2.5 rounded down.
I apologize in advanced for this review if it seems scattered, but I lost a few IQ points reading this book.
I do it to myself. I
I voluntarily read K Mod books knowing what I am getting myself into.
I just get sucked in because all of the "Back of the Book Summaries" sound so good, they are 5-6 hours audio time and so mindless to read.
I get frustrated with the outlandish amount of twist and the idiot characters.
A common theme I pick up with her characters are they are grown people and continue to act like juniors in high school. (See my review of Widow Falls, case in point)
This one was a new kind of dumb though.

Neighbors are all invited over to the new people's house that was suddenly abandoned by the sweet elderly couple. The house underwent massive construction-including a cement wall...? Crazy amount of security...?
Okay whatever, they are invited by a weird letter to a dinner party. K-Mod drops little hints that each of the characters is hiding something--which you should expect in a book that is labeled "thriller".

Anyway once they arrive at dinner things go south.

Ultimately the couples are "trapped" in the house by their new neighbors. The major twist of the book was SO easy to guess. As soon as KMOD goes into the couple's "past" chapters I knew exactly what was going on.
After the big twist, of course you know you are going to get a few more, which I suffered through only to arrive at the ending which was so dumb and allowed K Mod to get on a soap box for a 8 minute spill about how your past doesn't define you. (Eye roll)
-Can I just insert here she even had the audacity to write the cliche line of, "We entered the woods and when we returned we were not the same." uhhhh
-Also the ending without trying to spoil: Umm is this guy a cat?He surely would have died numerous times. Are we suppose to believe that after OD ing, blacking out, being dragged through the forest, left for dead, wakes up , then survives another menacing blow to the head, concussion, stuffed in the trunk of the car, dragged onto a boat (oh yeah, no one around to see that either) dropped in the middle of the lake and was able to swim to shore???THEN when he makes it to the police they don't believe him? No investigation? Not even a phone call to "check" out his story? Okay BUT THEN, the Aunt and Uncle totally forgiving his "attempted murderers" WHAT???
Yup, there goes my chance of solving tomorrow's worldle I lost all brain function for the next 24 hours.

Want to thank NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this audioGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.

6 friends. 1 dinner party. What can go wrong?

I love a good thriller with multiple POVs. I love when you can get inside the mind of more than one character. I immediately liked Piper. She was my favorite of the bunch. Shane wasn't so bad either! I thought I had everything figured out and well, I didn't. Such great twists. I finished this book in a day!

I listened to the book and I loved the different narrators for the different POVs it helped so who knew who was who and it made it seem like you were getting each person's take on the story.

AUDIO BOOK REVIEW
🌟🌟🌟🌟

Kiersten Modglin always delivers a quick read filled with twists! Her audiobooks have excellent narrators and her book covers are stunning!

This thriller is filled with the secrets and twists that #kmod is so well-known for.

Everyone is curious about new neighbors, right? This set of friends finds out how devious theirs are when they are invited to dinner. At least they had a good meal before their lives were shattered and their own dark secrets revealed.

Thank you to the publisher and author for providing this complimentary audio arc through NetGalley. This review is my honest opinion.

#dinnerguests #kierstenmodglin #dreamscapemedia #modsquad #honestreview #netgalley #audiobookreview #bookstagrammer #lovebooks #compulsivereader
#thrillerfiction #readallday #readallnight #readwithme
#bookaddict #thrillersofinstagram #lovetoreadbooks #cantstopreading #ireviewbooks #ilovereading

I actually enjoyed listening to this book. It was really different than what I was expecting.
Six friends with dark sinister secrets trapped in a house. The story was certainly a pager turner for me. The narrators, Melissa Moran; Nancy Wu; Allyson Ryan were excellent in portraying multiple characters. A very en ganging story that kept me listening to the very end.
Fans of revenge thrillers and psychological thrillers will love this book.

Special thanks to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for the ALC.

This book was my first book by Kiersten Modglin and I loved it! What a good thriller! I give it 4.5 out of 5, this book is told by the 3 POV of the women in the group from 6. they are now adults but have been friends for 25 years sense high school and now all live in the same cul-de-sac. We have Lincon, wife of Henery, Bethany and her husband Leo, and then piper who is the middle of a divorce but seeing the guy next door Shane. All of a sudden there is new Neighbours moving in, and they are building walls around the house and gates and then a dinner invention comes in the mail for the 3 couples and what they think is a night out meeting new Neighbours turns into a sinister game of puzzles and confessing a secret that all of them have been hiding for 25 years. This book was seriously my nightmare being locked into a place, and no way out it was like an escape room gone wrong which is why I won't do them! LOL At one point I thought I knew what was coming, and even though I was kind of right oh boy was I also so wrong! I will be reading more of this author!

What was supposed to be an innocent dinner turned into a nightmare for these unsuspecting neighbors! Everyone has secrets but the characters in this book are an example of what happens when there are to many secrets among friends. This is an edge of your seat thriller that you will not want to put down!

When a group of friends get invitations to a dinner party at the home of their mysterious new neighbors, the night goes from uncomfortable to potentially unsurvivable in this fast paced, unputdownable thriller from Kiersten Modglin.

I listened to this in a single day, and I wish I could have called out of work to listen to make it a one sitting read! I loved everything about it. I'm a huge fan of locked room mysteries, but often find them disappointing because many times the way the characters get to the setting is too unbelievable or the thing that gets them there is so elaborate that it's almost laughable. Admittedly, right up until the end I loved the book but assumed the explanation would be stupid...but leave it to Kiersten Modglin to come up with not only a completely believable set up but also a relatively straight forward explanation. The story line is great, the characters are great, and the writing is so fast paced It' just awesome. My favorite from this author hands down.

Thank you, #Netgalley, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This was my first audio book ARC. I think the narrators were good, but perhaps the audio quality was lacking. It was robotic at times. I am not experienced enough to know if it was a one-off. This was my third Kiersten Modglin book and it falls in second place. I like how she gets right into it right from the beginning. This book was no different. It centered around a group of nosy friends/neighbors who start investigating when the house next door goes vacant. They become...dinner guests at the new neighbors' house and some crazy stuff goes down. I pretty much called all the twists and tropes throughout, but it was still enjoyable. Confused by the ending though...not sure if it was me or the audio. I will read more from her for quick, brainless entertainment.

I love a modern And Then There Were None retelling. While this wasn’t the exact same story it had a similar feel.
We follow 6 neighbors as their invited to the new neighbors house for a dinner party. Of course there are plenty secrets in the friend group and twists and turns along the way. If you enjoy a locked room mystery or a revenge plot I think this is the book for you!
Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape for my advanced listening copy.

I listened to this at 2x speed and one of the narrators sounds like they had done helium or was a cartoon character, the other two narrators sounded find at that speed thou.

Spoilers ahead



I didn't like the whole Tyler is dead, nah just kidding he's alive, nah just kidding again he's alive, nah just kidding AGAIN he's dead, and lastly nah just kidding he's alive and has you trapped in this escape room.

Also if someone was gonna change their house into an escape room, pretty sure zoning laws wouldn't allow it for one, but even if they get passed that, I would think permits would be needed or someone form of letter going out to the neighborhood about it or something in the news or mail, just seems weird.

Overall okay, just didn't like the dead but not dead but dead but not dead thing.

My new favorite book...maybe ever! This was so intense and twisted. I thought I had it figured out, but I should've known better. Kiersten Modglin always surprises me and this book was one of her best twists ever. The narrators did such a great job bringing it to life.

I listened to the Dreamscape Media audiobook of Kiersten Modglin's The Dinner Guests, and I loved every minute of it! Right from the start, this book had me intrigued as six friends speculate about the mysterious new neighbors that they never can seem to lay eyes on. When the friends receive a mysterious invitation to a fancy dinner at the new neighbors' home, they are giddy and a bit nervous to meet the new couple. When the meal comes to an end, dinner turns dangerous, and some of the six friends may not make it home.

The audiobook was well-narrated by three female narrators to represent the three main female characters, who happen to be long-time best friends. The story is fast-paced and exciting to listen to. The reader learns enough about each character to feel like we know them. With six friends plus the new couple and the couple that previously owned the home all in the mix, there are a lot of names to keep track of, along with who is partnered with whom, but it really becomes easy to follow as we learn the characters early in the book, before the dinner invitations go out.

With the feel of an Agatha Christie, closed-room mystery, The Dinner Guests also involves escape room-style clues, uncovered secrets, bad choices, and of course a big reveal or two along the way. I really enjoyed this audiobook and will continue to keep my eyes open for more Kiersten Modglin books.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ms. Modglin, and Dreamscape Audio for the opportunity to share my thoughts on this book. I hope other readers have as much fun with it as I did!

A mysterious couple moves into a tight knit semi-rural community. They invite neighbors over for an intimate dinner party and some seriously weird stuff starts happening.
There’s clues and riddles (escape room style) and I would recommend this book in a reading format over audio because it would’ve been more entertaining to go back and read over the clues.

I will say that the flashback storyline isn’t very believable and the big “reveal” wasn’t very good.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kiersten Modglin, and Dreamscape media for providing me with an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the Author and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read The Dinner Guests by Kiersten Modglin

I love Kiersten Modglin books. I always have a
good time reading her books and for that I give The Dinner Guests 4 star rating. I feel like everything was going way to fast from them seeing the "new" neighbors moving in to the dinner the clues and everything else the ending was also way to fast and I was some what expecting and epilog b.c I was left with questions

Kiersten Modglin might be my favorite thriller author. I love that she is releasing book after book so I don't have to wait too long for my next fix. The dinner guests was interesting - it felt a little like clue at times and I liked the ending. This wasn't my favorite book of hers but it was very good. I can't wait for her next book!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I usually don't leave really bad reviews, but this is terrible. Lazy writing, vapid characters with mellinial names, stupid plot, terrible ending. I almost felt embarrassed by the way the author tried to pull this train wreck into something meaningful.
Sorry. Just awful.

This was all over the place. I liked her other books but this one was not good for me., I will still try anything else she writes though

Thank you to NetGalley for the early peek at this one.

I listened to 21% of this book before I decided to quit reading. It was hard to suspend disbelief for the insulated, overattentive neighbors in this setting, and the shift in perspectives was unclear because the characters all seemed to share the same voice and motivation. Surely--not every neighbor has elaborate strategies for meeting the "new" people in a house on their street? I mean, the housing market has made sure of that for most Americans over the past decade!

Usually I can get past clunky setups to get into the mystery, but after 7 or 8 chapters I felt like there was still too much ominous vocabulary assigned to "the house" without any evidence except that I'm sure I wouldn't want to live next to the people who were telling this story.

File Under: Can We Skip to the Good Part?

Kiersten Modglin has become one of my favorite authors and I'm always thrilled when lucky enough to receive an advanced copy of one of her books. The Dinner Guests does not disappoint! In true Kiersten Modglin fashion, it's full of secrets, lies and intrigue. Part old friends with secrets, part dinner party from hell - it's a fun, fast read that I guarantee will keep you entertained!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for allowing me an advanced audio copy of this book.

Imagine someone new moves into the neighborhood and they put up a huge fence. All the neighbors are wondering who would build such a fortress.

Soon you get invitations to attend a dinner party with short notice. You want to make an excuse, but your too curious about the new neighbors! Several of you decide to attend the dinner. Soon you feel uncomfortable as you find a note addressed specifically to you!

The couples say their goodbyes with excuses and the hosts disappear and they realized they are locked in the house and have to figure out clues to get out! They start panicking and start the argue and secrets come out.

A riveting novel with an amazing twist!!! This audio is available July 10, 2022. Thank you @netgalley, @dreamscapemedia and author @kierstinmodglin for this advanced audio.