"High Season" by Katie Bishop was a good book & it did what I love most. The novel is set in France's beautiful Cote d'Azur - it transported me to a new place.
Josie & Hannah are best friends becoming teenagers in a place many affluent people come to vacation. As summer sets in, their beautiful little town becomes a playground for the rich. The Drayton family's Pink House is one of the most famous on the coast, Josie's mother works there as a housekeeper. Hannahs family has a Dive Shop catering to the summer people. The summer of their 16th year, as they were just learning about love and themselves, there is a tragedy that transforms their lives. On the night of Evelyn Drayton's annual birthday party her daughter Tamara was found dead in the pool.
Twenty years later a new look at the crime will set everything on edge.



Thanks to NetGalley & St Martin's press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

“High Season” by Katie Bishop is a story about the questionable tragic death of a teenage girl from a privileged family set in the Côte d’Azur.
Because of a true crime documentarian who is exploring the unsolved mystery, we learn that the person accused of the murder and spent 10 years in prison was convicted because of the victim’s 5 year old sisters testimony. The story is told in two timelines, the weeks leading up to the death and then 20 years later when all the players are back at the scene of the crime. In looking at the backstories we get a clear picture of the characters vivid lives, personalities and insecurities around not being sure their memories of what happened are correct and if possibly the wrong person was sent to prison.
This was an engaging domestic suspense mystery but a bit too lengthy and drawn out which causes the tension to drop in the middle of the book. However, I did enjoy the book and thought the ending was really well done.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This gripping tale of family secrets and buried truths will leave you breathless. The Summer’s Night masterfully blends psychological suspense with a compelling exploration of memory, guilt, and trauma.

Nina’s journey to uncover what really happened to her sister Tamara twenty years ago is filled with twists that keep you guessing. The lush setting of the South of France contrasts beautifully with the darkness of the story, making the atmosphere as captivating as the mystery itself.

Perfect for fans of true crime dramas and twisty family sagas. Prepare to be hooked until the shocking finale! 🏖️💔🔍

*High Season* has an intriguing premise—a little girl witnessing a crime and providing key testimony to convict someone of murder. This unique angle set it apart from the typical thrillers I’ve read. I also enjoyed the vivid descriptions of France, which transported me right into the setting. As someone who loves a good domestic, gossipy thriller, the book initially seemed promising.

However, the execution left something to be desired. The dialogue often felt overly cheesy, at times giving the story a YA romance vibe that didn’t quite fit the tone of a thriller. The plot, while entertaining, was predictable, and I found myself guessing the twists well before they were revealed. The writing, while clear and accessible, occasionally felt a bit simplistic for the genre.

Overall, *High Season* is a light, easy read that delivers on atmosphere but falls short in depth and surprise. It's enjoyable for fans of straightforward thrillers, but it didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

Part thriller, part family saga, this was a well paced drama that sounded like a book I had done before but it was completely unexpected

HIGH SEASON is a thoroughly enjoyable and suspenseful story. Structured in a dual timeline format, the narrative seamlessly weaves past (2004) and present (2024). Nina's struggles to understand the limits and potential fallibility of her memory are realistic and tension-filled. The different POVS also add texture. My one minor complaint is that the pacing drags at times, and the novel could have been tighter and shorter. However, overall I highly recommend HIGH SEASON for fans of dual timeline suspense novels.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance e-galley; all opinions in my review are 100% my own.

“There are so many pathways in life, so many unknown versions of ourselves that we might be, that she wonders how we don’t all go insane with the possibilities. How can anyone know if they’ve made the right choices? If another, better life isn’t one or two undone mistakes away?”

High Season by Katie Bishop

Thank you to @minotaur_books and @stmartinspress for the early digital copy. This one was a really fun read. The setting in the South of France had me wanting to book a vacation.

I always enjoy a thriller with a dual timeline so I liked that it alternated between the summer of 2004 and the summer of 2024.

I really enjoyed Imogen’s character as a true crime influencer. Especially at the very end but I won’t give that away.

This one is out in August 2025 so make sure to add it to your TBR for your late summer vacations!

Reading the synopsis I was super excited to read it, I was struggling to push through and it was a little bit boring, I did like how the story was going but then it felt like a drag, I just couldn’t really get into it

Thanks NetGalley for the chance! As many reviewers have already adequately covered the plot, my review more
speaks to writing style. The novel’s premise was great, but the execution and pacing felt like it could have been so much stronger. After putting the book down, I was finding it hard to pick back up. Had the plot been sped up a bit, I think I would have rated this at least a 4-star read.

This was a book that I was hesitant to read, because going by the synopsis it seems this book has been done many times before. However, this book was different and so much better than the others before it. The writing was stellar, I loved the characters current development and backstories, and the settings were described perfectly. But… the one problem I did end up having with this book was that it ended up being too lengthy.

This story starts off with Nina Drayton, who goes back to the south of France to her childhood home where her older sister Tamara was killed. Nina was only five years old at the time of the murder, and she decides to go back home to relive that day to see if her memories were right. Nina has struggled her whole life after her sister’s death, relied on several different medications to get through a day- never quite sure of herself. Nina now works as a child psychologist, and her mother and brother are not very happy about her new choice in life.

Josie Jackson is the girl who spent ten years in prison for the death of Nina’s sister, Tamara Drayton. Since being released from prison she has never found any stability in her life, and cannot go back to her hometown since she is shunned there. But was Josie really guilty of Tamara’s murder?

It isn’t until Imogen Faye, a true crime TikTokker reopens the case of Tamara Drayton that new evidence comes to light.
This book goes back and forth between 2004 and 2024, and you get a clear picture of all the characters lives. I was especially fond of Nina’s character, and I would have liked to have read more about her in this book.

This book was divided into Four Parts, and I will say that I really loved the first two parts- and then parts Three and Four seemed to drag on. I do feel that’s when the book started to get a bit too lengthy, and fill with unnecessary drama and details. However, I did mostly enjoy this book and I do plan on reading more from this author in the future.
(3.5 stars)

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for an ARC of this book which I had the pleasure of reading. Publication date: August 12, 2025
Genre~ General Fiction (Adult), Mystery & Thrillers, New Adult

High Season is a gripping story that highlights Nina, who at 5 years old is the youngest witness at a murder trial. When her sister Tamara is murdered, Nina is the only one that saw anything and it ends up putting away the murderer. Now 20 years later, Nina returns to her family's home in France and is immediately thrown back into the past and wonders if she actually remembers things correctly or did she put an innocent woman away. This story is told by different POVs and it is a good build up to see how things happened 20 years ago and now. There are multiple twists and while I did predict the ending, it did not take anything away. There were so many twists that lead up to the ending that you are constantly intrigued.

The author does such a good job developing the characters and evolving the story at a great pace.

Thank you NetGalley and St.Martin Press for an ARC in return for an honest review.

This was a really good book that was twisty while also being haunting and sad at times. It centers on the death of 17-year-old Tamara and goes back and forth between the weeks leading up to her death and 20 years later, when all the players are back at the scene of the crime. The earlier story centers heavily on Tamara and also introduces us to her twin, Blake, her younger sister, Nina, Nina's babysitter Josie, and Josie's best friend Hannah. The current timeline has now-adult Nina questioning the version of events she thought she knew as a child, and Josie struggling to rebuild her life after being in prison.

While there are a number of characters in this book, they all have distinct voices and it's easy to keep them straight. I liked the dual timeline, where I got to know Tamara as well as younger versions of the current characters. The story was suspenseful the whole way through, leading me to read late into the night on multiple occasions in order to see what happened. I changed my mind on what I thought really happened multiple times. While there were some truly horrible characters, there were also beautifully real and flawed characters that I was rooting for. The ending was really well done, uncovering surprises while also tying up loose ends, though it did make me sad.

Overall, this was a super engaging book with beautifully drawn characters and a strong mystery. I would recommend to those who enjoy mysteries and domestic suspense. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Nina’s life is irrevocably altered when she is the only witness to her sister’s death twenty years ago in Katie Bishop’s High Season. Six years old at the time, she was forced by circumstance to testify at her former babysitter’s trial for the murder. As the years have passed, she has begun to doubt her memory, and with the news that a documentary about the case is coming out she is trying her hardest to revisit that night and figure out if she was wrong.

I finished this book in one afternoon because I was so engrossed in the story and invested in the characters. A fun, engaging mystery with satisfying conclusion. The book is a twist, beautifully written mystery with a wealth of well developed characters in a gorgeous setting. A wonderful story that i wholeheartedly recommend. Five out of five stars.

I received this advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and feedback.

Thank you Netgalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I've really enjoyed both of Katie's books and I was super excited to get a copy of this one. Katie sets the vibes perfectly to where you really feel like you're inside the novel with the characters. This book had an interesting plot (would you believe a 5-year-old that is the only witness of her sister's death??) that had me hooked from start to finish. I love books with dual timelines and different points of view. This would be the perfect escape on a tropical vacation.

5 stars
This was a great read! It really kept me guessing! The elements of rich v. poor, have v. .have nots really added to the story. I also liked the inclusion of a social media influencer in the solving of the crime. Made it feel both very timely and a little icky. I'm pretty new to the mystery genre and this is exactly what I enjoy - nothing too explicit or gory with a puzzle that is hard to solve.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the digital ARC in return for an honest review.

HIgh Season
by Katie Bishop
Pub Date: August 12, 2025
Thanks to the author, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Set over two unforgettable summers two decades apart, High Season is a dark, tense exploration of the nature of memory, the enduring power of truth, and all the gray areas in between.
What a great book! I flew through this sizzling summer thriller and enjoyed it very much. 20 years ago, Tamara was murdered in her own pool while friends and family were gathered at her house for a party. The only witness was her 6 year old sister Nina. Now, a podcast is delving into the murder to see if there is any new evidence to support or contradict Nina’s account of that evening. When you are looking for that perfect beach read for next summer, remember to pick up High Season as it doesn’t come out until then. I promise it will be worth the wait! Thank you to NetGalley and St.Martin’s Press for the ARC!

“There are kinds of sadness that you can’t even imagine, until they happen to you. And then they happen, and you forget there’s any other way to feel.”... “So no,” she says as she exhales. “I don’t feel any sadder here than I do anywhere else. Because it’s everywhere, that sadness. And you keep on moving because you have to. You survive, because you’re lucky to have been given the chance to do so. Because it’s all that you can do.” - Evelyn Drayton, High Season
An incredibly captivating tale of echoing grief, redemption, and misguided memories. The characters were all so intriguing and intricate. Reading it during the late fall/early winter really makes me wish for summer’s quick return. Everything was great, I just knew from the start what the ending was going to be - hence the four stars instead of five.
Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, Ms. Allison Ziegler for reaching out, and, of course, Ms. Bishop for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was very hard to get into and I struggled most of the way through. For some reason it just wasn’t clicking for me. High Season tells a story of a then 5-year-old, Nina Drayton, who witnesses the murder of her sister. She claims their babysitter, Josie, did it. Decades later, a podcast/true crime influencer reaches out to Nina looking to resurface the case. The novel switches between past and present. It takes you through many themes such as family drama, friendship, manipulation, toxic relationships, and memory. I think this author has a lot of potential, however I can’t necessarily say that I recommend this book. Maybe it’ll be your cup of tea though.

Thank you to Katie Bishop and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

An excellent sophomore novel from Katie Bishop!

Nina was just five years old when she testified in her older sister's murder trial. She swears she saw her babysitter/local woman Josie shove her sister in the pool on the night of her mother's birthday party, where she ultimately died from her injuries.

Now twenty years later, Nina begins to doubt herself and her memories. Against the advice of her boyfriend and her family, she agrees to be part of a true crime documentary that is taking another look at the crime.

Josie, meanwhile, has spent the years since she was released from prison trying to form a semblance of a normal life. She is ready to uproot everything at a moment's notice anytime someone learns her true identity. Running from the past has led her right back home, the last place she ever expected to be.

Will these two women be able to use this summer to find out what actually happened the night Tamara died? Taught, suspenseful, full of complex characters -- this one is a winner!

When Nina was six years old, she provided testimony that convicted her older sister’s murder. Now, decades later, a podcast begins investigating and doubts her testimony.

This was a slower paced story but it all came together in the end with a bang. You really get to know all the characters past and present. The dual time lines were both of equal interest. There were also some small parts of a true crime podcast, which added an outsiders perspective. I was not expecting the outcome and what truly happened; it was very upsetting but I loved how the characters came together in the end.

“A summer’s day. A story told by a five-year old child. Two decades of a story that has defined all their lives.”

High Season comes out 8/12.