Alex's dream is to become a best-selling author, just like her idol, feminist horror author, Roza Vallo. She feels like time is running out though and she also hasn't managed to pen a single word since everything that occurred between her and her former best friend. All this seems set to change when she wins a coveted spot with a handful of other female writers to reside inside Roza's own home, work with her on her manuscript, and compete against the others for a publishing deal that would alter her entire life. It is a prize with killing for!

Alex had many secrets that she unveiled throughout the course of this novel. When each other character delivered the same, it muddied the already murky waters and made each individual worthy of attention and mistrust. A death in their midst only hastened me to point more fingers and fly through the remaining pages in search of the hard-fought-for truth.

I loved the focus on the mechanics of writing and found this to be also sound instructional material, although this never dominated the actual mysteries occurring. Alex's creative process was fun to witness, and I liked the small sections of her own work that featured in between the chapters.

It was often difficult to know where the truth lay when secrets were held closely, drugs often made events dream-like in quality, and the characters were mostly new acquaintances without much feel for who was genuine and who was performing a part. I loved the twisted path Bartz took the reader on to figure this all out, as well as the continual reveals peppered along the path to the truth. A compelling mystery and a strong storyline means this is an author I would hasten to return to.