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The Dinner Party
The exciting thriller by Rebecca Heath, author of THE SUMMER PARTY. A dark and twisty domestic thriller set in a seemingly idyllic suburban neighbourhood, where family secrets are best kept buried!
Four Couples.
One unforgettable dinner party.
A secret that will destroy them.
Four Couples.
One unforgettable dinner party.
A secret that will destroy them.
Audible Audio
First published January 4, 2024
425 people are currently reading
1570 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 347 reviews
October 14, 2023
3.5 rounded up
9th December, 1979 - Ridgefield, Australia
It’s a beautiful summers evening and four couples, friends, as well as neighbours, gather for their weekly dinner party, the children left at home, tucked up in bed – after all this is a safe neighbourhood. Except that later in the evening, when Frank Callahan goes to check on his daughters, 10-year-old Amanda and four-month-old, Megan, the latter is missing.
Forty years on, podcaster Ruby Costa and her team are investigating the unsolved case which continues to fascinate Australians while Amanda continues to live in hope that one day her sister will be found. What happened to Megan? After all this time, can we, will we, ever know for sure?
This is a slow burner, psychological and domestic thriller which is may be a bit too slow for me at times. However, the desire to hopefully know what happens to Megan and the building suspicions keep me reading on and ultimately I do thoroughly enjoy it.
I really like Ruby’s podcast which is well presented, giving us the bigger picture surrounding the events of forty years ago and in the present day. It introduces suspects, includes details about the police investigation, the inquest and interviews with as many people as possible, who have recollections of the events of 1979. You do wonder if it’s objective as the truth always depends upon who is telling the story and why, but it does raise many anomalies, deepening the mystery and suspicions.
The perspectives of Amanda and her daughter, Billie are especially interesting so much of what Amanda does is a puzzle, especially to Billie, a character that I really like. Her gut instincts prove to be very good as she navigates a truckload of secrets and lies. The building unease of forty years ago and in the present day is palpable, as it becomes clear that things are definitely not what they seem with several good twists revealing themselves.
Overall, it’s a good read once I get used to the variable pace and get a handle on the many characters that you have to keep track of.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Aria and Aries for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
9th December, 1979 - Ridgefield, Australia
It’s a beautiful summers evening and four couples, friends, as well as neighbours, gather for their weekly dinner party, the children left at home, tucked up in bed – after all this is a safe neighbourhood. Except that later in the evening, when Frank Callahan goes to check on his daughters, 10-year-old Amanda and four-month-old, Megan, the latter is missing.
Forty years on, podcaster Ruby Costa and her team are investigating the unsolved case which continues to fascinate Australians while Amanda continues to live in hope that one day her sister will be found. What happened to Megan? After all this time, can we, will we, ever know for sure?
This is a slow burner, psychological and domestic thriller which is may be a bit too slow for me at times. However, the desire to hopefully know what happens to Megan and the building suspicions keep me reading on and ultimately I do thoroughly enjoy it.
I really like Ruby’s podcast which is well presented, giving us the bigger picture surrounding the events of forty years ago and in the present day. It introduces suspects, includes details about the police investigation, the inquest and interviews with as many people as possible, who have recollections of the events of 1979. You do wonder if it’s objective as the truth always depends upon who is telling the story and why, but it does raise many anomalies, deepening the mystery and suspicions.
The perspectives of Amanda and her daughter, Billie are especially interesting so much of what Amanda does is a puzzle, especially to Billie, a character that I really like. Her gut instincts prove to be very good as she navigates a truckload of secrets and lies. The building unease of forty years ago and in the present day is palpable, as it becomes clear that things are definitely not what they seem with several good twists revealing themselves.
Overall, it’s a good read once I get used to the variable pace and get a handle on the many characters that you have to keep track of.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Aria and Aries for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
June 13, 2024
The Dinner Party was a well written thriller with an interesting and intricate plot, though being quite full of characters with many to keep track of, I found this to be an average read. I lost interest the further I proceeded, added to this was the terrible narration in trying to distinguish between all the elderly characters which was attempted by cliche voices. Another female was characterised by an almost whisper, so unfortunately my narration decreased my enjoyment.
I did enjoy the occasional glimpse into the 1970’s which is always fun, but again, the small issues I always tend to notice make the experience not so enjoyable. The main character was a new mum, who seemed to have time for chasing a dangerous interloper while looking after her baby, and I feel this has been done so much in a lot of my reads lately.
An unsupervised baby goes missing during a dinner party, what ever happened to this child? The couples of the dinner party are sticking to their story, that’s for sure. The narrative unfolds via a podcast and mostly by a solid character, and her recognition of evil which no one else notices. This is always palpable when snarls, false smiles and an evil comment here and there are bubbling, just below the surface.
This is a well written domestic drama which will hold the interest of most readers, I would have liked to have grasped it with a little more enthusiasm.
I listened to this via the Libby app and my public library.
I did enjoy the occasional glimpse into the 1970’s which is always fun, but again, the small issues I always tend to notice make the experience not so enjoyable. The main character was a new mum, who seemed to have time for chasing a dangerous interloper while looking after her baby, and I feel this has been done so much in a lot of my reads lately.
An unsupervised baby goes missing during a dinner party, what ever happened to this child? The couples of the dinner party are sticking to their story, that’s for sure. The narrative unfolds via a podcast and mostly by a solid character, and her recognition of evil which no one else notices. This is always palpable when snarls, false smiles and an evil comment here and there are bubbling, just below the surface.
This is a well written domestic drama which will hold the interest of most readers, I would have liked to have grasped it with a little more enthusiasm.
I listened to this via the Libby app and my public library.
November 21, 2023
3.5 ⭐
Heath makes sure her readers are invited to the Callaghan dinner and witness an ordinary evening turn into a nightmare.
Things I loved:
✔️1970s setting
✔️missing person mystery
✔️multiple POV
✔️multiple timelines over 40 years
✔️range of characters; distinct
✔️escalating panic/unease development
✔️appearances can be deceiving theme
✔️focus on mothers and daughters
Things I struggled with:
✔️large cast of characters
✔️slow-burning domestic thriller
✔️podcast format interspersed
✔️pacing
Amanda’s daughter, Billie, was a memorable character and I was rooting for her through the heaploads of secrets and lies.
I was gifted this copy by Aria & Aries and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.
Heath makes sure her readers are invited to the Callaghan dinner and witness an ordinary evening turn into a nightmare.
Things I loved:
✔️1970s setting
✔️missing person mystery
✔️multiple POV
✔️multiple timelines over 40 years
✔️range of characters; distinct
✔️escalating panic/unease development
✔️appearances can be deceiving theme
✔️focus on mothers and daughters
Things I struggled with:
✔️large cast of characters
✔️slow-burning domestic thriller
✔️podcast format interspersed
✔️pacing
Amanda’s daughter, Billie, was a memorable character and I was rooting for her through the heaploads of secrets and lies.
I was gifted this copy by Aria & Aries and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.
January 5, 2024
I think we've all been to dinner parties that we've regretted, but the night of 'the dinner party from hell' has a longer lasting impact than normal. Forty years after the event the fallout is still being felt and The Dinner Party by Rebecca Heath chronicles the impact on the children and grandchildren of some of the attendees.
In the summer of 1979 four couples attend a neighbourhood dinner party. It's an adults only affair so the kids were left at home, tucked up in bed. Periodically, a couple of the dads would pop home to check that the children were okay. And they were, until the final check of the night and 4 month old baby Megan was missing from her cot, the bedroom window smashed.
Forty years later and Amanda, sister of the missing baby Megan, has never given up hope of one day being reunited. It's a hope that became an obsession and has spawned the Megan Callaghan Foundation as well as The Callaghan Baby Podcast.
So on the 40th anniversary of that fateful night, a knock on the door reveals a woman claiming to be the missing Megan. She's not the first to make the claim so the family's hesitant to accept her at face value. But could it be true? So many questions. And that's when things start to get really interesting.
This turns into a rather complex domestic suspense story. It has me immersed in the lives, some of them rather grubby, of the 4 couples. The story is told through a combination of flashbacks, excerpts from the podcast and the present day narrative that focuses primarily on Billie, Amanda's daughter.
As desperately as the rest of the family want to believe that Megan has been returned to them, Billie remains sceptical. It's an attitude that eventually causes a schism within the family dynamic. And so the drama grows!
To add to the potential breakdown of the Callaghan family are additional revelations that start to pile all kinds of tension onto what had been a settled family unit. Author Rebecca Heath does a stellar job in building an ever-increasing level of drama into the story. The fascination lies in finding out which level is the breaking point.
I liked the flashback scenes to the '70s and thought they felt very authentic from the food eaten at the dinner party to the attitudes of the attendees. I was also humming along to the songs that led into the start of each episode of the podcast. They brought back some fond memories for me.
All the elements of intrigue play out in the course of this mystery. A seemingly unarguable case backed by DNA evidence, a slight skerrick of doubt raised by a single person, a building wave of information comes to light (both old and new). Through it all I was trying to keep an open mind while also trying to work out where the twists were going to come from.
The result is a compelling mystery that builds nicely from a fairly sedately paced start.
My thanks to Aria & Aries and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC copy to allow me to read, enjoy and review this book.
In the summer of 1979 four couples attend a neighbourhood dinner party. It's an adults only affair so the kids were left at home, tucked up in bed. Periodically, a couple of the dads would pop home to check that the children were okay. And they were, until the final check of the night and 4 month old baby Megan was missing from her cot, the bedroom window smashed.
Forty years later and Amanda, sister of the missing baby Megan, has never given up hope of one day being reunited. It's a hope that became an obsession and has spawned the Megan Callaghan Foundation as well as The Callaghan Baby Podcast.
So on the 40th anniversary of that fateful night, a knock on the door reveals a woman claiming to be the missing Megan. She's not the first to make the claim so the family's hesitant to accept her at face value. But could it be true? So many questions. And that's when things start to get really interesting.
This turns into a rather complex domestic suspense story. It has me immersed in the lives, some of them rather grubby, of the 4 couples. The story is told through a combination of flashbacks, excerpts from the podcast and the present day narrative that focuses primarily on Billie, Amanda's daughter.
As desperately as the rest of the family want to believe that Megan has been returned to them, Billie remains sceptical. It's an attitude that eventually causes a schism within the family dynamic. And so the drama grows!
To add to the potential breakdown of the Callaghan family are additional revelations that start to pile all kinds of tension onto what had been a settled family unit. Author Rebecca Heath does a stellar job in building an ever-increasing level of drama into the story. The fascination lies in finding out which level is the breaking point.
I liked the flashback scenes to the '70s and thought they felt very authentic from the food eaten at the dinner party to the attitudes of the attendees. I was also humming along to the songs that led into the start of each episode of the podcast. They brought back some fond memories for me.
All the elements of intrigue play out in the course of this mystery. A seemingly unarguable case backed by DNA evidence, a slight skerrick of doubt raised by a single person, a building wave of information comes to light (both old and new). Through it all I was trying to keep an open mind while also trying to work out where the twists were going to come from.
The result is a compelling mystery that builds nicely from a fairly sedately paced start.
My thanks to Aria & Aries and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC copy to allow me to read, enjoy and review this book.
April 17, 2024
i don’t have particularly high standards for contemporary thrillers because most of them are tbqh not very good but even by those standards this one is pretty shitty. here’s my 13 reasons why:
- quite poorly written on a very basic grammar/punctuation level which is remarkable given that the author thanks her editor AND her copy editor in the acknowledgements. idk what she’s thanking them for but it certainly isn’t ‘editing’
- inauthentic dialogue. when testifying at an inquest no human being would say things like ‘i peered inside the room, blinking to adjust to the darkness’ because people don’t verbally describe their own actions (let alone their actions on a night more than twenty-five years in the past) with this kind of prose-y language & detailed specificity; also while testifying no one would elaborate (unprompted) on the use of their maiden name by melodramatically editorialising about their dead husband (‘we were married twenty years, not that it mattered in the end. when death looked him in the eye, he forgot about the years i stood at his side.’) and presumably if they did the lawyer asking the (ENTIRELY UNRELATED) question would be like uhhhh…?
- a large part of the plot revolves around a woman with a ~mystery identity~ which past a certain point is ridiculously easy to figure out and yet the characters investigating become conveniently very stupid until the plot requires them to make the necessary logic leap. hate this trope with my life
- some of the side characters in this are flimsier than the paper they’re written on (the sister whose only personality trait is ‘social media influencer’…) and a lot of their motivations are completely absurd. i also didn’t really buy the extent to which everyone in the family is still obsessed with the baby’s disappearance - obviously a traumatic and formative event that shapes the future of a family etc but forty years afterwards you’d think they’d have other things in their lives going on (especially those who weren’t even alive at the time) and yet you don’t get the sense that they ever talk about literally anything else. ALSO i don’t know that it’s a good or healthy decision to leave your perpetually grieving and dangerously obsessed mother in the dark after you find out what actually happened to her baby sister thus enabling her to remain perpetually grieving and dangerously obsessed for the foreseeable future but ok werk i guess !
- found the podcast transcriptions really irritating and narratively nonsensical. firstly from start to finish each of those episodes would be about 5-10 minutes long which is ridiculously short for an investigative true crime podcast, secondly the ‘award-winning’ ‘journalist’ host does very little actual investigating beyond just playing tapes of a 15 year old inquest and occasionally half-assing an interview, thirdly she is way way more insensitive to the surviving traumatised family (immediately & vocally going after the father as her main suspect based on pure #vibes and no evidence) than any investigative journalist funded by that family’s own charitable foundation would ever dare to be (and yet they still continue to speak to her, amicably, for some reason?), fourthly it’s weird & feels clunky that she’s such a minor character given that so much of the story is based around her podcast and she’s literally directly related to one of the main players in the case. like either cut her completely or have her be the main character but as it is… ???????
- making the decision to conceal a tragic event so as to spare people the trauma is one thing but letting them be devastated & obsessed with no closure for four entire decades afterwards is fucking insane. sorry but who does that! why does nobody in this book go ‘hey btw that was fucking insane’ and why do they validate the decision by STILL NOT TELLING the person most affected by the event even after the truth has been uncovered. i know i already mentioned this but Literally what the fuck
- i know things were different in the seventies but NO ONE LEAVES A FOUR MONTH OLD BABY UNSUPERVISED IN A HOUSE ALONE (NO THEIR TEN YEAR OLD SLEEPING SISTER DOES NOT COUNT) SO THAT THEY CAN GO TO A DINNER PARTY!!!! four month old babies wake up to feed every couple of hours like please can you for
one second be serious.
- quite poorly written on a very basic grammar/punctuation level which is remarkable given that the author thanks her editor AND her copy editor in the acknowledgements. idk what she’s thanking them for but it certainly isn’t ‘editing’
- inauthentic dialogue. when testifying at an inquest no human being would say things like ‘i peered inside the room, blinking to adjust to the darkness’ because people don’t verbally describe their own actions (let alone their actions on a night more than twenty-five years in the past) with this kind of prose-y language & detailed specificity; also while testifying no one would elaborate (unprompted) on the use of their maiden name by melodramatically editorialising about their dead husband (‘we were married twenty years, not that it mattered in the end. when death looked him in the eye, he forgot about the years i stood at his side.’) and presumably if they did the lawyer asking the (ENTIRELY UNRELATED) question would be like uhhhh…?
- a large part of the plot revolves around a woman with a ~mystery identity~ which past a certain point is ridiculously easy to figure out and yet the characters investigating become conveniently very stupid until the plot requires them to make the necessary logic leap. hate this trope with my life
- some of the side characters in this are flimsier than the paper they’re written on (the sister whose only personality trait is ‘social media influencer’…) and a lot of their motivations are completely absurd. i also didn’t really buy the extent to which everyone in the family is still obsessed with the baby’s disappearance - obviously a traumatic and formative event that shapes the future of a family etc but forty years afterwards you’d think they’d have other things in their lives going on (especially those who weren’t even alive at the time) and yet you don’t get the sense that they ever talk about literally anything else. ALSO i don’t know that it’s a good or healthy decision to leave your perpetually grieving and dangerously obsessed mother in the dark after you find out what actually happened to her baby sister thus enabling her to remain perpetually grieving and dangerously obsessed for the foreseeable future but ok werk i guess !
- found the podcast transcriptions really irritating and narratively nonsensical. firstly from start to finish each of those episodes would be about 5-10 minutes long which is ridiculously short for an investigative true crime podcast, secondly the ‘award-winning’ ‘journalist’ host does very little actual investigating beyond just playing tapes of a 15 year old inquest and occasionally half-assing an interview, thirdly she is way way more insensitive to the surviving traumatised family (immediately & vocally going after the father as her main suspect based on pure #vibes and no evidence) than any investigative journalist funded by that family’s own charitable foundation would ever dare to be (and yet they still continue to speak to her, amicably, for some reason?), fourthly it’s weird & feels clunky that she’s such a minor character given that so much of the story is based around her podcast and she’s literally directly related to one of the main players in the case. like either cut her completely or have her be the main character but as it is… ???????
- making the decision to conceal a tragic event so as to spare people the trauma is one thing but letting them be devastated & obsessed with no closure for four entire decades afterwards is fucking insane. sorry but who does that! why does nobody in this book go ‘hey btw that was fucking insane’ and why do they validate the decision by STILL NOT TELLING the person most affected by the event even after the truth has been uncovered. i know i already mentioned this but Literally what the fuck
- i know things were different in the seventies but NO ONE LEAVES A FOUR MONTH OLD BABY UNSUPERVISED IN A HOUSE ALONE (NO THEIR TEN YEAR OLD SLEEPING SISTER DOES NOT COUNT) SO THAT THEY CAN GO TO A DINNER PARTY!!!! four month old babies wake up to feed every couple of hours like please can you for
one second be serious.
January 11, 2025
This was an intriguing premise and I was drawn to the plot.. but I agree with other reviewers that mentioned that it was a little slow. I lost interest the further I got into it. It’s a shame as I was sure I’d love this, being my first thriller of the year!
November 2, 2024
The Dinner Party is another Australian domestic standalone thriller from the pen of Rebecca Heath, following upon the heels of her successful 2023 release, The Summer Party, and in a broadly similar vein. Heath's next book, The Wedding Party, expected publication in 2025, promises a continuation of the formula that obviously works for her and her readers.
Like The Summer Party, The Dinner Party follows a split timeline structure, shifting between a fateful night during the summer of 1979, and a modern (2019) storyline featuring the next generation of the families concerned. In a third narrative thread, the transcript of a podcast fills us in on the history and ongoing investigation of baby Megan Callaghan's disappearance, and the various witnesses and potential suspects put forward over the intervening 40 years.
Four couples, neighbours in a cul-de-sac surrounded by bush in the Adelaide Hills, meet for a boozy pot-luck style dinner on a warm Sunday night in December 1979. Three of the families have left their children, ranging from 4 months to 16 years old, at home in their nearby houses, intending periodical wellness checks throughout the evening. The truth of what actually occurs at the dinner party and the timing of the checks of the children varies between those present, but by midnight, 4-month-0ld Megan Callaghan is missing from her cot, her 10-year-old sister Amanda still in the home, but in a traumatised non-verbal state.
In the present, Amanda Callaghan, now middle-aged and with two daughters and three grandchildren of her own, spearheads a foundation named in Megan's honour, which fundraises to publicise and sponsor rewards for information as to the whereabouts of other missing persons. Megan's disappearance has cast a long shadow over the lives of everyone present on that night in 1979, including the children and their own subsequent families. There have been deaths, divorces, intermarriages between the families, secrets and lingering suspicions, but still the mystery of what happened to Megan remains.
Ruby Costa, the daughter of the 16-year-old girl left alone to do her homework on the night of Megan's disappearance, has leveraged her journalism qualifications and personal links to many of the important witnesses to create a podcast, 'The Callaghan Baby Podcast", in which she re-examines witness testimony from the police record and an inquest held in 2005, calling on listeners to get in touch if they can provide any information that might aid the search for Megan. Excerpts from Ruby's podcast punctuate the narrative, but aren't always contiguous with the unfolding story, so that the reader on occasion has foreknowledge of certain facts, or alternatively discovers certain elements of the case after they're common knowledge to the characters.
The central character in the present narrative is Billie Callaghan-Jones, the elder daughter of Baby Megan's surviving sister Amanda. Billie now holds a leadership role within the construction company founded by her grandfather, Frank Callaghan, but is presently on maternity leave following the birth of her own daughter Lola. Billie's always been regarded as "the smart one" in the family, but her mathematical brains and inquiring nature come with a certain intransigence that sometimes causes conflict with her younger influencer sister Eve.
Billie will need all her wits about her though, when an unexpected visitor knocks on her mother's door - eerily the same home that Baby Megan disappeared from 40 years previously - and makes a stunning claim. Donna Novak claims that she is Baby Megan, and was abducted from her cot by a childless couple, now both deceased, all those years ago. Donna does show a physical resemblance to Billie's mother Amanda, but Billie is hesitant to believe Donna's claims without solid proof in the form of a DNA match - the family has been approached by imposters in the past, an experience that has been deeply traumatising for Amanda.
It's an interesting story, and Billie is an engaging character, juggling the demands of new motherhood with challenges in her marriage and the major upheaval Donna's arrival has caused within her immediate family circle. I felt Rebecca Heath captured the "vibe" of 1970s life in the suburbs very effectively, especially the way in which social norms and mores have morphed over subsequent decades. However, I felt that the premise of the mystery at the core of the story was a little flimsy. Now going under cover of spoiler...
Events build towards a dramatic confrontation and Billie is left with the conundrum of just how much of the truth she needs to make known to her mother, whose whole life has been dominated by the events of a single night in her childhood.
The Dinner Party was an entertaining read with a compelling cast of mostly female characters. It's evocative of the hidden currents that exist beneath the Australian suburban dream, both in the late twentieth century and the present. I'd recommend it to readers who enjoy Australian domestic thrillers in the mould of Sally Hepworth, Nicola Moriarty, Nicole Trope and Ali Lowe.
Like The Summer Party, The Dinner Party follows a split timeline structure, shifting between a fateful night during the summer of 1979, and a modern (2019) storyline featuring the next generation of the families concerned. In a third narrative thread, the transcript of a podcast fills us in on the history and ongoing investigation of baby Megan Callaghan's disappearance, and the various witnesses and potential suspects put forward over the intervening 40 years.
Four couples, neighbours in a cul-de-sac surrounded by bush in the Adelaide Hills, meet for a boozy pot-luck style dinner on a warm Sunday night in December 1979. Three of the families have left their children, ranging from 4 months to 16 years old, at home in their nearby houses, intending periodical wellness checks throughout the evening. The truth of what actually occurs at the dinner party and the timing of the checks of the children varies between those present, but by midnight, 4-month-0ld Megan Callaghan is missing from her cot, her 10-year-old sister Amanda still in the home, but in a traumatised non-verbal state.
In the present, Amanda Callaghan, now middle-aged and with two daughters and three grandchildren of her own, spearheads a foundation named in Megan's honour, which fundraises to publicise and sponsor rewards for information as to the whereabouts of other missing persons. Megan's disappearance has cast a long shadow over the lives of everyone present on that night in 1979, including the children and their own subsequent families. There have been deaths, divorces, intermarriages between the families, secrets and lingering suspicions, but still the mystery of what happened to Megan remains.
Ruby Costa, the daughter of the 16-year-old girl left alone to do her homework on the night of Megan's disappearance, has leveraged her journalism qualifications and personal links to many of the important witnesses to create a podcast, 'The Callaghan Baby Podcast", in which she re-examines witness testimony from the police record and an inquest held in 2005, calling on listeners to get in touch if they can provide any information that might aid the search for Megan. Excerpts from Ruby's podcast punctuate the narrative, but aren't always contiguous with the unfolding story, so that the reader on occasion has foreknowledge of certain facts, or alternatively discovers certain elements of the case after they're common knowledge to the characters.
The central character in the present narrative is Billie Callaghan-Jones, the elder daughter of Baby Megan's surviving sister Amanda. Billie now holds a leadership role within the construction company founded by her grandfather, Frank Callaghan, but is presently on maternity leave following the birth of her own daughter Lola. Billie's always been regarded as "the smart one" in the family, but her mathematical brains and inquiring nature come with a certain intransigence that sometimes causes conflict with her younger influencer sister Eve.
Billie will need all her wits about her though, when an unexpected visitor knocks on her mother's door - eerily the same home that Baby Megan disappeared from 40 years previously - and makes a stunning claim. Donna Novak claims that she is Baby Megan, and was abducted from her cot by a childless couple, now both deceased, all those years ago. Donna does show a physical resemblance to Billie's mother Amanda, but Billie is hesitant to believe Donna's claims without solid proof in the form of a DNA match - the family has been approached by imposters in the past, an experience that has been deeply traumatising for Amanda.
It's an interesting story, and Billie is an engaging character, juggling the demands of new motherhood with challenges in her marriage and the major upheaval Donna's arrival has caused within her immediate family circle. I felt Rebecca Heath captured the "vibe" of 1970s life in the suburbs very effectively, especially the way in which social norms and mores have morphed over subsequent decades. However, I felt that the premise of the mystery at the core of the story was a little flimsy. Now going under cover of spoiler...
Events build towards a dramatic confrontation and Billie is left with the conundrum of just how much of the truth she needs to make known to her mother, whose whole life has been dominated by the events of a single night in her childhood.
The Dinner Party was an entertaining read with a compelling cast of mostly female characters. It's evocative of the hidden currents that exist beneath the Australian suburban dream, both in the late twentieth century and the present. I'd recommend it to readers who enjoy Australian domestic thrillers in the mould of Sally Hepworth, Nicola Moriarty, Nicole Trope and Ali Lowe.
November 7, 2023
Another page turning domestic suspense novel from a Rebecca Heath. Despite there being a large cast of characters, I managed to keep them straight throughout the story. Some were not so likeable and most made questionable decisions. It had me intrigued, although I guessed the twist, it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of this book.
Summer of 1979, a dinner party where the kids are left at home. 4 couples are in attendance. This night will change their lives forever. So many lies and secrets between these so called friends and family. What happened to baby Megan? somebody must know something. 40 years later and a stranger knocks on Amanda’s door, claiming to be her long missing sister. Where has she been and is she who she says she is?
Thanks to Aria and Aries for my advanced copy of this book to read. Published on January 4th
Summer of 1979, a dinner party where the kids are left at home. 4 couples are in attendance. This night will change their lives forever. So many lies and secrets between these so called friends and family. What happened to baby Megan? somebody must know something. 40 years later and a stranger knocks on Amanda’s door, claiming to be her long missing sister. Where has she been and is she who she says she is?
Thanks to Aria and Aries for my advanced copy of this book to read. Published on January 4th
March 9, 2024
I finished this book fuelled with anger because I’m too stubborn to DNF it. There’s so many characters and I didn’t love a single one of them enough to root for them. There’s so many little side stories! And something about the writing just didn’t sit with me.
January 5, 2024
⭐️5 Stars⭐️
Another amazing domestic thriller from Rebecca Heath I devoured The Dinner Party, so hooked it kept me up till 2 am! I desperately needed to know what happened to baby Megan Callaghan!!
It’s set in South Australia in the 1970’s where four couples that are neighbours get together for an impromptu dinner party and the children are left at home in an era where baby monitors weren’t invented yet. Nobody locks their doors and they check on the children every now and again. It’s after 10 pm when its discovered four month old baby Megan has gone missing from her crib.
Forty years on, The Callaghan Baby podcast is fascinating Aussies around the country and the baby’s sister Amanda lives in hope that one day her sister will return to the house she went missing from, Amanda was ten years old when her baby sister disappeared.
The story is brilliant, I loved the podcast angle, it was really well put together, the plot was intriguing and towards the end it became fast paced and exhilarating!
A cleverly written missing person mystery filled with atmospheric tension, secrets and lies.
Publication Date 03 June 2023
Publisher Head of Zeus
A huge thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing for advanced reading copy of the book!
Another amazing domestic thriller from Rebecca Heath I devoured The Dinner Party, so hooked it kept me up till 2 am! I desperately needed to know what happened to baby Megan Callaghan!!
It’s set in South Australia in the 1970’s where four couples that are neighbours get together for an impromptu dinner party and the children are left at home in an era where baby monitors weren’t invented yet. Nobody locks their doors and they check on the children every now and again. It’s after 10 pm when its discovered four month old baby Megan has gone missing from her crib.
Forty years on, The Callaghan Baby podcast is fascinating Aussies around the country and the baby’s sister Amanda lives in hope that one day her sister will return to the house she went missing from, Amanda was ten years old when her baby sister disappeared.
The story is brilliant, I loved the podcast angle, it was really well put together, the plot was intriguing and towards the end it became fast paced and exhilarating!
A cleverly written missing person mystery filled with atmospheric tension, secrets and lies.
Publication Date 03 June 2023
Publisher Head of Zeus
A huge thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing for advanced reading copy of the book!
March 25, 2024
So The Dinner Party was really a game of two halves for me. The first 60% was a real slow burn and several times I'd thought about putting it down, but I am glad that I was able to stick with it. Was it the kind of story that your tea went cold, the chores went undone and your eyes got tired from reading because you couldn't leave it alone...No, it wasn't.
Podcasts as a plot device have become exceedingly popular in thrillers in recent years and it's an element that I enjoy immensely. The Dinner Party was no exception and it allowed the reader to get all the back story without great big chunks of repeating of information. It was fun, and brought another element of tension to the story.
Missing babies/children is such an emotive topic. The ones that are left behind have the difficult waters of real life to tread. Just how do you move on when that child has left a big gaping hole that somehow you have to bridge. Mothers, aunts, uncles and grandparents have to find someway to keep the public's mind constantly on developments. You only have to look at the Madeline McCann disappearance to see that happen in real time.
So when Donna Novak turns up at Amanda Callaghan's door on the anniversary of baby Megan's disappearance everyone's sceptical, including Billie, who has witnessed her mum get her hopes up, time and time again. She only wants to protect her mum. I do think the character of Amanda was so bloody sad. She is so obsessed with finding her lost sister that she allows Donna to push her daughter away, for her relationship with Billie and her sister Eve's father to fall apart all because she couldn't let go.
The writing style was excellent and once we got to around the 60% mark, everything began to speed up like an oncoming train. The twists were revealed, secrets unleashed and I really enjoyed how the story came full circle.
Podcasts as a plot device have become exceedingly popular in thrillers in recent years and it's an element that I enjoy immensely. The Dinner Party was no exception and it allowed the reader to get all the back story without great big chunks of repeating of information. It was fun, and brought another element of tension to the story.
Missing babies/children is such an emotive topic. The ones that are left behind have the difficult waters of real life to tread. Just how do you move on when that child has left a big gaping hole that somehow you have to bridge. Mothers, aunts, uncles and grandparents have to find someway to keep the public's mind constantly on developments. You only have to look at the Madeline McCann disappearance to see that happen in real time.
So when Donna Novak turns up at Amanda Callaghan's door on the anniversary of baby Megan's disappearance everyone's sceptical, including Billie, who has witnessed her mum get her hopes up, time and time again. She only wants to protect her mum. I do think the character of Amanda was so bloody sad. She is so obsessed with finding her lost sister that she allows Donna to push her daughter away, for her relationship with Billie and her sister Eve's father to fall apart all because she couldn't let go.
The writing style was excellent and once we got to around the 60% mark, everything began to speed up like an oncoming train. The twists were revealed, secrets unleashed and I really enjoyed how the story came full circle.
December 12, 2023
The Dinner Party is domestic thriller that kept me guessing and second guessing throughout. Baby Megan went missing in 1979 while her parents engaged in a dinner party with the neighbors and her sister Amanda (age 10 at the time of her disappearance) has never given up hope of finding her one and only sibling. Now 40 years later, Megan’s disappearance continues to affect the next generation. The majority of the book was told from Billie’s perspective. Billie is Amanda’s daughter, Megan’s niece. The book also sprinkles in episodes from The Callaghan Baby Podcast and flashbacks from some of the women during the dinner party.
I enjoyed the story and stayed intrigued throughout. The podcast portions seemed “off” to me. I understood the podcast was important to the case details, but each episode was presented with an intro and outro making it seem like the reader was hearing the podcast in its entirety, but really each episode would have been 5-15 minutes long. It’s a small thing, but that bothered me the most. There are also a lot of characters from past and present. It took me awhile to keep everyone straight, especially the original Dinner Party guests (who was couple with who and which house they lived in). I was reading an e-read ARC, but if it had been a hard copy it would be helpful to have a map at the beginning of the book with the Wattlebury Court homes labeled with family names. Overall, I really enjoyed this book!
Thank you NetGalley, Rebecca Heath, and Aria & Aries Publishing for this ARC opportunity.
Publication date: January 2024
I enjoyed the story and stayed intrigued throughout. The podcast portions seemed “off” to me. I understood the podcast was important to the case details, but each episode was presented with an intro and outro making it seem like the reader was hearing the podcast in its entirety, but really each episode would have been 5-15 minutes long. It’s a small thing, but that bothered me the most. There are also a lot of characters from past and present. It took me awhile to keep everyone straight, especially the original Dinner Party guests (who was couple with who and which house they lived in). I was reading an e-read ARC, but if it had been a hard copy it would be helpful to have a map at the beginning of the book with the Wattlebury Court homes labeled with family names. Overall, I really enjoyed this book!
Thank you NetGalley, Rebecca Heath, and Aria & Aries Publishing for this ARC opportunity.
Publication date: January 2024
April 25, 2024
rated: 1.5 stars
i kind of hate bad mystery novels, because even when theyre bad i feel so compelled to finish them so then i can find out what happens. in saying that, this novel was so predictable and boring that i didn't need to read this to find out what happened. it ended in exactly the way i expected it to. it was really the juvenile writing style that i hated the most about this book, but the time jump interludes having literally nothing to do with the plot in the end and the podcast sounding so fake also made this so boring to read.
i kind of hate bad mystery novels, because even when theyre bad i feel so compelled to finish them so then i can find out what happens. in saying that, this novel was so predictable and boring that i didn't need to read this to find out what happened. it ended in exactly the way i expected it to. it was really the juvenile writing style that i hated the most about this book, but the time jump interludes having literally nothing to do with the plot in the end and the podcast sounding so fake also made this so boring to read.
April 8, 2024
4 Stars
A baby goes missing while her parents are next door at a dinner party and her 10 year old sister is sleeping in the next room.
40- something years later a woman shows up at the sisters front door claiming to be the missing baby. The family is desperate to find out if she is really the missing baby. Many secrets from that night and from the interceding 40 years surface, changing everything for the family.
Overall, a decent read. A few parts seemed fairly unrealistic but I was willing to go along for the ride and did enjoy it.
A baby goes missing while her parents are next door at a dinner party and her 10 year old sister is sleeping in the next room.
40- something years later a woman shows up at the sisters front door claiming to be the missing baby. The family is desperate to find out if she is really the missing baby. Many secrets from that night and from the interceding 40 years surface, changing everything for the family.
Overall, a decent read. A few parts seemed fairly unrealistic but I was willing to go along for the ride and did enjoy it.
January 18, 2024
Thank you Rebecca for gifting us a copy to read and review.
Forty years ago, four neighbouring couples got together for their usual adult catchup but a missing baby turned this into the dinner party from hell.
An era where life wasn’t as complicated or governed by the insulation of children, as they stayed home and an adult would pop in to check periodically.
Nobody saw or heard anything but each had their own secrets and deceptions.
Baby Megan was never found.
A podcast re invigorated public interest and kept the mystery alive and current.
A knock on the door might just provide the answers.
Donna claims to be the long lost baby and the uniquely embroidered blanket she is holding was enough for some of the Callaghan family to hear her story.
Opening the door is just the beginning as a gripping and compelling tale unfolds.
I absolutely loved the contrast in timelines as the relaxed ambience of the 70s and the pulsating popularity of podcasts collided beautifully.
Twists and turns and the inception of podcast detail made this a book I couldn’t put down.
Detailed writing and immaculate execution of events to be applauded.
I was lucky enough to name a character, so look out for Judge Pascal.
Forty years ago, four neighbouring couples got together for their usual adult catchup but a missing baby turned this into the dinner party from hell.
An era where life wasn’t as complicated or governed by the insulation of children, as they stayed home and an adult would pop in to check periodically.
Nobody saw or heard anything but each had their own secrets and deceptions.
Baby Megan was never found.
A podcast re invigorated public interest and kept the mystery alive and current.
A knock on the door might just provide the answers.
Donna claims to be the long lost baby and the uniquely embroidered blanket she is holding was enough for some of the Callaghan family to hear her story.
Opening the door is just the beginning as a gripping and compelling tale unfolds.
I absolutely loved the contrast in timelines as the relaxed ambience of the 70s and the pulsating popularity of podcasts collided beautifully.
Twists and turns and the inception of podcast detail made this a book I couldn’t put down.
Detailed writing and immaculate execution of events to be applauded.
I was lucky enough to name a character, so look out for Judge Pascal.
March 29, 2024
The Dinner Party is the kind of suspense- thriller that I usually gravitate, more specifically if the characters are neighbors that think they can trust each other. The gossip, the secrets, the betrayals and the uncertainty all together is a good mix for a perfect mystery.
Unfortunately despite having all these factors, the plot was just way to slow burn for me that it was boring and a struggle to finish.
Unfortunately despite having all these factors, the plot was just way to slow burn for me that it was boring and a struggle to finish.
November 5, 2024
Painfully slow , repetitive and if I had to hear every second sentence how much one of the main characters baby cried I wanted to cry myself !!!!!
December 19, 2023
Neighborhood couples get together for a dinner party in the late 70s. They put their kids to bed, and party at one house. Two of the dads do regular checks on the kids every couple of hours. On their last check, baby Megan is missing. This becomes known as the dinner party from hell in the news. Fast forward 40 years later and a woman shows up claiming to be Megan. Is she really? Where has she been? Why is she back?
I really enjoyed this author’s writing style. It was an easy read that had me flipping pages. I enjoyed the twists throughout and felt it was evenly paced. I had to know if the woman was really Megan! I am a sucker for family drama! My favorite parts were the true crime podcast episodes that are becoming more of a norm in books these days. I also loved the flashbacks to the party. The characters and their actions were realistic throughout. I really enjoyed this one!
March 19, 2024
I loved The Summer Party @rebeccaheath debut novel, so I jumped at the chance to read her new domestic thriller - it certainly did not disappoint!
Set in Heath’s home state of South Australia, the novel traverses through duel timelines. In 1979 four neighbouring couples meet for dinner at one of their homes, periodically taking turns on checking their sleeping children in the neighbouring homes. It’s during one of those checks, it is discovered that 4 month old baby Megan is missing from her crib.
Forty years on, a new podcast lead by Ruby Costa and her team is unearthing new evidence and following up old leads. What happened to baby Megan?
Read if you love true crime podcasts, family drama, missing persons filled with secrets and intrigue. I flew through this one and did not see that ending!
Set in Heath’s home state of South Australia, the novel traverses through duel timelines. In 1979 four neighbouring couples meet for dinner at one of their homes, periodically taking turns on checking their sleeping children in the neighbouring homes. It’s during one of those checks, it is discovered that 4 month old baby Megan is missing from her crib.
Forty years on, a new podcast lead by Ruby Costa and her team is unearthing new evidence and following up old leads. What happened to baby Megan?
Read if you love true crime podcasts, family drama, missing persons filled with secrets and intrigue. I flew through this one and did not see that ending!
January 18, 2024
So there’s a fine line with mystery-thrillers: too few subplots and secrets and characters, and you get a pretty bland mystery that’s fairly obvious early on; however, with two many secrets and subplots and characters, you get either a convoluted mess or melodrama (or sometimes both).
This wasn’t long as in page numbers but seemed to take forever to read. There was too much happening and, honestly, the stuff outside the 1970s still felt like it was in the 1970s given how over the top it was. It felt very tv movie soap opera.
I can’t not know an ending, so I kept going. And the heart of the story had a lot of meat that could have been compelling. But some of the subplots were ridiculous or unnecessary, the structure was a mess, and the men… I’m a feminist who loves women sticking it to crappy men as much as the next woman but the men here are just the worst of the gender. There wasn’t one guy who was redeemable. These weren’t minor mistakes they made; every character (not just the men) was portrayed as either corrupt as hell, an addict, or dumb as a rock.
Also, it’s just kind of hinted at that a guy is a rapist and raped teenage girls and it’s brushed aside as if it’s irrelevant. Why aren’t the cops arresting him?! “It was a different time?” No. He raped children.
I don’t know what kinds of things go on in Australia but I have to imagine raping kids and keeping secrets that involve missing and/or dead babies aren’t just things you brush aside unless someone needs podcast content. And then the gross guy hitting on every woman or poor people or some guys smoking weed are basically treated as equal to a man literally having sex with children. WTF?!
Anyway, I read it because I wanted to know the ending but I’m realizing how upset it made me. Thanks for the ARC.
This wasn’t long as in page numbers but seemed to take forever to read. There was too much happening and, honestly, the stuff outside the 1970s still felt like it was in the 1970s given how over the top it was. It felt very tv movie soap opera.
I can’t not know an ending, so I kept going. And the heart of the story had a lot of meat that could have been compelling. But some of the subplots were ridiculous or unnecessary, the structure was a mess, and the men… I’m a feminist who loves women sticking it to crappy men as much as the next woman but the men here are just the worst of the gender. There wasn’t one guy who was redeemable. These weren’t minor mistakes they made; every character (not just the men) was portrayed as either corrupt as hell, an addict, or dumb as a rock.
Also, it’s just kind of hinted at that a guy is a rapist and raped teenage girls and it’s brushed aside as if it’s irrelevant. Why aren’t the cops arresting him?! “It was a different time?” No. He raped children.
I don’t know what kinds of things go on in Australia but I have to imagine raping kids and keeping secrets that involve missing and/or dead babies aren’t just things you brush aside unless someone needs podcast content. And then the gross guy hitting on every woman or poor people or some guys smoking weed are basically treated as equal to a man literally having sex with children. WTF?!
Anyway, I read it because I wanted to know the ending but I’m realizing how upset it made me. Thanks for the ARC.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 1, 2025
A fairly easy and engaging read. Good level of mystery and an interesting narrative structure.
Loved the relationship between the sisters.
Did find all the husbands of the original dinner party a little hard to keep in check.
3.5 - 4 🌟
Loved the relationship between the sisters.
Did find all the husbands of the original dinner party a little hard to keep in check.
3.5 - 4 🌟
October 26, 2023
ARC for review. TBP January 4, 2024.
The book opens with The Callaghan Baby Podcast, about a cold kidnapping case from forty years ago when four month old Megan Callaghan was taken from her crib. She had been left at home with her older sister, Amanda while her parents attended a dinner party with three other neighborhood couples.
In present day we meet Billie Callaghan Jones, the adult daughter of Amanda. There has been a break in the case, but is it what everyone has been hoping for? Everyone involved has secrets.
This is an interesting, perfectly serviceable mystery/thriller (I would not have wanted to live in that neighborhood in 1979 though…a lot of dysfunction there!) And everyone, past and present seems to have something to hide, save Billie, her infant daughter and sweet dog Plank (and I’m not sure about Plank.) I kept turning the pages, so, recommended.
The book opens with The Callaghan Baby Podcast, about a cold kidnapping case from forty years ago when four month old Megan Callaghan was taken from her crib. She had been left at home with her older sister, Amanda while her parents attended a dinner party with three other neighborhood couples.
In present day we meet Billie Callaghan Jones, the adult daughter of Amanda. There has been a break in the case, but is it what everyone has been hoping for? Everyone involved has secrets.
This is an interesting, perfectly serviceable mystery/thriller (I would not have wanted to live in that neighborhood in 1979 though…a lot of dysfunction there!) And everyone, past and present seems to have something to hide, save Billie, her infant daughter and sweet dog Plank (and I’m not sure about Plank.) I kept turning the pages, so, recommended.
February 22, 2024
Really good thriller! The ending felt somewhat unfinished though.
November 7, 2023
I reallllllly wanted to love this book. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to my expectations. It wasn’t terrible, but it ended up being forgettable.
The Dinner Party tells the story of baby Megan’s disappearance during a neighbor’s dinner party that several parents/adults in the neighborhood attended. The story alternates between multiple POV’s, past and present, and a current podcast that is exploring the unsolved disappearance.
While I understand that the story needed a lot of characters to fill the dinner party, as well as the families, etc., The Dinner Party was way too character heavy in my opinion. I could not keep the cast of characters from the party itself straight and ended up not even trying. There was very little substance to any character. I spent the first half of the book trying to keep up with who each person was, and the second half just trying to get to the end for some resolution.
What saved this book for me is the premise. It was original which I liked! I also thoroughly enjoyed the 70’s setting! You don’t see that often in thrillers and I really enjoyed that aspect.
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a character heavy domestic drama. I will definitely try and read more of the author’s work because I did find so much potential in this story.
Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Aries for the opportunity to read this ARC before its anticipated release of January 4, 2024.
The Dinner Party tells the story of baby Megan’s disappearance during a neighbor’s dinner party that several parents/adults in the neighborhood attended. The story alternates between multiple POV’s, past and present, and a current podcast that is exploring the unsolved disappearance.
While I understand that the story needed a lot of characters to fill the dinner party, as well as the families, etc., The Dinner Party was way too character heavy in my opinion. I could not keep the cast of characters from the party itself straight and ended up not even trying. There was very little substance to any character. I spent the first half of the book trying to keep up with who each person was, and the second half just trying to get to the end for some resolution.
What saved this book for me is the premise. It was original which I liked! I also thoroughly enjoyed the 70’s setting! You don’t see that often in thrillers and I really enjoyed that aspect.
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a character heavy domestic drama. I will definitely try and read more of the author’s work because I did find so much potential in this story.
Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Aries for the opportunity to read this ARC before its anticipated release of January 4, 2024.
January 3, 2024
3.5 stars
When four couples gather together for a dinner party, one of their babies goes missing. Forty years on and a stranger comes forward claiming to be the missing person. What really happened at the party? As pieces are put together in this puzzle, it becomes apparent that it might not be as straightforward as it looks.
I was so excited to read this book. The synopsis is just the type of thriller I usually gravitate towards. I had my doubts about Donna, who claimed to be the missing baby and kept going back and forth about her. The insertion of podcast scripts peppered throughout the book added to the intrigue to this storyline. Ultimately, I enjoyed this one though it was more of a slow burn then I usually prefer in thrillers.
When four couples gather together for a dinner party, one of their babies goes missing. Forty years on and a stranger comes forward claiming to be the missing person. What really happened at the party? As pieces are put together in this puzzle, it becomes apparent that it might not be as straightforward as it looks.
I was so excited to read this book. The synopsis is just the type of thriller I usually gravitate towards. I had my doubts about Donna, who claimed to be the missing baby and kept going back and forth about her. The insertion of podcast scripts peppered throughout the book added to the intrigue to this storyline. Ultimately, I enjoyed this one though it was more of a slow burn then I usually prefer in thrillers.
November 26, 2023
On December 9, 1979 A court month-old named Megan was abducted from her home in a quaint, middle-class, suburban neighborhood. Forty years later, with still no clues as to what happened that night or to little Megan, Ruby, A journalist and podcaster pulls the case out and dusts it off. She's determined to find answers and solve this Australian cold case.
This story follows three storylines: the podcast, Megan's family in the present, and Megan's family the night of the abduction. The podcast excerpts are scripts and I absolutely loved them. They added that true crime, documentary feel to the whole story. The present day timeline focused on Billie, Megan's sister's daughter. It begins on the fortieth anniversary of the abduction during which a woman drops by claiming to be long lost Megan and comes with proof. The past timeline didn't add to the story in any helpful way for me. For some reason it was jarring for me and yanked me out of the story, so I started skipping those chapters altogether.
Excellent story that kept me on my toes. A must read for true crime lovers.
This story follows three storylines: the podcast, Megan's family in the present, and Megan's family the night of the abduction. The podcast excerpts are scripts and I absolutely loved them. They added that true crime, documentary feel to the whole story. The present day timeline focused on Billie, Megan's sister's daughter. It begins on the fortieth anniversary of the abduction during which a woman drops by claiming to be long lost Megan and comes with proof. The past timeline didn't add to the story in any helpful way for me. For some reason it was jarring for me and yanked me out of the story, so I started skipping those chapters altogether.
Excellent story that kept me on my toes. A must read for true crime lovers.
October 29, 2023
This was a fantastic book. 40 years ago, baby Megan disappeared from her bedroom while her parents were at a dinner party with three other couples from the neighborhood. In the present day, we follow the daughter (Billie) of Megan’s older sister Amanda. She has a husband and young baby that she juggles while being support for her mother as well. On a night where they are commemorating Megan, a stranger appears at the door and claims she is Megan. In the midst of all of this, we get excerpts from a podcast dedicated to the disappearance as well as flashbacks to the night in question.
I found the plot to be intriguing and couldn’t stop guessing where it would all lead to. Definitely recommend it for mystery/thriller fans.
Thanks as always to NetGalley for the ARC.
I found the plot to be intriguing and couldn’t stop guessing where it would all lead to. Definitely recommend it for mystery/thriller fans.
Thanks as always to NetGalley for the ARC.
December 27, 2024
3.5 *
This was a podcast thriller that started off really well with a dual timeline format. A dinner party years ago led to the disappearance of a young child who has never been found even decades later and now a podcast is attempting to get to the bottom of it.
There were some unexpected twists that hooked me in but then it became a tad repetitive and was longer than it needed to be.
The resolution of the mystery however was quite a decent one and I liked the way it all ended. The way the podcast was presented was very good and the true crime fan in me loved that the most.
This was a podcast thriller that started off really well with a dual timeline format. A dinner party years ago led to the disappearance of a young child who has never been found even decades later and now a podcast is attempting to get to the bottom of it.
There were some unexpected twists that hooked me in but then it became a tad repetitive and was longer than it needed to be.
The resolution of the mystery however was quite a decent one and I liked the way it all ended. The way the podcast was presented was very good and the true crime fan in me loved that the most.
August 29, 2024
4 solid stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.
This is heavy on the domestic and lighter on the thriller aspect.
Pretty much all of the characters in both timelines had something they were hiding.
Even the main character in a way.
I'll have to check out this author's other novel.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.
This is heavy on the domestic and lighter on the thriller aspect.
Pretty much all of the characters in both timelines had something they were hiding.
Even the main character in a way.
I'll have to check out this author's other novel.
December 23, 2024
Save it til you are brain dead from other things and it'll be an enjoyable super easy read.
If you are a "lit nerd" I'm sure you'll find plenty of annoyances so save yourself the grief. Pretend to be me and reading stuff like this is so much more fun
If you are a "lit nerd" I'm sure you'll find plenty of annoyances so save yourself the grief. Pretend to be me and reading stuff like this is so much more fun
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