Many thanks to NetGalley, Henry Holt & Company, and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the sophomore book by Alex Pavesi, author of The Eighth Detective, which I loved. The audiobook was narrated by Dino Fetscher, who did a fabulous job with all the different voices. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4 stars!

Anatol recently lost his father and has invited five of his oldest friends to his family home in the countryside to celebrate his 30th birthday. He asks them to play a game he invented called Motive Method Death. Everyone chooses two players at random, then writes a short story in which one kills the other. But the game brings out the worst in the players.

Just as in The Eighth Detective, buckle up for this one! Fact and fiction swirl in and out of reality as we read the stories - or are they real? None of the characters are likable, non are trustworthy, and everyone has a motive to kill. It's an extremely smart locked room mystery that you have to give up solving and just go along for the ride, because it's meant to be confusing. I thought the audiobook was very well done, but my mind tended to run more while listening and I ended up reading quite a bit of it. Love Pavesi's mind and can't wait to see what he comes up with next!

1/5 stars: This is Pavesi's Historical Mystery Thriller stand-alone multiple POV tale which is set in England, 1999 and follows a man who 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: everyone chooses two players at random and imagines a scenario where one kills the other, then writes it down as a short story. Points are given for making the murders feel real and of course it’s only natural to use what you know. Secrets. Grudges. Affairs. But once you’ve put it in a story, that secret's out. It’s not long before the game's reawakened old resentments and brought private matters into the light of day. So with each fictional murder, someone new gets a very real motive. Soon the gathered friends will have to figure out when a real murder is headed your way, will you be able to spot it in time? While Pavesi's writing and character work are well done and this is an intriguing plot this just wasn't a book for me; leading me to DNF it at 7%.

I received this eARC thanks to Henry Holt & Company | Henry Holt and Co in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

What's true? What's real? Where do the stories end and reality play out?

6 friends from university get together for the May bank holiday every year to celebrate Anatol's birthday, but this year is different. His father died about a month before, and the house they always gather in is more expensive than he can afford and is going to be sold. They also all suspect that Anatol killed his father. He's also turning 30, and all of them are confronting entering a different phase of their lives.

Anatol wants to play a game they've done before: Motive Method Death. They each randomly chose a killer and a victim from within the group and have to write a story explaining why and how the killer takes out the victim. The stories are read and scored, highest score wins.

The stories are interspersed throughout, but so is the truth. Pay attention to the title and dates because this jumps back and forth in time, and you don't know until the very end which murders are real, which motives are the truth, and what could bring someone to kill one of their best friends.

Surprisingly, it doesn't get confusing as long as you remember you know nothing, and that all will be revealed. I was only write about one of my murder guesses, and that was kind of fun. A good mystery if not quite a thriller, testing the thing that bind us together and making you question what those around you are capable of.

This book revolves around 6 friends that come together to celebrate a birthday. During their time together they play a game where each participant writes a short murder scene involving members of the group. The fictional stories are mixed in with the actual mystery. This book unfortunately had very unlikable characters, difficult to follow plot and a story that should allow you to play detective but actually even fails to do that also.

Anatol is turning thirty and decides to have a party at the family estate in the country. Only his oldest friends are invited. While playing a game (motive, method, death) that involves writing a story about a murder mystery, the “friends” start to turn on each other. During the readings of the stories, secrets come out, and that's when the anger starts. I liked the unique premise of the book, with stories within the story, but I must admit it didn't quite work for me because it was hard to distinguish fact from fiction.

The story had little emotion, and the same can be said for the characters. They seemed very cold to me, and are supposed to be old friends. They were very superficial and lacked depth and development. They just didn't seem authentic to me. Some of their reasoning and motivations were implausible, and I couldn't wrap my head around them or care about them. Their dialogue was unnatural and not like how real people talk at all. The writing is okay, but it lacked the emotional punch needed for this type of plot that is based on trickery. All this ruined the psychological tension the book should have had. The ending felt rushed and unsatisfying; it lacked emotional impact and surprise.

And while I loved the idea of the book, the things I mentioned earlier outweigh the good. If you're looking for a well-crafted literary thriller, you won't find it here. I found it terribly frustrating and underwhelming. This is the type of book where you're either going to love it or hate it, and I am of the love-to-hate-it side.

This one tried way too hard to be clever, and unfortunately, it just didn’t land. I spent the first 50% completely confused, and even after that, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to take away. The pacing dragged, and not a single character was remotely likable. Seriously, why are these people even friends if they clearly can’t stand each other? Whatever twist or payoff was supposed to come never felt earned. Ultimately, this one was a miss for me.

This book was a very slow burn for me, and I felt that I needed to start flipping back to understand what was happening next. The book is about a group of dysfunctional friends. There is a recent death, an annual birthday party, and a unique murder writing game. The storyline is intricate, and I think that the plot was well thought out. However, the overall impact was just ok for me. I could see how other readers could really enjoy this one.

I had the honor of reading this E-ARC thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher, Henry Holt & Company. Thank you so much.

Yes it's clever and yes it's an interesting conceit but I got confused and because I wasn't attached any of the six characters, I gave up, The concept of six people writing murder mysteries about one another and thus revealing their secrets is intriguing. This moves around a lot in time and it was never really clear to me what was happening to whom when. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. This required more work and patience than I was willing to give it so it's over to others, many of whom I'm sure will delight in the puzzle.

A group of friends attends a birthday weekend at their friend’s house, per their annual tradition. But not everything is at it seems among any of the parties involved. If you’re looking for something to boggle your mind and exercise your brain power, this might be the book for you. It is twisty, turny, time-jumpy, and will leave you questioning your sanity on more than one occasion.

Honestly, I’m rounding this review up from 2.75 to 3 stars. It’s highly possible I’m the problem, but I just was not a fan of this. The premise seemed super promising, and I was really excited to dive in. However, I found myself confused more often than not. The time jumping was chaotic and inconsistent. Other major plot points made my brain hurt trying to keep up. Maybe I wasn’t smart enough for this book, idk. But it’s definitely not for me.

I received the e-arc for Ink Ribbon Red by Alex Pavesi. This story starts out shocking and ends rather abruptly. Six friends gather to celebrate a birthday. They are at their friend Anatol's country house so this starts out like an old fashioned locked room mystery. But it is a story within a story as the friends play a game - it is a game they've played before and they enter into the game again at Anatol's insistence. They tell stories that they write about a murder. The plot is clever, but what slows this story down is the characters themselves. They are almost completely unlikeable. Selfish and self-absorbed, they could have each been a murderer - it would not have been surprising. I liked the story concept and the opening and it is a book that had great promise because I thought it was clever, but it was ultimately a bit disappointing. I need to thank Net Galley and Henry Holt for my arc. This book comes out July 22, 2025.

Ink Ribbon Red sounded right up my alley. Sadly, although well-written and plotted, I could not get into it. There were too many characters with strange names for one. I couldn't keep them straight. Also, Dean's wife and Phoebe's sister, Yulia, mentioned but not really part of the action, had a name too close to one of the main characters, Yanika. So I kept mixing them up. Stories within stories are ok if you can follow along but I find them hard to figure out what is actually happening to what is being pretended.
Anyway, Anatol invites his 5 closest friends to his family's country house to celebrate his 30th birthday. He wants play a game of his invention called Murder Method Death in which everyone chooses 2 players at random, then writes a short story where one kills the other. So everyone uses their secrets against each other. and once a secret is in a story, it's out there. Can all 6 survive the weekend? I still don't know the answer to this.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co. for this digital e-arc.*

Ink ribbon Red had a slow start, but once all of the characters came together it was riveting and deeply twisted!

Six friends come together every year to celebrate one friend’s birthday over a long holiday. They indulge in a very dark parlor game; drawing names and writing one another’s murders… the darker the story, the better.

At first I didn’t realize the characters short stories were being slotted into the book itself, until they were miraculously still alive in later chapters. Once I figured that out it was a really interesting read. I feel like it really brought you into the minds of the characters to read from their “imaginations”

Definitely a bit gory, but still a really good thriller!

Anatol is celebrating his 30th birthday by playing Motive Method Death with his five closest friends. Not only does this game help the players refine their writing, but it also allows for their dirtiest secrets to come to light. However, this year's game is the most complicated yet. The participants are exposing each other's secrets, along with the secrets of Anatol's recently deceased father. Or are they? Told in a non-chronological order, the reader doesn't know what is fact and what is fiction. Everyone is an unreliable narrator, and everyone has a secret to share.

I was truly confused by this entire story. I understood the concept and the way it was presented, but I don't think it was executed well. The chapters were very quick, and I was able to get through this in roughly two days, but I can safely say that after finishing the novel, I still have no idea what even happened. The twist in the story wasn't even that shocking, either. I also expected Motive Method Death to play more of a part in this. We get to see the stories that the participants write (kind of), but it felt like something was lacking. There was so much hype around this game, and the reader doesn't get to see most of what happened behind the scenes. There are many better locked-door mysteries out there. I would, unfortunately, pass on this one as it requires way too much thought for what it is.

“Ink Ribbon Red” is a complex, multilayered mystery told in non-chronological order. The plot involves a group of friends who are gathered together for one of the characters’ birthdays. Anatol recently lost his father and for his 30th birthday, he wants to play a game with his friends that involves each of them writing a story involving murder. Some of the chapters in the book show us these stories, but is not clear which are fiction and which are reality. This can make the story confusing but I really enjoyed this, it was twisty and intriguing. The ultimate resolution at the end was a bit unsatisfying but everything that led up to it was so good that I would still highly recommend this thriller!

Thank you to Henry Holt and Company, NetGalley and Alex Pavesi for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Anatol invites five of his oldest friends to his family home for his thirtieth birthday where the only thing he asks is that they play Motive Method Death - a game involving crafting a short story with two randomly chosen players where one kills the other. Once completed, Anatol will read all the entries and a winner will be declared. However, it doesn’t take long before the lines between fiction and reality blur and motives are called into question

The thing I always find difficult when reviewing Mysteries is the fact that so much can be spoilery. By not wanting to give anything away, I often fear that it reads like a half-baked review. However, know that's not my intention.

Ink Ribbon Red definitely delivers on all the various twists and the stories within a story, but it also has the negative effect of making it difficult to parse out when each chapter is occurring. The main part of the story takes place over a holiday weekend, but also includes flashbacks to months and weeks before that, and includes the aforementioned fictionalized murder mysteries each of the characters are writing. It is also not told in a linear way. I was already pretty well into the book by the time I figured out the tell for what we were dealing with. At that point you kind of have to just make the decision to go with the flow and not worry too much about trying pre-sort out what is happening and rest assured that everything will come together in the end, which it does.

I didn’t find any of the characters particularly likable, which I suppose lends itself well with the murder mystery aspect. You could legitimately see any of them committing the acts. I also think that the unlikability and the tensions between the characters plays well with the idea that this group has deep connections and has known each other for a long time. Who else can you be miserable with besides those who know you well?

I think the intricacy and depth of the story is, overall, done really well. I think it certainly takes a great amount of talent to setup all the winding paths and have them converge in a way that makes sense in the end. I'd really be interested to learn about the writing process and how the book was edited because of the winding path the story takes.

Despite it having it's difficult moments, I'm very interested to go back and pick up Alex Pavesi's first book The Eighth Detective which has been on my TBR list for far too long.

This was a wild ride. It’s told in a non linear style that blurs the line between fiction and reality. What is actually happening? And what is just a story?

The book starts off following the events of Anatol’s 30th birthday, where five of his friends join him at his home in the English countryside. But then we go backwards in time to his father’s funeral a few weeks prior. And while the story mostly takes place during his birthday weekend, it does switch back and forth. For his birthday he wants to play a game that he invented called Motive Murder Death, where each person picks two guests and imagines one murders the other.

This was a complex story that took a lot of focus. I actually had to restart the book and lower the listening speed because I was missing so much. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire reading experience. It was fun, dark, and wildly mysterious.

Based on early reviews, this does seem to have mixed reactions. If you like non linear, complex stories, then I’d recommend checking this out.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan audio, and Henry Holt and Company for the arc/alc in exchange for an honest review!

Unfortunately, Ink Ribbon Red was a concept that just did not work on page for me. I was so confused and never found my footing.

This one was a real challenge for me. While I typically enjoy layered, puzzle box style mysteries, Ink Ribbon Red felt more disorienting than engaging. The line between the in world game and the actual story was so blurred in the first half that I struggled to figure out what was supposed to be real and what was just part of the game mechanics.

Unfortunately, the characters didn’t offer much grounding. With minimal backstory and unclear motivations, it was hard to invest in any of them. Especially when the overarching mystery of the “murdered” father kept getting buried beneath the story inside the story inside story... you get it. It became a maze of meta narratives with no clear thread to follow.

Maybe I just wasn’t in the right headspace for something this abstract, or maybe it simply wasn’t the right fit for me. Either way, it left me more mentally exhausted than intrigued. Readers who love complex, experimental narratives may find something compelling here, but be prepared to bring your metaphorical red yarn and whiteboard.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Alex Pavesi, and Henry Holt& Company for the ARC. All Opinions are my own.

This was not what I was hoping it would be. While the writing is solid, it felt kind of pointless and a little pretentious to have it be a thought experiment rather than a book.

This should’ve been my kind of puzzle: a weekend in the countryside, a murder‑story game among old friends, and shady secrets bubbling to the surface. But a lot of it missed the mark.

First-Timeline chaos. The narrative jumps all over. It just jumps all over with no real reason other than the author wanted to keep the reader off balance. I get it. But it didn't work. It made me just stop caring how it would end.
Also-Chunky, headache‑inducing twists. I appreciate a meta‑mystery, but this one got so tangled that the premise outshined the payoff .
Most of all-Unlikable characters. These friends are so secretive and self-centered that I ended up rooting for the plot to murder them all, but even that didn’t land with enough punch. They don't like each other and they don't speak to each other like human beings.

On the brighter side:
Ambitious structure-There’s some wickedly clever layering here with fiction within fiction, and stories bleeding into reality .
Atmosphere and stakes-The country‑house setting and escalating tension were well done and would have shown through if only they hadn’t gotten swallowed in the confusion.

What this was? A brain‑bender masquerading as a thriller. Except the author didn't want the reader to figure anything out so it fell flat. I felt like I was being dragged along against my will. The mind mostly bends uncomfortably backwards. It’s smart, convoluted, and technically impressive. But if you like storytelling that’s a bit more transparent, this over-engineered mystery might leave you scribbling in the margins for both clarity and sanity.