This story really caught me up and kept me reading. If you're a fan of gothic mysteries you'll enjoy this one. There is a lot of background in the beginning so you get to learn the players and what stake they have in what is going on. The seven original friends, and one newcomer, have to deal with being stranded by bad weather with no means of communication and a series of accidents that soon turn to outright murder. There are twists and turns that surprised me. I found the ending to be too abrupt for my tastes, as I like all questions answered and a sense of knowing what the characters will do next. We find out the who and why of what is going on and then the door shuts without knowing how the characters left will go on.

There Should Have Been Eight by Nalini Singh is a captivating novel that combines intense passion, astute social commentary, and a masterful touch in crafting an engaging mystery. Singh excels at creating atmospheric scenes, skillfully evoking the ambiance of dusty secret passageways and the perils of freezing weather, which instill a palpable sense of dread.

Luna meets her friends for a reunion in a remote New Zealand house. Her best friend is missing from the reunion, but her best friend’s sister is the host of the trip. The longtime friends all hope to reminisce and heal in their grief, but a terrible storm moves in and accidents keep happening. Before long, they are stranded and in danger and no one can be trusted.

I always enjoy a locked room mystery, particularly with an atmospheric, gothic setting, and this one doesn’t disappoint. It begins with a slow burn, building background so the reader can learn about the large cast of characters and how they are connected. When things start going wrong, the pace picks up and there are twists and turns all the way through until the wild ride of an ending. If you are a fan of locked room mysteries, atmospheric reads, and unreliable characters, you should add this book to your list!

Thank you to Nalini Singh and Berkley for sending me a digital advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this one! This twisty thriller was hard to put down! The author does a great job of making you feel like you're in the environment, all of the descriptions are so well written. While the ending had a bit too much going on, I really enjoyed reading this and would highly recommend to anyone looking for a great thriller this fall.

This is the third mystery/thriller that I’ve read by this author.
Seven friends who have spent very little time together since the eighth member of the group, Bea, tragically died years ago. But her sister Darcie still owns their family estate, and they have gathered to meet Grace, Aaron’s new love. Aaron is one of the original eight, a kind soul, and someone they are happy has found love with Grace.
But some of the people who are here are harboring dark secrets. The story is told from Luna’s POV. She was very close to Bea and has never forgiven Darcie for how she handled her burial. A brutal storm traps them in this remote creepy house and as things start to go very wrong, someone does not want everyone to leave here alive.
The story moves slowly as Luna exposed much of what she knew up until Bea’s death. Then what might have been just a tragic accident hits, and the pace picked up and did not stop until all the secrets and lies were exposed. Since Luna told the story, I learned the most about her life and the tragic fate that she was facing. I guessed part of the plot, the who, but not the why.
An isolated family home full of secrets, a brutal storm, and eight people cut off from help combined to make this Gothic tale one that I finished in a day.

Perfect, creepy, gothic horror story!ou w

Teen friends reunited in a crumbling mansion, cut off from the world via storms. Slowly, it seems, someone is out to get them.

While this set up may seem familiar, This story is not. The characters are vivid and vivacious and every obstacle hits you in the gut as they try to escape. If you love a revenge story, a reunion story or a locked room story- this is an excellent read that will keep you up way past your bed time!

#NaliniSingh #Berkley #Thereshouldhavebeeneight

"In this chilling thriller from New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh, a remote estate in New Zealand's Southern Alps hosts a reunion no one will ever forget.

Seven friends.
One last weekend.
A mansion half in ruins.
No room for lies.
Someone is going to confess.
Because there should have been eight....

They met when they were teenagers. Now they're adults, and time has been kind to some and unkind to others - none more so than to Bea, the one they lost nine long years ago.

They've gathered to reminisce at Bea's family's estate, a once-glorious mansion straight out of a Gothic novel. Best friends, old flames, secret enemies, and new lovers are all under one roof. But when the weather turns and they're snowed in at the edge of eternity, there's nowhere left to hide from their shared history.

As the walls close in, the pretense of normality gives way to long-buried grief, bitterness, and rage. Underneath it all, there's the nagging feeling that Bea's shocking death wasn't what it was claimed to be. And before the weekend is through, the truth will be unleashed - no matter the cost...."

Yes yes, this is my jam.

Very much my trope set so I enjoyed this one - technically an isolated closed circle, but has more the feel of a secrets from the past meets house of horrors. The ending was a little off the rails for me, but overall, very entertaining

CW: self harm, miscarriage, mental illness

They met when they were teenagers and they’re reuniting as adults. Time has been kind to some, and not to others. But nothing is worse than losing their friend Bea to suicide all those years ago.

They’ve gathered to reminisce at Bea’s family’s estate; a once-glorious mansion straight out of a gothic novel that has seen better days. With all their friends gathered and settled under one roof, a big storm rolls in and there is nowhere to go. As the walls close in, secrets must come out, and the most shocking secret of all being Bea’s death wasn’t exactly what it seemed.

This book was a bit of a heavy lift to get through. The pacing on the first 2/3rds of the book was rather slow and just trudged along. I often contemplated DNF in the book but I thought that maybe the ending would make up for it. While the ending was good, it wasn’t as good as it needed to be to make up for the sludge you had to go through to get there. Being a gothic thriller, I understand the pacing is slightly different than what I am used to, but I am usually so caught up in it that I just don’t care. I was missing that element for this read. There is plenty of tension promised within the pages. So, once you get to the good part, the thrilling part, I was excited. The twists were shocking and delightful and I didn’t see them coming at all. All the things that I enjoy from my thriller novels.

If you are looking for a slower gothic thriller that ends with a bang, then this book is for you.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Berkley Pub, @BerkleyPub, and Netgalley, @Netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review. I look forward to more from this author.

Ms. Singh is a superb writer. She has the rare talent of sweeping her readers into her world and take them along for the ride that her words paint. The suspense is bone chilling and in fact I still have goosebumps to show for it.
Luna has been living in London while the others have lived, loved and thrived in New Zealand and yet it seems none of them has been able to shake the suicide of their friend Bea most particularly Luna.  When Bea's sister Darcie invites everyone to their isolated family home for a reunion, Luna is determined to find closure on Bea particularly since her own world is shrinking.
Against the sinister backdrop of a partially burnt Gothic mansion with ancient pipes and a cold front moving in, the friends are destined to find that things will never be the same again for any of them.  The first incident is a doll that once belonged to Bea and was a childhood replica of her that supposedly was cremated with Bea shows up on Darcie's bed. Is Darcie's reaction to the appearance of the doll extreme? 
As Luna deciphers the story hidden in the midst of the recipes of the woman who came to this house as a bride and lived a solitary life under the thumb of a dominating perhaps mad husband and a psychotic daughter, their own story plays out in real time. 
 Nothing is truly as it seems on the surface and that's before the accidents begin and one of their own is killed.  The story that emerges is not pretty, but the subsequent actions leave an indelible impact on the reader. Would you bury a body if asked? That question is asked and answered, and the depths of human behavior revealed in remarkable fashion.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishers for this Advanced Readers Copy of There Should Have Been Eight by Nalini Singh!

A love a locked room type murder mystery so this one really satisfied my needs! The tension was so thick and I had a hard time putting it down! Not all the characters were very likeable but that really worked for the story. Highly recommended!

Of course, I know Nalini Singh’s name. She’s written over fifty books, and I ordered them all the time for the library. There Should Have Been Eight is the first I’ve read. Think Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, set in New Zealand’s Southern Alps. How many authors write an homage to this mystery by Christie?

Nine years after her younger sister, Bea, died, Darcie invites their six college friends to a reunion at the family estate in New Zealand’s Southern Alps. All of them had been close at one time, but photographer and narrator Luna Wylie knows that Bea’s suicide set them all adrift. Luna is filled with rage for several reasons. She blames Darcie for cremating Bea, the light of their circle. No one had a chance to say goodbye. But, Luna is also losing her eyesight to a hereditary disease. She hasn’t told anyone, and she hasn’t yet admitted it to herself, a year after she was diagnosed.

The Shepherd estate isn’t what anyone expected. It’s a remote house straight out of a gothic romance, reachable only over a bridge. It’s the perfect place to tell ghost stories and remember the past. But, all seven of the people who return for the reunion, along with Aaron’s girlfriend, Grace, have secrets. Even nine years after Darcie received news of her sister’s death, the missing Bea is still the center of their universe.

Of course, this is a gothic thriller. The group is cut off from the world with no cell coverage and no way to get out after a spring snowstorm. Strange events occur, from a haunting doll that once belonged to Bea to mysterious accidents. People unfamiliar with Christie’s story might not foresee the accidents and violent happenings. To anyone familiar with similar thrillers, the events and the conclusion are not unexpected.

While Singh’s gothic story was fast-moving, I really just found the story adequate with characters suitable for the the mystery. However, even the narrator was flawed and not very appealing. There Should Have Been Eight might appeal to those who aren’t familiar with Christie’s trope; a group of people are lured to a remote location, find themselves trapped, people start dying, and secrets are revealed.

Oh, I had a really fantastic time reading this book! I love Nalini Singh's writing, and her thrillers have been really fantastic, and I jumped at the chance to read it! That it's in an isolated setting where the characters are trapped in because of the weather just ramped up the tension!

This is the story of a group of friends, who have for the most part, drifted apart, because some years ago, one of them died, the one that was the glue connecting them together. And Luna was especially close to Bea. That she never got to say goodbye to Bea, that there's not a grave to visit, well, she has some harsh feelings towards Darcie, Bea's sister, who made those decisions.

This mansion in the middle of nowhere, that is half ruined because of a fire, well, the vibes were immaculate for this thriller! As things started to go wrong, tensions mounted, and I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next!

That ending, when the truth came out, oh, man, that was shocking! Some context is provided, but on a few questions, it's left up to the reader to decide what really happened because these are very much a group of unreliable people!

This was a fantastic read, and I can't wait for whatever Nalini Singh writes next!

This book started a little slow for me, but once it picked up, we were of to the races and I could not put it down.

Dark and mysterious, full of tension, and intense, this has horror elements, psychological thriller elements, and mystery for days. The fact I did not figure out the ending delighted me, and also the darkness of the ending was perfection.

I think if you liked her previous mystery you would like this thriller. It’s dark and spooky. For me it was a little too dark, but I definitely think there is an audience for this book and many will enjoy it.

Scary and twisted locked room thriller. Maybe a little too scary for me as I prefer cozies but impossible to put down!

Friends go to a remote location to enjoy a reunion. Chaos ensues. Are they alone or is there someone else lurking in the shadows? Go addition to any collection.

Only Nalini Singh can bring to the world of Thrillers. Twisted, addicting, page turning, There Should Have Been Eight is a masterpeice of Nalini's brilliance.

There Should Have Been Eight
By Nalini Singh
Pub Date: Nov.21, 2023
Gollancz
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARc of this book in exchange For my honest opinion.
This one did not work for me. The characters were not interesting and I could not bring myself to care for what happened to them. The plot was not well thought out and not twisty the way I like them.
I cannot recommend this book.
2 stars