In the interest of full disclosure, I received an ARC of This is Where We Die by Cindy R. X. He from NetGalley. Many thanks to the publisher for granting my request.Ā
This is Where We Die is a locked room mystery of sorts featuring a group of friends on an isolated island. Can you solve this mystery?
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Summary
18 months ago, a group of eight friends went on a ski trip in Canada. Six of those friends came back. Now that theyāre graduating from high school, they decide to celebrate by renting out a private island supposedly owned by a celebrity for a weekend.
As the weekend goes on, members of the group start dying off one by one. Clearly a murderer is afoot, hoping to ensure that nobody makes it off the island alive.
Thoughts
Publish Date July 01, 2025
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Unfortunately, This is Where We Die didnāt really do it for me.Ā
One of the things that got emphasized pretty frequently during Heās novel is that two people died on the ski trip. But thatās not strictly true. In addition to the two members of the friend group who perished, their tour guide also lost his life. A total of three people died. But I guess the death of the tour guide didnāt really rank for this group.
That said, I was frankly more interested in the flashbacks during the ski trip than what was going on in the present day on the island.
No Distinctive Voices
This is Where We Die is told from the shifting perspectives of the six friends on the island. While I appreciate that this was done in order to give a fuller perspective of what was going on – and sometimes this was done well – I often found myself struggling to keep track of whose perspective we were getting. Sometimes, the voices didnāt feel distinctive enough. I had to flip back to remind myself of whose perspective we were getting. I especially had a hard time differentiating between Ant and Will.Ā
Some chapters also included little snippets of what I assume are supposed to be social media conversations. I donāt think these exchanges really added anything to the story and basically regurgitated what we already know. Itās perhaps telling that Iām not certain whether these were supposed to be social media posts or something else.
Honestly, I hated all of the characters. Normally, I would say that reading about unlikeable characters can be a fun ride. There are times when I read books where I find myself thinking āI wouldnāt want to know a person like this in real life, but it sure as hell is fun to read about a fictional character like this.ā But thatās not what happened with This is Where We Die. I didnāt really think there was anything unique or interesting about any of the characters. And as I said, I sometimes struggled to tell them apart.
The Solution May Be Obvious
Because each chapter clues the reader into whose perspective weāre getting at the beginning of the chapter, itās probably pretty easy to pick up on who dies next and who the killer ultimately is – especially if youāre a reader like me who pretty chronically flips back to the table of contents to see how many chapters are left.
Trigger Warnings
I confess that Iām usually pretty bad about mentioning trigger warnings in my reviews, but I think it might be appropriate here. There are tons of trigger warnings for This is Where We Die, including death, murder, substance use / abuse, cannibalism (off page), starvation, food trauma, miscarriage, anxiety, depression, and suicide.
In Conclusion
I promise I went into This is Where We Die wanting to like it. I thought the premise sounded interesting. Iām sorry to say that I donāt think that I can recommend this novel.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means Iāll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please readĀ full disclosureĀ for more information.
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