If you read the blurb, you'd not be mistaken in thinking it's a plot that sounds similar to scores of other books from the genre in recent years. The mistake, however, would be in not choosing to read on, for Lelic offers his own unique take whilst staying true to the core of what it means to be a mystery novel, resulting in a spectacular, engaging book.

Riddled with twists and turns, it's a story that really does leave you guessing until the final chapters, with a conclusion that is breathtaking and unexpected, yet not one that is dragged out of nowhere just for the surprise element. I'll admit, I fell for many of Lelic's tricks and did not see the big twist coming. In fact, I fell for tricks multiple times - and getting a reader to do that requires some real talent.

The Search Party was a delicate blend over the true defining elements of the YA mystery sub-genre, and Lelic's own personal style, which proved the perfect unity for such a tale. My only hesitation came from the odd side-plot focusing on the detective and his personal motivations. To me, it felt like a strange match to the main story - largely irrelevant and adding little to our understanding of the main characters. In fact, more often than not, whilst it didn't undo all Lelic's good work, it acted as a dampener to the momentum, anticipation and excitement that had been built up in preceding chapters.

Still, I'd go as far as to say it remains one of the strongest I've read from the sub-genre, and I'd still happily recommend it on to friends and family.

I loved the authors previous 2 books but for me this was a struggle
I didn’t like the characters or the writing style in the book although the 2nd half was better
I thought the statements at the Police Station were unrealistic
Look forward to the authors next book

I loved reading this book. You never quite know what happened, why and whodunnit! The book takes the fairly standard approach of intermixing the current police investigation with a step by step revelation of what happened in the search. Nevertheless it is a brilliant book and is very well written.
In the review of my last read I said that the characters were 2-dimensional i.e. you knew what they did and a bit about them but not what makes them tick. The Search Party is definitely 3-dimensional and you become immersed with both the kids and the police inspector. One page that I remember is where the Police Inspector is sharing a brandy/brandies with the hotel owner and I found out more in that page than I would after competing many books.
Working out what happened is tricky although I did surprisingly manage to guess/identify the culprit/s after about 50% reading..
A Read Not To Be Missed

The storyline has been done before but this one is one of the best I have read. Sadie a teenager is missing and five of her friends form a search party. Only four return, so where is the fifth and where is Sadie? Enter DI Fleet who smells a rat. The story evolves in a series of police interviews. The writing is brilliant and executed so well. I had to keep on reading. I finally turned the last page in the wee hours. Yes it was that good!!! The reader is given tasty morsels along the way. Misdirection and a really clever whodunnit and so much more. Love this author and dare I say his best work yet?
Thanks to Penguin Books UK and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

"Sadie wasn't responsible for her disappearance, someone else was"
Abigail, Mason, Cora, Fareed, Luke, are teenagers initiating a search party after their friend, Sadie, gone missing. Another character is Detective Fleet, who leads the investigation of Sadie's disappearance.
I'm finding it really hard to finish this book, I just don't like the writing style at all, it'spretty confusing. I can't even relate or connect to any of the characters.

This is a really good read told from the teenagers Fash, Cora, Abi, Luke and Mason written in a way that they are individually speaking to the police, mostly DI Fleet and DS Nicky Collins. The only thing that really bugged me and it probably will be sorted on publication is the way the chapters are listening to the teenager's take on what happened and revealing their secrets, suddenly in the next paragraph we are then back with DI Fleet without any break or written in bold of change of character we're with. Where is Sadie? Is she missing by running away? Why? What is she running from? Has she been murdered? Who by? Why? There are secrets revealed along the way to keep you hooked.

I'll certainly pounce on any Simon Lelic books I come across

I don't know how Simin Lelic does it to keep your attention but he does it very well. Just like in "The Liar's Room" where that story is basically set in just one room throughout the book and that must be difficult to do.

Sadie is missing. Everyone is out looking for her.
Five of her friends, including her brother go looking for her but only four return.
What happened to the fifth? and Sadie is still missing.

I’ve read most of the author’s previous novels and enjoyed them but this one is his best yet! It follows a group of friends who decide to form a search party to go looking for their friend Sadie. The police are involved but this group feels that the police are not doing enough and are looking in the wrong place. We meet this group after the search and we hear their stories via the police interviews, which takes us back in time to before and during the search. I love how the picture of what happened is slowly built up and there are moments in this novel that are so tense I was holding my breath. There are red herrings along the way, which were also great as it threw me completely off the scent but it does all make sense at the end. We also find out that this group of friends don’t all like each other very much and they all have their reasons for wanting to find Sadie! We also get the perspective of the detective and he has his own past ties to this small town and this adds even more intrigue to the novel. I recommend this one!

A story of the search for a missing teenager that is told from multiple viewpoints which is something that I like because you get to see everyone's side of the story. It is difficult to say too much without giving it away so all I will say is that I thought I'd worked it out about three quarters of the way through but I was happily surprised to find out that I hadn't.
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the chance to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve been a fan of Simon Lelic's novels since reading The House in 2017 and so I was delighted to be offered the opportunity to read and review his latest novel, The Search Party, ahead of its publication in August. I really like the concept of the novel, but unfortunately this one didn't quite live up to my – admittedly high – expectations. It was good, but I didn't love it.

Sixteen-year-old Sadie Saunders has been missing for six days. Believing that the police are looking in the wrong place, her twin brother, Luke, and their friends Abi, Cora, Fash, and boyfriend Mason set out into the woods to search for her themselves. The reader knows that this doesn’t turn out quite as they’d planned as the novel opens with an emergency call from the group. Upon arrival, DI Fleet and his team find the search party and a body that isn’t Sadie’s. Their story is then revealed through their interviews with the police, alternating between the different perspectives. Structurally, this works really well – I found myself hooked by the opening pages and was keen to understand what had happened to the group out in the woods. It’s a great start, and the slow reveal of the events kept me engaged in the story.

Having a story told from so many perspectives can be tricky to pull off – it’s more difficult to reveal depth of character for all of those involved, and the various perspectives can be difficult to keep track of. While the story was engaging, I found myself struggling a little in this regard. There didn't seem to be all that much to differentiate these characters, and there were a couple of points where I had to flick back to remind myself whose perspective I was following. I think that the character that was most thoroughly fleshed out was Sadie – I felt that I understood her quite well. I did also think that the group came across as being older than sixteen years – it came as something of a shock when I was reminded of their youth during the story, although that may just be my perception of what a sixteen-year-old is like today!

I did like DI Robin Fleet, however. He has an interesting backstory, and some history in the (unnamed) town where the events of the novel take place. This adds some additional tension to the novel – his back story isn’t immediately clear, but there’s a sense of a tight-knit community pulling together against someone they don’t like or disapprove of. I couldn’t help but wonder how it would affect his work in what is already a complex case. I also enjoyed Lelic's portrayal of police politics throughout the novel as Fleet’s boss focusses on budgets, media relations, and getting a result at any cost. Fleet just wants to do the best job that he can, and his boss’s attitude only serves to make things more difficult as their difference in approach comes to a head.

Overall, I enjoyed The Search Party, but I didn’t love it. I liked the concept and I wanted to know what had happened to Sadie and her friends, but there were a couple of elements that didn't work for me.

Sadie Saunders is missing and DI Fleet must uncover the truth about her disappearance. Her friends set out in a search party that entangles everything up, though what they do not expect is that this is anything but a search for Sadie. To mess things up a little bit more, not all of them will make it home alive. In this incredible and gripping thriller, you will find yourselves in the edge of your seats while trying to complete this complex puzzle that is Sadie’s disappearance alongside DI Fleet. With a questioning-based narrative, you will go through the story according to each friend. Are they saying the truth?

The incredible plot and every twist made it impossible to put it down, though at first it felt a little slow, the story escalates quickly and makes you feel eager to keep reading to find the answers to every uncertainty that builds up. The author made a great work with the characters and keeping the truth completely covered, I could have never thought something like that for the ending.

Though I liked it very much, I felt there were not tangible indicators as for when there was a switching between the questioning and the rest of the story. I would have liked it better if the questions the DI made to Sadie’s friends were included too.

All in all, I can not complain, I over enjoyed myself with this book. It was amazing.

I would like to thank to NetGalley and Penguin Books UK for this advance copy in exchange of an honest review.

Having seen some initial great review for this book I knew I had to attempt to request it from NetGalley. A day or two later I was accepted to review it and I couldn’t wait to get started.

I was drawn to the book not only by the reviews but also the premises. The Search Party is about a 16 year old girl Sadie who goes missing. In an attempt to help find her 5 of her friends decide to join together and start their very own search party in the hopes that they can fined their friend alive. However, things don’t quite go to plan.

The plot was very gripping but I did find it a bit of a struggle to get through. The main reason for this I think is the way the book is written. Each chapter is told from the point of view of the individual teenagers from the search party in interview style. The chapters were well written but my problem was that the interview was one sided and I found I had to concentrate quite hard to make sure I didn’t miss anything, while at the same time trying to work out what questions they were being asked.

I wasn’t a big fan of the characters especially the younger ones, they just seemed to annoy me, but the things is I can’t exactly work out why. I may not have liked the younger characters but I sure did like the character of DI Fleet, who was in charge of investigation and official search for Sadie. He came across as honest and genuine. I also like the sub plot that ran alongside the main story. In fact, this sub plot and the ending probably saved this book.

Unfortunately, The Search Party did not quite meet my expectations. Sadly, it wasn’t as thrilling as it sounded.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers Penguin UK for my eARC in return for an honest and unbiased review.

Five kids go looking for their missing friend... what could go wrong? The blurb gave me Stand By Me vibes, one of my favourite movies ever so I had to read it. I have read Simon Lelic book start before so I was ready for a twisty tale and that I certainly what this is. A quick read that will keep you on your toes.

16 year old Sadie is missing. 5 of her friends are worried and not sure the police are doing enough so they form their own search party. It includes her twin brother and boyfriend. They head into the woods looking for her and mange to get themselves lost and scared. After a few days the police find them, but one of them is dead.

I really liked the way that the story was happening old through police interviews with the kids and from the perspective of the man running the investigation DCI Fleet. We are fed just enough information to make us think and change our minds about what we think is happening. Very well done.

Thanks to Penguin UK, Viking for my advanced copy of this book to read.

The outline is intriguing enough, but the execution of the plot is extremely clever.

Sadie Saunders is 16 years old and is missing. Five of her friends decide to form a search party as they believe the police are looking for her in the wrong place. Sadie’s friends set out into the woods,  and after a few days the friends are found but not all are alive.  As the friends are questioned and recount their time out in the woods searching for Sadie, you realise all is not what it seems. Each friend holds secrets and as the story unfolds so do the lies. Detective Inspector Fleet is convinced that there is more to the story of the search party.

What I found brilliant with this novel is the way the it was laid out. We move between the perspectives of the police, DCI Fleet and the members of the search party. Each account was cleverly placed at the right moment providing suspense and tension perfectly. Its only at the end do you look back and realise that you made the wrong assumptions. A genius piece of writing.

I couldn't wait to jump into this book after seeing the cover. This is another suspense book with shocking revelations page after page. You cannot put it down.

I really enjoyed the writing style of this book going from the perspective of the detective and the interviews of the characters. This book kept me reading with its twists and turns that all came together nicely. This book had me hooked from the beginning and I didn't want to put it down.

The Search Party was an ok thriller for me, it didn’t make me want to read it like some books do. 3.5 ⭐️ rounded up.
Sadie Saunders is sixteen years old and has gone missing, her brother Luke and her friends Abi, Cora, Fash and her boyfriend Mason think that the police are looking in the wrong place so decide to go and search for her themselves.
The reason I don’t score higher is because although the group are her friends they are also suspects especially the boyfriend so when they are telling the police what has happened I feel they all speak as though they are a lot older than they are. It’s ok at the start but having a daughter of a similar age it quickly started to bug me that she would never speak like that at her age and so I think the group should have been a couple of years older to make what they are saying more believable.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Penguin Books UK, Viking for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Sixteen year old Sadie Saunders has gone missing, sparking a massive police hunt for her in the woods around her coastal English town. When she hasn't been found by day six of the search, five of her friends, including her boyfriend, twin brother decide to form their own search party to look for her in the woods they know so well. Two days later they will need rescuing themselves.

The novel is written as a series of interviews as each of the teenage search party gives an account of what happened in the woods. DI Robin Fleet in charge of the search specialises in missing person investigations. He is sure there is something the teens are not telling him, but pressure is being put on him by the press and his Superintendent is demanding an arrest for Sadie's murder, despite any evidence that she has been killed.

This was an addictive read as the teens tell of what happened in the woods. DI Fleet and his partner DS Nicky Collins are both intelligent and sensitive police who work well together. There are twists and turns as the facts of the case gradually emerge, resulting in a surprising and suspenseful ending.

This is the first book I've read by this author. It was a good little thriller that moved at a decent pace. The he said she said aspect took me a while to grasp at first but it was an interesting way to unravel the story if a bit repetitive at times.

Okay, so any time of the day, this premise would totally be my jam, but it simply did not work for me. The characters felt bland and the structure itself did not work for me - we heard from these characters in turn as they give their statements on what has happened, then we flip to the Police who tries to piece it all together. This group of teens sets off on a search party for their missing friend and one of them ends up dead and now there are more questions than answers. Who is the guilty one?
Unfortunately, I did not care about what happened. I have read my fair shares of thrillers and this one just did not do it for me. The writing was kinda bland too and the whole things just rubbed me the wrong way so I just had to put it down after a while because I just could not force myself to read anymore...