What do readers think of The Dating Game by Ally Zetterberg? Write your own review.

I was almost a DNF on this one but I stuck with it and I guess I'm glad I did? It was not what I expected. It was actually quite dark and Tilda was a psychopath, to be sure. I did enjoy the unexpected turns in the novel and it kept me guessing. The premise is good with the board games but she took the playing way too far. Good, not great, for me.

This novel follows Tilda Smith, a successful board game designer who approaches life according to carefully constructed rules. After receiving a letter from her late mother encouraging her to pursue friendship, love, and happiness, Tilda creates a real-life game to help her achieve those goals. Unfortunately for the men she dates, failure to meet her standards can carry far greater consequences than a simple rejection.

The setting for this novel is Monaco, which is beautiful, and full of rich, selfish men. Not the ideal dating pool for Tilda. Tilda is a bit quirky, but not unlikeable, but yet full of female rage.

She appears to be both highly intelligent and deeply unconventional, viewing social interactions through the lens of game mechanics and strict personal rules. The result is a character who is simultaneously sympathetic, unsettling, and darkly funny.

I would say this is a dark comedy, with murderous results, but we don't get much background into what makes Tilda who she is.

The author does a good job exploring themes of female rage, consent, loneliness, and the frustrations of modern dating culture, and filters them through satire and suspense, creating a narrative that promises both laughs and shocks. The setting of Monaco adds an additional layer of glamour and intrigue, contrasting sharply with the increasingly chaotic situations Tilda creates. Who could think such tragic events would happen in such a beautiful setting? This just goes to show you that all is not always as it seems.

The Dating Game is an unusual novel, written from the perspective of a female boardgame designer,Tilda, age about 30. She is from Britain, living in Monaco.

Many times, perhaps all the time, Tilda puts real life planning in terms of rules of a boardgame, which is certainly a novel approach. As a frequent boardgame player, I find the name-dropping of various real games and publishers to be a nice touch.

Whether Tilda is typical young woman trying to make her way in the world, or or a ruthless killer is left to the reader to decide.

The book itself I very much enjoyed, but perhaps there was what is probably a major editing mix-up of some sort that soured things for me.

At one point, a police officer (Francois) visits Tilda, and was about to take a look at security footage. He leaves, saying he shall see Tilda again. Then he vanishes from the story entirely. He is mentioned in passing a few times much later, including that someone may have helped her out of this potential jam, as if we had already learned this before, but it seems a major thing to gloss over.

The story jumps right from Francois departing to being on a second date with a woman (Madeleine) we've never met before, and are never introduced to during the story. Considering the degree of detail given about all other individuals we meet in the story, and the large amount of thought and planning she puts into all interpersonal encounters, something has likely been left out.

This might have been a 5-star review if not for what seem to be significant missing portions of the book.

I had high hopes for this and it started out good. What I thought was going to be a funny cozy mystery type book turned into a book about an unlikable villain of sorts. Disappointing.