The Dinner Party: A Pick Your Poison Adventure

by Freida McFadden

Sei al verde. Non hai modo di pagare l’affitto e stai per essere sfrattata. Per fortuna, una tua amica ti ha offerto un lavoro come cameriera a una cena… in una villa isolata, lassù su Peyton’s Peak. Il compenso sarebbe sufficiente a coprire due mesi di affitto e a rimetterti in piedi. È un’occasione d’oro, che risolverebbe i tuoi problemi. Ma tutta la faccenda suona davvero sospetta. I soldi sono tanti, ma ci dev’essere per forza qualche terribile fregatura. Probabilmente dovresti rifiutare… A quanto pare, la scelta spetta a te. Sei tu a decidere se andare alla cena o restare a casa a leggere un libro. Sei tu a decidere se dare un passaggio all’autostoppista malconcio sul ciglio della strada. Sei tu a scegliere se andare a sinistra o a destra al bivio. Per una volta, la decisione è completamente nelle tue mani. Allora… cosa farai?

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Fiction, Audiobook, Horror, Short Stories

169 pages, ebook

First published April 1, 2026

About the author

#1 New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Publisher's Weekly, and Amazon Charts bestselling author Freida McFadden is a practicing physician specializing in brain injury who has penned multiple Kindle bestselling psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. She lives with her family and possessed cat in a centuries-old three-story home overlooking the ocean, with staircases that creak and moan with each step, and nobody could hear you if you scream. Unless you scream really loudly, maybe.

Note that I am maxed out on friends, so I apologize in advance that I can't friend anyone back!

Reviews

[kristyn ˏˋ°•*⁀➷]

i'm so glad there are no repercussions for stopping to feed the cat kung pow chicken

[Rebecca]

...April fools???

This was absolutely ridiculous but it did make me laugh.

Also? ⛄️ >>> 🐺

[Salma (inactive)]

I wish my reading pace was as fast as her publishing pace. I would be able to finish my entire TBR in months.

[levi (starboy) (s.ia)]

What is happening 😭

[Bailey]

I don’t care what y’all say, this was the most fun part of my day. It was hilarious trying over and over again to get to the end and respawning 🤣💚

[꧁ ༺Minne༻ ꧂ (Back :))]

UNPOPULAR OPINION. But please don't trust me on this one 🤭

I really need to start looking into investment plans because I clearly can’t be trusted with my money anymore.

I knew this would implode in my face, and I was actually looking forward to it. A 2.92 rating? That’s basically a unicorn. Of course I was going to go pet it 😭

In the spirit of this book, this review comes with choices. You get to pick your ending:

You can tap out now if you’d like to preserve your peace and forget this ever crossed your path. See you on the next one 😘

Or…

You can indulge the masochist in you and keep reading 😈 ☑️ This option is highly recommended by both the creator and the enabler (me).

Your move.


𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠... ⋘ 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡...⋙


▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ 100% ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇ!


If you made it this far, congratulations. Masochism won. But don’t worry



Welcome to the adventure. A little foreword from your host and game sponsor:

“If you’re the type of person who gets frustrated by characters in books making stupid decisions, this book is for you! YOU get to decide on your next move. The choice is entirely in your hands! And if you die or end up on a super boring adventure, you can start all over again on page 1. There are over 20 different endings in this book.”



Disclaimer: this isn’t just a book. It’s a study of human behavior. A deep dive into the reader’s psyche. Think personality test… but unhinged and scientifically questionable. You might learn something about yourself. I learned that yetis aren’t so bad and sometimes it’s okay to be a coward.

Unfortunately, the story’s ending is limited to the player. I mean… reader. So you’re stuck with mine. I can’t guarantee a good experience, but I can guarantee you won’t be bored.

ִֶָ𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ🐇་༘࿐𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ🐇་༘࿐𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ🐇་༘࿐𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ🐇་༘࿐𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ🐇་༘࿐

My version of Sloan’s story starts with her refusing to be bullied by a roommate who could easily pass as the fifth member of The Plastics. It ends with her homeless and hiding behind a trash can from a deranged cat. So no, standing up to Blair was not the move.

But that’s the thing. I get a do-over. So I try again. And again. And again.

After dying at the hands of a hitchhiker, talking about goat-sucking (don’t ask) with the abominable snowman, mating with said snowman, confronting cannibals, getting sentenced to 16 years in prison, getting married to a smexy billionaire werewolf who’s bitcoin savvy, getting eaten (not like that, get your mind out of the gutter) by said billionaire, and so many possible outcomes later, a few things became very clear:

1. I have a concerning lack of self-preservation
2. There’s a reason the title says "pick your poison" 🧪

Because no matter what you choose, you’re screwed. And to think all you wanted to do was pay rent.

Now you’ve reached the end of my experience. I didn’t get to pay my rent. But maybe you will.

It’s a good thing we don’t get this many do-overs in real life. If you decide to try this, go in open-minded. And whatever you do, watch out for the hitchhiker and DO NOT turn left.

Then again I tried going right, and that wasn’t any better.

This is silliest thing I’ve ever read in my life. So unserious, and unhinged, and somehow still original and refreshing. I need a moment with McFadden because I have questions about her creative process.

[manas]

manas never learns. 😀

[chantalsbookstuff]

This book has a really clever idea. You start at chapter one, and at the end of each chapter you get to choose between two options. You click the link, follow your choice, and the story continues that way, unless your character dies.

I did follow the prompts a couple of times, but I quickly realised I didn’t have the patience to try all 20 + endings. So I ended up reading the whole damn thing from start to finish instead. Surprisingly, it flowed pretty well once I already knew the characters, and that worked better for me. I’d still suggest others try reading it the way it was intended, but this approach just suited me more.

As for the story itself, it was only okay. It wasn’t as gripping or exciting as I hoped. It felt like the effort of figuring out how to read the book kind of overshadowed what the story should have been. That’s just my view, though.

Overall, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to. It wasn’t heart pounding or intense, just a mild, average read. Still, kudos to Freida for trying something different. I was really excited going in, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite play out the way I hoped.

[Madeline]

Idk how to rate this?? 🤣🤣🤣

[S.M. Rivers]

Oh my lord. Freida McFadden, I adore you, but this is NOT it. 😭 between Cannibals & Werwolves.. what the hell was this?! I look forward to reading your next regular thriller novel but I can’t deny how dire this was.

[Hannah ♡]

5 stars because I lived & got my rent paid on my first try. Thank you, Freida. 🔪⛄️🐺

& then I read each ending and realized I actually got the most boring story line on my first try… 😮

[Stephanie Thrash]

WHAT even is this book? Honestly I hated every second of this, no matter which ending I chose it was just ridiculous. What did I just read?

[aira]

if the choice is truly mine, why am I broke at the start? 🤦‍♀️🤡

[Amanda]

Three stars because I love the idea!! Story wasn’t great though!

[edie-may ౨ৎ [book slump]]

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ 𓂃⌗‎ 0.50 stars .ᐟ ‎ ⋮ ‎ ❛ Main character (who is decidedly not me, by the way, no matter how much Freida wants her to be) is destined for death or bestiality, and you have no choice in the matter. ❜


‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ — review journal ⸝⸝ 028 ⟡
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ⤿ started apr 05 ‎ ⋮ ‎ finished apr 05



‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ⌗ ⋮ ‎꒰ ⁉️ ꒱ i. thoughts ⟢ ⸝⸝

‎ ‎ ‎ i haven’t read many freida mcfadden books, but of the ones i have read, i considered her to be a talented author. this? an absolute dumpster fire.

‎ ‎ ‎ to the people who enjoyed this, i am so sorry. i’m glad you could find entertainment in this book, but i absolutely could not. this review will contain spoilers.

‎ ‎ ‎ the concept of this book looked like so much fun. getting to choose the route the fmc takes is immediately intriguing… but then i find that it’s in second person, and written like a wattpad fanfiction i found in the trenches of 2022. i don’t know what i was expecting, but i know it wasn’t monster porn. i found so many endings, but of the two where i actually survived, i was basically forced to mate with a supernatural creature…? why did the abominable snowman make an appearance? why was my character forced to marry a werewolf or meet a gruesome death?

‎ ‎ ‎ the only good thing about this was my friend, the olympic-sized swimming pool: puddle. i miss you, puddle. i’d rather have married you.



જ⁀➴ ₊˚⊹

[Nina (ninjasbooks)]

Found myself laughing every now and again, which I loved. But other than that it was all a bit strange.

[Celeste | bookrecs_by_celeste]

What on earth did I just read lol

[Lune]

c'est le mois d'août, la médiathèque est désertée, évidemment qu'avec ma collègue on a fait une lecture théâtrale de ce "livre dont vous êtes le héros" où on peut, entre autre, baiser avec un yéti, baiser avec un loup garou, mourir systématiquement étranglée par un auto-stoppeur, et avoir une colloc nympho folle. les coquilles et autres erreurs de traduction (sans doute réalisée par une IA) ajoutent vraiment au charme de l'expérience. on a failli se pisser dessus.

[Casey Reads 🌸]

This book was absolutely outrageous, but in a fun way. You get to choose what to do next as you go. It does feel silly and fun more than a book that I would actually take serious.

The choice I made was to try to stay alive and choose the path that felt safest, but would still continue the story. I made it to the end with a happy ending, so I succeeded. The path I took was really outrageous in the end and took on some unrealistic elements that I did not see coming and I laughed out loud.

I might go back and read through some of the options. I think this will not get good reviews, because people will take it too seriously. I personally found it fun and entertaining. I would do another book like this, for sure.

[Sarah (heartfeltthrills)]

Freida really said "Game night, but make it traumatic." No appetizers, just straight up chaos for the main course.

[James]

Fun trip down memory lane with the book style you enjoyed as a kid. Gives you some frights, laughs, and eye rolls. LOL

[iain jones uk 🇬🇧]

Think decide your destiny (if you can remember them) then this is for you

[Kristina Pauls (ARC Reviewer)]

I had a really fun time with The Dinner Party by Freida McFadden, especially because of the “pick your poison” format. It’s basically a choose-your-own-adventure style story where your decisions change the outcome; and there are over 28 possible endings.

My first time through…I got murdered and didn’t survive 😂.

If you’ve never read this kind of book before, just know it’s not meant to be super deep. The fun is in the interaction and being able to go back, make different choices, and see how the story changes. It’s a really quick read too; you could easily finish at least one path in a single sitting.

That said, I was a little underwhelmed by the base storyline. The main character is around 20, and unless there’s more context in other endings, it felt like this leaned more “new adult” than adult to me.

Personally, I had a harder time connecting since I’m in a completely different stage of life. The character is dealing with things like being jobless, struggling to pay rent, and not really thriving on her own yet, which just didn’t feel relatable for me.

Still, I did enjoy it overall. It’s a fun, light murder mystery and works really well as a palate cleanser between heavier reads.

I’d recommend it if you’re looking for something quick, interactive, and a little different from the usual thriller.

[Yelena]

So this was..an interesting experience 🙄
I think this type of "pick your adventure" stories are very smart and takes specific type of authors to perfect it. I think Frieda did..good? (despite my low rating) it was well written in the sense of nothing overlapped or didn't make sense and all choices gave you an interesting adventure and sometimes hilarious ones-like getting eaten by my werewolf husband lol-but also poorly written I tried to reach all 22 endings but got bored after 12 I think I had enough at some point it just gets repetitive and all choices lead to THE END it's like she tried to write so many endings to the way that she ended some of them so randomly and the main plot?? WILD at some point I was like wtf I'm I reading..anyway never again I thought it was an interesting idea but maybe for games not books 🙏🏻

[afra]

Silly but highly entertaining. The author branched out into a brand-new book this time with a Choose Your Own Adventure book, and frankly I can’t even remember how many times my friends and I played it. It's not as fun by yourself, but it makes for an awesome game night with a group. It’s not a 4 or 5-star read compared to her other work, but it’s worth checking out.

[Celestina1210]

Ce livre a une excellente idée puisque c’est un livre dont vous êtes le héros c’est à dire que vous allez choisir la fin à chaque fin de chapitre. Cependant j’ai trouvé l’intrigue très faible. Un mystère plus complexe aurait permis une immersion plus intéressante dans le livre.

[Dionndra]

We got this surprise release from Freida McFadden. The Dinner Party is a short novella, just over 100 pages, built around a choose your own outcome concept with about twenty different possible endings.

It is a very quick read and I went back to follow multiple paths to see how the story would change. Some of the outcomes felt absurd, like you could die in ridiculous ways or even mate with an abominable snowman. And to think, all of this happens just because you can’t pay the rent. 😅That is not really thrilling, it is just silly. I know it wasn’t meant to be very thorough since it is such a quick read.

I even started wondering if this was an April Fool’s joke, but after rereading the synopsis and doing some searching, it seems that was not her intention. Most of it just felt playful, even though it does not say anywhere that it is meant as a joke.

I get that it is meant to be experimental and interactive and it technically qualifies as a thriller because you never know what will happen next. For me, it just felt silly.

Overall, this one is a no from me.

Rating: 1.0

[KearaReads]

No bc what the actual fuck is this ????

[Nikos Drosinos]

4⭐️ – This book gets way more hate than it deserves 😌📚. Yes, it’s ridiculous, absurd, and a bit shallow, but that’s exactly the point 🎭. It doesn’t take itself seriously, and honestly, neither should you. It is a lighthearted, humorous book that felt like doomscrolling 📱

It was my first time reading a choose-your-own-path format, and it was so much fun trying to explore all the different endings 🔀✨. It honestly felt playful and addictive at the start, like I couldn’t put it down just to see what would happen next 😳📖.

But if I’m being completely honest, after a while I did start to feel a bit tired of it and kind of wished there were fewer branching paths or a bit more depth to some of the outcomes 😅🔁.

Still, overall it was a really entertaining, unique read and I’m glad I picked it up 💖📚✨

[STEPH]

This is too funny—I can’t even take it seriously. LOL.

Imagine being so broke that you accept a mysterious waitressing job at a faraway estate, decide whether to pick up or abandon a hitchhiker with shady motives, get rescued by a chiseled, ripped Yeti, and then fight rich, powerful cannibals—all in one night? Just because you can’t afford rent?

I’m not sure if this is Freida’s idea of a horrible joke, but it comes off as childish. I like the interactive theme, but I hated having to go back and choose another outcome—none of them were satisfying, by the way. LOL.

Anyway, this wasn’t totally awful. I enjoyed some parts, and I guess that’s more than I can say, considering I’ve never really enjoyed Freida’s other releases.

And yes! I fed the cat!