The Engagement Party by Darby Kane is a riveting thriller that transports readers to a secluded private island off the coast of Maine. Secrets, lies, and buried memories converge in a deadly game where trust is scarce and danger lurks around every corner.

Why You’ll Love It:
⏳ Intriguing Premise: The blend of past and present, hidden connections, and a confined setting keeps you guessing.

🤐 Character Dynamics: Each friend harbors secrets, and their interactions are fraught with suspicion.

🔀 Twists and Turns: Darby Kane skillfully weaves a web of suspense, leading to a heart-pounding climax.

Thank you so much to the publisher for my copy in exchange for my review!

Sierra has been in love with Mitch for years, but he can’t let good his past enough to enjoy his future. When Mitch is invited to his college pal’s engagement party, Sierra convinced him they should go. What starts as a weekend with old pals in a beautiful house in a desolate location has the potential to end in a bloodbath. What old secrets will come out? Most importantly who will leave the weekend alive?

I wasn’t sure about this book starting out…there were so many characters and so much back and forth that it all seemed like too much. However, Kane was able to weave the story together and keep me into it until the end with some shocking parts along the way!

This is my third read by Darby Kane, and in my opinion, this is her best! A true locked room mystery with big secrets and many twists and turns. This was an amazing read!

Make sure to check for trigger warnings.

This story focuses on the murder of Emily Hunt. She was murdered on the night of her college graduation. Another student on campus at this time was accused of being involved in her murder, and he lost his life tragically. This closed the case. Her close knit group of friends have secrets from that night that they have been keeping for about 12 years. Someone wants to know those secrets. They are brought together for an engagment party in honor of one of the group, but things are not as they seem.

This book has short chapters that bounce between the point of views of all of the group - and some others. No one can be trusted. My head was spinning with all of the new revelations. Just when I thought that I had things figured out, another twist came around. This book is a fast read that will keep you guessing right up until the last page.

The island is a character itself. The story was so immersive, that I felt as though I were there. It was claustrophobic at times. The chapters just flew by because I couldn't get to what happened next fast enough.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for the opportunity to read this book! I highly recommend all of this author's books! This one is out now, so pick it up!

Wow, this one was a wild, thrilling ride!

A group of college friends goes to an island for the engagement party of one of their friends. He's been engaged before and they're not inclined to go. They get there and all hell systemically breaks loose. Between betrayals, bodies, blood, you don't know who is telling the truth. All we know is they're lured there...and they may not all leave until the truth comes out.

5 stars. This one's gonna stick with you.

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for this ARC!

I really liked this book, it was different than anything else I've read which was a breath of fresh air. I will be recommending this to my friends, and auto buy this author!

My thanks to William Morrow, Darby Kane and Netgalley.
This book made such an impression on me that I can't even remember it. Yes, it was a very little impression, but?
Swear on a stack of Stephen King and Clive Barker that I just finished this book last week, and I'm still at a loss.
Should I apologize for my memory lapse? Kiss my what? No! If I can't remember, but I can still recall every plot twist to Robert Jordan and his Wheel Of Time series, then that automatically means this was f word awful!
I do recall thinking to myself, somewhere in this mess that I would avoid each and every Darby Kane book in existence.
I cannot recommend this crap. Believe me when I say it's crap.

I wanted to love this one, but I really disliked absolutely everyone in this book (which I think was the point). The plot got a little crazy, but it was entertaining.

I do not like to give under 3 stars, it pains me... but, I'm so sorry I hated this book. I thought the writing was basic/not advanced, the plot line was surface-level and rushed, the characters were just names on a page (I need more backstory, more reason to root for their survival), and I just couldn't get into this book. Also, the ending was a lot of "no this is what actually happened" over and over to the point that the outcome just didn't matter to me. I think this book should have been marketed as YA because that would make way more sense & would probably change my rating slightly.

This was such a fun "locked island" thriller that had me sitting on the edge of my chair with a big bowl of popcorn. This novel follows a group of friends from college with a tragic past where one of their college friends was murdered after they graduated. Fast forward to present day and another friend in the group is getting married and invites his friends to a private island to celebrate the engagement. But someone is there to disrupt their weekend and make them account for "what they did" back in college. I would best describe this as The Last Word mixed with The Secret History and I Know What You Did Last Summer. It was twisty, dark, and had zero likeable characters. The plot twist at the end did it for me too, which I can rarely say about thrillers!

This was a pretty typical locked 'room'/trapped on a remote island that sees a college friend group reunited to celebrate the engagement of one couple only to discover mysterious note and have dead bodies start turning up brutally murdered. A high stakes, twisty revenge thriller that is sure to keep you on your toes. I didn't find it super original but it was still a good read and I enjoyed it on audio. Will it be one that sticks in my head long? Definitely not but we all need books like that sometimes. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

I truly, truly enjoyed this book and the creepy environment that Kane created! I think it's the first time in my adult-life that I read a book before bed and then turned the lights on to make sure I was alone in my bedroom. At one point, I thought I figured out a major twist only to be proven totally wrong.

Two people died during graduation weekend. Years later they all get back together for one friend's Engagement Party. Will their secrets stay hidden?

Y'all this book will grip you from the beginning and not let you go until the end. I had to jot down who was attached to who in the book. Three couples and 6 names were introduced pretty much right off the bat. In order to keep the names straight I wrote them down on a post it.

I could see different parts of myself in each of the characters which was neat but also kinda creepy. Especially when Cassie would stop at nothing to protect herself. I think self-preservation is human nature.

I did NOT see that ending coming. At. All. It was good.

I am so glad I have this book on my shelf. It is a re-read for me in the future! I honestly think I'll pick up other/different details on the second read

'i read this book on a dark, Stormy day and absolutes devoured it, check in its book if you're looking for a suspense thriller - four stars!

The Engagement Party
by Darby Kane
Pub Date: 05 Dec 2023

This is my first book from Darby Kane and I really enjoyed it! I was completely drawn into the book.

This is a great novel about college friends that meet up 12 years after graduation for an engagement party weekend. The secrets in this group have threatened to tear them apart for a long time now, and justice is finally coming. A must read for mystery, thriller, suspense lovers.

Thank you #TheEngagementParty #NetGalley #William Morrow for the opportunity to read this E-ARC.

Will and Ruthie are getting married they’re having an engagement party on an isolated island and inviting their old college friends the only one to arrive or Mitch and Sierra and Alex and Cassie Cassie for some reason instantly doesn’t like Ruthie and it’s suspicious of her and her relationship with Will. Things are not helped when strange notes in dead bodies start showing up on the island and of course there is a severe thunderstorm with hurricane speed winds. It seems Cassie her husband Alex Mitch well a girl name Emily and another guy named Jake or a group of friends who hung out only with each other in college. On the night of the graduation Emily went missing and was found floating in the river a few days later a boy named Brendan was blamed and he was found due to suicide soon after. True to form though that isn’t the real story and somebody is after just that… the truth. They’re suspicious of the newcomers Sierra and Ruthie but when Alex is attacked outside and sees men’s boots they don’t know what to think. They’re stuck on an isolated island with a killer or maybe too! Let me just say this is what my aunt would call a kerfuffle my mom would call a cluster crunch it is a lot of a lot! I love Darby Cane‘s books but I are at many points in the story I was confused not to the plot points exactly but to who was talking who was in on it who was innocent but I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it. Sometimes books are so bad they’re good and that was the case with the engagement party there was a lot going on but it all kept me glued to the page eye rolling and all. I want to thank William moral Harper UK and NetGalley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Emily Hunt disappeared from her affluent liberal arts school during graduation weekend. Her lifeless body was discovered in a river, leading to the suicide of a quiet loner who was barely known on campus. Law enforcement, relying on a tenuous link—a single text—closed the case, believing they had solved it. However, the truth was overlooked, and now someone is determined to correct the mistake.

Twelve years later, a group of college friends assembles for a celebratory engagement getaway on a secluded private island in Maine. With only one entrance and exit, the tension escalates when they discover a deceased man in a car trunk along with a note urging them to reveal the truth. Sierra Prescott, an unconnected guest invited to the celebration, is the first to sense that things are not as they appear.

"The Engagement Party" offers a contemporary take on Agatha Christie's classic "And Then There Were None." While the book incorporates a thrilling atmosphere with elements of a slasher vibe, the multitude of unreliable and unlikeable characters creates confusion about their hidden secrets. As the villain is revealed, the complexity of their elaborate plans seemed excessive. Additionally, the conclusion of the book feels prolonged.

In summary, "The Engagement Party" provides a somewhat enjoyable read but falls short of my expectations.

This book was a wild ride from start to finish. I really enjoyed the multiple POVs and how twists were revealed throughout the whole book, until the very end. And I guarantee that you will not predict the ending. There were some very unlikable characters, but they fit in the overall storyline.

dnf. thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. I typically love Darby Kane’s books but this one reminded me of a low budget, lifetime horror movie. I stopped reading when the group went back to the garage where the car crashed after LEAVING IT RUNNING WHEN THEY FIRST SAW IT. Ever heard of carbon monoxide poisoning? Apparently they haven’t🫠

This is my first Darby Kane book and I will definitely be coming back for more! This was fast-paced, fun and full of twists and turns. I love a book with multiple narrators and found myself questioning who was telling the truth and who I could or couldn't trust.

I love a remote island/locked room type of setting so this was perfect for my little thriller heart! I have seen this promoted as a cross between And Then There Were None meets I Know What You Did Last Summer - and I would say it's more on the I Know What You Did Last Summer side. And I say that with love cause I love that movie! This novel is more of a popcorn thriller (and would make such a fun movie or mini series) than a literary thriller like ATTWN but I enjoyed every moment - other than the epilogue - I actually would have preferred it without the little button on the end that I didn't find necessary to the story or plot and didn't really serve the characters in any way.

Overall - I am so happy to have found a new thriller author that has a great backlist for me to dive into! I saw her in person at a book festival and just her hilarious personality alone and the way she describes how she writes & the inspiration behind her books makes me want to keep picking up her books!

Thank you to Netgalley & William Morrow as well as Thriller Book Lovers Promotions for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

First I want to thank NetGalley, William Morrow Paperbacks and Darby Kane for my ARC of The Engagement Party. I loved this one! I haven’t not read anything by Darby Kane but after this book I definitely will be reading another! As a New England girl I loved that this took place in Maine! A group of friends meets 12 years after graduation for an engagement party on a private island in Maine. The secrets in this group have been threatening to tear them apart. Now justice is being served. But who’s doing it? Just when you think you have it figured out.. you don’t. I couldn’t put it down! I will definitely be recommending this to all my fellow thriller readers!