"The Mystery Writer" by Sulari Gentill: ARC Review

There's nothing easier to dismiss than a conspiracy theory- until it turns out to be true.

When Theodosia Benton abandons her career path as an attorney and shows up on her brother's doorstep with two suitcases and an unfinished novel, she expects to face a few challenges. Will her brother support her ambition or send her back to finish her degree? What will her parents say when they learn of her decision? Does she even have what it takes to be a successful writer?

What Theo never expects is to be drawn into a hidden literary world in which identity is something that can be lost and remade for the sake of an audience. To protect the carefully constructed narrative, Theo Benton, and everyone looking for her, will have to die. 

Intro

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Pages of Perfiction. I'm Paige, and today I'm reviewing "The Mystery Writer" by Sulari Gentill, with no spoilers, as always. Those of you who have been here before know that my review style is heavily dependent on the book. For example, my recent review of "Nightshade Academy" by Mel Torrefranca is very different from my review of The Poppet Cycle by Donna J. W. Munro, which is one of my earliest posts. Today, I'm going to be experimenting with yet another review style- the CAWPILE system, invented by the booktuber "Book Roast." CAWPILE is an acronym for the criteria she rates books on: Characters, Atmosphere, Writing, Plot, Intrigue, Logic, and Enjoyment. Each category is rated 1–5, and the average out of all 7 categories is the overall rating. I'm so excited to use this system and review this book, so let's get started!

Note from future me: Once I averaged up all the ratings, I got four stars! Read on to find out why.

Review

Characters 

I love the characters so much, although the cast was pretty small. The main characters consisted of Theo, the protagonist, Gus, her brother, and Mac, a cute private-eye. The sibling relationship between Theo and Gus was so realistic and the protective-older-brother dynamic really enhanced the novel. We also met Don Murdoch, a fellow writer who Theo eventually came to know quite personally. The following passage was pulled from Chapter Two.

“One man occupied the table by the window most days, when she came in to write. She hadn’t known he was Dan Murdoch, of course, not at first. He was just another café refugee seeking solace in caffeine and anonymity. In the beginning, they paid little attention to each other. After a week or two, he’d raise his eyes and nod or smile in some acknowledgment of recurrent encounter... Still, he might have been a serial killer, for all she knew. She’d returned his smile briefly and retreated to her own corner to write. At some point, a quiet familiarity set in. The nods became “Good Morning.”

Therefore, I'm going to be giving the characters a 5 star rating.

Atmosphere

I was immersed in this novel. This was the kind of book that most readers would want to stay up during the night to read. It was marketed as a mystery, but it had more of a thriller vibe due to the plot twists, writing style (more on that later), and energy. If I had to capture the ambience of this book in a few words, I would describe it as the result of heavy dark academia mixed in with some cozy lofi mystery.

I was able to picture the setting, and characters well, and the energy in the scenes was usually palpable. Therefore, I would rate the atmosphere 4 out of 5 stars.

Writing

So here's the thing: the author's views on political matters, particularly Americans and their access to weapons, was so evident in the novel. Even though I agreed with some of it, this put me off. The one-dimensional political analysis made the Theo look so innocent. Like, she's was just a lost, little Australian, shocked by the guns in America! This was sad is because I thought the book was going to be a lot deeper when I started reading. 

Despite this, everything else was great. The dialogue to narration ratio was very good, and the story flowed very easily and felt beautiful but effortless at the same time. The writing deserves at least a 4 out of 5 stars.

Plot

The pacing was not well executed. There were parts of the story that I thought were dragged on and things got a bit tedious, especially in the beginning. However, the last 1/3 was very fast-paced heavy with the plot twists. In fact, the difference was so stark that if you took the first segment and the last segment, it would seem like a completely different novel, which was odd.

The ending was certainly unique from the other books I've read, and it did surprise me, but that's primarily because it was so random and out of the blue. It's not a bad book, but I would rate the plot 3 stars. 

Intrigue

For me, at least, this thriller wasn't the kind of book that had me wishing I was reading it 24/7. Instead, it took me some light mental convincing to pick it back up. That being said, I was definitely intrigued to see where the story goes, what happens to the characters, and how things evolved.

This story held my attention throughout. Therefore, I'm rating the intrigue as 4 out of 5 stars.

Logic

The characters acted in accordance to their motives, and I never found any plot holes. Because this book was set in the real world, there was no excess worldbuilding. Everything fit the story, setting, motives, and backgrounds perfectly, so I'm rating the logic 5/5 stars.

Enjoyment 

I've portrayed this book in a negative light during some aspects of this review, but I actually did enjoy this read. It was captivating, with relatable characters and fun plotlines. This book definitely a 5/5 for enjoyment.

Conclusion

The average of all my ratings was 4.29 stars, which will be rounded down to four stars. I really enjoyed both reading this book and writing this review, so thank you for sticking until the end! I really appreciate it. 

I hope that, somewhere between my critiques and praises, you found out whether this book was for you. Netgalley gave me a free review copy (but as always, my opinions are my own) and I owe you all a lot for reading my posts :)

Paige, signing off