Nice murder mystery thriller. I loved that each character of the audio book is narrated by a different person. Four life long women friends, a French Chateau, a holiday to reminisce. Sounds lovely. Until murder and a multitude of secrets has them second guessing if ‘friend’ is even close to being the right word. I chose to ignore the seeming lack of urgency amongst the characters and the Gendarmes, that one of the Chateau’s occupants is the murderer, because the whole audio book experience was so good, and as my daughter would say “It’s fiction”. Thank you to Bolinda Audio and NetGalley for the audio ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

I liked the idea of this book and I enjoyed the narrators. However, I didn’t really enjoy the story overall. Some of the ideas were brilliant (the link to the holocaust) which is what kept me listening to the end. I didn’t like any of the characters though. I’ve never met so many whiny, boring people in one book. I was also very surprised, once I’d finished listening, to find the page count was only 336. It felt as though I had been listening to this forever. Two stars for the narration, but I don’t recommend the story. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers.

My favourite thing about this audiobook was the full cast reading. Every chapter followed a different character and was voiced by a different actor, as someone who can struggle with just names sometimes I found it made the characters easier to track while also really adding depth to the story.

The story itself was your typical whodunnit-but-still-in-danger thriller. There was nothing particularly wrong with it but it's felt pretty standard in the thriller genre. I enjoyed the atmosphere that setting it in the French countryside added and was pleased that the French characters were portrayed by French voice actors.

There are a few twists and turns but only one at the very end really startled me.

I loved listening to this thriller. Set in France in a Chateau, 4 friends 40 or about to turn 40, their equations and a thread that binds them in different ways. I enjoyed it. I could picture the women, the Chateau and everything that was happening.

I'm so glad I requested this. Bolinda audiobooks are always so good. I know they won't disappoint and I'm glad I always request for them. Please give this a listen. You won't be disappointed.

This is definitely one of my favourite books of the year! The characters were well-developed and interesting (and each with their own secrets too!), the plot was engaging and full of twists, and the pacing of the story was the perfect mixture of not being rushed while still keeping you on the edge of your seat. Time and time again I was convinced that I had figured out the murderer and their motive, and time and time again I was proven wrong. The character's lives are all intrinsically mixed and the grand reveal was both satisfying and shocking. I also have to give major credit to the narrators because they played each character perfectly! The only aspect of this audiobook that I did not like was the final chapter after the truth came out and the dust settled. Personally, I felt that the author perhaps didn't know how to end the book, hence the ending that is given, because the final scene felt completely unnecessary and almost acted as the first chapter of a sequel, which doesn't seem possible given that there are no longer any loose ends (also, I felt that the question character A acted character B has a very obvious answer, since for all of their failings, character B would never do that to character C). Asides from these last few minutes, however, this audiobook is without a doubt a brilliant story and definitely one that I'll be recommending to anyone who cares to listen!

I think for 90% of this book, both I, and the characters forgot it was a murder mystery.
It had all the drama, lies, secrets and the odd reference to a dead body.
It had several implausible lines, the banging on about being best friends being the biggest.
This is how you are with your best friends???

It's an enjoyable enough listen, and then the ending feels like a whole different book.
It's wild in comparison, and actually good fun. It really upped my enjoyment of the book.
The narration was good, though it took me a while to tell the difference between each of the characters.

This book has been all over social media and I was intrigued. A glamorous chateau in Provence, France and the murder of the lady of the house, Seraphine. Deep dark family secrets, yes please.

The audiobook was so well done, a full cast narration really helped with so many different characters. They all did an amazing job and really made the story come to life.

I liked the Van Gogh and holocaust storylines. It was unique and interesting to read about.

The main characters were all pretty unlikeable. I did not warm to any of them, any of them could have been the killer. The friendships were not real, they were meant to be friends for so long, but some things that happened did not fit in with this.

It was a long set up to get to the crux of the story. It was an enjoyable read but was lacking in some parts.

thanks to Bolinda and NetGalley for my advanced listening copy

This was a great, full cast production on a suspense filled, intriguing mystery. It’s the kind of audiobook that super easy to listen to as all of the narrators bring life to their respective characters. With spot on French accents and acting, I really loved the audiobook, but I did struggle to engage with the story as a whole.

From the start, the author lays foundations for intrigue to come. It was a slow starter and we steadily get to the main meat of the story with séraphine who is found quite brutally murdered. It felt quite long and slow in the building up but once you get there, you’ll be intrigued to keep listening to want to know what/how/when/who and to see where the story is headed.

I remained quite far removed from all the characters and didn’t have much of an attachment to them but I did enjoy getting to know aspects of their lives throughout, and how it would all thread together by the end.

Occasionally I did a brain wander here and there, as it felt so filled with pre information and build up before the murder, I was eager to get on with the main plot. I did struggle to really ‘get into it’ but the narrators were all absolutely fab and it was a great production audiobook wise. The story itself though left me a little flat but could not fault the audio!

The story I encountered had a multitude of themes, but unfortunately, I struggled to establish a meaningful connection. The narrative took a twisted turn that left me perplexed, and the underlying reasons driving the plot lacked the necessary credibility to be fully engaging. On a positive note, the audio rendition of the story was a pleasant experience, offering an enjoyable listening session. However, my true struggle lay in relating to the characters who seemed to lack depth and authenticity. In summary, while the audio aspect provided some respite, the overall execution of the story's themes and character development left much to be desired.

Two decades after a group of young friends spent time in France together, an opportunity comes up for a reunion for the foursome at the lavish home of the grandmother of one of the girls, Darcy.

While the reasons behind the invitation aren't entirely clear, the opportunity to enjoy the holiday of a lifetime - indulging in wine tours, foodie excesses, and hedonistic tourism in a beautiful locale - is not to be missed.

But sinister aspects to the trip soon begin to emerge, making it increasingly obvious that each woman has her own complicated reasons for being there.

And things soon come to a head when, out of the blue, Darcy's grandmother is shockingly a victim of murder. It comes on the heels of a night of celebration, leaving everyone utterly bewildered.

As the younger women are trying to get to grips with the situation, it becomes clear that there is more at play here then anyone could have imagined.

Unless they can solve the mystery of the killing in time, there is no telling what might happen next...

This is an entertaining story, which transports the reader to the olive orchards of Provence. There is some repetition in the storytelling from the multiple points of view which is tiresome, and the story does attempt to pack in perhaps too many ideas.

But there are some interesting touches - for example, the references to the Holocaust and to Vincent van Gogh's life and work. Also, the way that the trust breaks down between the friends after the murder, and the secrets that they are all concealing from each other, keeps things lively.

Under the circumstances, I thought that the narrator of the audiobook did a pretty good job of separating the protagonists - not an easy task in a book with this many characters! The narrator was also able to convey some of the suspense in the storytelling reasonably effectively.

I requested this audiobook because I saw so many booktubers reading it. They didn’t really like it but I still wanted to see for myself (also very much wanted to judge the french) and oh boy were they correct.
First I want to say that the audiobook is full cast and I think that one of the narrators is actually french and if they’re not their fake french accent was on point, the other narrators’ french accent weren’t (it was really painful to listen to)
I did not really like the plot of the story, a lot of things were way too obvious and the major clue on what a lot of things were based on does not make any sense in french. I understand that most of the characters are not french and wouldn’t have caught on that but the one “giving” the clue was and that’s all that matters to me. I was pleasantly surprised to hear some “putain” and not “sacré bleu” so that’s a bonus point in my book.
To sum up my thoughts, I wont remember this book in two days time and I dont really recommend it except if you dont usually read thrillers and want to be introduced to the genre.