Loved this!
This is a gripping thriller that keeps readers on the edge of their seats from start to finish - so gripping!
The writing is both engaging and suspenseful, with well-developed characters that add depth to the narrative.
The pacing of the novel is perfect, with just the right amount of tension to keep readers hooked without feeling overwhelmed.
The setting is vividly described, creating an immersive atmosphere that enhances the overall reading experience.
Brilliant read!

3.7 Stars
One Liner: Needs suspended belief but fun

The mysterious and legendary author, J. R. Alastor, invites selected authors to a writing workshop at his retreat on a private island. He hired Mila del Angel as the coordinator and his face during the week. Mila has her own plans to make the event more ‘fun’ with extra twists to Alastor’s puzzles and mysteries. However, things start to go out of hand as the guests die one by one. Mila wonders if Alastor had another plan he hid from her and what it would mean for her future. Will anyone get out alive from the retreat at the end of the week?
The story comes in the first-person POVs of Rodrigo, Mila, Cassandra, Olivia, Violet, Fletcher, and a few others.

My Thoughts:
So, this is like a locked-room mystery on an island. Yeah, a lot of Christie’s vibes but I won’t compare it with And Then There Were None (I do love that book).
The execution is ambitious for a debut work but manages to pull it off to an extent. Of course, the book is best enjoyed with suspended belief. Don’t ask too many questions or think too much about the hows and whys.
The setting is atmospheric. The mansion and the island have dark vibes and enhance the narration. I couldn’t zoom in on the blueprint at the beginning but I understood the layout and could picturize the rooms.
Though we get the story from many first-person POVs, not all of them have the same number of chapters. Many come from Mila’s POV while the rest are scattered across the other writers. While this is helpful, the voices blend at times.
Not all characters are well developed but that’s okay. I got a rough idea of who they are. That’s enough for the plot. Given that the pacing is already slow, detailed backstories wouldn’t have helped.
Since many details at withheld until later, we have to make a few guesses and connections. Half of my guesses ended up correct. The author surprised me with a few twists. These make sense, so no complaints.
The reveal is a bit weak compared to the hype until then. It could have been a bit more dramatic. The conclusion is good though. It may not appeal to some readers (especially if they want hardcore thriller stuff). I like it.

To summarize, You Are Fatally Invited is an enjoyable debut. Though it has a few issues and is slow-paced, I cannot deny that I was entertained by the book.
Thank you, NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers (Bantam), for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

I really enjoyed this debut novel. A brilliant locked room murder mystery with plenty of twists and turns to keep you turning the pages. I couldn’t put it down. It’s cleverly written, fun and suspenseful to the very end. It kept me captivated and intrigued.
It’s full of tension with entertaining and suspicious characters, who are mostly unlikeable but unique and full of secrets. The story is told in multiple POV’s, each chapter told by one of the many characters. This helps build up the suspense and reveals each person’s backstory along the way. I really liked Mila’s character.
I liked the descriptive setting, and the storm cutting off the island creates an isolated atmosphere. It’s darkly twisty, terrifying and creepy.
I really enjoyed the authors writing style. It’s unique and detailed. I loved the Beautiful cover. I look forward to seeing what @andepliegowrites does next.
Definitely recommend this book if you enjoy this genre. It’s well worth a read.
With thanks to #NetGallery #RandomHouseUk #TransworldPublishers for an arc of #YouAreFatallyInvited in exchange for a honest review.
Book publishes 13 February 2025.

3.5 stars
This is a bit of a re-imagining of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None - which, imo, does not need re-imagining, with a healthy dollop of Cluedo on the side.
We start with J.R. Alastor, a reclusive author, inviting a bunch of other authors to his secluded private island for a retreat. It's not long before the authors start getting bumped off. Mirroring ATTWN. The main house on said island, which is pictured at the start of the book, is akin to the house in Cluedo.
As well as the six authors, we also have a couple of domestic staff and Mila, the retreat organiser, giving 9 potential "victims". One of whom could well be Alastor himself as the main man fails to turn up in person.
Long story short and, after a fun filled night, the first body is found... Meanwhile, we also find out that Mila has her own axe to grind with one of the invited authors who, she claims, stole her book, and she is definitely out for revenge...
As with ATTWN, all the cast have theie own deep dark secrets and there comes a point when they have to match up people-professions-crimes, which I actually found to be more of a distraction than anything else.
Once I eventually got started properly with this book, for some reason it did take a few attempts, I did initially find it interesting and intriguing, mostly guessing who Mila was after. The parallels with Christie were, I'm afraid, a wee bit eye-rolly at times and, being very familiar with that text, it wasn't hard to play guessing games with what was going to happen.
I also found that the characters were a little hard to keep straight, especially with who was narrating, we had multiple povs, and I didn't really connect to any of them, let alone care what happened to them. I know they are all supposed to be certain degrees of bad, but it still should be possible to make connections.
One thing in its favour was that it did get on with itself quite well, once it actually got going that is! But, although it all wrapped up well at the end, it did leave me a bit lacking.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This is an extreme, very dark, locked room thriller.
The six authors invited to an exclusive island writing retreat are all flawed characters, and during the course of the novel as we gradually learn more about them, many red herrings and twists are introduced into the story.
I found this very uncomfortable reading, some of the descriptions were too graphic for me, but on the other hand I felt compelled to keep reading to find out who was the killer.

Ok, so I loved this, it's a certain 5 star read for me. I am a sucker for a thriller trope and love when a novel leans right into it like this does! The premise had me gripped, the characters were a great mix of mysterious and unreliable, and the setting was just *chef's kiss*. The plot is brilliant and twisty, a perfect puzzle. If you're a fan of locked room mysteries, or Agatha Christie, this one is for you!

I loved so much about this book before I even started it… the title, the cover and the premise. It lived up to my expectations and I generally enjoyed this strong debut.

I did find the many changes of POV confusing all the way through. During most chapters I had to scroll back to remind myself who was ‘talking’ which interrupted the flow of the story and I realised was probably due to none of the characters being particularly distinctive, which was a shame as descriptions of the island and the house were bought alive by the creative writing.

I look forward to reading further books by Ande Pliego.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for an eARC of this book.

Brilliant I really enjoyed this one! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchnage for an honest review. I have had it a few months and it's publication date is imminent.
Set on a small island off the coast of Maine and supposedly owned and habitated by an thriller writer.

There are many characters, The six invitees, the Host and the event planner not to mention other staff. They are all so poorly defined that at times they feel inseparable. None of them are open or honest and I certainly couldn't say that any one of them appealed to me more than the others

A mystery thriller (although the thrill was very low key) For me this book is an almost direct take off of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None but so badly done. The narrative wandered all over the place, characters were dead and then not - it really requires the writer to suspend belief.
I wanted to be done with this book from about 15% in but I do not like to give up on ARC's.

I can't pick out anything that i thought was more interesting or stood out from the banality of the rest

You Are Fatally Invited is a fantastic murder mystery that is likely to keep you up all night with its twists and turns! Mystery author J.R. Alastor, whose identity is unknown, invites six thriller writers to a murder mystery retreat, where deadly games begin to take place. Mila, J.R.’s assistant, has her own reasons for being a part of the games, but she soon realises that J.R. kept her in the dark about the true purpose of the retreat.

The build up of tension was perfectly executed and made You Are Fatally Invited extremely difficult to put down. Reveals throughout the book, particularly in respect of why each writer had been invited on the retreat, kept me on the edge of my seat. I was constantly left guessing as to who J.R. was and who would be the next victim.

Wow what an accomplished dubut novel, a locked room mystery that is full of pulse raising tension. Perfect for fans of Christe and complicated carefully plotted thrillers. I really enjoyed the way Pliego gives a nod to all the tropes of murder mystery novels in a tongue in cheek way and uses very inventive ways of despatching the novelists on the writing retreat. I was left feeling every character was not to be trusted or the narrator, a fantastic read that makes the reader jumping at their shadow imagining being stuck on such an awful island. I'm eager to see what Pliego writes next, definitely an author to watch.

You Are Fatally Invited is a fast paced 'locked room'-style read. A group of authors are invited to a retreat at a mansion off the coast of Maine, by the anonymous but incredibly successful crime writer J.R. Alastor. The event planner hired to organise the retreat, Mila, tries to keep everything under control as it becomes apparent that J.R Alastor has an ulterior motive for gathering this specific group of people together...

The plot has plenty of twists—sometimes it felt like too many crammed in—and the characters are quite entertaining, if not necessarily likeable (I do enjoy a book with flawed and unlikeable characters!).

Different chapters take us into the minds of some of the characters and an anonymous character too. I am usually a fan of multiple perspectives but I did find myself losing track at times, as the voices could feel quite similar to one another.

There are plenty of crime/ thriller tropes threaded through this novel, which fans of the genre will appreciate. The puzzles or 'games' set for the guests are clever but they felt a bit over the top by the end. It felt like the ending was a bit rushed and the book imparted a LOT of information. It just felt a bit hectic—but perhaps this was intentional to echo the panic of the characters.

I think fans of the genre will enjoy You Are Fatally Invited, and it felt like a good mix of fresh writing mixed with lots of nods to the classics, but just felt a bit too much at times. Still, I enjoyed it and would recommend for anyone looking for a fun, fast paced thriller.

Six thriller authors, one writing retreat.

When six authors are invited to a murder mystery retreat hosted by an acclaimed author they all admire they jump at the chance. When one guest is found murdered they soon regret that decision do the games they are presented have dire consequences?

This book had all the ingredients for me to instantly request it on @netgalley, locked room, great setting and a mystery to solve but unfortunately it just didn’t work for me. I found I simply read it…I wasn’t invested, I just read the words. I found it hard going and persevered just to find out “who did it”. I’m sure it will be a huge success though and find people who will love it.

⭐️⭐️

Publication Date - 13/02/2025

#YouAreFatallyInvited
#AndePliego

Such a great mystery, immediately I was hooked. It kept it fun and suspenseful right to the very end.

This is a brilliant killer game of Cluedo.

Our six players, I mean writers, receive an exclusive invitation to the Wolf Harbour estate where they will attend a writer's retreat for seven days.

“You will have a killer time, I assure you”


Everyone is wondering who the real J. R. Alastor really is. Some claim to have met him, still, they know nothing about the retreat.

They are shown around the house and to their rooms before attending their first mystery dinner the first night, and it is all fun and games until the first body is found.

All of our characters have secrets, even Mila, the event planner, who tries not to panic when she discovers that things are happening beyond her control. Who has the juiciest secrets? Who is able to get around in the dark?

I can assure you, it is not the butler this time.😉

Our writers are trying to figure out what is happening, searching for clues where they can. They are solving riddles when they must. What is going on here?

It is time to leave the island...

Whi knows better how to give a novel thrills than adding a bunch of characters who infact write said thrills. This books is very clever. It weaves twist and turns amongst a bunch of characters who are suspicious and clever in their very nature just from the job they do. You'd think they would predict some of the "plot" though haha!
I often see my favorite authors go on writers retreats together. All be it not thriller authors. And they always go to amazing places and look like they all like eqchother and bounce so well off eachother. So to see a thriller based crew do it was a great spin for me.
A good book full of clever ideas.

3 stars

I picked this one up because it gave me Glass Onion vibes but with writer's retreat and although it was a fun read with a lot of twists and turns, it didn't live up to my expectations.
I didn't really like the characters or even care about them and at times they felt like carbon copies of each so I had to restart chapters because I forgot who was talking now and let me tell you when a book becomes a chore it stops being fun.
Still, I feel like the audiobook, if done right, is going to be amazing. This is a book that I feel should be a great film, but in just book form, it lacks character.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was sadly a DNF for me. The writing was truly stunning but I just couldn’t get on with the characters or the pacing on the book. I got about 30% in and was honestly just bored and have no want to actually find out more.

OK, the cynical among you might be thinking this sounds awfully like a certain book by a certain Empress of Crime (I’ve promoted her, she’s so much better than the other three). But you’d be wrong. There are only nine people on the island for a start…
This is a debut novel for Ande Pliego and it’s full of clever ideas. I’ll be honest, I did spend a little time trying to work out of her name was actually a clue in anagram form – it’s not, by the way. Similarly, the review e-copy I had was one of those (other reviewers will know what I’m talking about) where the book titles keeps randomly appearing in the text, along with some odd numbers and dates. So I thought these might be clues as well – and again, they’re not.
One of the problems that our band of… heroes? No, that’s definitely not the right word. Let’s just call them victims. One of the problems that our band of victims has to solve is matching up the names of the people on the island to a list of past crimes. Thief, Liar, Child Killer… but just to add some tension, one of the past crimes is “Serial Killer”, so there’s that to deal with too.
The point of view keeps flipping from character to character – sometimes the chapter in question is only titled by their past crime, so that adds a little something for the reader to try and puzzle out who they’re currently reading about. But in case you’re worried that the book is a giant-sized logic problem, it’s not. It’s a gripping mystery-thriller that goes like the clappers and leaves the reader breathless.
If it’s got a fault, I thought the reveal about Alastor was obvious – I’d have been genuinely surprised if it had been anything other than what it was – but by the end of the book, and having been hoodwinked on some other stuff, I didn’t particularly mind.
All in all, this is a very entertaining read. Not convinced how well clued it is, but it’s a lot of fun and has some good surprises in it, so it’s well worth your time.

Absolutely loved this one.

What a breath of fresh air for the murder mystery/crime & thriller genre.

All the characters were well developed and executed with a wide variation in character, character flaws and general overall semantics.

I loved how fast paced and entertaining the plot was, with some twists and turns that I did not expect at all. And the overall story line was something I’ve never read before.

Overall this was sensational especially for a debut! Will look forward to Andes next book