I would like to start off by saying I really enjoyed Darby Kane’s other books—they were fast paced, entertaining, and kept me guessing until the end. Unfortunately, I did not feel this way about The Engagement Party. I did not like the characters and I felt like the story was all over the place. It was fast paced, but there was so much going on that it was hard to believe.

Fast paced, locked room/island thriller with the most unreliable narrators, check! This one had all of these tangled up inside. It was a fast paced read that keeps you on your toes and hooked from beginning to end.

There is honestly no character that is truly likable which made for a more chilling and intriguing read. The multiple POV's is always a winner for me, I love getting inside of each person's mind. The fact that these characters were so despicable at times made for a whirlwind of secrets and lies.

Although the storyline was a bit far fetched and crazy at times, it makes for a truly entertaining ride. It did take me a little bit to get invested in the story entirely but once all the action started happening I kept flipping those pages. I enjoyed the vibe of the isolated setting and raging storm it added to the eeriness and creepiness of this novel.

If you're looking for an eerie chilling locked room/island type of thriller give this one a shot.

✨️Thank you to @thrillerbookloverspromotions, @williammorrow, @hkdimon & @netgalley for my free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you @thrillerbookloverspromotions @williammorrowbooks @hkdimon for my advanced copy. My thoughts are my own.

If you loved 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙍𝙚𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙒𝙞𝙛𝙚 or 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙇𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙒𝙞𝙛𝙚 by Darby Kane, then get ready for her next thriller read coming your way on December 5!

Twelve years after graduation, a group of college friends meet at a luxurious home on a private island off the coast of Maine for a weekend engagement celebration hosted by their friend Will and his fiancée, Ruthie. They are a group bound by secrets and a horrible death that still haunts them!

The drama begins before party even gets started as the couples arrive on the island. They discover the body of a friend with a mysterious note, “Time to tell the truth.” As a storm descends on the island, the friends all talk (and argue) about what REALLY happened to their friend Emily, who was murdered twelve years ago during graduation weekend. With secrets, accusations, and someone set on revenge, not everyone will survive this weekend of terror!

Though the story has a large cast of characters, it unfolds through the third person perspectives of three characters, Sierra, Ruthie, and Alex. The author does a great job of referencing the couples in ways that helped me remember who was with whom, and who was part of the original friend group. We have Alex and Cassie, married lawyers with a child, who each attended Bowdoin College; Mitch, another Bowdoin alumnus who is there with girlfriend, Sierra, and fellow alumnus Will, present with his fiancée, Ruthie. Though none of the characters are particularly likable (or trustworthy), making it difficult to pull for any one person to survive, the twists and surprises occur at a fast pace, making this an excellent page-turner!

A digital copy of this book was provided to me by NetGalley, William Morrow and Thriller Book Lovers Promotions. The opinions are my own and freely given.

Will and his new fiancé Ruthie invite 3 of Will's college friends to a remote island off the coast of Maine. The only way to access this home that they are staying in is by golf cart, once you depart a boat. They are completely isolated. Will has a history of getting engaged and then breaking up, so the friends don't see this lasting, nor do they understand why they were invited, as they haven't seen each other in years. The day of their graduation, one of their own disappeared and her body was found, linking them all together.

Alex and Cassie married each other and became lawyers. Cassie is the most outspoken of the group and the lone who trusts Ruthie the least. Mitch, one of the core members of the group didn't want to go this weekend getaway, but his business partner, Sierra convinced him to go, so he made her come with him.

The night they arrive, a locked door Will and Ruthie swear they don't have a key too is found open and a car is found running. This starts the night of terror and with only one way off the island, a storm and darkness setting in, the 6 have to fight to survive the night.

I really enjoyed this book. It left me wondering who could be trusted and who couldn't. The story about the friend that died in college keeps resurfacing and it seems that everybody has a slightly different version of events. This was fast paced. It was a great read as I was constantly trying to guess whodunit as the body count increases.

I would definitely recommend this.

This review can be found on BookBub, Goodreads, LibraryThing and StoryGraph. It will also be posted on Instagram @kuhlreads on 11/13/23

Darby Kane knows how to write a thriller! Don't make plans on December 5, 2023, because you're going to read this in one sitting. It's like She Started It and And Then There Were None collided and created a wildly addicting thriller. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, and did NOT see that ending coming.

A locked room mystery turns into a locked room island. Four college friends reconnect several years after college for an engagement party at a remote island with only one way in. And one way way out.

While in college, their lives were changed forever when one of their group was found murdered. They vowed never to speak of it again, but it becomes obvious someone is after the truth when suspicious dreadful things start happening on the island.

I loved the story telling of multi (3) POVs interspersed with book notes and news articles.

The first half of the book was a fantastic mystery while the second half was an intense action packed who done it. It was an edge of your seat, nail-biting thriller. And that ending? Chef's kiss🧑‍🍳😘 (not quite the emoji I need)

Alex & Cassie - Mitch & Sierra
They are going to Will & Ruthie engagement party in a secluded island.
From the early chapter, you'll feel "secret" has been hanging on, especially from Alex, Cassie, and Mitch.
When they have just arrived on the island, thing straight away get tense as they find a car with a dead body and a note "TIME TO TELL THE TRUTH".
It gets more terrifying when they find out that they are trapped without any means of communication.
You'll be wondering what secret they hide, who done it with everybody is a suspect.

Emily, a white upper-class college student, disappeared on her graduation weekend, and her body was found floating on the river. And so, you'll be wondering what's the connection of this Emily who was dead twelve years ago with all those six people stuck in the island?

It has a vibe of "I Know What You Did Last Summer," and the suspense just kept escalating. The last couple of pages were just a knocked off👍

If you love a locked-room/isolated thriller, then this one should be added to your TBR list.

The night she graduated college, Emily Hunt went missing. When her body washed up in a river near campus not long after, her death was quickly ruled a murder and the prime suspect seemingly jumped to his own death in that same river. Now, a decade later, Emily’s friends are invited to a private island to celebrate one of them getting engaged. From the moment they arrive on the island, things don’t quite feel right. A car that shouldn’t be there is found in the garage, and mysterious notes prompting “tell the truth” begin appearing. To make the situation even worse, a storm hits the island. Someone is keeping a secret - and someone else will stop at nothing to get that secret revealed.

As always, Darby Kane blew me away! I have loved every book of hers that I have read to date, so I was super excited to get an early copy of this one. This was a bit different from her previous books, with the slasher feel to it and I was here for every creepy bit of it! Told from multiple points of view, and interspersed with news articles, the past story of this group of friends is laid out. Meanwhile, the present unfolds in an action-packed sequence that had me glued to the pages. The locked room-type setting and stormy night combined with the feeling that one of these people was lying all worked together perfectly. And the way it all came together at the end was perfection!

Thank you to HK Dimon, the publisher and Thriller Book Lover Promotions for the ARC! This review will be shared to my instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly :)

“Emily Hunt disappeared on the Saturday of graduation weekend.” Here are reasons to read the thriller book:

Friend group - 4 friends since college are gathering to celebrate one of their own engagement
Island - which is taking place on an island with a causeway, which of course means that they can’t leave unless by boat or when the tide goes out.
Death in past - they are united by a death in their group that happened during graduation weekend
Who has the truth? - but when someone on the island threatens to expose the secrets of this death, who is responsible?

This book is told through the points of view of almost everyone involved, and what I liked about it is that it slowly introduced the people at the engagement party until you had the total 6. So that was easy to follow for sure. And this book was so thrilling I could not put it down and finished it in a day. And then the twist happen one after the other, some kind of just ok and then some that slap you up beside the face. Super solid thriller for sure!

Thank you NetGalley, William Morrow, and Darby Kane for the advanced copy of The Engagement Party in exchange for my honest review.

I've seen comparisons of this book to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None is pretty dang spot on. I enjoyed this one SO MUCH! Definitely my favorite of Kane's novels to date.

It took me a little bit to get my bearings with the characters. I found it a little difficult to differentiate not only who was who but also who was married to/interested in who. Once I figured that out, though, it was smooth sailing.

While there were one or two small things I did see coming, the big reveal at the end 100% threw me for a loop and I did not see it coming *at all.*

Don't miss The Engagement Party on bookshelves December 5!

Whoa! What an ADDICTING cat-and-mouse slasher thriller! From the very first chapter I was hooked in. This is a multi-pov story that takes place all in one day/night so it plays out so smoothly and fast paced. The sense of tension and dread was immediate and continued to be the underlying feeling throughout the entire book. Short chapters, unlikeable characters, and plenty of twists made this book truly unputdownable. I just HAD to figure out what was going on. Such a fun ride! This is a must read for any thriller lover and is definitely a great recommendation for anyone in a slump that needs a fast paced, entertaining read!

I received a complementary arc of this book and was so looking forward to reading it. It was a good book, but I felt like it was a little bit longer than it needed to be. It also felt like a story I've read before. A bunch of friends from college get together many years after a graduation murder, they are on a remote island staying in a house and things go really sideways. I didn't feel a connection with the characters, they acted entitled and made a lot of mistakes, but the very end had a good twist that I wasn't expecting. I would say it's a very readable book, full of action but not one of my favorites.

A few years ago, I read and loved Pretty Little Wife by this author so I was very much looking forward to this one. It has a locked room setting (on an island off of the coast of Maine at that), a stormy atmosphere, and an unsolved murder from the past, which really called my name...and the writing was good. But for some reason, unfortunately, this one fell a little flat for me, though maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for it. I found it to be a little slow in places, and I disliked pretty much all of the characters. It was also really unbelievable from the start, when they discover a dead body in the trunk of a car but immediately close it and lie to the police officer that just arrived - I found that pretty unlikely for a group of people to all agree to that right off the bat for seemingly no reason. And it went on from there. That said, it was a twisty read and not boring, so I give it a solid 3 stars, and would say that if the blurb sounds interesting to you, give it a try when it's released next month.
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to William Morrow and Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

Old friends with dark secrets that begin to emerge. Darby Kane did not fail at this book with alternating perspectives and twist after twist this read grips you in from the very first page to the last.

You won't be disappointed.

Thank you @thrillerbookloverspromotions @hkdimon @williammorrowbooks for the #gifted copy of this book!

If you’re looking for a locked room thriller, stranded on an island with only one way in and out amongst a brewing storm look no further! 🌧️🏝️This is the perfect whodunnit as we slide into the change in seasons and things cool down for us! The atmospheric vibe of this book is perfect for fall and winter!

So what happens?

Emily Hunt ends up dead on campus, found floating in the river. A odd man somewhat of a loner is blamed with barely a link to tie him to the murder. Case closed.

👯A group of friends joins together on a private island for an engagement party twenty years after that death and soon after they find a dead man in the trunk of a car with a note stating it’s time to tell the truth! What entails is a twisted story between friends with many unlikeable characters!

This book was very fast paced with an eerie setting and like I mentioned above with an intriguing mystery to unravel. The last part of the book was action packed that left me pointing the finger at many different characters! 😱I always love different POV and short chapters because it draws me in and keeps me wanting to read “just one more” before I put the book down! I have read several by this author and have found all of them very entertaining and enjoyable! I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next!

An engagement party on a secluded island goes so very wrong in this isolation thriller. It is told from the perspectives of a group of long-time friends connected by a murder at their college graduation years earlier. They thought they'd buried their secrets, but in this creepy tale, the past comes back to haunt them. Once you get a sense of who each character is, with their complicated personalities and baggage, you can't help but be pulled into the mystery. Filled with twists and turns, this is a definite page-turner and my favorite book by Darby Kane. I highly recommend this book for thriller fans.

Gothic, atmospheric vibes in this "locked room" mystery. Murder, mystery and revenge are just some of what you will get in this book. Twist after twist, super fast paced! Could not put this down, read in one day! Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for this e-arc. 4 Stars

Holy cow! From the unlikeable characters to the near constant flow of hair-raising suspense, The Engagement Party was nothing like I expected yet also filled with everything that I craved. A surprising combination of a non-graphic I Know What You Did Last Summer-esque thriller and a perfectly poised locked room mystery, I was pulled in deep right from the start. Needless to say, the fast-paced plot and whiplash-inducing twists kept my fingers flying through the pages, which didn’t stop until the very last word. I mean, there was even a *chef’s kiss* twist thrown in at the end—all of which was proof positive of a maestro behind the scenes.

I do have to say, though, that this one was very different from Kane’s prior books. Not that it was any less brilliant or jaw-dropping, but there was a definite slasher vibe that mixed deftly with the top-notch game of cat-and-mouse. But with the atmospheric setting and unsettling mystery of who was behind the terrible events, I found myself utterly addicted to this unputdownable success. Even the mildly over-the-top feel of this storyline fit the bill to a tee and I couldn’t, for the life of me, get enough of the characters or plot.

Speaking of those characters, with multiple POVs who narrated in a round-robin type way, what could have been confusing was anything but. Instead, the storyline was written in a manner that actually felt much more like a single POV storyline, but allowed for a near omniscient perspective. And for this plot to be a hit, that was a definite must. After all, this longtime friend group had survived on nothing but secrets and lies for twelve years, so their individual perspectives merely helped to drive that fact home.

All said and done, Kane managed to blow me away yet again. This time, however, she impressed me by demonstrating her startling skill at crafting a brand new style to her storytelling that was both perfect for spooky season but also cut out for every other day of the year. Both spine-chilling and action-packed, all I know is that this would make one dynamite movie. So take it from me, if you’re looking to extend your Halloween reads for another month or so, The Engagement Party is right up your alley. Because, when you get right down to it, this adrenaline-fueled ride alongside some despicable characters is sure to grab ahold of you and never let go. Rating of 4.5 stars.

Messy mysteries are some of my faveeees and I'm happy that Darby Kane delivered one. Trust in these characters is fickle, but deliciously so. 6 couples on a remote island, each with their own secrets... And then one by one, the truth starts coming out. I absolutely LOVED it. While I did immediately peg the primary culprit, some of the subplots I missed entirely. This is definitely a winter thriller, perfect for when you're snowed in.

Will this be the best thriller you ever read? No. But did I absolutely enjoy the heck out of it? Yesssss. Darby Kane retains her guilty pleasure thriller author throne for sure!

*Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

Kindle Copy for Review from Net Galley, Killer Crime Club and William Morrow.

I received a free, advance copy of this book and this is my unbiased and voluntary review.

A weekend reunion getaway that turns unforgettable. Stranded on a deserted island old friends will have a time that they will never forget in more ways than one.

What really happen in different point of views as we are drawn into the events by different characters in the story. A sweeping thriller that will keep you on the edge till the end.