Book Review: I Didn't Do It by Jamie Lynn Hendricks

My Rating: 3.5⭐

Murderpalooza- the annual conference for thriller writers, being held in New York, is about to become the scene of a real murder mystery. Attended by publishers, writers (established and aspiring), it draws a large crowd for panel discussions, book purchases and of course the coveted M-TOTY (Murderpalooza Thriller of the Year) award. One of the nominees and a crowd favorite is famed author Kristin Bailey. However, when Kristin is discovered stabbed to death in her hotel room, it is suspected that the culprit is someone from inside the venue – staff, guests, or attendees of the conference- who killed Kristin and why?

Four of the attendees begin receiving cryptic text messages, indicating that each of them could be connected to what happened to Kristin and they might be the next victim. Soon after, an anonymous Twitter account begins to post tweets directing attention (and suspicion) toward each of these four individuals – the immensely successful Davis Walton who is minting money from his debut novel but who has a few disturbing secrets he is desperate to hide- secrets that Kristin might have been aware of and  Vicky Overton a relatively new author whose first novel was moderately successful but is unable to find a publisher willing to take up her next novel, who represented by the same agent as Kristin. Nominated for the same reward, they were each other’s competition but her trouble with Kristin is more of a personal nature than professional; Mike Brooks, a once bestselling author whose recent books haven’t done so well but who is expecting to taste success once again with his new book written with a yet-to-be-revealed co-author and Suzanne Shih, a yet-to-be-published author who was a fan (of stalker proportions) of Kristin against who Kristin had taken legal action.

A thrilling premise, a unique setting, a cast of equally unlikable characters (though I could somewhat sympathize with one, maybe two of them) and an ending that I did not see coming - then why didn’t I enjoy this one more?

Multiple PoVs (read multiple unreliable narrators) and short chapters made for an interesting read. Besides being a suspenseful whodunit, I Didn't Do It by Jamie Lynn Hendricks gives us a glimpse into the cutthroat world of publishing – professional rivalry, success and failure, stellar debuts and fading stars – the politics and the dynamics behind it all. I don’t know whether the author was attempting a satirical take on the world of publishing in this genre but a few of the characters appeared like caricatures, with self-published romance writers being ridiculed for the sake of fun. I will admit that overall it is a fun read but I did find it to be repetitive and a tad contrived toward the end. While I did enjoy the suspense and did not predict the ending (which is always a good thing), I’m not completely sold on the final reveal. Yes, it surprised me but it wasn’t satisfying. On-screen this would have been a shocking and satisfying ending but on the written page, the final reveal fell flat for me. (The ending after the final reveal was a shocker though!)

While I didn’t dislike this novel, I wasn’t quite as taken with it as other readers. But I am an outlier and I would request you to read other reviews before you decide on reading this book.

Many thanks to Penzler Publishers and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Expected Date of Publication: May 23, 2023