I devoured HOW TO KILL A MAN AND GET AWAY WITH IT and Katy didn't disappoint with this follow-up. Pacy and engaging, I loved it and can't wait to read more from her!

Another #NetgalleyKnockout from Barbsbooland today and today is The Murder After Thr Night Before by Katy Brent
I really enjoyed this book and its writing style. The story follows Molly, who wakes up with a massive hangover to find a man named Jack beside her. As the plot unfolds, she discovers that her friends have been murdered.

I love how the book incorporates social media and highlights the negative tendencies of people who become keyboard warriors behind their screens. It’s an amazing thriller with the classic “whodunit” twist, but it goes beyond just a murder mystery. Molly, being the strong woman that she is, tries to solve the murder of her best friend while navigating her own personal drama and uncovering some disturbing truths—or perhaps untruths—along the way. This book turned out to be more than I expected and carries a few important messages!

#BookReview #ThrillerReads #WhodunitMystery #SocialMediaImpact #StrongFemaleLead #BookLovers #MustRead #KatyBrent #NetGalley #BarbsBookLand

This started off at a million miles an hour. It was all going on! It reeled me in pretty quickly and I remained engaged throughout. The story did have some lulls, and I do feel like it was a tiny bit predictable, but it was an easy read. and it wasn’t massively heavy. A good book if you’re in a bit of a slump!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the copy!

✩✩✩.5

Absolutely loved this and the twisty back stories to it - would love to see a sequel. Molly’s instantly likeable and it’s definitely hard to put down - it starts fast and never slows down. A perfect read to get lost in.

This was an entertaining read, which keeps you guessing until the end and is quick to read / listen to, There are a few implausible twists dotted around and you have to suspend disbelief for a moment or two, but seeing that it's a work of fiction, I think that's allowed. I have another book of this author on my reading list.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an impartial and honest review.

Molly Monroe was dead set on finding out what happened to her best friend Posey. This story had so many loops and twists I was genuinely shocked by the end of it. I found myself guessing over and over and never getting it completely right. It was a great mystery. Hope to see more from Molly in the future. She is the British Finlay Donovan!

I think at this point I will love anything Katy Brent writes. This book is so compelling, fast paced and with a likeable protagonist who is facing horrible circumstances on a killer hangover. The public shaming/going viral on social media angle I thought was so interesting and added such a different twist to the murder mystery plot, that the police don't believe Molly or seem to care is oh so sadly believable. I literally changed my mind about five times who killed Posey and still didn't get it right ha!

Highly highly recommend this read!

This witty murder-mystery is very well thought out when it comes to the grand reveal (for real, I thought I had it all figured out but noooo. Well played Brent)
However I found the main character to be insufferable. But maybe that's part of the charm?

Either way, a solid contemporary read with many twists and turns.

I enjoyed overall but there was something missing. I think it was slow paced at the start. I’d still recommend to others.

A fun read, Molly is a fun character too and the plot keeps you guessing. Some really clever twists along the way too,

This is the second Katy Brent book I have read, and she really knows how to keep readers on their toes!

The book follows Molly who has been subject to a video of her going viral, where she is sexually involved with a man. Whilst Molly is dealing with this situation, her best friend, Posey is dead, and Molly finds her.

This book was a wild ride of mystery, investigating, not being listened to, navigating unfortunate circumstances. As a reader, I felt frustrated for Molly and Posey, I felt sad and I was so invested in finding out what happened.

I think there was a point in the book where it started to slow down a bit and I just wanted to know who did what, but I think the reveal was done well, and it was so interesting how much everything linked!

I really enjoyed The Murder The Night Before and I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys murder mysteries, investigating as a non detevtive, and for fans of books such as How To Kill Your Family. I am giving this book 4 stars and I am looking forward to the next Katy Brent!

Having thoroughly enjoyed Katy Brent’s debut novel How To Kill Men and Get Away With It, I was very excited to read her new book The Murder After The Night Before which is out now and available from all good bookshops!

Molly is our main character and she has had a really, really bad night. Waking up with a stranger in her bed, the hangover from hell and a complete blackout about the night before, her day is about to get even worse when she becomes famous for all the wrong reasons and her best friend has been murdered.

Molly is a very unlikely hero, her life really is a mess and whilst she probably is to blame for most of the mistakes and disasters that follow her, she is still very likeable and I found myself rooting for her from the minute she opened her eyes and vomited up 3 bottles of red wine.

If you’ve read Katy Brent’s previous book, you will know that the humour is dark and some of the subject matters are deeply disturbing. There are themes of sexual assault and the power of internet trolling.

At the heart of this story is Molly’s determination to find out what happened to her best friend Posey. She’s absolutely 100% convinced Posey was murdered, but the police don’t agree and want to close the case as a suicide/accident, however the more Molly digs into Posey’s life the more she begins to uncover and discover that she really didn’t know her best friend.

With several twists and turns, the reader is guaranteed to keep turning those pages eager to find out the truth and hope that Molly finds some well deserved happiness.

A fun thriller, I got very into this and finished it quickly. I also enjoyed Brent's other work so would definitely recommend this if you enjoyed How to Kill Men and Get away with it. This one felt a bit more personal and I could see where it was going but I still had some surprises along the way.

Molly wakes up with a raging hangover and a (fully clothed) man in her bed who found her in a mess the night before and took her home.

As she heads to work, Molly thinks the strange looks she's getting is just at her hungover state but is horrified to later find out a video of her in a sex act the previous night has gone viral on social media.

Que a torrent of online abuse and slut shaming aimed solely at Molly. Thinking her day can't get any worse, she returns home to find her flatmate dead in the bath.

Ruled an accident, Molly is adamant her friend didn't take her own life and sets out to prove it.

I found this story to drag at times and it took me a long time to finish it, I read chapters between other books, however it does pick up in the final third after a slow start. I loved How to Kill Men And Get Away With It by the same author but this book didn't do it for me.

This one lost me from the very start, and it was slog to get through, not to mention that much of it didn't make sense the further I went... The mention of the kebab vomit totally killed it for me - did it have to be this crude and gross? Why - for some shock factor? I really dislike it when female characters are messes but this is so exaggerated on the page to the point of making them unsympathetic and just plain gross or atrocious. Sadly, this was the case with this one...

Fantastic. I absolutely loved this book from start to finish, i have nothing bad to say at all. I was gripped, I couldn't wait to pick up my kindle and keep reading. Another absolute smash hit for Katy.

Fantastic story. I read Katy Brent's other novel (How to Kill Men and Get Away with It) and really enjoyed the darkness of that. This did not disappoint me either. The plot was well-paced, the mystery was truly well developed (I didn't guess whodunnit! Great twist) and I liked the main character a lot. Really brilliant.

I didnt think this one was as good as her last book but still good.
The story is super gripping and fast paced right from the first chapter.

Overall, I thought this book was really good and well done,I loved the characterisation of Molly and posey as-well as all of the other side characters and I liked the way the plot was moving for most of the book.
Having said that, as I was getting nearer and nearer to the end of the book, the plot started to fall apart, not so much that i started to lose interest but enough for me to notice and realise. the real mystery of the literally gets answered in one of the final sentences of the book. i would've personally liked to have seen more of a confrontation between these two characters.

Book Review:
The Murder After The Night Before by Katy Brent
Published by HQ, 1st February 2024

Wow! I was so invested in this compelling story that I whizzed through it in one sitting. It wasn't until I emerged, bleary-eyed, at the end that I realised how much time had passed.

We're not introduced to Molly Monroe in the best of circumstances. She wakes with a vile hangover following her work Xmas party. Things go rapidly downhill from there as Molly realises there's a strange man in her bed, and she's unwittingly become rather infamous. Her flatmate seems to be missing; that is, until Molly discovers her lifeless body. All things said, she's having a bit of a time of it!

Simultaneously laugh-out-loud and shocking, The Murder After The Night Before delivers on every level. Molly is a walking disaster, but I'll bet every reader can recognise a little bit of Molly in them. Katy Brent has birthed a character you can't help but love, even if your inner and outer voices are both dying to admonish her.

Of course, Molly isn't alone, there are plenty of other complex characters who have their part to play, and they are written with the same care and attention. The plot is full of twists, and although I won't give anything away, how all the threads of the story are pulled together at the end is stunning. This is quite simply a fantastic book!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to HQ and Katy Brent for the ARC provided via NetGalley; this is my unbiased review.