Author: Ande Pliego
Publisher: Random House Publishing – Ballantine
Date Published: February 11, 2025
Six prominent mystery writers are invited to a private island by an anonymous author, J. R. Alastor, whose works are well known even if he isn’t. And each writer is hiding a secret. This book is a wonderful debut by author Ande Pliego. It’s a little bit Agatha Christie locked room, a little bit Clue, a little bit Puzzle Box, and a whole lot of fun.
The book starts slowly, and you might be confused by some of the names (Ashton is so close to Alastor, and Ashton is also called Ash and Carter), but hang in there – once it gets going it never lets up! There are a lot of characters, but each chapter is titled with the writer’s name who is narrating. Sections are broken down by descriptions of mystery writing tropes, giving you a little prelude to what follows. Each night there is a different game/puzzle, organized by Mila, Alastor’s assistant. She’s been given an agenda, with no idea of the outcome. As the story proceeds, we see that Mila might be an unwitting player in the game, as are each of the writers.
And as one of the character’s t-shirts reads, “Don’t annoy the writer, they’ll put you in a book and kill you.”.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine for an advance reader’s copy.
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