Wanted to be riveted to your seat and never know where a book is going to lead you? Then this is the book for you. Half way through I thought for sure I knew what was going to happen. Was I ever off!

A thriller/mystery set in a rural region of Cornwall with a group of friends, who really aren’t that nice to each other. What could go wrong?

If you are a thriller or mystery lover then I would definitely pick up this one!

Thank you to @netgalley, and @simonschusterca for the opportunity to read the advanced copy of this book. Thank you to @hannahrichell for writing a book I enjoyed reading.

The Search Party is a atmospheric tense read that keeps you guessing and turning those pages as quickly as you can.

Four college friends are getting together for a reunion at a remote glamping spot owned by one of the couples.

One child goes missing and the tension mounts.

Secrets are revealed.

Feelings held back for years come to the surface.

Someone is lying.

All are hiding something.

What would you do to protect the ones you love?

The story is told from multiple POVs and this works very well.

This is my first book by Hannah Richell but it certainly wont be my last.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada, Simon & Schuster for a spellbinding read.

2.5 stars
It always feels crummy to leave a lower review for an ARC, but honesty is also key. I think this could be enjoyable for someone newer to the mystery/thriller genre, but for me it felt too similar to too many other books I’ve read with nothing that stood out, or made it memorable. A group of people, all with secrets, all selfish, in a remote place when a storm comes in and they’re trapped but also trying to figure out what happened. Unfortunately I’ve read it before. For me, when I don’t particularly care for a single character and get all of the perspectives, and they’re all selfish, it takes all of the stakes out of the narrative and makes the plot plod on. I’m sad to say that this just didn’t work, for me.

Thank you to Net Galley for proving me with the opportunity to read the eARC and provide my genuine review.

📚 BOOK REVIEW

⭐️⭐️

In "The Search Party," a group of old university friends and their children reunite for a glamping weekend that quickly goes awry.

The book's prologue throws readers into the action, but the next dozen or so chapters are dragged down by a confusingly large number of characters and their mostly uninteresting drama. The story eventually picks up, though the frequent jumps between past and present made it difficult for me to get fully immersed in either timeline.

Overall, I found the book disappointing. It's more of a family drama than a thriller.

Thank you Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for sending me this book for review consideration.

Publication Date: Jan. 16, 2024

A twisty page turner that has you questioning every characters motive.
I really enjoyed the way the author wrote this story. With all the different POVs and time stamps. It felt like watching a movie and pulled me into the novel quickly.
I spent most of the book being like “okay it’s obvious who didn’t do it” and then thinking I knew the whodunnit and was pleasantly surprised with that last final twist at the end.
The atmospheric writing of the peninsula added to the story. It was a character itself.
Usually when children are used in a thriller plot I’m left feeling very uncomfortable, with this author however she did it in a way that the children’s trauma and roles were not a shock factor but more to move the plot along and show the true colors of the adults around them.
A really great quick read. I will be checking out more from this author

A captivating twist on the "locked room" mystery unfolds as college friends and their families find themselves isolated in a new Glamping site during a storm. The narrative weaves in an engaging exploration of the age-old nature vs. nurture debate commonly found in literature.

his is a story of a group of friends that met in college, twenty years later, meet to camp, er glamping, for a long weekend in the wilds of Cornwall England, with their significant others and children. Just below the surface tensions are boiling. Drugs, alcohol and unforeseen events cause things to get out of hand. While I enjoyed many of the characters portrayed in the book, I am not a big fan of the holding-back-of-details as plot. Though thoroughly annoyed at first, as slowing was given enough details to figure out what was going, through the character named chapters and the police interviews, I enjoyed the story and the various characters. This is a fairly quick read with a few red herrings and interesting plot turns. **** Four stars out of five!

Thank NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for this gripping, atmospheric, twisty, character-driven novel. This was one of the best family-involved thrillers I have read this year. The Search Party was well-written and packed with tension and suspense. I thought the story was well-paced, with momentum building throughout. 4.5 Stars.

Max and Annie Kingsley have left city life in London to establish an eco-glamping site on the rugged Cornwall coast. With them is their twelve-year-old beloved adopted son, who has a troubled history. They hope life in the remote countryside will be good for him. Before the official opening of the glamping site, they invited some old university friends for a twenty-year reunion and to test out the property. The couples arrive with their children. The adults realize they have changed and are now very different. They barely know one another and realize they scarcely like their former friends anymore. They carry secrets and resentments, incidences of cheating and betrayal. One has a feeling of self-importance and celebrity and is facing an ignored loan and exposure by blackmail.

Tensions rise among the adults while their children play a significant role in the turmoil. After being the victim of a fight, one of the youngest disappears. The parents react with anguish and blame. A raging storm makes a search effort prolonged and difficult. Later, a teenage girl is abducted and badly injured. How far will the adults go to protect their children?

It is recommended for readers who enjoy an intense character-driven mystery. The date of publication is January 16.

The book starts with a map and a list of characters, so you know it’s going to be a bit confusing. There are lots of POVs and the time line skips around, (I did need to reference the character list a few times at the beginning) but as we get to know the individual characters it becomes more fluid.

The book is well written and quite clever how it creates a feeling of confusion as the reader follows along with the police investigation. There are a few POVs from the children (teens), so these sections read more like a YA book compared to the other POVs.

Overall an engaging, fast-paced read.

🌀 TENSE TUESDAY mini review 🌀 featuring “The Search Party” by Hannah Richell!

BOOK REVIEW: 🖤🖤🖤🖤/5

Max and Annie have retreated from their busy London city life to set up a countryside Glamping business. They decide to host a reunion with their 3 university friends and their families at the site before they have their grand opening!

As a brutal storm looms around them, TENSIONS are high between the old friends who each hold onto secrets of their own. When someone goes mysteriously missing, the group must band together to form a search party of their own since they are cut off from cell service and help!

This locked room thriller is twisted, juicy and beyond atmospheric! I became automatically hooked from the beginning and would have read this in one sitting if work had not gotten in the way! The TENSION in this story is out of control and is driven by the lurking storm, the wounded friendships and the isolated environment! You can never expect what happens next and I live for that in a well written thriller!!!!

Thank you kindly to @hannahrichell @atriabooks @simonschusterca @netgalley for my advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review! This book releases on January 16, 2024 and is a must read!!!

3.5⭐️
i was really looking forward to this isolated location thriller, but it was a bit of a letdown. i didn’t really love that it was a group of families going away together, i’d prefer if it were just a group of friends. i could also see the directions the author wanted you to go in, so there were no big surprises. not bad, just nothing special!

thanks to netgalley and simon & schuster canada for my advance copy of the search party by hannah richell. all opinions are my own.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of The Search Party by Hannah Richell, published by Simon & Schuster Canada

Wow, I was pleasantly surprised by this novel, it had me from page one, great characters, narrated from several points of view and really well executed. I loved the plot, the story takes place over the course of a weekend, lots of twists and turns and who dunnit. And I really liked the ending, it was wrapped up well.
I was a little concerned when I saw the list of families and names at the beginning of the book, but as I dove into reading, I was delighted to find the author had done a great job introducing the characters slowly,  it was still really nice to have that list to refer back to, very helpful.
The basis of the story is a gathering of friends for a glamping weekend at Max and Annie's, they have purchased land and want to get back to the basics and living off the land. They have invited three other couples and their children for an enjoyable weekend of campfires and catching up. What could go wrong?
I would absolutely recommend this novel and would refer to family and friends. This is the first novel I've read by Hannah Richell and will be putting her other novels on my TBR list

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books/Simon & Schuster for a copy of "The Search Party" in exchange for my honest review.

This book is fantastic, a tense and exciting read where you keep turning the pages because you have to know what will happen next. I really liked the map at the beginning of the book because it helps the reader visualize where everything is happening in the story. Then there is a cast of characters which is great to refer to because there are many families involved in the story and it helps keep everyone straight.

The setting is Cornwall where Max & Annie Kingsley have moved from London to set up Wildernest a glamping site. They have an adopted son Kip who is 12 years old and has many challenges because of the first 6 years in his life when he was treated horribly.

Everyone has been friends for 20 years. Dominic Davies is a reality TV star, he has a 6 year old daughter Phoebe with his second wife Tanya. Scarlet (16) and Felix (14) are along on the trip as well. Jim Miller and his wife Suze have 3 children as well Willow (14), River (13) and Juniper (9). Dr. Kira de Silva and Fred O'Connor has a 5 month old named Asha. The other characters are Josh Penrose who is the handyman at Wildernest and John Kellow their nearest neighbour - a grumpy dairy farmer who doesn't approve of the glamping site.

The story is told by several characters over several different days/times. Everyone arrived at Wildernest for the May Day weekend to road test the new glamping business. Everyone starts arriving on Friday afternoon. Many things happen during the weekend, and it just seems to spiral out of control because of several incidents in the past. The dads are left in charge of the kids and they don't exact pay close attention to them. Something terrible happens and the reader doesn't know for a long time who is in the hospital. Someone has gone missing and there are many tense scenes where you wonder if the person will be found alive. There are many misunderstandings and accusations. It doesn't help matters that there is no mobile service, the landline doesn't work because the power is out from the approaching storm, there is no way to get help. Dom is very heavy handed and a proper bully - his behaviour sets off the tragic events of this weekend. The reader is in for a shocking twist when they find out who is actually in the hospital. It's a brilliant turn.

The message in the story is that actions create ripples, scars run deep and wounds always take time to heal. If there were more than 5 stars, this book would deserve it!

First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Hannah Richell, and Simon & Schuster Canada, for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

Having never read —or heard of—Hannah Richell before, I took a gamble with this book. Richell offers up quite the story that is sure to pull the reader into the middle of the novel and leave them wondering which way is up. When a large group go camping in style, something horrible take place, forcing them to protect themselves and perhaps turn on others. Richell builds the suspense up until all is revealed and the true feelings of all come to the surface. An interesting piece that has me intrigued and wondering if I want to come back for more.

Wanting away from the busy life that London breeds, Max and Annie Kingsley decide to pack it all up and head to Cornwall with their pre-teen son to look into the quieter life. Before opening their glamping establishment, they decide to test it out by inviting some university friends to see that things will run smoothly. This is the perfect reunion for these families, as life got away from them and they have let their friendships stale.

With a number of families together, the children of various ages are pushed to interact. As the clashes between the younger ones escalate, the parental units will surely become involved, drawing lines in the proverbial sand. When something tragic takes place, all eyes turn to how these various families will cope. In a story that moves both between numerous timelines and settings, Hannah Richell offers up a special look into the tensions that arise as families seek to protect their own and toss others out to the authorities. Friendships be damned, family preservation means more than anything. Still, there has been a crime and someone will have to pay. Richell does well to keep the reader hooked in this piece.

I always enjoy a good mystery and Hannah Richell delivers one here. With her strong narrative style, she is able to push the story along, gaining momentum as the action heats up. Her eagerness to put the reader in the middle of it all is shown by the various timeline changes, as well as the setting swaps that provides all angles for the reader to see as things progress.

Character development is key to keeping the reader interested. Richell does well with that as she weaves the story around strong characters that emerge. From the central Kingsleys to some of those introduced on the glamping adventure, the characters take on a life of their own in this piece. I was happy to see things progressing and can only hope that this remains in other of Richell’s novels.

Plot twists help thicken things in this piece, especially as the mysterious nature of the tragic events heightens. The climactic build is not lost on the attentive reader, though things can sometimes be predictable. I can only hope that others felt the same about this piece, where Richell tosses many possibilities before revealing all in a monumental reveal towards the end o the book. This is the sign of a strong novel and a capable writer. I enjoyed the journey and hope others can help. With promoting a great book that many would enjoy.

Kudos, Madam Richell, for piquing my interest through this novel.

Amazing book, the kind you read through in one sitting because you need to know what happens. The stucture of the book between present tense, and the events as they occur over the weekend keeps the tension high. From the beginning, you don't know who is in the hospital bed. This isn't the only thing you don't know. Although it could feel like the author is withholding information, the back and forth between past and present reveals information as the police find out. Very satisfying read.

A reunion gone wrong. This thriller was a good read. It kept me engrossed until the end. It was very atmospheric and tense. After reuniting for a long weekend glamping trip college friends are trying to reconnect after going their separate ways. However a big storm thwarts their plans and one of the group goes missing. What ensues is suspenseful and entertaining as the rest of the characters search for missing Phoebe. The setting is perfect with the location in Cornwall which can be a wild and remote place, especially during a storm pounding the coast. This is the first book I have read by this author and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This was a fun lifelong friend reunion story taking place during a glamping weekend away. Disaster strikes, but without all the details, the reader really isn't sure of the full extent of the problem until it all comes together at the end. The author kept me guessing, with the perspective switching between past and present throughout the book. If you enjoy mystery stories, give this one a try!

I thought that this was an entertaining whodunit! It also had the readers on a journey to who the mysterious victim was. The idea behind this story while sometimes can be predictable was fun set at a glamping holiday let owned by friends. It was a fun read that kept me turning pages to find out what was happening at the ill fated gathering!

4.5⭐️
This book was just about everything I expected it to be, but a little bit better, this book. Really had me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen, as well as I was sitting here trying not to cry. Absolutely beautifully written.

I will add though, that at 64% in (location 2788 for me) that there was a name error. Fred was talking to Kira about conceiving Kira? I think it meant to say Asha though

this one was a bit too slow for me. the beginning had me hooked but I quickly lost interest. for me it wasn’t a favourite but I can see why others are loving it. it’s a atmospheric multi-pov thriller that will work for many!

👍🏼
- the kids and their POVs were interesting and kept me hooked
- the end really picked up and i enjoyed the last 20-30% a lot more than the beginning
- the atmosphere was super well written and immersed me. i had a clear picture of where we were and I love that in books!
👎🏼
- repetitive
- too slow for me
- the ending wasn’t super shocking kinda just left like okay that’s fine

pick this one up for
- an atmospheric spooky setting
- a reunion of friends where secrets are spilled and no one can be trusted

similar book recs:
- the guest list by lucy foley
- in my dreams I hold a knife by ashley winstead
- the last time I lied by riley sager

thank you to netgalley and Simon and Schuster for this e-galley in exchange for an honest review.