not read anything like it before. I totally recommend it. It was so addicting and kept you thinking!

Sadly, this book just wasn’t for me. I didn’t realize it was based off of Agatha Christie, but it makes sense why I didn’t care for this as I’m not a fan or her books either. I’m sure there’s a specific crowd for this, I’m just not it.

It's very cleverly done and interesting. For those with the brainpower, I'm sure it's fun to try to figure out the "true" story, the "fictional" stories, and the mystery as a whole. But I'm afraid my poor burned-out middle-aged brain struggled, although I made one or two correct guesses. As for the characters, they -- deliberately -- are not that appealing (Maya's an outright ghoul, IMO), and so it has the old "no one to root for" problem. Sometimes that's okay, but when the plot is this complicated and confusing, I kind of want to take refuge in enjoying the characters (a la Sayers's "The Five Red Herrings"), and I couldn't really do that here. All that to say, I don't think I was the ideal reader for this one, but it is well=constructed and will probably be fun for a different kind of reader!

I tried a few times to connect with this book, leaving it and coming back to it three different times but it was never successful in capturing my interest. I was interested in the premise of this book, but it didn't ever deliver. Not the book for me.

I was intrigued by the premise and I gave it my all, but this one was just not for me. This is only my personal preference and I think others will really enjoy it. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

In the afterword, the author explains how this book was inspired by Agatha Christie and Friends, among others. This explains the idea, but I can’t tell whether I liked it. Pavesi’s debut was exceptional, so it’s not hard to see how he must have struggled to follow it up. The premise of Ink Ribbon Red is interesting. We get again a series of stories and it’s not easy to see what they have in common or what’s happening when. A group of friends gets together to celebrate one of their birthdays. Anatol just lost his father and this may be his last anniversary at his family’s manor. He asks to play a game where they all write mystery stories with a victim and a killer chosen at random from amongst themselves. The stories are included here. I noticed something that I was going to comment on because it wasn’t working for me, but it turns out to be a big clue of what’s really happening, so kudos for that. The plot is disorganized and it was a struggle not to get lost. It is not an easy read. That said, the big reveal at the end was unexpected and really good. It made me reconsider the whole book and see it in a brand new light. The characters are well written, even if I didn’t find them likable. The gist of this novel is that everybody is murdered, or kills, several times in the stories, so it was hard to root for anyone, considering you weren’t sure where they stood. They’re mostly despicable humans. To sum it up, my brain is giving this book a million stars, but my heart doesn’t agree. Interesting, intriguing and smart, but not as amazing as I hoped.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Henry Holt and Co.

I think this book was a good time. As someone who doesn’t read a ton of mystery and thrillers, I felt like it was a good time. It does give Knives Out—but in a good way. I’m excited to what global reaction will be for this book.

This started out promising, with a decided hook. However, after becoming befuddled with so much back and forth that was really nonsensical, I finally had to give up.

This one sounded a lot more intriguing than it actually was. I just couldn't connect or get invested like I wanted to.

As much as I hate to admit it, this one was a DNF for me. I love a good mystery to solve and a good story to unravel. The blurb for this book promised both. I loved the premise - the set up for something great. A group of friends writing horror stories together - almost Mary Shelly-esque. This one with a twist, though. The stories were about the party-goers offing each other. This premise should've been fantastic but the writing didn't live up to that. The writing was scattered - jumping forward and back without rhyme or reason and creating a spiral that led nowhere. I'm giving it 2 stars because I know some folks love that sort of writing but for me the back and forth was too much and not enough clarity was given to anything.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Ink Ribbon Red.

I didn't read the author's first book but the premise piqued my interest.

A bunch of one dimensional friends gather together at a snooty, wealthy friend's estate for his 30th birthday bash.

The birthday boy wants to play a game he's created called Motive Method Death. And that's when things get confusing.

Sadly, this didn't hit the mark for me for a number of reasons:

Poor character development. You don't really know anyone nor do you understand why any of these people are friends with each other.

Everyone has secrets, naturally; affairs, embezzling, murder, ho-hum,

Since the author wants to be slick and clever he chops up the timeline to confuse and throw the reader of our game.

This is so tired; messing with the timeline only works in movies (think Pulp Fiction) because visuals help in keeping track of what's happening and where and with who.

The narrative is interspersed with remnants of the game the friends are playing so you don't know what's real or not (which is the point).

The confusing timeline makes it hard to follow what is present and past, even though the chapters are marked.

You still need to flip back and remember what day/time it is.

No one is likable or sympathetic so readers don't have any skin in the game; I didn't care what happens to anyone.

The main reason I love mysteries is to get the chance to solve the mystery alongside the detective or main character but you can't do that here.

It's confusing to follow on purpose and frustrated me as a reader and mystery lover.

There are better ways to do this and the way the narrative is written in Ink Ribbon Red isn't one of them.

I have no idea what I just read.

According to the acknowledgments, the idea of this book is stories within a story, and readers' inability to differentiate between the two. I guess that's a fun idea in theory, but it was just way too confusing for me. I also find it a little unfair as a reader because how am I supposed to figure anything out? One of the fun parts of reading mysteries is trying to solve it, but there was no way to do that. I don't even know if there was a mystery to solve, to be honest.

Aside from the stories within a story, the timeline was weird. I had to really think about the dates every time I started a chapter and even then, I couldn't keep it straight.

In conclusion: if you like headaches, you might like this.

Ink Ribbon Read is a smart, inventive mystery that plays with structure and form in a way that fans of Alex Pavesi’s earlier work will likely appreciate. With its layered narrative and nods to the history of storytelling, the novel feels like a love letter to both literature and the art of the puzzle.

The premise is intriguing—a typewriter, a forgotten manuscript, and a mystery that unfolds across timelines. Pavesi leans into metafictional elements, which makes the reading experience feel both cerebral and immersive. The writing is crisp and deliberate, and the atmosphere has a quiet intensity that grows with each chapter.

That said, the novel's intricate structure may not appeal to all readers. At times, the shifting perspectives and intellectual tone can create emotional distance, making it harder to connect with the characters on a deeper level. But for readers who enjoy a slow-burn mystery with literary ambition and clever plotting, this will be a rewarding read.

What a fun read! I LOVE a good whodunit and if you do too, this book will not disappoint. So many twists and turns and you will find yourself thinking about these characters long after you finish the book. This was my first book to read by this author but definitely won't be the last!