This book was very slow paced. It was more showing than telling. There were too many characters which became complicating. The writing was filled with inconsistencies.

Crazy Rich Asians is one of my all time favorite movies so I was amped for this book that was marketed as that + murder mystery but the end result fell kind of flat.

Jia suddenly dies right before her huge wedding — and while it is ruled a suicide, three months later her friends begin their own investigation.

There’s Alia, Jia’s best friend who is planning her own wedding to Veer, her boyfriend of more than ten years. Veer also was working on a business venture with Jia and the true nature of their relationship is cause for some speculation. Alia’s sister Sonia is a successful business woman who left the nest after a years-long feud with their mother — who is a secret collector herself. And finally we have Rebecca, who has been delusion-ally in love with Veer for their entire lives and thinks if she can end his engagement to Alia it will clear the path for them to be together. With me??

This book has plenty of unlikeable and selfish characters, all of whom were close to Jia and had motive to kill her. And we get to hear from allll of their points of view. It took me awhile to keep all the characters and their connections straight — but the Easter eggs leading up to the “twist” was kind of obvious (at least to me!) from about a mile away so the unmasking of the killer felt kind of anti-climatic. It may also be because I had an advanced copy but sometimes the author referenced the incorrect person or pronoun, which added to the confusion.

I had to concentrate at the beginning of this book, there are a lot of characters to keep straight!

"Successful entrepreneur Sonia Patel returns to London to attend her sister’s wedding with a secret agenda. Jia Mehta, a family friend and an Indian heiress who committed suicide at her wedding sent Sonia a strange text that could lead her to a potential murderer."

Lots of twists and turns, everyone seems to have a possible motive, and not all the characters are likeable. This was an enjoyable read, thank you Netgalley and Victory Editing for the ARC!

I had some trouble getting into this at first because there were a lot of characters and multiple timelines for each character. Having to pause and try to remember who was who & place where I was at in time was distracting and disruptive to the story flow. However, once I hit the mid-point and had a solid understanding of who was who, I enjoyed the story! I loved the all Indian cast and how each character had a different but understandable motive for wanting Jia dead. I was left guessing until the end and didn’t expect the outcome.

Sonia Patel returns home for the first time in seven years for her sister’s engagement party and wedding. Her family’ ultra-wealthy British-Indian social circle is still reeling from the suicide of her family’s close friend Jia moment before her wedding three months before. While home, Sonia and her sister, Alia, discover that Jia may not have committed suicide at all and that Alia herself may be the killer’s next target. But with so many suspects and secrets, this will be one tough case to crack.

This book was like a Bollywood soap opera, complete with a rotating cast of characters who all had dramatic storylines and would literally hide from each other or miss each other’s entrances and exits by mere seconds or minutes. But man, was it fun to read! I was completely pulled in, trying to figure out what was going to happen next and what the solution was. I was really turning pages.

But trust me when I say that none of the characters in this book are likable at all. They’re all pretty atrocious and many will make you want to slap them at certain points. I can’t give away too much, but for example, they get super angry and judge about things one of the other characters does, while doing something extremely awful and immoral themselves. It’s not a great look. But it makes for good reading!

Some of the action was predictable at certain points, but the big reveals had some great twists in there. I really enjoyed seeing everything play out.

If you are looking for a great guilty pleasure book that will just draw you into a deep web of intrigue, this is the book for you. It’s a fun romp through upper-class society that’s a fun time with a great mystery thrown in.

Thank You for sharing a free copy with me for review. I have posted a review on Goodreads too.

I picked this book because I am an Indian and it was nice to see an Indian-centric mystery/thriller. It's like "Guest List by Lucy Foley" but Indian.

Plot wise the beginning was good. Finding the body. I liked the addition of a secret phone. The entire thing about affair is scandalous. Very entertaining. Yet I couldn't finish it for a few reasons.

I always support the representation on mental illness in fiction but I appreciate it only when done right. In this book it felt like name dropping because bipolar is commonly heard illness but the systems are all just about depression. People who don't know the difference between the two will treat them like one and the same and as someone who knows that's not true, the misrepresentation didn't sit well with me.

Similarly, the technology element intrigues me. I really liked the secret phone and the mysterious message. In today's world such clues make things way more intriguing. The part on hacking though came across as not well researched. As someone who has experience in the field, the entire attack was not convincing. I would appreciate a little more research on such matters.

The above wasn't the main reason for me to not go forward. The main reason was that I came across so many things in each page which can be solved by a round of line editing. Repeating words. Redundant lines. Over explanations. These are a few examples. It completely ruined the flow of reading.

I beta read a lot and if this was a beta reader copy I would have still looked past and gone ahead. I just expected a more polished story for an ARC copy.

I hope this helps.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this novel. I encourage you to check this one out! Really solid read.

Six perfect people. Many damning secrets. A death that could expose them all.

Successful entrepreneur Sonia Patel returns to London to attend her sister’s wedding with a secret agenda. Jia Mehta, a family friend and an Indian heiress who committed suicide at her wedding sent Sonia a strange text that could lead her to a potential murderer.

Thrown into the glamorous world she left behind; Sonia comes face-to-face with her estranged mother. Mrs. Patel doesn’t like to talk about the past. Or reveal what she knows of Jia’s death.

Alia Patel, confident, poised, and ruthless, is seemingly the perfect daughter and girlfriend. And she’ll go to any lengths to protect what is hers.

Alia's fiancé Veer is the ideal gentleman— kind, understanding, and intelligent, with a few skeletons in the closet. And he’ll do anything the make sure they stay in the closet.

Their family friend, the shy Rebecca, covets what isn't hers. And her desire could destroy them all.

And Harry, the wedding planner, hides his shady past behind a perfectly tailored suit. He knows all their secrets and isn’t above using them.

As she delves deeper into the mystery of Jia’s death, lies begin to unravel and complicated family dynamics emerge, layered with toxic friendships and secret relationships. They’re all hiding something. But who was desperate enough to kill Jia?


I was drawn to this book by the front cover and it didn't disappont. It is well written with a compelling storyline and well developed characters that I loved. I really enjoyed it. The storyline was engaging and really pulls you in, Four stars

Special thanks to the author, publisher, & netgalley for my advanced copy!!!

This wasn’t a bad read it kind of gave twisted mystery vibes. There were a lot of characters mentioned so you’re told the story from everyone’s POV which I didn’t really like. After awhile the timeline got kind of confusing with the back and forth between characters. Can’t say any of them are memorable except Mrs.Patel because she had this rude nonchalant attitude about her and she seemed really jealous hearted. Everything that came out of her mouth screamed envious.

What I did enjoy was the fact you didn’t know who the actual killer was until the end. All of the characters were shady in some way and held dark secrets that could ruin them if found out. So, knowing everyone’s secret made their motives to kill Jia probable and any of them could’ve been the suspect.

There were also parts of the story that were a bit slow-paced with just getting to the point. Because again there were to many characters involved. I don’t think it was necessary to hear everyone’s point of view because it made things seem a bit inconsistent once things started to be revealed some of which was irrelevant to what was happening.

I honestly kept reading because I just wanted to know who the killer was and their secrets were getting kind of juicy.

This story was M-E-S-S-Y the friendships and the family relationships just trash like no loyalty whatsoever. The secret affair between Veer and Jia, the fact Sonia thought her mom killed their grandmother, Rebecca having a thing for Veer and kissing him a week before he marries her friend Alia just MESSSSY!!!! Guess you can say I stayed for the drama.

Overall, it was an okay read I wasn’t really intrigued with the writing style. But the author did well keeping things a mystery I just think the delivery could’ve been a little better.

I love this read. I was blown away by the complex characters and the twists in the story. It was fast paced and not predictable. A combination that I love in the books that I read. Unexpected but turned out to be a great book. Recommend it!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. This book was good. I was very twisty and fun to read but some parts of it seemed obvious to me that it should have been obvious to the people in the book. Haha. Read to find out what I am speaking about. The book had a good premise so this is why I wanted to read it. Quite good.

I would like to thank Netgalley and ARC for Victory Editing Netgalley Co-op for an advance copy of Ties that Kill, a stand-alone psychological thriller set in London’s wealthy Indian community.

Jia Mehta dies an hour before her wedding, just after sending a mysterious text to Sonia Patel. Three months later Sonia is in London for her sister Alia and fiancé, Veer’s wedding. With new information Sonia deciphers the text and realises that Jia may not have committed suicide, but was murdered. She sets about investigating.

I didn’t gel with Ties that Kill, so it didn’t hold my attention. I was interested to see how the other half live, imagine an intimate wedding for 10,000 (yes, you read it correctly) and lots of designer name dropping, but really they are the same as everyone else, keeping up with the Jones’ and scoring petty points off each other.

Most of the characters are extremely unlikeable with nasty streaks and a habit of jumping to premature conclusions. That they are also keeping deep secrets goes without saying - where would the novel be without them? It is difficult to care or get involved in the machinations and double dealing of characters you don’t care for.

My main bugbear, however, is the format of the novel. It constantly switches between points of view, something I find difficult to concentrate on. It sets the scene for all sorts of motives and throws in more questions, but as a result it is necessarily slow. There is a good story in there, but I found it difficult to get there.

Ties that Kill is not for me, but will suit readers who enjoy the drama of secrets and lies.

If you're a mystery/thriller fan you'll like this! Fair warning that it took me a good while to actually get in to this, but once I did it was enjoyable. Multiple pov's were a bit confusing at first as well. It's a learning curve to juggle, but I loved the thriller aspect of it all.

Sizzling Suspense…
Twists and turns abound in this character driven, sizzling suspense with a deftly drawn cast and a plot peppered with misdirection. A wedding is the catalyst for a series of events with potentially catastrophic consequences as family and friends gather and secrets, dubious pasts and toxic relationships begin to be exposed. With snappy chapters, effectively told from differing character viewpoints and with an edgy narrative this is a compelling suspense with a solid mystery at heart.

What a twisted web these characters weave! Jia Mehta is found dead in a hallway upstairs in the hotel that’s hosting her wedding to Arjun that very night. In fact, the Sangeet (pre-wedding party) is in full-swing downstairs. The police quickly rule the death a suicide; they have found ”suicide pills” both next to Jia and in her suitcase. The rest of the room is completely clean. Before she died, Jia called her best friend Alia to tell her she could not go through with the wedding, and sent a text to Sonia Patel as she was on the floor, dying, with a series of numbers which made no sense. However, five wedding guests who are all hiding secrets of their own had access to the bride before her death: Alia, Mrs. Patel, Jia’s mother, Veér, Alia’s fiancé, Rebecca, close family friend, and Henry, the assistant wedding planner. None of them are suspect in the suicide. Almost three months pass and it is almost time for Alia and Veér’s engagement and wedding. Sonia Patel, successful business owner and Alia’s sister, is begged by Alia and father to come home for the ceremonies. Sonia hasn’t been back in years due to her estrangement from her mother. She saw Mrs. Patel come out of her grandmother’s room the night before her death, tinged with blood, with no explanation. Sonia believes her mother murdered her beloved “dadi,” but all Mrs. Patel will say is that the elderly woman died from a heart attack. Now home, she believes Jia did not commit suicide but was killed. She starts to investigate with the help of the text from Jia, but that merely makes her the next target.

“Ties That Kill” is a fascinating character study told from almost all of the characters’ viewpoints in alternating chapters. It is a small slice of life behind immense wealth which shatters the fragile image of perfection that each individual tries to project and protect, and ultimately tells all. There are baggage and grudges, misconceptions and truth. It is heartbreak and happiness, and stories of people acting the way they do due to upbringing, backbone and spinelessness. It’s the story of how far a person will go to seek revenge, the masks people wear, and the truths beneath them. Mostly, I am thrilled to have learned much about Indian culture, which enthralls me because I am a big proponent of learning and absorbing the heritage of others that is different from my own. I hope you enjoy this work as much as I did.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and A.M. Saint for the ability to read and review this ARC.

Jia and Alia are best friends and both are part of London’s Indian high society. And they both have a dark secret. However, as the years pass and they are both about to be wed to respectable grooms, secrets unravel and their world falls apart. Murder, affairs, cover-ups… oh my! This book has it all and the plot is very good. I only began to suspect who unknown was towards the end. I think a lot of the characters came across as flawed people which made them very relatable.

While I think the story itself was good, I did not like the writing style. There are a lot of points of view and they go back and forth from the present to times in the past. In the beginning, there is a lot switching around and it is hard to keep everyone straight. Furthering this problem there are multiple instances where the wrong person’s name is written or wrong pronoun used which makes it even more confusing as to whose point of view we are reading. I wanted to be the detective to figure out the murderer not try to figure out whose point of view I was reading! For this reason, I gave three stars. I found the plot to be good, just the delivery was a bit frustrating.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

I really like the premise of this book. The characters are interesting and it’s the kind of book where the majority of them are actually quite unlikable despite their appearances. The beginning of the book was really interesting in terms of setting up the murder but once more history was revealed and more details were given - there were some inconsistencies.

For example: Martin says he saw someone push Sharon but then it says Jia and Alia had a whole conversation then went to bed and slept until Martin found the body. Why wouldn’t he immediately go once he saw her fall?

Another example: How did Jia, Alia or Mrs.Patel not notice Harry’s surname? All three had contact with him from the time Jia started planning her wedding and no one heard his surname or saw it on the website?

The story could be really great if not for those issues. I think otherwise the characters are written well and the idea itself is intriguing.

Despite an interesting milieu, yhis book just didn’t work. Unlikeable characters, a confusing timeline, pedestrian writing, Sn overlong and unbelievable climax and denouement , it all added ip to an unsatisfactory reading experience

This book reminds me of an Agatha Christie. Smart and intense, I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen. Any found of mysteries are thrillers will absolutely love this book.

Ties that Kill by A.M. Saint is a fantastic read that kept me gripped right from the start.
A wonderfully crafted mystery.
A psychological suspense with a killer twist. Intricate, complex, and amazingly clever.
This is a well plotted tale where the intrigue keeps the pages turning.
Very twisted with an explosive and unexpected outcome.
The characters are diverse and interesting. Trying to figure out who killed Jia was very intriguing.

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review to my blog, platforms, BookBub, B&N, Kobo and Waterstone closer to pub date.