Max and Annie have left the London with their twelve year old son, Kip, to set up a glamping site in the wilds of Cornwall. They want to do a dry run before their grand opening so they invite three old university friends and their families for a long needed reunion. Tensions arise between the children (and their parents), leading to explosive secrets being revealed. A sudden storm moves in, cutting the group off from outside help as one of their group members disappears.

This is the first novel I've read by Hannah and I absolutely adored it. I loved that there's a character legend at the beginning of the book to give further context to who the characters are and how they relate to other characters within the story. This was an excellent addition, making all the characters presented less confusing. I also loved the map included at the beginning of the book, helping the setting solidify in my mind.

I thought the setting of this isolated glamping site was fantastic. The storm added to the suspense and tension, making this a very atmospheric read.

THE SEARCH PARTY is told in multiple POVs, alternating in various timelines before, during, and after the disappearance. I thought that this was really well done, keeping certain aspects of the story in mystery and thus adding to the suspense as the story gets pieced together. I will say that I found Kip's perspective to use vocabulary and make observations that felt somewhat advanced for a child.

I was quickly gripped by the story, ever curious as what will occur and how it all happens. I had a couple of hunches that were only semi-correct. I love a good twist so was excited to see that I wasn't entirely on the right track!

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher, Atria Books, of this advanced digital copy for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review! All opinions shared are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and the author for the digital ARC of this book!

This was a good read! I particularly enjoyed the detail ascribed to developing each of the characters' personalities and growth arcs. I felt so bad for Kip and wanted to strangle Dom from the start ugh!

I love a good twisty plot and this definitely had that too! I did find that the plot got a bit chaotic but it all came together and wrapped up nicely in the end. It was a quick read - it could have perhaps been longer, but I also appreciate that the author didn't draw it out.

Overall a good, quick read with lots of twists and a unique plot. Would recommend!

Just finished reading the book “The Search Party” by Hannah Richell.

This book starts out with what appears to be a murder.

A group of university friends get together for a mini reunion. They have been doing this for about 20 years and this time their families (children included) are also at the reunion.

As the book progresses we know a crime has been committed. Each chapter is a different character talking to the police and reliving the events. Each chapter is a flashback of how the weekend is going without discussing the actual crime. It gives us an insight into each character and still keeps us guessing as to the crime and the person involved as a victim and who committed this crime.

As some secrets are revealed, others are not. What you think is true, is confusing. This book really keeps you guessing until the end. Very hard to put down. I recommend it!

I grabbed this one before even checking the synopsis because the cover was gorgeous and was giving me such dark, isolated vibes. Cornwall seems to be such a great location for this reunion go wrong, locked room mystery.

Max and Annie and their adopted son Kip left London for Cornish countryside for a fresh start. In order to do a test run of their new glamping business they invite a group of their old Uni friends for a weekend reunion. First a fight between kids, then an intense storm, take the weekend into a much darker direction than any of them expected.

What I loved:
✏️ reunion gone wrong + locker room mystery combo
✏️ Kip and the way complexities of adoption were tackled in the story
✏️ beautiful location filled with danger
✏️ police investigation aspect of the story
✏️ pacing was great, finished it in less than a day

I felt like pages kept turning themselves while I was reading this one. Unlikable characters, secrets, even the twist I saw coming - they all made for a fun, enjoyable read! Hannah Richell is definitely on my reading radar now!

Rating: 4.5 stars rounded up to 5

A big thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I quite enjoyed reading this book. It was a thrilling read.

The first bit of it felt a touch slow, but that might have also been my mood. But the last two thirds were riveting and I couldn’t stop.

When I thought it was going to be predictable, there was another twist that I didn’t see coming.

An ARC was provided by NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada in exchange for an honest review.

A fast-paced read that grabs you on the first page and is powered by non-stop action and a taut, emotional narrative Her well-developed characters and wonderful writing style, full of twists and turns, will keep you on the edge of your seat from the first page, trying to anticipate where this story would go. This is a definite page-turner that I couldn’t put down until the very last page. It is realistic with engaging characters that you're sure to love! A surprising twist at the end gives the story a very satisfying end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada who provided me with a copy of this book. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

This book was a decent read. Overall, the premise, the setting and the writing were all good. I just did not enjoy the characters. It just felt like too many nasty people and the overall vibe is just too cynical, which is something I generally don't love in thrillers.

Thank you Simon and Schuster for the advanced reader copy.

Oh.my.gosh. Hannah Richell's new novel, The Search Party makes for absolutely riveting reading! I truly could not put it down.

Why? The premise for starters. A group of old friends and their children gather at a glamping site that one of the couples is starting. At first glance, all is well with the friends. But a closer look shows up the cracks in all of the relationships. Richell's characters are a mixed bunch. It was easy to pick favorites - and just as easy to identify the one I despised.

One person in the group goes missing. And so goes begins the search party.

But what hooked me is how the story is told. Richell uses one of my favorite methods - then and now. In this case it's before the 'event' and afterwards, as the police try to figure out what happened. There are many points of view. But who can we trust? The book brings to mind a 'locked room' mystery. I had my suspicions, but I was happily wrong! I appreciate being able to name the whodunit.

Richell is so very clever at how she manipulates the reader's perceptions. The pronoun they is used - making it impossible to know if it's a male or female character. As readers, we have information that the police don't. Will they deduce the perpetrator before it's too late? I'll let you discover this one yourself. An easy five stars and absolutely recommended.

College friends gather together for a long weekend at one couples new glamping site. Bringing together old friends, new partners and their children, bring secrets and feelings to the forefront, and when a storm strands them for a night, are they safe together?

Told between the weekend events and chatting with the police on Sunday evening, this story jumps right in. I found myself captivated. I wanted to keep reading to find out the juicy details of their secrets, along with what happened over the weekend. Fast paced and well written I had a hard time putting this one down.

I found it did jump right in, with minimal introduction to characters or situations at the start, and since there are so many characters it was hard for the first few chapters. As we learn who people are and their relationships it got easier to differentiate. There is a small introduction to characters at the start but that is simply family names and ages and wasn’t enough.

An idyllic weekend “glamping” getaway turns into a nightmarish experience for a group of friends and their families.

Okay so this is quite the novel, it starts off with a bang and then keeps rolling right along until the end. I read it in one sitting and didn’t find it predictable—although in hindsight I might have missed a few clues along the way. The red herrings thrown into the mix and the style of writing made for an entertaining and engaging read overall. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys suspense.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for providing me with an ARC of this novel. All of the opinions offered in this review are solely my own.

The Search Party, by Hannah Richell
Out now!

“Five old friends. One glamping weekend. A storm that will change everything.”

The Search Party had all the elements I love in a good suspense and popcorn thriller:
📚 A great pace
📕 Shorter chapters
📖 Psychological twists and turns that play on your emotions and have you second guessing
📚 Clear definition of characters and plot
📕 Atmospheric tension
📖 Great use of POV changes

This is my first book by Richelle and I was really impressed by her depth as a writer. The cast of characters was long and at the beginning I wondered how I would keep them sorted. That worry was soon lost as Richell made each voice distinct and vivid.
The plot and sub-plots were well crafted having me turn pages well into the night!

Thank you Simon and Schuster and Atria books and NetGalley for my digital copy.

I loved this engaging, action packed, and suspenseful read! The isolated setting and the storm really helped ratchet up the tension. All of the secrets, twists and lies really made this a fun read. This is one book that you won't want to miss.

Before starting The Search Party, I had thought I wasn’t really in the mood for a thriller. Oh, how silly of me! But perhaps we can forgive my mistake as I hadn’t read a book by @hannahrichell before, and so, I wasn’t aware of the incredible reading experience ahead of me.

I had such a great time reading this book! The first half I read in one sitting and I would have stayed put and read through to the end if it been within my power. And let me tell you, I resented every interruption while I was reading the intense second half!

A group of old university friends with partners and children in tow converge on a remote peninsula in Cornwall for what promises to be a weekend to remember. But with long-held secrets bursting to get out and tension bubbling below the surface, a figurative storm brews even as a literal one appears on the horizon and the group have no idea just how memorable this weekend is going to be.

Told from multiple perspectives, and jumping forward and back in time, this book is a propulsive read about how far the bonds of friendship will go before they break and how far parents will go to protect their children.

I will definitely be looking out for more of Hannah Richell’s books in future and I cannot wait for my husband to read this one. I know he will love it and I’m dying to talk about the ending with someone!

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for providing me with a copy of this book through NetGalley It was such a treat to discover a new favourite suspense writer.

I love storylines that take place over two time periods, so you're trying to piece together the mystery in the past with the information that you know from the present. That can sometimes end up spoiling things, but Hannah Richell did a great job of avoiding too many spoilers.

We knew who had gone missing but not when or how. We get the mystery of what happened that night in the storm throughout the book, with bits of the mystery unveiled in the present day from the police investigations. It's written in a smart way to draw you in.

The characters are flawed, and I appreciate that. Some of them I didn't care too much about. In fact, I disliked them from the second we met them. I would have loved to learn more about Kira. She was my favorite.

Wow, this book was pretty great and I enjoyed it very much. I got instantly sucked in for sure. There is a roller coaster of emotions in this one. I loved how there's a lot of details and twists and turns that you don't expect. In this book there are a lot of characters pov which can get a little confusing also with the back stories. But they are so worth it. I really enjoyed the author's writing style and the setting for the story. The mystery is really kept till the end and so interesting. It will totally keep you on the edge of your seat and wanting more.

If you loved THE GUEST LIST by Lucy Foley, then you'll also love THE SEARCH PARTY by Hannah Richell. Stranded in a remote location due to a wicked storm, with no power and practically no running water, a group of 40-something friends + their children learn a LOT about each other. And that's putting it mildly. The drama that takes place in this book is messy and chaotic, but in the best way. Nothing felt farfetched, and mostly all of the encounters and conversations between the characters felt organic.

The author has you legitimately hooked from the very beginning, and you spend most of the book trying to put all the pieces together. I thought I had it figured out numerous times, and although I figured it out (basically at the same time we're told) I loved it. I loved having all the different POVs because you constantly knew what was going on, but at the same time you know nothing, if that makes sense!

I highly recommend this book if you're looking for a quick getaway into someone else's drama. You will struggle to put it down. I'd like to thank Simon & Schuster, as well as NetGalley, for optioning THE SEARCH PARTY as a 'Read Now' title!

A spellbinding locked-room mystery about a glamping trip gone horribly wrong when a powerful storm leaves the participants stranded and forced to confront long-held secrets and a shocking disappearance.

Alright - what a ride this one is. Max & Annie invite their friends of 20+ years to visit their new home in Cornwall where they have taken a disused farm and converted it into the perfect glamping experience. You can get back to nature, but also have a shower and relax in a hot tub. It's the perfect setting for college friends to get together with their respective families and have a fun long weekend together... or so you think.

The story starts at the end and works its way through as our detectives are trying to piece together the fateful events that happen as a large storm hits the coast. As we hear the story from everyone's perspective, we discover secrets coming to light, undisclosed feelings and lies between the oldest of friends and the realisation that maybe some friendships have an expiration date.

I loved that we don't quite have all the details and have to discover the clues as we move along in the timeline to figure out what has actually happened.

I felt the way that the character of Kip was managed was quite delicate, but still seemed to hinge on the fact that "quirky" kids must be prone to violence. We have a few other cliches, the typical stepmom with botox, the hippy mom with her yoga clothes and homemade breads and oats, the sullen teenage daughter trying to find cell phone service and the hot farmhand, helping everyone to survive the storm.

All in all it was a great thriller and a fun mystery - would recommend to anyone who likes Lucy Foley and Megan Miranda - similar vibes for sure.

I am always intrigued by stories that follow an adult friend group that is trying to stay connected. This group is getting together for a weekend in a more emote location for the weekend and things go expectedly poorly.

I found that it took me a long time to get into this one because there were so many POVs and I didn’t find the writing to be very clear between past and present. There was never a distinction and it all ran together as the story unfolded so I found it kept getting pulled out of the story as I was either trying to remember who the character the chapter was about or doing checking the timeline.

A lot of the twists were predictable but I also found by the end I was invested and quit enjoyed the story overall.

4.5 Stars! With a full cast of characters and a lot of POVs I was a little confused for the first bit of this novel but the author does a great job at giving everyone their own unique voices which set them apart. After the first quarter of the book, I was hooked! I enjoyed all the POVs (even the kids 😂), and was genuinely interested in their drama. I really liked the way you got to see the same events from multiple, very different perspectives. It gave me a sort of fly on the wall experience while still never being sure who was actually telling the truth.

The author utilizes two timelines in a really interesting way, with a past-present tense as characters are answering an investigators questions after the crazy events of the past weekend. I felt this added a lot to the slowly building suspense, as I knew (or thought I might know) the fate of some characters right from the get go. I was constantly wondering what was going to happen, making guesses along the way and reveling in the breakdown of the weekend getaway and the relationships within.

The writing was also really good as a whole. The setting was vivid and captivating and the relationships between our old college friends were well built and realistic.

While this is a locked room mystery, it doesn't follow all the typical plot points and pacing. It felt fresh and fun, with a good combination of mystery, suspense, and family drama. The author was able to do something different here that I greatly appreciated.


Thank you to Net Galley and Atria Books for providing me with this ARC.

I love a good reunion centered plot and this one is just that. However, because of the number of POVs and dual timelines, this one takes a lot of concentration to keep everything straight and that in turn slowed the pacing way down. Glad I read it but won’t be the first book I recommend