I love how the backstories of each family slowly unfolded, and the layers of mystery and secrets that surround this group and location. The setting had me hooked! Moody and mysterious!

Max and Annie Kingsley are unhappy with their hectic life in London, so they move to Cornwall to start a “glamping” business. Things are looking up for the couple and their adopted son, Kip, is also doing better in this new environment. Before their grand opening, Max and Annie invite their old university friends and their families for a trial run. With the exception of the limited cell phone and internet service, their friends are impressed with how nice everything is. However, not everyone is getting along - tempers start to flare and explosive secrets could come out. It gets worse when an incident happens between the children and now a storm comes in, putting more than one person in the group in danger.

I enjoyed this destination thriller/family drama. This is the first book I’ve read by this author, but I like her writing style. The story is told from multiple points-of-view at a few different times throughout the weekend. Not all of the characters are likable and my opinion of a few of them keeps changing as more revelations occur. The story takes a bit to get going, but becomes very tense and suspenseful as the storm starts moving into the area. It soon becomes clear that something terrible happens, but you’re not sure what it is or who the victim is. I was able to guess a few of the plot twists, but there were still a few surprises to keep me guessing. I was entertained by this story and liked the way things wrapped up at the end. Overall, it’s an enjoyable and satisfying book.

I received this ebook from NetGalley through the courtesy of Atria Books. An advance copy was provided to me at no cost, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

Max and Annie are enjoying their quiet, remote life now that they have left London with their son to open a glamping site. To test out their site before opening they invite their college friends and their families for a weekend of fun and bonding. Tensions and secrets start boiling over as a powerful storm hits the area and leaves them stranded with no power and no way out as one of the children go missing. Will they be able to find them in time or will their past mistakes prove deadly?

This book is filled with tension in the best way. I was worried at first because it does start off a bit slow and there are lots of characters to learn about but the buildup was needed and much appreciated. Once it starts going though, hold on for the wild ride this book takes you on. Told from multiple POVs and timelines this book keeps you guessing and gave me little panic attacks thinking about what would I do to save my child. I can totally see this getting turned into a movie!

So many twists in this book - had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I loved the premise of a glamping weekend with old friends and their families, gone horribly wrong.

I was worried about the number of characters and thinking I’d get confused trying to keep track of them all, but the author did a great job developing them and letting the reader get to know each one with their perspectives in different chapters.

Really enjoyed this and would highly recommend! Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for the ARC. 🙏

THE SEARCH PARTY was hard to put down. I enjoyed the plot and the multiple POV's. It will not be a story I will soon forget.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for my gifted copy. I will be recommending THE SEARCH PARTY to my customers.

I was really intrigued by the premise of the plot! I love a good locked room mystery. I wish the author gave us a little bit more in terms of the plot. I also thought there were too many POVs - not enough time to really develop the POVs for all of the characters used. The end was fairly predictable and I didn't love the Josh's sister/Dominic storyline, felt myself skimming a lot of the text towards the end. Overall, I liked it, didn't love it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for this advance read. The book started strong for me. The only issue was the amount of characters but I was able to handle it due to the character list. I think the book was quite good but it may be a bit too long and it was extended by the amount of characters and that was a bit odd for me.

DNF at 25%. This definitely might have just been a case of the wrong time for me to try this one. Home sick with a miserable head cold I thought I would love to get lost in a locked room mystery. Unfortunately - this wasn’t it for me. There are many different character POVs and different timelines and I’m finding it hard to care much about any of it. This feels so similar to so many things I’ve read before and my overwhelming feeling is I just don’t care. Note: as I said at the start this could definitely be coming from the fact that I’m generally sick and miserable at the moment so ymmv. Thank you to the publisher, Netgalley and Librofm for the free ebook and audiobook to review.

🎧: The Search Party by Hannah Richell (@hannahrichell)
⭐️: 4/5

A reunion destination thriller set among a group of longtime friends with a weekend that goes terribly wrong.

Max and Annie left the city with their son, Kip, to the countryside where they - of all things - decide to open a glamping site. (Is a glamping campsite called a glamp-site? I digress…) When their friends and their families arrive for a glamping getaway, the secrets start to unravel quickly, ending in disappearance and death.

At first glance, I was concerned with the extensive character list at the start of this book, but Richell was able to get all the narratives in without confusion. The ending, while predictable as it approached, was still completely captivating and a stay-up-late-to-finish kind of page turner.

Big thanks to @atriabooks via @netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for a honest review. The Search Party is out on January 16th!

Max and Annie have moved on from London to start a glamping business in the wilds of Cornwall. With their business nearly ready, they invite a group of their friends and their kids along for a test run. As the weather turns and isolation creeps in, one of their own goes missing…

THE SEARCH PARTY by Hannah Richell is a destination thriller that dives into old friendships and the lengths a parent will go through to protect their child.

This is my first read by Richell and it pulled me in immediately!

The atmosphere really built an eerie tone and the rotating POVs and mixing in of the police investigation kept me wanting to read more.

By the end, I did feel the “destination” aspect of this book wasn’t utilized as much as it could have been and some of the story choices didn’t fully click, but it was an intriguing read regardless!

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Publication Date: January 16

This one started out stronger than it finished. What began as an interesting premise ended up a convoluted and rather corny plot. Not recommended.

The Search Party by Hannah Richell is a highly recommended mystery. This locked-room thriller is part mystery and part procedural that gets better with each chapter.

A group of old friends are going to a glamping site for a reunion weekend. Max and Annie Kingsley with their twelve-year-old son Kip have left London and are setting up a glamping site/business named Wildernest in Cornwall. They have invited their old university friends, Dominic Davies (with his wife Tanya), Kira de Silva (with partner Frank), Jim Miller, and Suze Miller along with everyone's children join them for the long May Day weekend. Their last reunion was tense, but everyone is hopeful this will be better until tensions arise the first night when a misunderstanding between children causes Dominic to lose his temper and he holds on to his anger. The weekend heads downhill from this.

The Search Party opens with a map of the area and a list of characters. The characters are all quite distinctive as individuals, so it is easy to differentiate between them. An ominous foreboding atmosphere is set at the opening of the novel where a young woman is planning to jump off a cliff. The locked room aspect sets in immediately because when guests arrive they learn that there is no phone reception. Then later a storm rolls in, cutting power and access off. The procedural elements are found in the narrative, which allows the story to unfold between current questioning by police and past recounts of what happened during the weekend.

Because the answers to all your questions are slowly revealed during police questioning of each character and the story of what happened is told incrementally through the viewpoint of each character, the pace is slow until later in the narrative. The charged, tense atmosphere, however, begins early on. Knowing that something awful is going to happen (Someone is unconscious in the hospital) and waiting to pick up clues and hints as they are slowly revealed about the events from the weekend is part of the enjoyment. However, as I was reading I did question why these friends from 20 years ago still have such a strong bond when they really don't all seem to like each other that much.
Richell uses the locked-room plot device to a good effect and The Search Party is enjoyable. Disclosure: My complimentary review copy was courtesy of Atria Books.
The review will be published on NetGalley, Barnes & Noble, Edelweiss, X, and Amazon.

Thanks to Atria for the eARC.
If you like a good locked room mystery on a remote coastline, might I recommend this one. A group of friends in their 40s decided to camp together for a weekend, and things go very wrong. Richell was a master here at creating suspense and leaving the reader wanting more. I did not figure things out, and was shocked by the ending. There are quite a few people to keep track of in the beginning but as time goes on, it was easy to remember which person went with what family. There is a lot of history between these characters and it was interesting to see how cracks start to form. If you're looking for a perfect rainy atmosphere read, this one will fit the bill.

This was a delightful thriller, and although the “bad guy” was fairly expected, there were enough surprises along the way to keep me invested, I was concerned at the start of this read that I would struggle to keep the expansive cast straight, but the author did a great job helping the reader (me!) along. I particularly enjoyed the multiple timelines as well as multi-POV. Overall, a solid 4 star thriller.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a fast paced thriller that I enjoyed. I liked the multiple POVs and how it included some of the kids and not just the adults. I enjoyed being in the heads of all these different characters and the small time jump around from when the police showed up to the beginning of the weekend. This is a good read for a cold and stormy winter night!

As much as I love a locked room book, I found The Search Party fell flat. I did enjoy the multiple POVs and the different timelines but for the most part I found it a little too repetitive and easy to guess the villain. I found there were too many unnecessary characters with subplots. However, I did think Richell managed to save the thriller with the ending which was satisfying. As well, I loved the glamping Cornwall setting and I appreciated some of her red herrings and twists. Overall this was just a standard middle of the road read for me so I give it a 3 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this eARC that will be released Jan 16 2024.

Glamping? What a fancy term. Who would have thought of something like that?

Overall, I enjoyed this book. Multiple POVs, which I always enjoyed, and multiple timelines.
Suspenseful and kept me interested from beginning to end.

Thank you Atria Books and Netgalley for the free advanced book, in exchange for an honest review.

This was the first book I’ve read by Hannah Richell and it did not disappoint! The book is about a group of friends (who met in college) getting their families together for a glamping weekend which goes wrong. The relationship dynamics were illustrated perfectly from the children to the adults and the way they all interacted with one another. I was definitely able to connect with the characters which is really important for me to get into a book. I did enjoy that the story was told a little at a time from the perspectives of different characters to get the big picture. I did predict who the “bad guy” was, but it didn’t take away from the story in any way. I liked that there were several story lines going on at the same time because it helped draw me into the story even more. The were some cliché bits, but it didn’t take away from the story too terribly much. I can’t wait to dive into some of the author’s other books!

Thanks to Atria Books for granting access to the ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

I have to admit that I guessed what was going on pretty early on in the book, but even though I was pretty sure I was right, it didn't diminish from the suspense and enjoyment of the story. I enjoyed the multiple perspectives in the story telling and how the story moved around in time to reveal different parts of the story piece by piece. The setting was perfect for the story and for building tension. The majority of the characters were flawed in one way or another, yet still sympathetic. I flew through this one and found it engaging, interesting, and suspenseful. Good thriller!

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for the opportunity to read The Search Party early.

This book was definitely a good read. I loved how Hannah built up the suspense, doubt & questions in this book, and even had my heart racing for the whole second half of the book! The book was well written & the characters were well developed.

If you enjoy Lucy Foley & Ruth Ware, I'd say you should look into reading this book by Hannah Richell! I look forward to reading more books by this author.