This was an easy to read thriller that kept my attention all the way through! Lots of twists and surprises I didn't see coming. Very good, would recommend...definitely worth a read

A group of teenagers arrange a search party to look for their missing friend....but, they are not just friends, also, suspects.
I really liked the premise for this book but unfortunately not the execution. I found it plodding and just ok.

It was difficult to connect to the characters and I found the dialogue unbelievable, but, that could be a generational issue.

Overall, I struggled to finish it so a 2* ok read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview.

I have read both The Liars Room and The House so was excited to be given The Search Party to review .Somehow this book was not so enjoyable.The story is mainly told through each of the teenagers but their seems to be no interaction with a Police presence so it seemed a bit strange .I did like Fleet the Policeman given the task of finding the missing girl.The last half of the book was very good with a surprising twist . Many thanks to the Publisher the Author and NetGalley for my review copy in return for an honest review .

Wow, what a page turner!! There aren't many books that I have to keep reading and can't turn away from. Very well written and had me hooked all the way through

Wow. I actually really enjoyed this.

A missing girl; her teenage friends the obvious suspects; small town claustrophobia and prejudices; a search party that does not end in the spirit that it set out; obfuscation and misdirection (and not just on the part of the author!); clever use of the one sided interview to reveal the story from the perspective of the group - what more could a reader want!

The Search Party by Simon Lelic is like a 2000-piece puzzle with no edges.

It is told from 5 different perspectives and until you get to know the characters more intimately, it is confusing. I loved the premise: 5 friends form a search party to find their missing friend – only 4 return. I imagined the twists and turns coming from 5 unreliable narratives, but it did not turn out that way.

I found all the characters to be irritating brats and it’s difficult to connect with a novel when you have no emotional attachment to any of its characters.

The progression of the search and their reactions to events that happened also did not make sense and I just cannot imagine people acting the way they did even under those circumstances. The dialogue of the police interviews was also unrealistic.

Overall, not a satisfying read for me.

#netgalley #thesearchparty #simonlelic #penguinbooks

So the premise of this book is a group of teenagers set themselves up as a search party for their missing friend. The book is written as a one sided script as the teenagers are being interviewed by the police. Interjected with the police side of the investigation, Lots of secrets, lots of I intrigue and a few scooby doors moments.

Overall a good read, and I think it would work well as an audio book.

#TheSearchParty #NetGalley This was a very difficult book to get into and it did not have me eager to pick it up at all. It is told from different perspectives mainly from the teens involved in the search party and in a one sided interview style that I found thoroughly confusing at o which teen it was. The pace was slow and dragged and I found myself skimming great parts of the dialogue eager for action which did not happen. The story line was an interesting one and I was really looking forward to reading bud sadly this did not work at all well for me.

A dark physiological thriller with complex characters, any of whom may be responsible for the disappearance of Sadie. Her friends, an assorted group of teenagers, frustrated with the lack of progress being made by the police, set out as a search party to try and find her. Their journey takes them into dark woods, with food and drink scarce and tiredness taking its toll, fear is heightened as they are spooked by noises and strange events. An underlying element of mistrust surfaces between the group as they each wonder if one of the others is to blame. Meanwhile DI Rob Fleet is under pressure to resolve the case once the group are back and giving their version of events. Atmospheric and creepy, this book delivers in spades and will have the reader turning the pages long into the night to discover the shocking truth that gradually unfolds.

16 year old Sadie Saunders has gone missing without a trace. While the police are searching the river and edge of the woods, her friends become convinced they’re looking in the wrong spot. They form their own search party, and head off deeper into the woods. After a couple of nights, the police receive a desperate call from the group of friends. When they reach them, there is a dead body... but it isn’t Sadie. ⁣
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With rumours circulating wildly about Sadie in the lead up to her disappearance, the web of secrets and lies amongst the teenagers, and tensions simmering just below the surface... who can be trusted? ⁣
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This book is told from multiple points of view, which in the beginning was a little confusing - but once I had worked out who was who and got used to the format, the pace picked up. This had me guessing right until the end, there were just so many lies that you could never believe what you were reading. I formed a couple of theories towards the end, and only one turned out to be half right. The writing was very atmospheric, I felt just as creeped out as the teens when odd things started happening in the woods. If you like twisty crime dramas, give this a go!⁣
Pub date is August 2020, thanks @netgalley and @vikingbooks for the ARC 😍⁣

This book is written in a different way to most and I found that added to my enjoyment of it.
You get the police and personal perspective of DI Fleet interspersed with the narrative from the teenagers in the search party. Gradually the relationships and the events are disclosed along with the baggage from Fleet's past.
i loved the way the truth was revealed over time, like an archaeologist uncovering a mosaic or a jigsaw puzzle where you can begin to see the whole picture. Although the ending is not quite the picture you were anticipating.
I would like to read more from this author.

Having thoroughly enjoyed Lelic’s The House, I was overjoyed when I was given the opportunity to read his new novel, The Search party, and I wasn’t disappointed! The novel is plotted with skill, the writing is rich yet clear and the twists are ‘twisty’ yet also believable. I think that’s where Lelic shines: he has a great ability to write realistic stories, which feel as though they could happen in the house or town next door.

At first, it took me a little while to get used to the teenagers’ POVs, as these chapters read more like a stream of consciousness than a ‘normal’ narrative, and I was worried they would go on for too long and I would get bored of the format, but I’m pleased to report that after the first few pages I really got into it. I have rated it a 4 star instead of 5 purely because sometimes I felt that the teenagers’ narratives were a little too ‘self-aware’ and occasionally slipped out of story-telling mode and into 'authorial' mode.

That being said, I really enjoy mysteries with many possible suspects, and this is a great example of such a narrative. Would recommend!

‘The truth lay buried in their stories somewhere, Fleet remained convinced.’

Teenager Sadie Saunders has been missing for six days. The entire town thinks she is dead: murdered. And they think they knew who did it. But her friends are not sure. They are aware that they are suspects. Abi, Mason, Cora, Fash and Luke (Sadie’s twin brother) form a search party to look for her, but only four of them return.

The group has headed off for the woods where Sadie was last seen. Each of them has a secret, all of them knows more than they will admit.

In a series of one-sided interviews with the teenagers we learn of the events leading to the death on the search party. We view the police investigation through the eyes of DI Robin Fleet, who has his own links through a personal tragedy to the town where Sadie disappeared.

It took me a while to adjust to the one-sided conversations as a means of obtaining information, but it works well. Each of the teenagers has a perspective, each conversation adds to our knowledge of events. Each conversation adds to the tension. The more information we have, the more possibilities appear.

What happened to Sadie? And which teenager died?

This is a novel which rewards concentration. Yes, there are twists and turns, but there are some subtle clues along the way.

While I enjoyed this novel, it was the characters of DI Robin Fleet and his offsider DS Nicola Collins who really held my attention.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books (UK) for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

The Search Party is a great read for those who enjoy police based thrillers. It is exciting and twisty, dark and scary, thrilling and tense. It also has characters who aren’t likeable but I didn’t feel this detracted from my enjoyment. It is written from several different characters perspectives.

It deals with teenagers, crime, and their life in a fairly run down seaside town. There is also a side sorry with the lead policeman which isn’t fully explored. Hence I feel there may be a bit of a police crime series to follow on.

A gritty read, and recommended. The last section in particular was very enthralling!
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for this honest review.

In this Detective thriller Lelic alternates between telling the story from the third person account of Detective Inspector Fleet and the first person accounts of the group of main characters involved in the crime. This does offer an alternative style to the more usual approach, that I am sure many readers will appreciate, but I have to admit it took me a while to adjust.
Despite the chapter headings I tended to forget which child was speaking and, annoyingly, had to keep looking back. I also found the first person word-for-word accounts a little lengthy and was tempted to skip-read them, hence losing the fluidity of the story.
However, despite my failure to quite get to grips with Lelic’s approach, the seed of mystery was strong enough to keep me wondering as to what exactly did happen.
Although I feel this hovers between a 3 and 4 star rating for me, I think there will be many readers who will enjoy this.

Thank you to Viking (Penguin Random House Books) and NetGalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

A panicked phone call to the police, a group of teenage friends found in the woods and one dead body that is not missing, presumed dead, Sadie Sanders. Under mounting pressure to make an arrest Sadie's volatile boyfriend Mason is looking like the best candidate, and the rest of her circle of friends are suspected of knowing more than they are letting on.

Told from the perspective of each of the friends, and the detective leading the investigation, what follows is a story of secrets and teenage dynamics in a somewhat claustrophobic small town. The group of friends decide to go on a search party themselves in the nearby woods, which are no longer the friendly place of teenage trysts, childhood adventures and peaceful contemplation, but with the onset of torrential rain take on an ominous and threatening presence, heightened by the arguments between the group and the revelation of past indiscretions. It seems that they each have reason to be a suspect in Sadie's disappearance, and someone is determined to discover the truth. Whether that is one of the group, or someone following them is unclear, and the tension rises as the teenagers become more exhausted and more paranoid as they realise they are lost and without adequate supplies. Abandoning their search, they struggle to escape the woods, and tragedy strikes. The aftermath is confusing but apparently provides sufficient clues to allow the detective to piece together not only what happened on the night, but what has happened to Sadie.

It's a good read, but I didn't feel that the threads really pulled together neatly enough to feel that the conclusion was satisfying, nor did I really get behind any of the characters, their motives or their desires.

My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

I'd heard great things about this author before starting this one but sadly this book just didn't live up to what I expected I would be getting with The Search Party.
For some reason this felt more like a teen or YA novel instead of what it is being marketed as.
It was quite difficult discerning who was who when the narratives are initially switched from one teen to another, which made it harder to get into than I anticipated.
I also wasn't a huge fan of the interview sections as these didn't add anything to the story. If anything, they detracted from the story
The pacing was slower than I would have liked and for that reason it feels like a bit of a slog to pick up again to read..
I would, however, be interested in reading more from this author. As, as I said earlier, many have really rated his other books.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, a really good crime, suspense thriller, with lots of secrets and a well written twisty plot. You don't see the ending coming, which is really good and takes you by surprise. Well worth a read.

A good storyline but I felt that the book dragged in places which made it hard for me to stay interested.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Review
Sadie, Luke’s twin sister goes missing. Five teenagers form a Search Party to find her but only four return. When I read that the book was written by a ‘Stephen King-like’ author, I was very excited to start reading it.

The book is written from a multiple narrative and at a police interview which I thought I’d find an interesting concept. However, I struggled with this and although it’s not a young adult book, I felt it would be better aimed at that market. In particular the teen speak, the one-sided aspect and I felt the wording itself was really clumsy.

Further, I found it very confusing when it suddenly came to DI Fleet’s (the Detective leading the case) change in storyline as the paragraph would literally flow straight through to him and I found myself confused so much if the time.

I re-read 25% of this book twice to try to like it and understand it. But sadly I could not finish it as I found it was not for me.

Based on what I have read so far, I rate it 2 stars 🌟🌟

Thanks
Thank you to publishers Penguin Books UK for an ARC in exchange for an independent review.