WOW. Just W O W.

You are Fatally Invited had me hooked from the first chapter. Six thriller writers, known for getting away with murder, are invited to a remote island off the coast of Maine for a writer’s retreat with a reclusive author, who everyone is dying to meet – figuratively and literally.

The structure of this book was one of my favorites as it is told from multiple perspectives and contains chapters from the anonymous author, J.R. Alastor’s non-fiction book titled ‘The Ink in Your Veins: On Writing Fear’. Each except from J.R. Alastor’s book provides foreshadowing about the deadly future without giving away any clues.

As it turns out, J.R. Alastor curated the guest list specifically because they are all connected and each night the six authors must play a game created specifically to get them to confess their sins. With each game being more deadly than the last.

Pliego sets the scene perfectly, allowing suspense and tension to build with each chapter. Each character tries their best to keep their own secrets hidden until it becomes impossible to survive without confessing. If you’re clever and paying close attention, you may be able to match the sins to each author. Though, Pliego ensures there are quite a few twists until the very last page. A fun, but deadly, read that I would recommend to any crime or thriller enthusiast.

My Favorite Line: “I’d always been a voracious reader, only I didn’t want to just read someone else’s words, but interact with them. Writing was the missing piece, the other side of the conversation. Creating written words ex nihilo – from nothing – is the closest we get to the divine.”

Now remember, “Don’t annoy the writer, they’ll put you in a book and kill you”!