The Reunion is a decent police procedural/thriller for fans of unsolved missing persons, and historic crimes.
The novel focuses on Jennie Whitmore, a police officer who is the lead on a case involving a skull found in her old school, White Cross Academy, which is about to be demolished. This finding turns her world upside down because she realizes that those bones belong to her best friend from 30 years ago who disappeared. Now she must face her past and uncover the killer.

Read this if you like:
-police procedurals and cold cases
-creepy settings such as White Cross Academy basement, and the trail and teen hangout of White Cross Hill
-stalking trope
-strong female protagonist
-questionable characters who all seem guilty with secrets to hide
-teen friendships, cliques or being an outsider looking in
-short chapters with little pieces of info to add to the puzzle of what happened to Hannah
-satisfying ending

My rating 3 out of 5

Thanks to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for this eARC that will be published September 5 2024.

Overall Good Read 🤓

The premise tells you all you need for the storyline for this book. Overall good read keeps you reading from beginning to end in Jennie’s quest to solve her best friends murder, with her own challenges along the way.

I really enjoyed this read.
Jenny Whitemore is a DI, In 1994 her best friend Hannah just disappeared, but did she? Or was there foul play? Jenny has to play down her connection to the DARK ROOM GANG as she was a member.. Jenny is at logger heads with her DCI and an incident with a member of the team changes the dynamics. Did Jenny know Hannah as well as she thought she did? and can she be impartial in finding out what happened to her friend all those years ago Great story.

I love this book. The writing was very well done, I felt like I was flying through the pages. Each chapter ended in a cliff hanger that kept me engaged needing to know what happened next.

The story follows an investigator, Jennie, who goes to her high school reunion and sees her friends again that she hasn’t seen since graduation. One friend is missing thought, or should I say still missing. Hannah was Jennie’s very best friend and was reported missing before school ended, but it was written off as a runaway case and that was the end of it.

Soon after the reunion the city decided to demolish the ok high school. While the construction workers are in the basement setting up the charges they come across a gruesome discovery. The skeleton of a girl buried beneath the pipes. It is none other than missing Hannah and there are definite signs of foul play.

Jennie is assigned the case to find her best friend’s murderer. Was it her abusive father? The teacher she was having an affair with? Or someone she called her dear friend? This book will keep you guessing to the end.

Reading a series by MJ and although I’m enjoying that a little more than this one, it wasn’t bad! Jennie, the main character in this one, was just not my cup of tea. I didn’t like or trust her! I did enjoy the story in general but the twists were kind of boring expected!

4.5 stars
This is the second collaboration I have read featuring MJ Arlidge recently, the first being The Wrong Child co-authored with Julia Crouch. And I have to say that I enjoyed this one just as much. In fact, in my eyes, with his stand alones, and the wonderful Helen Grace series, this author can do no wrong!
When I first started this book I was reminded of another similar book, also titled The Reunion, by Guillaume Musso - another good read by the way - but although the two start off quite similar, they diverge quite early so it was easy to clear my mind and continue.
So... a reunion, of sorts, as it is really more of a gathering to mark the end of an era as White Cross Academy is due for demolition and a few of the old pupils, and indeed teachers, want to mark the occasion and witness the event. But things are halted when a shocking discovery is made; a human skull, rapidly identified as Hannah Jennings who disappeared during sixth form.
DI Jennie Whitmore who is initially assigned the case now lies about her actual involvement with the deceased (best friend) and her circle of friends to keep hold of it, conflict of interest and all that, and I guess if I had one niggle, it'd be this as I wasn't overall convinced and some of the facts were a bit contrived to keep her in that position - but here we are...
This is a fast paced thrilling read that basically hits the ground running and doesn't let up until the very last page. With twists and turns aplenty, red herrings, dysfunctional behaviour, and all the other elements you'd expect from the genre. As already mentioned, I wasn't convinced by a lot of Jennie's involvement shenanigans and that did make me eye-roll on occasion. Especially as it was mentioned to overkill, at pretty much every turn. I am also not convinced that she would have got away with it and don't get me started on the case possibly being tainted and thrown out...
That aside though, it was a well plotted book that kept me on my toes throughout. With an ending that I didn't see the whole of coming, and which did leave me satisfied.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This book should have a warning on the cover as once I had picked it up I found myself reading it at any opportunity and have finished it in a little over a day. The writing is just so easy to read and the storyline is one where there were so many possibilities and I felt a real need to know what had happened to Hannah all that time ago and how come the police had made such errors in investigating her disappearance.
I know this is a fictitious tale but the characters became people during the reading of this book and I cared about their lives and grew concerned especially about the menacing events that followed Jennie for a time.
This is a moderately fast paced book with great characters and a fascinating story arc, it is one of my top reads for the year!

All the way through this was a very tense and exhilarating read, it kept me hooked all the way through

A quick read with short chapters. The authors managed to keep me gripped throughout. I felt the main protagonist Jennie's emotions were explained well . There is a character in the story line I felt wasn't necessary as it was nowhere connected to the story . There were a lot of suspects and as the story progresses we get to know the characters in depth. Overall a good thriller to read. I thank @netgalley for the eARC copy.

A "whodunnit" crime thriller with lots of potential suspects and motives!

As a lover of the DI Helen Grace series, I was happy to have the opportunity to read The Reunion as part of an ARC. Thank you, @netgalley @m_j_arlidge @crimethrillergirl

One for the short chapter lovers, and those of us that try and work out who and why! I had my suspicions throughout, but then would change my mind as I progressed through the pages.

You get to delve deep into the group friendships and soon realise that maybe they group wernt quite as close as they once thought. There's some seriously shady characters in this one, think "trust noone".

There are some dark scenes set in the storyline and one that caught me completely off guard.

Overall, a good read ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Reunion is a riveting thriller by M.J. Arlidge and Steph Broadribb. The novel opens with a tense scene showing Hannah, waiting for her friend at a bus stop, ready to escape the town she lives, her family, and begin a new life. But Hannah’s friend, who’s supposed to be meeting her there doesn’t arrive. Years later Hannah’s best friend, Jennie, now a police officer, is attending a school reunion. There is a lot of talk about their old school, particularly as the school building is set to be demolished. But before the demolition takes place a shocking discovery is made, when a body is found, which is quickly proven to be Hannah’s. Devastated by the news, Jennie is desperate to get to the bottom of what happened to her friend, and this includes lying to her superiors about how well she knew Hannah, so she can stay on the investigation.

I was really intrigued to know how Jennie was going to manage investigating her old friend’s death, while trying to keep it secret from the rest of her colleagues how well she knew Hannah. This does a brilliant job of adding to the tension in the book, particularly when Jennie starts to interview old witnesses, and this includes people who she was at school with as well, who also knew her, and knew how close she and Hannah were. You can really feel the emotion Jennie is going through in this book as she tries to find out who killed Hannah.

There are plenty of suspects who each have a motive for killing Hannah, and I loved how the authors revealed their personalities, as Jennie and her team interview them further. There are some people of interest, who Jennie investigates, who will really get under your skin. I kept changing my mind though about the different people, who they were investigating, the more we get to know them, and this is what makes this book really entertaining. When the final revelations came they were really shocking and not what I expected.

I raced through The Reunion in just a couple of days. If you’re looking for a fast-paced, entertaining thriller, I highly recommend it.

I am a huge,huge fan of MJ Arlidge and have probably read every book he's written and recommend him to anyone who will listen so I was really looking forward to The Reunion. I found it a quick, easy read but didn't really take to Jennie at all, she certainly doesn't have the charisma of Helen Grace. I believe that his collaboration with Steph Broadribb has produced a more middle of the road, a more dumbed down, novel than I am used to Arlidge writing. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as it will probably appeal more to a more squeamish and therefore probably larger audience.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my early copy in return for my honest opinion.

Thank you Orion for the review copy! I haven't read MJ Alridge in a while but I did really enjoy his DI Helen Grace books when I discovered them. I always enjoy a darker, edgier mystery and procedural vibe and The Reunion was a win for me. I appreciate once again a complex female lead, one who is challenged to face her past and explore secrets and hidden truths. I was all in as well for the return to school/school reunion themes and the examination of that setting and past/present relationships and roles intersecting.
I was not familiar with Steph Broadribb but this book certainly put her work on my radar.

If you're a sucker for a classic crime procedural, then look no further than this original collaboration between authors MJ Arlidge and Steph Broadribb. It comes with all the expected elements: a complex investigation, a twisty plot, and an unconventional lead detective, DI Jennie Whitmore.

The case involves the discovery of a body buried under the basement of an abandoned local high school just before its demolition. It’s identified as that of former student Hannah Jennings, who vanished without trace 30 years ago.

And here’s the first twist: Hannah was Jennie’s best friend, and she disappeared on the very night the two of them were meant to run away together. Knowing that she’d be removed from the investigation if her relationship to the victim were to become known, Jennie decides to keep mum so that she, and she alone, can ensure justice for her friend.

For me, the best kind of procedurals balance the investigative side with a well-drawn main protagonist, preferably someone who’s a bit of a maverick with an interesting back story of their own, and Jennie, who gets around on a bicycle rather than a squad car, fits the bill perfectly.

The plot is evenly paced for the most part but deepens in intrigue, as members of Jennie’s and Hannah’s old friendship gang are brought in for questioning, requiring Jennie to become ever more devious to keep her past association with them all a secret from her colleagues.

While this certainly added an interesting slant to the story, I did have to suspend disbelief at times, which is one of my pet peeves in crime fiction. However, I enjoyed the tension among the investigating team and the related red-herring subplot that added a great twist to the narrative.

Overall, I found this an enjoyable and easy read, with a plot that unfolds at the leisurely pace of a cosy mystery and ends on a very satisfying note.

This is a classic missing person, whodunit, fast forward decades, everyone character is untrustworthy and hiding something story. I found it to be well paced, twisty, with a likeable main character that you were rooting for and supporting characters that weren't so likable, which for me, is the hallmark of a great plot. It was a satisfying and quick read.

I'm a huge M.J Arlidge fan, but haven't read anything by Steph Broadribb, so I was intrigued to give this a read.
I enjoyed the majority of the book and everytime a new character was introduced I felt sure I knew they were guilty, only for my mind to be quickly changed soon after.
Initially the book set out at a fast pace, however I quickly found it slowed down and the plot just felt all a bit unbelievable. The side line story of Jennie being 'stalked' felt a bit random and pointless and I personally didn't feel it added anything.

It still had me wanting to finish it so I could find out definitively whodunit.
An easy read, not my favourite but still enjoyable enough

I already enjoy books by m j Aldridge but have never read a book by steph broadribb so I was intrigued by this collaboration, it definitely did not disappoint!
Jennie & her best friend Hannah have planned to meet up & run away to London together but Hannah never turns up & is never seen again! Fast forward 30 years & jennie, now a high ranking decective in the police force, gets a call to say human remains have been found in the flooring of her old school which was set to be demolished. Are these hannahs remains or is she still out there not wanting to be found? Will meeting with old school friends & acquaintances bring secrets out of the woodwork & what do they know about hannah? And can jennie stay professional when she is looking into the disappearance of her childhood friend or will she allow her emotions to get in the way?
I devoured this book in less than 24 hours it had you hooked from the start & left you guessing right until the end. I would definitely recommend this to any thriller fan or even if you fancy a who dunnit read!

I loved this story and can imagine it as a tv series, the relationship between the old school friends and how their lives had evolved. Secrets, family issues, alcohol and drugs and lies lots of lies. It kept me guessing to
the end.

I would say this was a good, fast 4 star read for me. I had suspicions all through the book but wasn't 100% correct. I can't wait to read more from this author. It kept me entertained and guessing.

Jenny had spent 30 years thinking her high school best friend Hannah left her waiting and wondering what ever happened to her. Fast forward to her adult life as a detective and a body found at her high school has her reexamining old wounds and trying to solve the mystery.

I thought this was a decent read however wanted a bit more of a mystery. I think from the onset it was obvious of who was going to be found guilty. I also think there was a bit of a disconnect with the attack on her.

Thank you for the advance copy!