Thank you to NetGalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House for the advance reader copy.

The concept for this book was what drew me to request the advance copy, but unfortunately having read it I can say that it didn’t live up to expectations.

The main characters are all annoying and self centred, I didn’t care about the ‘mystery’ as no-one had any redeeming qualities.
There were parts of the book that felt like they were thrown in to extend the word count and then not really looked into.

The obliviousness of the detectives annoyed me, as it seemed they couldn’t do the basic parts of their jobs such as a background check or medical history.

There’s a bunch of trigger warnings at the beginning and honestly some of them didn’t need to be included in the book. It felt like a lot of the things were there to shock. We as the reader don’t need anymore reason to dislike the characters as they’ve already shown themselves to be vapid and disingenuous.

This book felt both too long and yet not fleshed out enough. Which is a strange way for a story to go.

Six “icons” are trapped on an island to take part in a reality show called Iconic. They include a celebrity chef, a social media influencer, an actor….. you get the idea. The winner will walk away with a large sum of money, and a higher media profile.
I really did not enjoy this book, the characters were unlikeable, bland and boring while trying to be edgy, the tacked-on police investigation added nothing to the story, and the author seemed to lose interest and write to a formula.
Not for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read this book.

This was a gripping read, I thought the characters were intriguing and I'm going to keep an eye out for more from this author.

Ever wondered what it’d be like to read a reality tv show? What about one that includes a murder mystery? Well, this is the book for you.

‘Then Things Went Dark’ follows five contestants on a reality show, including confession booth comments and live public commentary. But this isn’t a regular reality show, because someone died.

As you make your way through the book you uncover new motives and discover new theories a long with the police.

A fun and exciting read.

Thank you Michael Joseph for the ARC.

Then Things Went Dark by Bea Fitzgerald
Rating: 3/5
Release Date: 5 September 2024

"The Things Went Dark" follows six renowned or celebrity contestants vying for a half-million-dollar prize while attempting to revive their fading careers through a fresh public appearance. The contestants comprise a rockstar, an actor, an entrepreneur, a chef, an heiress, and a women’s activist. Though they all profess noble intentions, it soon becomes evident that each harbours dark secrets from their past.

As romantic entanglements form between two contestants, igniting jealousy in a third, tensions escalate and everyone resorts to underhanded tactics. When the competition reaches a fever pitch and results in a contestant's fatal fall, local law enforcement must review footage to determine if the death was accidental or the result of foul play.

My issue with this book, hence the low rating, isn't with the plot, characters, or writing - I find the story to be incredibly creative. However, the layout feels out of place and a little disjointed and felt as if the flow was in terrupted. I believe this book could benefit from greater continuity between its various elements or a more defined layout.

The ending is what made me give this novel a lower rating. It felt underwhelming and failed to evoke a strong reaction. Despite all the build-up and mystery, the conclusion was not particularly satisfying or memorable for me.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House | Michael Joseph, and the author, Bea Fitzgerald, for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for an honest and fair review.

This was a bit of an odd read as I could tell where the story was going and wanted to say but it was a little oddly paced. A good thriller to pass an afternoon

Couldn't really get into this at all which is a shame the problem was there was way too much going on which made any sort plot get lost. I really liked the idea of this book but it didn't stand out within the many books like it. It felt a bit like love island if love island allowed the islanders to have unlimited alcohol and as I can't stand love island that put me off what could have been a really good with some more focus on one or two stream of plot instead of too many weak ones. What I did enjoy was the structure crossing timeline into the last tv episodes and the present police investigation.
While this wasn't to my tastes I think it would make a good beach read

This was a clever book in many ways, taking the idea of a reality tv show where a death occurs on camera, but was it murder?

The characters are divisive which is always a plus and makes for a decent thriller. It's quite locked room esque as they are all trapped together on an island. The author manages to get some thought provoking themes in there too around 24/7 exposure and the vagaries of social media.

Overall a fun read, the kind you read fast whilst eating all the chocolate.

The premise is just up my street, reality show set on an island.
All the contestants were so pretentious and unlikeable, there view on
themselves and the world are as bad as it gets.
However one of them dies live on air - I was shocked it was just one - given how awful they all were!
The story is set in the present and past, with the events leading up to the death and the subsequent police involvement.
I enjoyed loathing the characters although the pretention and dialogue in some parts did put me off a bit.
Overall an good read.

Six contestants. One island. Unlimited alcohol and minimal privacy. Then Things Went Dark tells the story of six fame-hungry contestants on the newest reality TV programme. Alliances and relatio ships form, implode and shift and everyone is in it for themselves. When a contestant dies, it should be easy to find out how it happened - after all, every moment of their time on the island has been played out in front of the cameras. However, the truth, like the contestants themselves, is far from simple.

The narrative switches between previous episodes of the series and the current police investigation, giving the whole book a sense of urgency as the investigating officers race to stop the final episode being shown on TV.

Bea Fitzgerald has already shown she can write larger than life characters with her debut Girl Goddess Queen and this ability is further showcased here. The characters are far from likeable but they are compelling. She is particularly adept at highlighting the shocking way women are portrayed in the media and the way some men exploit this or simply fail to understand it. Using the social media posts throughout was a clever touch.

A fast-paced and engrossing read. Highly recommended.

Six ambitious people, having made a mark in their own fields - from entertainment to activism to technology - are to compete in the new reality show Iconic. The methods by which they have been chosen are not entirely clear - neither to the audience nor to the reader, but most of them have their own agenda.


In any case, it was not hard to persuade them to participate, because in our celebrity-obsessed age, money and success are no longer enough. Popularity, it seems is essential for happiness. So, to what extremes will the six wannabe icons go in order to stand out?


Although the format is well-worn, the producers of this show have also gone beyond the normal boundaries for a program of this kind with unlimited alcohol, cameras practically everywhere (and I do mean everywhere!) and a problematic group of individuals left largely alone for much of the day on an isolated island, with plenty of liquid sustenance. What could possibly go wrong...


Unsurprisingly, things do go wrong, leading to the death of one of the contestants on camera. Unfortunately, the peculiar circumstances make it unclear just who, if anyone, is responsible for the fatality.


This is an engaging story that does bring some new twists to the familiar formula. I did not particularly care for the love affair, which seemed annoying and less than credible despite the hothouse atmosphere of the island. But the characters are well drawn, and in the case of the musician, the activist and the tech entrepreneur in particular, their motives are nicely handled and duly revealed. Overall, an enjoyable read that gets 3.5 stars. It could have got 4 stars if the love affair had been less annoying and been given less space.

I have mixed feelings about this story. I was excited to read a reality TV show based book as I read one recently and it was really, really good. But this book made me think so much of Love Island, a TV show I dislike that I started to read it with some kind of misconceptions. Good for the murder and the police investigations because these parts saved the plot, even though it was part of plot. Otherwise, the contestants discussions and actions seemed a bit flat and boring. On one side I enjoyed reading it and on another side I was bored so I have mixed feelings about it.

LOVE LOVE. omg that ending???? Bea Fitzgerald I love you so MUCH i knew there was a reason i was desperate to get my hands on this book

I loved the concept of the reality show which becomes a fight for their lives / dignity. A very exciting and thrilling read overall.

I loved Bea Fitzgerald's YA so was delighted to get an ARC of her adult debut.
This was a really exciting premise- reality show set on an exotic island, and every character completely unlikeable and with their own reasons for appearing on the show, when one of them dies live on air. Whilst the characters being so awful was intentional, it did make it hard for me to care about what happened to any of them.
I enjoyed the jumping back in time to the lead up to the main event, and the police interview sections, as the story slowly pieced together.
Overall an enjoyable read, with interesting themes around the need for fame in modern society, and the ethics of it.

There have been an absolute flood of reality TV thrillers recently: LD Smithson's The Escape Room, Karen Hamilton's The Contest, Ruth Kelly's The Villa. I love this premise but having read so many, I've realised that it's actually a really hard one to write. Translating reality TV onto the page is a lot more difficult than it initially seems. For a start, you inevitably have to handle a reasonably large cast of characters and make them memorable from the off. Then you have to try and capture some of the atmosphere of watching a show like Squid Game or The Traitors and its dramatic twists, alongside thinking about the feasibility of this happening on camera and how the show is being shaped by the producers. I can't say I've yet read a thriller that's managed to pull this off (although I have very high hopes for Ruth Ware's forthcoming One Perfect Couple, as I think Ware has the writing chops to actually give it a go).

Bea Fitzgerald's Then Things Went Dark is no exception. It features six famous contestants on a desert island taking part in a show called Iconic, where they are trying to prove that they are exceptional in their different fields: there's a musician, an influencer/sculptor, an environmental activist, a tech guru, an actor and a chef. We know from the off that one of them ends up dead, and the police are trying to work out whether it was an accident or murder. Fitzgerald's writing and characterisation shows promise, but this fell flat for me. As ever with these reality TV thrillers, I struggled to believe in the appeal of the show and that people would actually tune in, although it made sense that they would want to watch the couple of better-known contestants. It also ended up being a bit more Love Island than Survivor, which is intrinsically less interesting to me, and there was little tension because we know who's going to die and we're just trying to figure out who did it (again, a game I don't really enjoy). I did like how one contestant manipulated the show for their own ends, but I think there should have been more of that. The subplot with the detectives also added little. I think I'm going to stay clear of these competition thrillers from now on unless they're by a writer, like Ware, whom I really trust.

I accepted an invitation to review this, which said I had liked Liane Moriarty’s Apples Never Fall, so I expected something on the same lines. Unfortunately, I liked nothing about this book. The concept of the reality game show was not clear, and I had no idea of the purpose of it. The six characters were supposed to be successful in their own fields, "Iconic", but were all egotistical and thoroughly nasty, and set out to do down their fellow competitors from the start. The social media posts were annoying and also nasty. If this is meant to show where reality TV is taking us, then let the world beware, but I don't think the author had such a high-minded intention, as she gives a list of content guidance at the beginning as a warning to readers. In alphabetical order we have: abuse within a relationship, death, murder and suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, violence, stalking, blood, injury and descriptions of a corpse. mental illnesses and mental ableism, accusations of child abuse and pedophilia!! There's not much left for her to base another novel on.