The Party starts out stereotypically, but not necessarily in a bad way. Taking place in a seemingly abandoned castle that is undergoing renovations, a group of private school teens throw a party that they will never move on from. Whenever a group of teens decide to throw a party in a novel, there is always neverending drama, but this time, there is also a murderer stalking them at every move. In typical thriller fashion, the cast of characters was unlikable and made decisions that were both stupid and yet somehow understandable given the amount of tension that bleeds through every page.
Typically in a thriller, I find that having so many secrets that are never actually revealed gets old, fast. The Party thus was a nice change, because it held its pacing well. The secrets and twists came at a speed that kept the tension without losing interest. Despite the story being over a relatively short period of time, the pacing allowed for each character to get a little bit of room to develop and get fleshed out to the point that by the end, there was a certain amount of attachment to each of them.
The pacing and the growth of each of the characters gave me very high hopes for the ending of the book and the conclusion of the mystery. Unfortunately, the ending left me feeling a bit let down and lacking in satisfaction. However, despite this letdown, it didn’t take away as much of the enjoyment of the book as I would have expected because it did do one important thing. It left me thinking about it. I am still sitting here with that ending and that gives this book a longevity that not all books are able to sustain.
4/5 stars for a book that kept me guessing.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children’s for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
The Novel Llama 