Review: You are Fatally Invited - Ande Pliego

Review: You Are Fatally Invited - Ande Pliego - February 2025

As someone who devours locked room mysteries like they're going out of style, I practically squealed when I spotted "You Are Fatally Invited" on the Whitcoulls website. The premise hit every single one of my reading sweet spots: a mysterious host gathering unsuspecting guests for revenge, an isolated setting with no escape, and the delicious meta-twist of thriller authors becoming victims of their own fictional murders. Sometimes the book gods smile down on us readers, and this felt like one of those moments.

Ande Pliego has crafted something wickedly clever here. Six thriller authors receive invitations to an exclusive writers' retreat hosted by the enigmatic J.R. Alastor—a reclusive author whose identity remains shrouded in mystery. What begins as a dream opportunity quickly morphs into a nightmare as our literary protagonists realize they haven't been gathered for inspiration, but for retribution. Each author has wronged Alastor in some way, and now they're trapped on an island where their own fictional death scenes become terrifyingly real.

The meta-fictional element is what truly sets this apart from your standard revenge thriller. There's something deeply unsettling about watching authors—people who make their living crafting elaborate deaths—become victims of their own imagination. Pliego plays with the boundaries between fiction and reality in ways that had me questioning every plot device I've ever enjoyed in other thrillers.

The pacing is relentless. As the body count rises and escape routes dwindle, the remaining authors must confront not only their mysterious host but their own dark secrets. The island setting creates that claustrophobic atmosphere that makes locked room mysteries so addictive—there's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and the walls (or in this case, the ocean) are closing in.

While some character development felt rushed given the ensemble cast, Ande Pliego manages to give each author distinct motivations and believable flaws. The confession element adds psychological depth beyond the surface-level revenge plot, forcing readers to grapple with questions of justice, guilt, and whether any of these characters truly deserve salvation.

If you're a fan of revenge-driven narratives like Gretchen McNeil's "Ten" or Lucy Foley's "The Midnight Feast," this book belongs on your reading list. It's a love letter to the genre that simultaneously celebrates and subverts everything we love about locked room mysteries. Ande Pliego has created a thriller that's as much about the craft of writing suspense as it is about delivering it.

Sometimes you find exactly the book you didn't know you needed.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Ukk6qx