While the first chapter of ɪɴᴋ ʀɪʙʙᴏɴ ʀᴇᴅ was intense and drew me in, my care for these flat and disagreeable characters waned the more time I spent with them.
Not only are the characters very unlikable but it’s a book that has multiple stories happening within the main story. I usually love books with extra stories woven in but this wasn’t one of them. It was done in such a way that it appears the goal of the many side stories is to confuse the reader enough to be impressed by the ending. I wasn’t.

I do think the cover is excellent and respect the time and effort it takes to write a book but sadly this one just wasn’t for me. The best I can say is that I finished it and that was honestly in large part because I was able to do 70% of it via audio.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the alc!

A murder game at a birthday party? Yes, please. Ink Ribbon Red is like Clue, if Clue had more twisted friendships, biting secrets, and killer short stories. Anatol invites five friends for a cozy countryside weekend—what could go wrong? Oh, just a little game called Motive Method Death, where fictional murders start feeling a bit too real. Alex Pavesi blends sharp wit, layered mystery, and deliciously messy drama into a locked-room whodunnit where everyone’s a suspect... including the stories themselves. Twisty, clever, and wickedly fun.

Thank you Alex Pavesi, Macmillan Audio, and Netgalley for the advanced copy!

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I was gifted with the audio book as well with Ink Ribbon Red. Dino Fetscher was an amazing narrator. 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. Audio book from Mcmillian Audio. Thank you so much.

I listened to the ALC for Ink Ribbon Red by Alex Pavesi. Ink Ribbon Red is narrated by Dino Fetscher. He does an excellent job narrating the voices of the six characters in this locked room mystery. 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. The audio is what kept this story going for me. I need to thank Net Galley and MacMillan Audio for my advance audio copy. 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.*

First off, the audio was good. There’s something about a British accent that elevates a book for me.
However, this book bored me to tears. I would’ve DNFd but I was using it for a reading challenge prompt.

DNF at 47%

I could not get into this audiobook. The not knowing what was real and duel timelines left me confused and uninterested. Maybe reading the physical book would have been a bit easier to follow. The character dialogue was also pretty odd.

The premise instantly drew me in, but the audiobook quickly fell flat. The narrator wasn’t bad, but had a strong accent. I listened at 1.5x.

Since I did not finish, I will not be rating on other platforms.

Absolutely wild in the best way—Ink Ribbon Red by Alex Pavesi is one of those books where you’re never totally sure what’s real, what’s performance, and what kind of chaos you’re walking into next. The characters are all layered (and seriously messy), the tension is constant, and even when I was confused, I couldn’t stop listening. It had me flipping back to double-check names and dates, but honestly, that was part of the fun. Definitely a story you just have to experience rather than overthink going in. Bonkers? Yes. Brilliant? Maybe. Entertaining? Absolutely.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 stars
Rated R for language, violence, and intense psychological themes.

The premise of Ink Ribbon Red immediately drew me in, but unfortunately, the book didn’t meet my expectations. I found the execution lacking and struggled to connect with both the story and the characters. The narrative jumps between multiple timelines, which made the pacing feel disjointed and at times confusing. The characters themselves felt underdeveloped and overly self-absorbed, making it difficult for me to root for or relate to any of them. While I can see that this book might appeal to some readers, it simply wasn’t for me. That said, Dino Fetscher delivered a strong performance in the narration and brought what life he could to the material.

Thank you to NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for letting me read this ARC.

Killer Inside Us meets a British version of Friends in this mystery crime thriller.
I cannot compare to the tagline of Knives Out meets Saltburn since I don't know what happens in those (books? Movie?), but this was wild, so pay attention. 

Six long-time friends get together to celebrate their mutual friend's milestone birthday at his inherited estate, since his father passed away. They have all spent lots of time together there with lots of fond and not-so-fond memories. The birthday boy decides to play a game. Each player picks 2 names. One is the killer, the other is the victim, and they have to write a short story about how it all happens. When some guests get mysterious notes that seem like a threat, things start to get a bit heated, and not everyone at the party will leave the estate alive. 

I'm going to be honest, this audiobook was nuts. A lot of characters with a whole lot of baggage, and you weren't positive if the story was just a story or if what was said really happened. I had my mouth open a few times and was scratching my head, trying to figure out what was going on. It kept me on my toes since it wasn't lacking tension and animosity. This is best to just go in with what you read in the synopsis and let it happen. I won't get into detail about the story. Just pay attention to the dates, times, and people so you don't lose track of who, what, when, and how. Overall, I give this a 3.5 since I was transfixed and couldn't stop listening even though I was utterly confused for half of the story. It was certainly entertaining. 

What to expect?

Longtime friends
Affairs
Lies
Manipulation
Blackmail
Murder (duh)
Secrets
Grudges
Jealousy

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and Macmillan Audio for the ALC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Oof. This had a great concept but kept getting in its own way. Too many characters not fleshed out well enough to make me care

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.

Additionally, I thought the audiobook narration was done really well. There's a menacing quality with the way the narrator slowly unfolds the story. I thought there were two narrators at one point because I swear there was a change in voice from one section to the next, but come to find there was only one. So I'm not sure if the cadence of voice was another layer to the story to keep readers (listeners) guessing or if it was just my imagination, but I thought it was well done.

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!

Ink Ribbon Red is a bold, mind-bending mystery that unspools backward in time—revealing just enough in each chapter to keep you guessing. I loved the structure, the eerie atmosphere, and the wonderfully odd cast of characters. The blurring of reality and fiction was done so well it kept me guessing until the very end.

The narrator was one of my favourites—soothing but expressive, never too slow, and the perfect match for this twisty story. A few mid-sentence audio edits were noticeable, which pulled me out a bit, and I did get confused around the 50% mark but I think that was the author's goal. Still, I genuinely looked forward to pressing play each time.

The structure is one of the book’s most intriguing elements. The use of foreshadowing, backtracking, and layered narratives blurs the line between truth and fiction so effectively that I constantly found myself second-guessing what was real. The mystery itself unfolds slowly and smartly, and the way reality slips in and out of focus makes for an experience that’s as much about perception as plot.

Complex, clever, and just the right kind of unsettling—this audiobook is made to be listened to.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance listening copy in exchange for an honest review.

When reading the description of this book, it seems fun. The idea behind it does seem like it would be difficult to execute and that’s because it is. In saying that, while I’m glad I read it, I can say that it could have been done much better. The dialogue between the characters is a bit unrealistic and I think this is where the character development is lacking most. You don’t need to truly know the characters or relate to them in any way, so it’s the dialogue that makes it unbelievable. This takes place in 99 and at times you remember that with the mention of landlines and pay phones, but the majority of the book has a very… 1920-1930’s gothic feel. Going into it knowing it’s a gothic style will help you get through this. This book needs to be read quickly or you are going to lose your interest and quite possibly forget what you’ve read. It’s unreliable and the twists are in how the fictional stories and the reality come to light. You do start to figure out what has really happened and what hasn’t, but it’s a lot of jumping around. When you get to the end, it does make sense. However, the ending is very quick and describes how everything happens. The end also seemed a bit unrealistic for me. Theres one character who figures it all out, but honestly the others should be the one to figure it out and how they do not makes little sense to me. Overall I have to give this 3/5 stars. I think this is for a very specific audience. This seems to be more up the gothic alley than for those that like murder mysteries.

⭐️ 2.5 stars
I wanted to love this book so badly 😭

The premise for this book sounded so interesting and right up my alley but unfortunately the execution was not there for me. I couldn’t connect with the characters and the plot seemed to jump all over the place. I still feel like there is an audience for this book, unfortunately it is not me!

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.

Ink Ribbon Red is essentially a story about stories within stories. Anatol invites five of his “friends” over to celebrate his birthday weekend. His idea of a great party game is called Motive Method Death - during which they each write a short story about one friend killing another. Anatol plans to read all the stories aloud for the group once everyone is finished.

I appreciate what the author was trying to do, but this just fell totally flat for me. At first I had trouble differentiating what was real and what wasn’t, and then eventually, I no longer cared. Nearly everyone seemed unlikeable. The ending was very unsatisfying as well. I’m sure this took a great deal of time and effort to execute. Unfortunately, it didn’t pay off for me. 2.25 stars

Anatole, whose father recently died under questionable circumstances, has invited five of his friends to celebrate his 30th birthday for the weekend. He asks them all to play a game where in they are required to write a short story detailing how they would murder one of the other guests/ friends. This very confusing and frustrating novel is structured as many stories within the story, so that the reader has no idea what is a fiction and what is actually happening. If you enjoy this kind of mind-f@&k reading experience this might be the book for you.

This is a real hair- pulling mystery & I can easily say I did not enjoy it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A dysfunctional group of friends, 1 recent death, 1 annual birthday party celebration & a weird murder writing game. Overall this book was alright- I can appreciate the intricate story line but it just wasn't absolutely jaw dropping to me. It kept me engaged but with all the drama but at the end i'm kind of just eh about it. Would I read something else by this author? probably.