West Heart Kill is a mystery book, a book about mystery books, and a book about the act of reading mystery books all mixed together, in a fascinating jumble of puzzle pieces. It takes chances with where it goes with both format and style, and those risks are definitely going to lose it some readers.

Unfortunately the actual mystery is the bit that never quite comes together - the components are there and have potential, but many of the players don’t receive enough attention to stand out as distinct entities; they’re all just a jumble of ‘rich, vaguely condescending person’. Which I almost think might be the point given how they’re introduced. Does it really matter once you’ve read your hundredth version of a ‘murder in a group of rich people in the country’ plot what the personal details are? Don’t they all start blurring together?

Don’t read this if you need a straight-forward story and an ending where every loose end is tied up. There’s not much closure here. Do read it if you enjoy a strong narration that frequently diverts into analyzing itself and the history of its genre and plays around with them. Honestly, it lost me from time to time, but overall I enjoyed the originality of the style. If it had just been the mystery I probably wouldn’t have finished.