I've procrastinated writing this review because I really can't articulate why this book didn't work for me the way I'd hoped it would. We've got an unreliable narrator, a nonlinear narrative, fourth-wall breaks, rich people behaving badly, dark secrets, and unlikable characters---all things that have been "pros" for me in other books. I SHOULD love this. But I just didn't feel connected enough to this story for them to hit the way they should have for me here.

This is a locked-door murder mystery set on an island in Greece, featuring a reclusive former movie star, Lana, and her entourage of friends and family. There are lots of complicated dynamics between them and secrets ready to surface. Elliot is our narrator, and he's very up-front about being biased. You get his estimations and interpretations of how events that he wasn't present for happened, and all of the characters and their motivations are very clearly through the lens of his opinions. I think this is a big part of why I didn't connect to all of the characters, and that it's probably intentional, in which case, excellently done.

I enjoyed the descriptions and line-by-line writing here, and the structure of the story and how it was told was interesting. Some of the twists I saw coming but were still fun, others surprised me. Those things are what all my stars are for. But I disliked Elliot so much that it made it hard for me to relish this read. I have enjoyed other books with unlikable MCs who've done worse things, but something about Elliot just skeeved me out. Again, I think this was on purpose, and well done, but reading such an immersive POV of a "nice guys finish last" dude just felt icky, even with the satirical undertones. I think this is a book that was well-written but will really work for some people and just not for others, so don't let me deter you if it's a premise that interests you!

ALSO, if like me you have "The Silent Patient" on your TBR still, either don't read this one first or skip the epilogue, because there is a spoiler for TSP in there that caught me off guard. Thank you to Celadon Books for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review!