ALC review

"Ink Ribbon Red" by Alex Pavesi is a mystery thriller with a deadly game.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC (via Netgalley).

I read and enjoyed "The Eighth Detective", another book by this author, so I was curious about this book.

Anatol is celebrating his 30th birthday with five of his old friends.
They play a game that he invented, called Motive Method Death.
The rules are: Everyone chooses two players at random, then writes a short story in which one kills the other.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Dino Fetscher and it was a bit hard to follow the story.
The story combines the reality with fiction and in many cases it was hard for me to understand if what happens is real or not.
From the author's note I understand that this was intentional, but I was confused most of the time.

Also, since there are multiple characters, it was a bit hard to keep track of them with only one narrator, even if he changed his voice a bit.

There are also multiple timelines, which make the plot even more confusing.
Maybe it would be easier to understand the story by also having a written copy.

The premise of the story is interesting, but unfortunately I did not manage to enjoy it.

"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."

This synopsis doesn't do the story justice. It's layered, complex, and opens with a death. From there, it moves backwards and forwards in time to set the scene for what happens during Anatol's birthday weekend. I would recommend reading it over listening, as it can become a bit confusing. I really liked this story.

The weird chronology was confusing and not to the plot’s benefit. The different POV’s were hard to follow, at least in audio format. I did enjoy the narrator, the story itself fell very flat,

I had trouble getting into this one and have decided to DNF at 30%.

The audio was one that made it easy for my mind to wander, and I kept having to rewind to get back to where I was and had trouble figuring out who was who and what was what.

I appreciate the opportunity to listen to Ink Ribbon Red!

This book was just not for me, I couldn't have cared less about the story or the characters. It was too long for what it was.

The premise of this story was intriguing enough, but the execution fell severely flat.

Anatol invites five of his friends to his family's home, and they spend the weekend playing a game where they each make up a story about one of them killing another of them. This game leads to real life betrayal and even murder.

This features multiple stories within a story that made it near impossible to distinguish reality from fiction, which I think is what the author was going for but it didn't land. It also had tons of time jumps to further the confusion. Additionally these are genuinely awful people in a way I didn't feel was redeeming or entertaining to read.

1 star

I really, really was eager to read this one with the premise, but I felt confused through a lot of it. I think the idea was fantastic, but the execution fell flat for me.

What a mindf*ck!

The tagline is Knives Out meets Saltburn. It’s more accurate to say The Game meets Inception meets Friends.

What’s reality? What’s fiction? Who is a murderer or a victim, and who is a merely character in a story, written by a character in this book, about a murderer and a victim?

This is undoubtedly one of the most clever books I’ve read. It reminded me a little of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. I usually write long reviews but it’s hard to review this deliciously dark and disorienting novel without giving anything away.

I loved every sentence.

Thank you very much Netgalley for the audio ARC for free for review consideration. I can’t wait to read more by this author.

Thanks #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio for the ARC. The vibes in this one are off. While the premise is good I couldn’t imagine having this awful of friends. Not one I would pick up again.

I received a complimentary copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this author's other book and was looking forward to this one. This just did not come together for me. I found it to be really confusing and hard to follow. It had too many voices and it was very hard to keep it straight who was who and why they were in the positions they were in. Just not sure what he was trying to do here.

I didn’t really love this book. It was ok. A bit confusing and a lot of people to follow along with throughout. Kind of far fetched in parts too. A bit all over the place.

The characters and story did not grab me at all, there were too many characters introduced right away. No one stood out to me. On top of the mood of the book, the narration was flat. It was hard for me to get involved with the plot, there was no range in emotion. I often struggle with British accented voices/books for their dry delivery and unfortunately this is one of them.

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook review copy.

I hate to say I wanted more repetition, but I think it would have made it more enjoyable and easy to follow. The description was fun, and I was so excited I was laughing and telling a friend that there seems to be a whole subgengre of books about former classmates who hate each other meeting up again. The characters also seemed so unlikeable. The narrator did a great job, though, with just the right amount of emotion.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this

I was intrigued by this one, but it fell extremely flat for me. I just couldn't get into it at all. The idea is interesting and really good but for me it just didn't work. I had to DNF.

Meh, the description is way better than. The actual story! So slow, choppy and i didn't really like the audio narrator. Felt annoyed the whole time I was listening.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Regrettably, this book did not meet my expectations. I was not impressed with the audiobook's narrator. Moreover, the storyline struck me as uninteresting and anticlimactic. The narrative requires close scrutiny, but it still managed to confuse me on several occasions.

I understand now that I’ve finished the book that the structure is central to the plot - but I found it very confusing and very choppy. Especially listening to the audiobook, I wasn’t sure if there was something in the physical book that would alert me to the “stories” versus the main plot.

The timeline for the main story also jumped around so much, especially in the beginning, in a way that felt very distracting.

I thought the characters were interesting and the motivations were well established and I loved the setting. I think this could have been an interesting and fun book without the “story within a story” aspect.

I really wanted to like this book. I came into it with an empty mind and listened to the audio. The narrator had a calm voice which I did like. However, I found it challenging to really stay focused in order to catch all of the details of the story. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I would have read the book myself instead of listening to it.

This book kept me on my toes from start to finish. It’s not one you can breeze through as you definitely have to pay attention. The structure is unique, with stories within stories that, admittedly, had me confused at times. But that’s also part of the fun. The author does a great job keeping the reader guessing, dropping clues and red herrings throughout.

Each character’s tale reveals more than intended, and as the layers unravel, so do the dynamics among the group. It’s clever, twisty, and full of tension. By the end, I was impressed with how it all tied together.

Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

2.5 rounded up. Aw man. I really wanted to like this more than I did. KNIVES OUT meets SALTBURN was such a lofty pitch and while the plot might be roughly in that landscape, the vibes just didn't live up for me.

Premise - a group of friends gather at a family home in the countryside for a thirtieth birthday bash. The host has them all play Motive Method Death, a game in which they each script murders... but, of course, the drama doesn't stay contained to the page.

This was SUCH a fun premise, with so much potential! I was really excited, but for me the characters and voice tend to be what really make the story and while I can have a good time sailing along on all vibes, minimal plot, the reverse is tough for me. These characters just didn't draw me in.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Dino Fetscher. He has a really nice voice and a very pleasant, cozy accent, but even though he delivered a varied, emotive read, I really struggled to keep my attention from drifting away from the story. Even when I wasn't doing anything all too interesting concurrently, I just couldn't focus. I found myself tuning out *a lot,* where I'm usually more apt to tune out real life and hyper focus on a good story.

Thanks, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.