Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

“How do you kill someone on live television and get away with it?”

I’ve seen another book by Bea Fitzgerald everywhere recently (and SO many people love it) so really wanted to love this; her adult crime debut. I loved the idea of it and I was left guessing right until the end, but I wasn’t hooked and it just didn’t really excite me. It took me much longer to get through because of that. The characters are so unlikeable that it really took away a lot of the enjoyment unfortunately. Have you read this? What did you think? I’m curious to see if I’m on my own with this or whether other readers felt the same!

About the book

Six people land on a desert island ready to make their reality show debut. The contestants are suitably glamorous and dramatic—and also hungry to prove themselves. The stakes are high, and with millions of viewers watching, losing is not an option. But three weeks and eighteen episodes later, five of the six contestants sit in a Portuguese police station, none of them winners.

Twelve million people were watching when Rhys Sutton died on camera, and someone must pay for the crime. The best friend, the rival, the girlfriend, the lover, and the sworn enemy are left standing. And of course, no one is talking. But how do you keep secrets when the world has been watching? Especially when, just a day before his murder, Rhys was the most hated man on television.

The beginning

Twelve million people watched Rhys Sutton die. An opening line this iconic (hehe, IYKYK) gave me high hopes for this book. I loved the premise: six well known figures from across the world are dropped into a remote island villa to battle for a huge jackpot, which – let’s be honest – none of them really need thanks to their already successful career paths. Yes, this trope has been done to death, but there was something about Araminta, Isko, Rhys, Kalpana, Jerome and Theo, a group of unlikeable, self-entitled, privileged characters, that had me craving the gossip, the arguments, the flings – all of it. Gimme! I loved getting to know them, but after a while, my god were they insufferable. I wasn’t sure whether I would like this right until the end. In fact, I knew I would hate every single one of them with a passion very soon. Was this intentional? Surely it was?! I loved the layout of the chapters; they’re split into different episodes of the show, Iconic, as well as feature responses from the public on social media. Just so unique!

“The contestants glance at each other, clearly thinking the same thing: what’s she hiding that’s worth more than exposing the competition?”

We don’t just follow the six contestants in the villa, going about their lives and completing tasks and challenges for the enjoyment of all the viewers at home – we also go forward in time to the end of the show, where characters are being questioned about the sudden and unexpected death of Rhys. This was what really intrigued me; who killed Rhys on live television? Who would have a motive? Who wouldn’t have cared if the cameras saw? I tried so hard to spot any signs of strange behaviour from these contestants in each and every episode, but to be honest, I thought any one of them could have killed him and I wouldn’t be shocked. I was really relying on something big to happen to turn all this on its head and to make me feel the intrigue and curiosity I was craving. A positive I got here was that it becomes clear these contestants know they’ve been chosen because of the types of people they are, so even though I really disliked all these characters, at least we know it was intentional – and they knew the types of people they were. All for the views, right?

The middle

Characters start to get involved with one another for all the wrong reasons. But do they care? No! Why should they when they have a show to win and viewers to get on their side? Readers aren’t really involved in anything that happens when the cameras stop rolling, which I didn’t mind too much, but when the new episodes ‘began’ it sometimes felt like I’d missed out on a lot of things and my brain had to work extra hard to catch up. Even by this point, I still hadn’t felt that much excitement about the challenges or tasks which I’d expected to feel, and I couldn’t put my finger on why that was. I did a bit of eye rolling as a relationship blossoms between Araminta and Rhys. I really wanted to root for them, but they both annoyed me to tears. Was it all for the cameras, or were there real feelings here? I wasn’t sure. I did like how much Araminta’s character was explored here, and I feel like we do get to know her a little more, which can’t be said for the other characters, unfortunately.

“The only way to get that secret out is to rip it down. If you look, everyone will know someone’s been snooping. Here’s lesson number one: when you reach this high, it’s a cutthroat world. And you need to be careful who you trust.”

Rhys was starting to show those clingy, controlling boyfriend type traits and I was just done with him. (Can someone please kill him off sooner rather than later?) Araminta questions her feelings and it felt as though something was holding her back. There was so much more to her inside right now than what she was portraying to the cameras. Could she have been the one to kill Rhys? Hopefully she wasn’t the culprit because that would probably win the award for the most predictable plot line ever. I was holding onto what happened after Rhys was found dead, the interrogation parts of the book were so much more interesting to me than the main chunk of the story. However, I just wished these bits of the book were longer because I felt I should have been more tuned into the relationship between the detectives interrogating the contestants. Instead, some of it felt a bit messy. Hopefully the ending would tie up a lot of loose ends and make everything worth it!

The end

I did enjoy the point where detectives summarise every potential motive each contestant had for wanting Rhys gone. It helped me make sense of a few things, and we finally understand some details and cicumstances in which he died. Was he pushed into the water below? Did he jump? Was it an accident? Were any of these contestants actually responsible? However, things still felt really slow, like I was constantly waiting for things to move forward, for there to be some progression with the whole case. At this point, I was tempted to move onto my next read if I’m honest, but there was still some intrigue left for me to push through until the end. There was an interesting scandal with the detectives on the case which had obviously been building throughout the whole book, something that will question just how professional these detectives are, whether they really can be trusted to look into this case together to get the desired outcome. Again, I wanted this to be explored a little more, but it wasn’t to be.

“Maybe they have been approaching this wrong. …maybe they need to be treated like contestants in a competition. Maybe that’s where their minds are. They are reality stars first, murder suspects second.”

A teeny spoiler ahead, so please skip this paragraph if you don’t want to know! This part of the book was decent as an unexpected new face appears in the villa. This really shakes things up and I actually became way more interested here. THIS felt like the drama I’d been waiting for, what I’d wanted from the start. But bringing this character in so late didn’t give this part of the plot much time to develop and I was still left wanting. But I’m still glad it was included! HOWEVER, this character was gone as quickly as they arrived, so what was the point?! The finale, where we finally learn what happens to Rhys, went by in the blink of an eye and ended rather abruptly. Did I really read this entire book for the BIGGEST reveal to feel brushed over? A lil bit anticlimactic. There were some decent parts, but overall, the book didn’t do much for me and I finished feeling a little disappointed. Onto the next!

Overall thoughts

Then Things Went Dark had some decent parts, so let’s start with those. It was an interesting read in some ways; the style of the book and how it was written in episodes of a reality show was great, the premise instantly piquing my interest. Despite the reality show/deserted island trope being a popular one, it was written in a way that felt fresh and original. However, parts of the plot felt slow and messy, and the characters were just awful. I didn’t care for them at all. Even for unlikeable characters, I have to ‘like’ them somewhat to feel invested, but not this group. I just hated them. The whole interrogation part of the book could have been removed completely, even though I wish it’d been expanded upon. The ending felt a bit rushed and was a bit of a let down in my opinion. BUT – if you’re a fan of reality TV and can cope with a bunch of unlikeable characters (especially a manipulative arsehole that you’ll probably want to stab) then you should give this a try. I have seen some good reviews, so maybe it’s just a me thing!

Huge thanks to the author and the brilliant team at Michael Joseph Books for my proof copy! Then Things Went Dark is available right now on Amazon or wherever you buy your books. Make sure you’re following the author over on X/Twitter and Instagram for more updates!

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