I received a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. It was a good book. A decent mystery and characters. It was just 'meh' for me though. Not especially good or bad. ( )

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself.

Here's a fact about me. If you tell me a book is based on And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, I will want to read it. Even if it's centered around punk rock (a music genre I have little interest in or knowledge about), as Endgame is, I will be desperately hoping I will get picked to get an ARC.

Here's an opinion about Endgame. It is a good, clever book. It's even better than I had hoped it would be.

I think where Round sets himself up for success is how he faithfully paints his homage to the original brilliant "the killer is one of us" novel, while subtly updating it to fit his needs and modern times. The island is rumored to be owned by a pop star rather than a movie star, there is a DVD instead of a record, and a punk rock song in place of a poem.

While in my eyes no book, no matter how inspired, can ever be as good as And Then There Were None, Round does an excellent job here. I read this book in a day because I could not put it down. I had to know who the murderer was, and while my suspicions were correct (due perhaps to my innumerable re readings of the original source material), this did not lessen my enjoyment one bit---especially as I did not decide on who I truly suspected until the last few chapters, due to Round's expert placement of red herrings.

One does not need to be familiar with, or interested in, punk rock to enjoy this book. Round, through his characters, gives readers the information they need, whether through fictional magazine articles or reminiscences about Sid Vicious.

I highly recommend this book. It is one of the best homages to And Then There Were None I have read. ( )

The aging members of a punk band come with various hangers-on to an isolated island estate off the coast of Seattle. There they hope to mend the rift that tore the group apart and relaunch their careers. Soon they are stuck on the island during a tremendous storm, and people there for the reunion start dying. Is the killer one of them, or someone hiding on the island?

The writing is really quite good, but that comes with a down side: this nasty group is so well portrayed I couldn't believe I didn't give up on them within a few pages. I didn't because I like this publisher and try to read one or two books a month they put on Netgalley, but I'm rather sorry I didn't just admit defeat. The characters, their history, and this story are sordid; there isn't one person on the island who isn't guilty of multiple crimes and wholly dislikable, except possibly the killer, who, of course, is a mass murderer by the conclusion. This may appeal to some readers, as might the punk rock atmosphere. For me, not so much. ( )