Slow and convoluted locked room type mystery.
A famous author, J.R. Alastor, who wants to remain anonymous, hires an event coordinator, Mila del Angel, to set up a special week of trope-themed activities for a special group of authors invited to Wolf Harbor Estate in Casco Bay. The mansion on the private island is well-appointed and luxurious. A chef and housekeeper are also in residence for the undertaking. Almost immediately things start to go wrong. It's soon obvious that perhaps none of them will make it back to the mainland.
I kept waiting for suspense and action that would make this move faster and be more exciting. There were a lot of characters to keep straight and they were not that well-developed. In fact, so little about them was revealed that I struggled to find any empathy or regard for any. The premise, a clue style game on a retreat with famous authors, was so intriguing but the book didn't live up to all its promise or my expectations. The writing seemed cumbersome and I found it difficult to keep track of who was who and doing what to whom and why. I didn't care much for the ending either. It was sort of a disappointment altogether.
I started listening to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC provided by the publisher. It should have been amazing with the large production cast, but some of the narrator's voices got on my last nerve and I had to skip those sections on audio until I finally had enough and just stopped listening altogether. Let's just say that this format did nothing to enhance my enjoyment of the book.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Tag - locked room style whodunit, lots of murder/deaths
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