This was a nice read to sit down and read in one sitting. I enjoyed the storyline, the twists and the suspense

This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley

~

Guess Who, by Chris McGeorge
★★★★☆
362 Pages
3rd person, multi character POV; single 1st person present tense Prologue
Content Warning: mentions of addiction (alcohol, drug and gambling); violence (murder, suicide, prison life); mentions of cheating; mentions of mental health (fugue state, paranoia, hypochondria, social anxiety, blackouts, hallucinations, claustrophobia); mentions of cancer scare, parent dying during birth, sibling committing suicide; hints of revenge, self-delusion and self-aggrandizing, therapy and insanity.


Guess Who is a great who-dun-it and locked room mystery, with some heavy themes. While exploring identity, addiction and self-worth, it also delves deeper into how even small acts leave huge ripples in other peoples' lives.

Morgan Sheppard was 11 when he solved the murder of a school teacher, thought to have committed suicide. Capitalising on his fame, Morgan eventually became the Resident Detective, with his own Jeremy Kyle style show. With a drug and alcohol addiction, Sheppard's life has long been off-the-rails.
When he wakes up in a hotel room in London - despite having been in Paris, the last he remembered - handcuffed to a bed, he knows something is wrong. When five un-cuffed people soon wake in the room, to discover there's no escape, they all know something is very wrong.
A mysterious voice on the hotel room TV tells them the score - someone is dead. Someone in the room is the killer. Sheppard must figure out who, before three hours are over. Let the games begin...

~

The story intersperses present day with clearly marked flashbacks, which slowly begin to explain the events leading up to the present day. The flashbacks are of various points in life and all Sheppard's memories, until 80%, when we begin to see various POVs to show the perpetrators of this elaborate plan. At this point, the story details the how, why and who, of how all five people ended up locked in that hotel room. Similarly, at 55%, we see the full story of how and when Sheppard discovered the dead teacher, aged 11.

The plot is clever and original, with a good pace and plenty of twists and turns. Some I never even saw coming.
Saying that, I knew who the killer was, if not their motive, by 20%, so in a way, despite being clever and original it was slightly predictable.

I don't want to talk too much about the plot, because of this, but I will admit that I was thoroughly enjoying it until around 70-80%, when things took an odd turn.

I found that I didn't really understand or sympathise with Sheppard's so-called victims. I was disappointed that people who had genuine grievances against Sheppard - claiming his actions ruined their lives and destroyed or killed someone they loved - turned out to be so unsympathetic. Despite Sheppard's faults and behaviour, the crimes he'd committed against the antagonists were through no direct intention or action. One was doing the right thing for the wrong reason. Another was unintended harm caused by selfish ego and his addiction. The last was by not paying attention and because of his selfish desire to maintain the status-quo.
I could understand the original source of anger toward Sheppard, but not the others. It seemed odd that these people who so hated Sheppard for the unintended consequences he'd had on their lives, would choose to hurt innocent people in pursuit of their own justice.
By doing what they did to Sheppard, they endangered multiple innocent people whose only crime was to be somewhat useful or distracting to their plans.
I was disappointed that, in the end, Sheppard's "victims" proved to be worse than their most hated enemy, because they knowingly and willingly set out to hurt or kill innocent people. Maybe if the five people trapped with Sheppard had also been guilty of crimes or wrongdoing, it would have made more sense. But, all throughout, I expected to end the book hating Sheppard and feeling some justice or sympathy for his victims. That never happened. Instead, they became the very thing they falsely accused Sheppard of being.

~

In terms of execution, I enjoyed the pacing of the plot. Each of the characters were well-rounded and fleshed out. You never quite knew who to trust.

As this was an ARC, it had some editing issues, such as words running together, spaces and hyphens missing. I didn't let that count towards my rating, as is usual for an ARC.
However, there was one point where the characters were confused by the label "John" for a bathroom. For years, if not generations, a bathroom has been known as "the john' in both the UK and USA. (As far as I'm aware.) I feel the "confusion" here - repeated twice by two different characters - was unnecessary and only a tool to make room for the John and Yoko schtick that followed. (And was also unnecessary.)

~

Overall, I enjoyed the ride the story took me on. It was clever, twisty, original and engaging from start to finish. I liked the diversity and scope of the characters, and enjoyed the journey Sheppard ended up going on.
I had a little blip at around 70%, when the motivation behind each antagonist didn't feel right, but otherwise it was an incredible rollercoaster of emotions and suspicion.
I'd happily read the author again. This was a brilliantly crafted debut.

Omg talk about a roller coaster read wow this book kept me on the edge of my seat threw out I just couldn't put it down this writer keeps you hooked and once your hooked your not letting go I found this book thrilling the characters were fantastic and well thought out and the little clues all the way threw keep you guessing until the end this book stays with you long after you close the book this book is well worth the read I promise you wont be disappointed

I have read the paperback copy of this book. I thought the overall premis of the book was wonderful. Full of twists and turns along the way. The characters are really well written, some likeable, some not so much. I read a lot of books and can usually see the twist coming. I couldn't with this book though so I was pleasantly surprised by the ending.

This book reminded me of the basic plot line of the Saw movies, but that is very the similarity ended. The Saw movies were badly done, but this book was very well written, and exciting until the end. Imagine being told you must find a murderer, but the small print says you must do it in a very short time frame, that not even CSI on television can achieve.
Recommended.

Welcome to “Saw”...in literary form...with British people...and a lot less gore.

At the introduction, the reader is introduced to Morgan Sheppard, a man chained to a bed in a room with 5 other strangers. They soon discover there is a 6th man - and he is dead in the hotel room bathtub. The group have three hours to solve the murder. If they do they'll escape the room. If they don't then...

Guess Who is an intelligent, immersive whodunnit – most excellent plotting allows you to solve the mystery if you are paying attention but distracts you with things like blood and hysterics and general mayhem.

Sheppard has three hours to work out who the murderer is before they all die, however all the suspects are somehow connected to the victim especially Sheppard who is struggling to deal with reality without his alcohol and pills and an overwhelming guilt of his connection to the dead body.

The author skilfully takes the reader back to Sheppard’s past in little snippets throughout the story which help unravel the truth or does it?

It is a twisted tale, an old fashioned locked room mystery given a modern and fresh feel – pacy and wonderfully written, a multi-faceted character drama with added murder. We have a hero and a villain for sure but it’s the shades of grey that mean you could consider which way round they sit. Racing along to an edgy and possibly unexpected conclusion (unless of course you do follow the clues and Guess Who) this was a genuinely engaging and entertaining read.

I'm very late reviewing this book, I do apologise - and it is me who is feeling very sore at not having done so before as I have been missing out on a great book.
The focus of the story is a 39 year old TV celebrity named Morgan Sheppard, someone akin to Jeremy Kyle in my mind as I read the story. Morgan shot to fame as a young man having hit the headlines as a promising detective following the death of his school teacher. An event which has had him seeing a therapist ever since. But someone seems to have an issue with his celebrity status. Someone who has gone to extreme lengths to ensure that the public know the truth about Morgan Sheppard.
Morgan finds himself having been abducted, held captive and handcuffed to a hotel room bed. As he stirs, he realises he is not alone in the room however he is the only one in handcuffs. As the other people come to, they all realise that they have all been drugged and brought to this location: a hotel room in Central London.
He is just trying to work out what is going on, the TV switches on, and a figure appears on screen wearing a horse head mask explaining that it is up to Morgan to solve another crime; but this time he has a time limit. There's a body in the bathroom, the suite is locked down so that means that the murderer is one of the people in the room is responsible. And if Morgan doesn't work out who killed the man, a bomb will detonate and he will then be to blame for the consequences- and the world will know that Morgan is not the crack detective he purports to be.
I'm not going to review the details of how the crime scene pans out, that would ruin the book for future readers, but there is a lot of soul searching among all the characters who have been brought together in the hotel room. It's a clever plot for a book and I thoroughly enjoyed trying to work out the whys, hows and whos of the situation.
I definitely recommend it, as the suspense racks up and everyone of the people in the room is a suspect - they all have equal motive and opportunity to be the killer. But how is Morgan supposed to work it out when ultimately all he is is a high profile TV presenter. Someone wants Morgan cut down to size, but with an ego the size he has, will he come clean and admit his shortcomings?
With an easy to read style, Chris McGeorge has a great novel here and I am surprised I haven't seen more about this book since its release. I also think it would work really well as a TV mini series.

This book was very interesting read. I quite enjoyed the story half way through. There were many mysteries like what’s going on to them and why, how this story goes and who’s the killer and who’s behind all of this? The story was very unique that I haven’t read like this plot so far.
However after the story of the past, it got predictable and I didn’t like the ending at all. I wanted to keep wondering longer not knowing what’s going to happen next.

I rated as 3.5 stars.

Great storyline with good strong characters. Very well written. I would recommend this book to anyone.

Very far fetched but enjoyable read. Five strangers wake up in a room with a body, one of them is the murderer. Will look.out for more by the author.

Wow I had no idea how to work out who the murderer is or what the motive was, well until things became slightly more apparent later in the book but even then I was still getting shocks.

This has to be the ultimate in locked door claustrophobic crime stories - no one knows why they are in the room, or how they got there, or initially what they may have in common, but if one of them can't solve the murder in 3 hours they will all be blown up.

It is fast paced, its thrillings, its unpredictable and was a utterly gripping. I was completely drawn into the situation and I think I felt as tense as the various characters in the room.

I'm struggling to believe this is a debut novel as its so good. I am very eager to see what the author will write next.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orion for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

The premise of Guess Who had me super excited to read this.

I must say, that the final product, while still a great book, fell a little flat to me.

Morgan Shepherd, once child prodigy detective, now TV Detective, is just flat out unlikable.

He solved a crime in his school when he was 11, but now is on TV, kind of like the Jerry Springer of detective shows.

He wakes up in a hotel room with other people and a dead body in the bathroom.
With everyone trying to figure out 'who did it'.

For me, the book went in spurts, I felt drawn in - but at other times, I just wanted to give up on it.

The villian reveal, was the best part - but it was a long way to get there.

It was almost like an escape room put down on paper.

Thank you Netgalley for an advance copy of Guess Who!!

I’ll be honest here and say I couldn’t really get on with this book. I think it was more a “It’s not you, it’s me” situation though because I was so busy when I was reading this that I could only manage a few pages a time before having to pack up boxes and do other boring moving related tasks.

However, in saying that, I did really enjoy the premise of the book and I was pretty hooked a guy in a horse head mask. I would have liked a little more depth to the characters and I found the ending a bit disappointing, but all in all I did enjoy the book and regret not giving it more of my time.

Good storyline, fast paced and gripping, kept me guessing until the end, great page turner - would recommend!

Get ready to suspend your disbelief.
A little more. More. Mooore.
There. Now you are prepared for the absurdity of Guess Who.
Going into this I was pretty excited for a locked room mystery a la And There Were None, which, of course, is a subset of the thriller/mystery genre that requires a little more suspension of disbelief than most. I knew that going into it; that I would have to ignore certain things for the book to work in the predominantly logical-wired tangles of my brain - but when these types of books are good, they’re amazing (although I do tend to say that about the entire thriller/mystery backlog) and often, I am willing to put up with a few iffy moments for a few hundred pages of magic.
But not this much. Not this many.
Think Jeremy Kyle (or Jerry Springer if you’re in the USA) being tasked to solve a murder only, in this world, Jez propelled himself to fame through a far more grisly, horrifying channel than Capital FM. It made me ponder whether anyone has actually turned death into fame and a career. I mean, yes, survivors of mass shootings have become political activists on them global stage but outside of them and the names of serial killers that are burned into our brains, nobody. It feels a little cheap, doesn’t it? Even in our world where a person can become a celebrity for practically no reason at all, a human being's death turning into someone’s path towards stardom and a daytime talk show feels… cold.
That was already something that rubbed me up the wrong way with the main character right off the bat but, it didn’t take me long to realise that, apart from the locked-room setting and the gender switch, he very much resembled the slew of alcoholic female protagonists that we have seen far too much of in the thriller/mystery genres over the past few years.
Is it supposed to make them unreliable narrators? Is it supposed to make them flawed?
Who really knows, but all I have gathered is that I can not stand them.
And that and the fact that the main character does not actually have any credentials, Chris McGeorge tries to run the book in the exact same way as standard detective novels - the protagonist getting to know the suspects and distinguishing the red herrings from the actual clues. But honestly, the characters were too flat, too abstract and too confused for this to be in anyway successful.
Overall, this was one of the least successful thriller/mysteries I have read in a long time and though, up until now, it has been universal that I will only give a one-star ratings to books that I simply could not finish, despite making it to the final page, this one still deserves it.

At eleven years old, Morgan Sheppard solved the murder of a teacher when everyone else believed it to be a suicide. The publicity surrounding the case laid the foundation for his reputation as a modern-day Sherlock Holmes. He parlayed that fame into a gig as TV's "resident detective," solving the more typical tawdry daytime talk show mysteries like "Who is the father?" and "Is he cheating?"

Until, that is, Sheppard wakes up handcuffed to a bed in an unfamiliar hotel room. Around him, five strangers are slowly waking up, as well. Soon they discover a corpse in the bathtub and Sheppard is challenged to put his deductive skills to the test. One of the people in the room is the killer. He has three hours to solve the murder. If he doesn't find the killer, they all will die.

Well this had me totally gripped from the start.. there was no messing about. I was emerged into the plot straight from the offset, the characters were completely believable and usually I can work out where it is going - not this time, hence the 5 star review.

Everybody should read this!

Fantastic novel. I was hooked from the start. Full of twists to keep the reader guessing. I couldn’t put it down

This is a really great debut novel, refreshingly unique in its setting and a brilliant locked room mystery.

I know this phrase is over used and stereotypical but it really did keep me utterly hooked right up to the “What the Hell?” twist at the end!

Five people, one locked and sealed hotel room, a dead body in the bathroom and only three hours for Morgan Sheppard to figure out who the killer is amongst them or they are all going to die, along with everyone else in the hotel, a hotel that has been packed with explosives.

It definitely has a Saw type feel to it, only a man in a horses head mask instead of a creepy puppet doling out the instructions of the game. One that sounds fairly simple. How hard can it be with only 4 other living people locked in the room with him?

I was a little skeptical to begin with as to how interesting this would be being the fact it’s all set in one room but if anything that actually added to the book giving it a suffocating, claustrophobic edge to the atmosphere. The book is full of deception, secrets, manipulation and revenge as well as twists and turns throughout the entire book.

Morgan Sheppard is a notoriously famous TV resident detective with his own talk show where the premise of the show is to decide who is telling the truth amongst his chat show guests who have been accused of cheating or similar. A bit like Jerry Springer!

His fame came about at a young age when he solved the murder of his Maths teacher at school and being dubbed as a young Sherlock Holmes. And that is all he wants from life, to be famous (and rich of course!) But he is also an alcoholic, drug addict so he certainly isn’t the run of the mill protagonist, he’s not particularly likeable at times either! He certainly doesn’t want the job of revealing the killer in the room, or having other people’s lives in his hands but the man in the mask is insist that Sheppard must be the one who figures out who the killer is.

It is set in two different time lines, the here and now adult Sheppard and back in the early 1990’s 11 years old Sheppard gives the story room to breathe outside of the hotel room but it is scenes locked in the room that held my interest the most.

Fighting the cravings that are clouding his mind it is a fight against time to find out who the killer is, who is behind the horse’s head and why they have been chosen by whomever is behind the whole thing.

This book is fast paced with twists and turns galore and full of tension and suspense the entire way through.

A great one sitting read that you won’t want to miss! Grab your copy now

I won a NetGalley widget on TBC the title being "Guess Who by Chris McGeorge. I thoroughly enjoyed this book it did not have too many characters to keep track of and certainly kept me guessing right to the last few pages, I would give this book 5 stars. Will certainly keep an eye out for more books by Chris George. I would like to apologise for this review being late and thank you NetGalley for sending it to me.