Member Reviews

This is a decent mystery. Good setting, good characters, enough plausible candidates to move the plot forward. A couple of things are easily guessable but it’s still a good ride to get to how those things happen.

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Wow! This story was so much better than I anticipated. It seemed from the description that it was going to be like other books in the genre, but this one had so many twists and turns it left me dizzy in a good way! I was tricked by red-herrings left and right and ultimately did not catch on until nearly the very end. Books don’t get the drop on me often, but this one did. It was a fun thrilling read set in an amazing location. I’d love to visit that part of the UK.

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This was a solid locked-room mystery! What starts as a fun glamping trip takes a dark turn when a storm hits. With a large cast of characters, all with their own POVs, it was a bit tricky to keep track of them at times. As old secrets surface and friendships unravel, the tension builds. While it follows a fairly standard locked-room thriller formula, I still found it an enjoyable read!

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I love a good locked room mystery and THE SEARCH PARTY really delivered. The atmospheric setting felt claustrophobic in a the best way. I thought that the presence of the children admits the mystery amped up the tension. I thought Hannah Richell did a fantastic job of exploring the lengths that parents will go to protect their children. THE SEARCH PARTY is aA perfect book to get cozy with this fall and winter, especially during a stormy night!

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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More rich people with problems, in England!

A book with a breakdown of all the characters and a locked...area(?) mystery? Count me in. When Max and Annie Kingsley drop out of the rat race and try to start up their own "glamping" site, of course their friends are the first ones they invite to test it out. While their old college friends and their partners and families arrive, something awful happens. We are then transported in time from the present and each person being interviewed by police, to that fateful bank holiday.
I really liked this one. With touches of Agatha Christie and interesting character development, I empathized with all the characters...well...except one and I'm sure they weren't written for us to relate to. I would recommend this book for purchase and to read.

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This book is so atmospheric (hence me wanting to have an atmospheric pic) and is such a good thriller. There is a FULL cast of characters to keep track of while you’re reading, so be prepared for that. But, I also loved how each character had secrets to unveil…making those twists and turns in the plot that much more interesting. Also, the glamping aspect of the setting was such a fun change of pace to read.

If you haven’t picked this one up yet and you like a good thriller, then definitely grab it!

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I love “locked room” mysteries, and this is a good one. The setting is isolated and grows more menacing and creepy as the book progresses. The characters are all interesting and well-layered. Overall this was a tense and suspenseful read and I look forward to reading more from Hannah Richell.

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Thank you the NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC!
A compelling locked room mystery about glamping gone wrong. The characters were mostly enjoyable and the mystery moved at a good pace!

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‘The Search Party’ by Hannah Richell had lots of suspense as we learn what actually happened on a ‘glamping’ weekend on the Cornwall coast. It’s told from different perspectives of all involved. The pace really picked up in the last part of the book, There were lots of twists, I thought I knew what occurred but was surprised.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an e-ARC for my honest review.

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What a beautiful setting and a great story idea! The drama and suspense were good. However, I felt a little frustrated with the characters and sometimes confused with their POVs and the different timelines. Despite having a lot of characters I did not feel connection to anyone in the story.
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC that was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

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Rating: 3.8

I found this story on NetGalley and was excited to find a new thriller in the "Read Now" section. I am a thriller reader at heart, and anytime I can find a new author or a good story, I'm up for giving it a try – as I did with this story.

The story centers on the Sullivan family, who own a campground in a remote part of Australia. As they prepare for the grand opening, their long-time family friends join them for a pre-opening weekend. However, the joyous occasion turns tragic when the Sullivans’ teenage daughter, Evie, goes missing during a hike, prompting a frantic search party (and cue the title).

As the search intensifies, more drama comes to light, including strained relationships between the Sullivans and their neighbor, Mr. Michael Hyland, and his son, Andy. But there's more than just the neighbors – with a secret crush and a devastating secret about Evie (TW), there are even more layers of mystery to unravel in the search for the missing girl. Focusing on loss and grief and untangling secrets, the different perspectives in each chapter and the complex dynamics between each character lead to a multifaceted resolution.

I rather enjoyed how Richell shifted perspectives through each chapter and loved how my own 'gut' turned out to be right! While this story wasn't one that I fell in love with, it was a good read that kept me engaged. Despite the multitude of characters and locations, I was able to keep everything straight, and it helped that I read it quickly (only one day!).

Thanks to NetGalley and Hannah Richell, in collaboration with Atria, for providing me with a copy so that I could provide an honest review prior to the publish date!

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This novel was interesting in that the build up was amazing, but I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. The build up of everyone having an issue with each other fueled my desire to find out exactly what happened and who caused it, but ultimately it fell kind of flat. I'd recommend this novel for those who want a "friends with friction" type of drama-thriller.

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Lots of twists and turns here, and I loved the multiple viewpoints. Everyone has an agenda, everyone has secrets. A wild ride!

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There were far too many POVs in this novel. Not really any characters were that great, I ended up not finishing this novel. I held on until about 30% than I just couldn’t finish

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An idyllic glamping weekend in Cornwall turns nightmarish in Richell’s tense thriller.

It’s the May Day holiday weekend. Max and Annie Kingsley have invited old college friends Dominic Davies, Kira de Silva, Jim Miller, and Suze Miller, along with their families, down to the Cornish coast for the soft launch of their new Wildernest glamping business. Not long before, much to the surprise of the old gang, the couple abandoned their London careers as successful architects in search of a quieter life with Kip, their adopted 12-year-old son. The six friends had last seen each other at Kira’s 40th birthday party more than a year earlier, and unresolved tensions raised by Kira’s angry meltdown that night simmer beneath the surface of a cheery reunion. But after Dominic violently breaks up an altercation between Kip and Phoebe, his 6-year-old daughter, over a purloined marshmallow, the mood among the adults darkens along with the weather. Ominous clouds soon break into a ferocious storm that cuts the group off from outside help just as secrets are revealed and one of the party's members disappears. While this scenario has been used many times before (see Sean Dolittle’s Device Free Weekend, 2023), Richell’s fifth novel cleverly plants numerous red herrings and skillfully juggles the multiple points of view and timelines to build white-knuckled suspense and keep readers guessing. The wild Cornish landscape adds to the eerie mood. With the character of Kip, the author could easily have relied on the troubled-adoptee-who-wants-to-destroy-his-family trope but instead, she draws a sensitive portrait of an abused, misunderstood child and the adoptive parents who struggle to love him.

An engrossing, twisty read.

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The Search Party was told in multiple POV. It kept the story very interesting through out. Old friends are reunited to “Glamp” then issues arise with the children and then the adults. Tensions are high when a child goes missing and a body is found. The author was great at building suspense.

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This locked-room mystery is told from multiple points of view, moving between the police investigation, a hospital room, and the weekend itself. It is atmospheric and intense, keeping you on the edge of your seat. All their lives are changed by the events that happen and not all for the better. Highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the opportunity to read this for an honest review.

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Thank you NetGalley for this arch!

Rating: 3.4 stars

This was a fun one, filled with twists and turns. The only thing that took away from the rating was the confusing beginning. I was lost for a while before I finally caught up on things that had me confused. Other than that, this kept me guessing and on my toes! Good book!

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Plenty of drama and secrets with this one!
I did get lost during the first few chapters until I had sorted out who was who.
I think Richell threw just about every twist and turn she could on her characters.
It was nerve wracking to read from the comfort of my couch.
And this is why I swear for hotel “camping”

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4.5 stars - I picked this book up based off of the above premise alone. I am an absolute sucker for the phrase locked-room mystery although I would argue that it doesn't really apply here. But that's neither here nor there. It's what made me pick this book up - that and the promise of a huge storm (another of my buzz words with mysteries). And to be honest I'm so glad that I read this one as I really enjoyed it. Within the beginning pages of this book the reader learns a few things: one that the weekend went unexpectedly and horribly wrong somehow and also that someone is in the hospital. But you don't know who or what exactly happened, and the story really goes from there peeling back both the past and present. The story goes back and forth between the different characters that were there that weekend while telling the story of what exactly happened. It helped that there was a character list at the beginning which helped me keep track of who was who. I was completely hooked the entire time! I feel like looking back I should have suspected more of what happened but I really didn't. I was just along for the ride that the author was taking me on. And what a ride it was!

Readers who enjoy suspenseful, page turning reads need to give this book a try. Overall, I ended up giving this one 4.5 stars and hope that more readers find it. It's one of those books that has really stuck with me weeks later.

CW- Suicide, child abuse

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