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The Wedding Party
An unputdownable thriller, perfect for fans of THE HOLIDAY and BIG LITTLE LIES.'A sparkling, thrilling whodunit with a cast of extraordinarily well-realised characters and a setting that will take your breath away. I read it in twenty-four hours and was bereft when it ended' LISA JEWELL Till death do us part . . . Lucy has dreamt of her wedding day for as long as she can remember. And now the day is almost here. Her nearest and dearest are gathered on an idyllic Greek island and she just knows it's going to be perfect. It has to be.But even the best-laid plans can go horribly wrong. Why are her parents behaving so strangely Why won't the rather odd lady from the airport stop hanging around Who is the silent stranger her sister brought as a plus-1 And then they find the body. It's going to be a day to remember.***'A bride, a groom, a fantastically well-realised characters, tense, fast paced and surprising. I loved it' GILLIAN MCCALLISTER'Claustrophobic, creepy and page-turning, a surprising and original domestic noir thriller' ROSAMUND LUPTON'Brilliantly thrilling' JENNY COLGAN'Vibrant characters, pitch-perfect dialogue and trademark piercing observation all set against a stunning Grecian backdrop. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough' AMANDA JENNINGS
480 pages, Paperback
First published June 24, 2021
226 people are currently reading
1167 people want to read
About the author
Tammy Cohen
23 books451 followersTammy Cohen (who was previously published under her formal name Tamar Cohen) is a freelance journalist. A late starter to fiction - and to other things besides - she has now written four novels. The Mistress's Revenge, The War of the Wives, and Someone Else's Wedding. The Broken was her first pyschological thriller, followed by Dying for Christmas. Her brand new hardback novel, First One Missing is out now.
She lives in North London with her partner and three (nearly) grown children, plus one very badly behaved dog.
She lives in North London with her partner and three (nearly) grown children, plus one very badly behaved dog.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 245 reviews
June 27, 2021
All Lucy Collins wants is a perfect wedding to Jason and she chooses Kefalonia as the venue. Does she get the expensive day of perfection she craves and so meticulously plans??? Well, what do you think?! The story is told from several perspectives, interspersed with police interviews and extracts from a therapy journal.
After a slow start the tension builds as you begin to see with HD clarity that beneath the surface gloss of the impending celebrations, all the guests have much they are hiding - to a lesser or greater extent. None of the characters are especially likeable, Lucy is an anxious nervous wreck and has low self esteem while Jason and his mother Cora are hiding a major secret as are Lucy’s parents. Jess, Lucy’s sister who blunders and bludgeons her way through life I do secretly rather like as her tell it how it is attitude and motor mouth puts plenty of cats among pigeons. Mind you, I’m also rather glad she’s not related to me! I like the tug of war between Jess and Lucy’s best friend Shelly which is very revealing. The impending nuptials shines a spotlight on bubbling just below the surface issues straining several marriages which burst to the surface like geysers just before or on the day. It all starts to massively unravel, relationships disintegrate, the tension escalates from unease to explosive and warnings become dire in tone. As the end approaches it’s clear that several characters are severely damaged or cause damage and the situation becomes more toxic by the hour. It becomes quite chilling and the atmosphere feels claustrophobic as emotions are suppressed, rise and then explode.
Overall, once the plot gets going it becomes an entertaining domestic noir. I dare say it follows a predictable path but it’s a good read none the less.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Random House UK, Transworld for the arc in return for an honest review.
After a slow start the tension builds as you begin to see with HD clarity that beneath the surface gloss of the impending celebrations, all the guests have much they are hiding - to a lesser or greater extent. None of the characters are especially likeable, Lucy is an anxious nervous wreck and has low self esteem while Jason and his mother Cora are hiding a major secret as are Lucy’s parents. Jess, Lucy’s sister who blunders and bludgeons her way through life I do secretly rather like as her tell it how it is attitude and motor mouth puts plenty of cats among pigeons. Mind you, I’m also rather glad she’s not related to me! I like the tug of war between Jess and Lucy’s best friend Shelly which is very revealing. The impending nuptials shines a spotlight on bubbling just below the surface issues straining several marriages which burst to the surface like geysers just before or on the day. It all starts to massively unravel, relationships disintegrate, the tension escalates from unease to explosive and warnings become dire in tone. As the end approaches it’s clear that several characters are severely damaged or cause damage and the situation becomes more toxic by the hour. It becomes quite chilling and the atmosphere feels claustrophobic as emotions are suppressed, rise and then explode.
Overall, once the plot gets going it becomes an entertaining domestic noir. I dare say it follows a predictable path but it’s a good read none the less.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Random House UK, Transworld for the arc in return for an honest review.
April 23, 2021
3.5 stars rounded up.
As soon as you get wind of Lucy’s “perfect” wedding plans and all the the work she’s put into it you just know this train is going to be seriously derailed! Lucy and Jace (yuk, what’s wrong with Jason?) are planning an intimate but very high end wedding on the Greek island of Kefalonia. Guests will indulge in a week of relaxation and pampering before the big day. There are many elements in play
. Lucy has seriously overspent, and can’t pay the wedding planner
. The wedding planner owes money to some unsavoury people
. The bride’s sister brings some random guy she just met
. The bride’s father has been a naughty boy
. The bride’s best friend is seriously ‘off’
. A lot of the women get some sort of gastric problem
. The best man’s wife is seriously annoying, and
. There is a creepy old lady who is waaaay too interested in their group,
. Oh, and you find out at the start that someone dies - but who?
Things start out well enough but by the time the wedding day arrives, half the women of the group are feeling ill and things start to spiral out of control. Some real clangers are dropped in the speech department, and emotions run high. The day ends in tragedy.
This was a fun read. I don’t think any of the characters were particularly likeable, even the glowing bride had some faults. I got sick of her internal monologue about her perfect day, how it all had to be perfect, how much work it was, how could her sister spoil it by literally existing, is it too much to ask that for one day she is the star of the show...yada, yada. Her I wanted to shake, some of the others needed a slap and some others needed...more drastic measures.
Apart from the whining about everything being perfect, the character’s secrets were all slowly revealed as we barrelled uncontrollably towards said train derailment. Another book not to take too seriously for maximum enjoyment. Go with the flow, enjoy hating on all the characters, and smirk at their bad decisions and you will have fun with it. I did. Thanks to Netgalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and Tammy Cohen for the ARC to review. My opinions are my own.
As soon as you get wind of Lucy’s “perfect” wedding plans and all the the work she’s put into it you just know this train is going to be seriously derailed! Lucy and Jace (yuk, what’s wrong with Jason?) are planning an intimate but very high end wedding on the Greek island of Kefalonia. Guests will indulge in a week of relaxation and pampering before the big day. There are many elements in play
. Lucy has seriously overspent, and can’t pay the wedding planner
. The wedding planner owes money to some unsavoury people
. The bride’s sister brings some random guy she just met
. The bride’s father has been a naughty boy
. The bride’s best friend is seriously ‘off’
. A lot of the women get some sort of gastric problem
. The best man’s wife is seriously annoying, and
. There is a creepy old lady who is waaaay too interested in their group,
. Oh, and you find out at the start that someone dies - but who?
Things start out well enough but by the time the wedding day arrives, half the women of the group are feeling ill and things start to spiral out of control. Some real clangers are dropped in the speech department, and emotions run high. The day ends in tragedy.
This was a fun read. I don’t think any of the characters were particularly likeable, even the glowing bride had some faults. I got sick of her internal monologue about her perfect day, how it all had to be perfect, how much work it was, how could her sister spoil it by literally existing, is it too much to ask that for one day she is the star of the show...yada, yada. Her I wanted to shake, some of the others needed a slap and some others needed...more drastic measures.
Apart from the whining about everything being perfect, the character’s secrets were all slowly revealed as we barrelled uncontrollably towards said train derailment. Another book not to take too seriously for maximum enjoyment. Go with the flow, enjoy hating on all the characters, and smirk at their bad decisions and you will have fun with it. I did. Thanks to Netgalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and Tammy Cohen for the ARC to review. My opinions are my own.
June 27, 2021
Review published in: https://diagnosisbookaholic.blogspot....
3,5 ⭐️
Dear reader, you are cordially invited to celebrate the marriage of Lucy and Jason. The ceremony will be held on the island of Kefalonia on the afternoon of the 15th of June 2019. This will be followed by dinner and…MURDER!
At least that’s what it looks like when a body at the bottom of a cliff is being guarded by the police in the fist few pages.
The wedding party follows the current trend in the domestic suspense genre where we know from page one that someone dies but we don’t know who it is till the very last pages, with the story focusing on the events leading to this death and not its investigation. Although it has been done before I still was entertained by it.
Most of the characters are pretty unlikeable so I wouldn’t have minded more than one of them being the deceased. Interspersed extracts of police interviews allow the reader to go discarding candidates as the story progresses. Lucy is your typical bridezilla obsessed with everything being perfect on her wedding day cause she deserves it (her words); her friend Shelly gives really clingy vibes; her sister Jess is a free agent and doesn’t care much about her sister wishes, bringing to the wedding a virtual stranger that may not be who he says he is; her parents are hiding some secret from their daughters and from each other; her fiancé seems to have a not so healthy relationship with his mum, and to top it off an old lady on the resort seems to be weirdly interested in the wedding party. This was recipe for disaster!
I liked how all their secrets were slowly unraveled but, imo, halfway through the story stalled a little bit until it picked up again once the wedding day arrived. For such a huge build up I felt some of the secrets they were hiding were a bit of a let down.
The changing POVs and short chapters made of The wedding party a fast and twisty read and it will have you guessing till the end not for the killer but for the killed one.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
3,5 ⭐️
Dear reader, you are cordially invited to celebrate the marriage of Lucy and Jason. The ceremony will be held on the island of Kefalonia on the afternoon of the 15th of June 2019. This will be followed by dinner and…MURDER!
At least that’s what it looks like when a body at the bottom of a cliff is being guarded by the police in the fist few pages.
The wedding party follows the current trend in the domestic suspense genre where we know from page one that someone dies but we don’t know who it is till the very last pages, with the story focusing on the events leading to this death and not its investigation. Although it has been done before I still was entertained by it.
Most of the characters are pretty unlikeable so I wouldn’t have minded more than one of them being the deceased. Interspersed extracts of police interviews allow the reader to go discarding candidates as the story progresses. Lucy is your typical bridezilla obsessed with everything being perfect on her wedding day cause she deserves it (her words); her friend Shelly gives really clingy vibes; her sister Jess is a free agent and doesn’t care much about her sister wishes, bringing to the wedding a virtual stranger that may not be who he says he is; her parents are hiding some secret from their daughters and from each other; her fiancé seems to have a not so healthy relationship with his mum, and to top it off an old lady on the resort seems to be weirdly interested in the wedding party. This was recipe for disaster!
I liked how all their secrets were slowly unraveled but, imo, halfway through the story stalled a little bit until it picked up again once the wedding day arrived. For such a huge build up I felt some of the secrets they were hiding were a bit of a let down.
The changing POVs and short chapters made of The wedding party a fast and twisty read and it will have you guessing till the end not for the killer but for the killed one.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
April 29, 2021
This whodunnit by Tammy Cohen is an entertaining read, lots of interesting characters and plenty of action in this fast paced thriller
The story is based on the Greek island of Kefalonia and is told from multiple perspectives. Lucy and Jason are getting married and all the family are there to celebrate this happy occasion. There are a multitude of characters to get to grips with but was written well enough to follow. Lucy’s mother Hazel, sister Jess, best friend Shelly, wedding planner Nina among others who all seem to have secrets and things going on. Money problems, false identities, adultery, sickness and death are all in the mix as the Lucy and Jason try to celebrate their big day.
The reader is made aware at the very start that someone dies, but who, how and why. Good characters but not likeable are the strong point of this novel together with a well paced twisty plot.
I would like to thank both Netgalley and Random House UK for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
The story is based on the Greek island of Kefalonia and is told from multiple perspectives. Lucy and Jason are getting married and all the family are there to celebrate this happy occasion. There are a multitude of characters to get to grips with but was written well enough to follow. Lucy’s mother Hazel, sister Jess, best friend Shelly, wedding planner Nina among others who all seem to have secrets and things going on. Money problems, false identities, adultery, sickness and death are all in the mix as the Lucy and Jason try to celebrate their big day.
The reader is made aware at the very start that someone dies, but who, how and why. Good characters but not likeable are the strong point of this novel together with a well paced twisty plot.
I would like to thank both Netgalley and Random House UK for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
August 21, 2021
Lucy has dreamt of her wedding day for as long as she can remember.
And now the day is almost here. Her nearest and dearest are gathered on an idyllic Greek island and she just knows it's going to be perfect. It has to be.
But even the best-laid plans can go horribly wrong. Why are her parents behaving so strangely? Why won't the rather odd lady from the airport stop hanging around? Who is the silent stranger her sister brought as a plus one?
And then they find the body.
It's going to be a day to remember.
Right from the start you realise that this wedding is a fun-filled one and its going to be one twisty ride!
It’s a well written plot that manages to hold your attention throughout. As the characters get introduced into the plot, you realise that each one of them are hiding something and it will be interesting to know what secrets lie hidden.
There is so much drama going on throughout as well as there are a so many twists along the way which kept me guessing and wondering what’s going to happen next.
The main highlight for me was that the readers are made aware that a body has been found on the beach. While normally we try to figure out the perpetrator and the motives behind the crime, in this case, both the victim and the perpetrator aren’t revealed until the end, which made the plot even more interesting.
Thank You NetGalley and Random House UK for this ARC!
And now the day is almost here. Her nearest and dearest are gathered on an idyllic Greek island and she just knows it's going to be perfect. It has to be.
But even the best-laid plans can go horribly wrong. Why are her parents behaving so strangely? Why won't the rather odd lady from the airport stop hanging around? Who is the silent stranger her sister brought as a plus one?
And then they find the body.
It's going to be a day to remember.
Right from the start you realise that this wedding is a fun-filled one and its going to be one twisty ride!
It’s a well written plot that manages to hold your attention throughout. As the characters get introduced into the plot, you realise that each one of them are hiding something and it will be interesting to know what secrets lie hidden.
There is so much drama going on throughout as well as there are a so many twists along the way which kept me guessing and wondering what’s going to happen next.
The main highlight for me was that the readers are made aware that a body has been found on the beach. While normally we try to figure out the perpetrator and the motives behind the crime, in this case, both the victim and the perpetrator aren’t revealed until the end, which made the plot even more interesting.
Thank You NetGalley and Random House UK for this ARC!
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April 22, 2021Told from multiple perspectives this novel moves along at a slow pace, and that allows you really get to know each of the characters. I started out not liking a single character in the book and while I still didn't like most of them by the end of the novel I did get a better understanding of them all.
The story itself is a slow burn and it fools you into thinking you have it all figured out trust me when I tell you that you don't. There are plenty of plot twists that I just did not see coming.
The writing is fantastic and the descriptions of the landscape is almost hypnotic, I could smell the sea air while reading this book. I think Cohen manages to really capture families complicated dynamic.
The ending was one of the best I have read and well WOW.
Thanks to Netgalley the author and the publisher for a chance to read and review this novel.
The story itself is a slow burn and it fools you into thinking you have it all figured out trust me when I tell you that you don't. There are plenty of plot twists that I just did not see coming.
The writing is fantastic and the descriptions of the landscape is almost hypnotic, I could smell the sea air while reading this book. I think Cohen manages to really capture families complicated dynamic.
The ending was one of the best I have read and well WOW.
Thanks to Netgalley the author and the publisher for a chance to read and review this novel.
July 26, 2023
As always a really easy read that doesn’t require much concentration other than getting the characters straight!
September 20, 2021
The Wedding Party is set in a beautiful hotel in Greece and centres around The Collins family who have all flown out to celebrate the forthcoming wedding of the eldest daugther Lucy to Jason. It’s a small but luxurious wedding with only family and their closest friends attending and Lucy has dreamt of this moment all her life. She has been meticulously planning her “dream wedding” for as long as she can remember and with the help of a wedding planner her dreams are about to be realised.
However, this is a psychological thriller not a happy-ever-after romance and it’s written by Tammy Cohen so you know that things will start to go wrong, secrets will be revealed, people’s true colours will begin to show and more importantly there’s a dead body and it’s one of the wedding party.
The story is cleverly narrated by several key characters and an unknown voice who is talking to their shrink. There are some very strange and slightly (!!!) dysfunctional people in this family and whilst the reader knows there has been an unfortunate death from the opening chapter, we never know until towards the end exactly who has died and why. Throughout the story as more secrets unfold I began to think I knew who and why, but at several times during the book I realised I was completely off course.
With such a variety of colourful and flawed characters The Wedding Party kept me glued to my kindle and eager to work out who died and why. The glorious setting of Greece and the atmospheric descriptions of the hotel and wonderous landscape magically transported me away to a sunnier climate and helped me escape the cloudy “Summer” of London.
Once again Tammy Cohen has given the reader a thoroughly gripping and enjoyable thriller with a stunning setting, some fascinating characters, a tightly woven plot full of tension and intrigue. Loved it and would 100% recommend it.
However, this is a psychological thriller not a happy-ever-after romance and it’s written by Tammy Cohen so you know that things will start to go wrong, secrets will be revealed, people’s true colours will begin to show and more importantly there’s a dead body and it’s one of the wedding party.
The story is cleverly narrated by several key characters and an unknown voice who is talking to their shrink. There are some very strange and slightly (!!!) dysfunctional people in this family and whilst the reader knows there has been an unfortunate death from the opening chapter, we never know until towards the end exactly who has died and why. Throughout the story as more secrets unfold I began to think I knew who and why, but at several times during the book I realised I was completely off course.
With such a variety of colourful and flawed characters The Wedding Party kept me glued to my kindle and eager to work out who died and why. The glorious setting of Greece and the atmospheric descriptions of the hotel and wonderous landscape magically transported me away to a sunnier climate and helped me escape the cloudy “Summer” of London.
Once again Tammy Cohen has given the reader a thoroughly gripping and enjoyable thriller with a stunning setting, some fascinating characters, a tightly woven plot full of tension and intrigue. Loved it and would 100% recommend it.
September 11, 2021
Now, that's a totally misadvertised book! How can you say this is mystery/thriller when the ''bad guy/girl'' reveal themselves right at the middle and they are not even that bad anyway, they do practically nothing. A ''whodunit'' you say, Lisa Jewell? Who did f****** what??! You have to stop getting paid for reviews, people, honestly this is embarassing. And the characters weren't even that interesting, so that I could at least say it kept me going because of that. Big NO from me, total failure.
May 14, 2022
Setting: Kefalonia, Greece; present day. Lucy and fiance, Jason, have travelled with members of their family to a cliff-top hotel on the Greek island of Kefalonia to tie the knot. She is accompanied by her best friend and work colleague, Shelly, who has a dark past - revealed throughout the book in a series of notes for her therapy sessions. Also present for the wedding are Lucy's parents, Dom and Hazel, Jason's mother, Cora, Jason's best man, Gil with his wife Zoe, and Lucy's sister, the unconventional Jess (who arrives with a 'new man' in tow by the name of Gabriel). The wedding organiser, Nina, and a 'fellow guest', Vivian (who seems to know a lot about Shelly!) make up the cast.
Right from the start, it is apparent from a series of police 'interviews' scattered throughout the book that someone has died having fallen from the clifftop, but who and why is not revealed until the end. Suffice to say that there are adequate personality clashes, secrets and fears about money, lost jobs and hidden relationships to keep the reader guessing and also entertained as the story progresses. As the story is told from the different points of view of several of the characters, these issues and motivations for possible violent action are cleverly revealed.
Another excellent read from this author - having read several of her books, I have yet to be disappointed - 9/10.
Right from the start, it is apparent from a series of police 'interviews' scattered throughout the book that someone has died having fallen from the clifftop, but who and why is not revealed until the end. Suffice to say that there are adequate personality clashes, secrets and fears about money, lost jobs and hidden relationships to keep the reader guessing and also entertained as the story progresses. As the story is told from the different points of view of several of the characters, these issues and motivations for possible violent action are cleverly revealed.
Another excellent read from this author - having read several of her books, I have yet to be disappointed - 9/10.
May 19, 2022
3.5 stars
V entertaining! Multiple POV's, unlikeable characters, a tense atmosphere...you just know this wedding is not going to go well!
V entertaining! Multiple POV's, unlikeable characters, a tense atmosphere...you just know this wedding is not going to go well!
May 1, 2021
We're on the Greek Island of Kefalonia at an exclusive clifftop resort with views stretching across the Ionian Sea - an idyllic wedding venue. Lucy and Jason have come here with their closest friends and family for their dream wedding on the beach. However everyone who has come is hiding a secret and we know from the outset that the week will end with a member of the wedding party lying dead at the foot of a cliff - although we won't find out who it is until near the end of the book.
The Wedding Party feels like a mash up of Big Little Lies and The Guest List. It has the same structure as Liane Moriarty's book and a similar plot to Lucy Foley's. But Tammy Cohen is also a master at building suspense, dropping clues about what's happening while holding elements in reserve, only gradually revealing the answers so the book gets more and more compelling as you read it.
I felt like the ending fizzled out a bit and I didn't like any of the characters (which didn't stop me from wanting to know their secrets). But this is still a fast and twisty read that kept me guessing and it has a lovely summery Greek feel to it. 3.5 stars.
Thank you to Net Galley and Random House UK for the opportunity to read this.
The Wedding Party feels like a mash up of Big Little Lies and The Guest List. It has the same structure as Liane Moriarty's book and a similar plot to Lucy Foley's. But Tammy Cohen is also a master at building suspense, dropping clues about what's happening while holding elements in reserve, only gradually revealing the answers so the book gets more and more compelling as you read it.
I felt like the ending fizzled out a bit and I didn't like any of the characters (which didn't stop me from wanting to know their secrets). But this is still a fast and twisty read that kept me guessing and it has a lovely summery Greek feel to it. 3.5 stars.
Thank you to Net Galley and Random House UK for the opportunity to read this.
August 23, 2021
A picture-perfect wedding, planned to perfection, only to end up falling to pieces – that is what you have to look forward to when you reach for this book. The Wedding Party fizzes with energy and you will not be able to turn these pages fast enough.
I am sad to say I have heard the name but I have never read any of Tammy Cohen’s books. What a shame that I have been missing out. Her work jumps off the page as you are dragged into the story. This book was creepy and chilling and left me wanting more. I loved the journal entries and police transcripts though in between which keeps you on edge as you try to figure out “whodunit’. This was a gripping read full of amazing scenery.
Lucy planned the perfect wedding on a Greek Island and invited only the people she loved the most. But as the small group are thrown together, emotions run away as secrets are revealed and Jess (Lucy’s younger sister) insists on stealing the spotlight. Lucy quickly turns into a bridezilla. All she wants is for everything to be about her, yet Jess is arguing with Shelly and Zoe, her parents are hiding something while her soon to be mother-in-law keeps standing between her and Jason and Gabriel, her sister’s plus one appears to be a dark horse with a hidden past.
The never to be forgotten wedding turns out to be just that when a body is found….
Something always goes wrong at a wedding, no matter how much planning goes into it, but poor Lucy has everything go wrong. I loved the surprises along the way and all the secrets that were revealed even as everyone was trying hard not to spoil Lucy’s day. This was a book I could not read fast enough. I loved the colourful characters and the flaws that made them so realistic. However, the way the author managed to draw a picture of the breathtaking scenery left me in awe. Greece has always been high on my want-to-see list and after reading this I simply have to find a way to get myself there.
I loved the women in this book. Hazel, while slightly aloof, is brilliant as she puts her kids first. Lucy is the perfect bridezilla and when you find out how she has overspent you realise she is just a normal woman who has dreamt of the perfect wedding all her life. Shelly was just a little too mousy and “nice” to my liking – sadly I could never be friends with someone like her, I would constantly be asking myself why she was so “nice”. The author did a fantastic job with Vivian – the more I read about her the more my skin crawled as I found her creepy. As for Jess, I found her an amazing young woman who refused to do what was expected of her as she did her best to remain authentic only to discover that maybe she was trying just a little too hard. Her youth was beautifully captured.
In case it is not clear – I loved this book. I could not get through it fast enough and when I reached the last page I was disappointed that it ended. I could have spent a little more time lost on that incredible Greek island. As you turn the pages, you feel like you are there with the characters.
Thriller fans will find this glamorous tale gripping, chilling and impossible to put down. This is a magnificent read which I highly recommend. Soon-to-be-Brides might want to wait till after their big day before reading this – as it just might leave you a little paranoid seeing what all could go wrong!
I am sad to say I have heard the name but I have never read any of Tammy Cohen’s books. What a shame that I have been missing out. Her work jumps off the page as you are dragged into the story. This book was creepy and chilling and left me wanting more. I loved the journal entries and police transcripts though in between which keeps you on edge as you try to figure out “whodunit’. This was a gripping read full of amazing scenery.
Lucy planned the perfect wedding on a Greek Island and invited only the people she loved the most. But as the small group are thrown together, emotions run away as secrets are revealed and Jess (Lucy’s younger sister) insists on stealing the spotlight. Lucy quickly turns into a bridezilla. All she wants is for everything to be about her, yet Jess is arguing with Shelly and Zoe, her parents are hiding something while her soon to be mother-in-law keeps standing between her and Jason and Gabriel, her sister’s plus one appears to be a dark horse with a hidden past.
The never to be forgotten wedding turns out to be just that when a body is found….
Something always goes wrong at a wedding, no matter how much planning goes into it, but poor Lucy has everything go wrong. I loved the surprises along the way and all the secrets that were revealed even as everyone was trying hard not to spoil Lucy’s day. This was a book I could not read fast enough. I loved the colourful characters and the flaws that made them so realistic. However, the way the author managed to draw a picture of the breathtaking scenery left me in awe. Greece has always been high on my want-to-see list and after reading this I simply have to find a way to get myself there.
I loved the women in this book. Hazel, while slightly aloof, is brilliant as she puts her kids first. Lucy is the perfect bridezilla and when you find out how she has overspent you realise she is just a normal woman who has dreamt of the perfect wedding all her life. Shelly was just a little too mousy and “nice” to my liking – sadly I could never be friends with someone like her, I would constantly be asking myself why she was so “nice”. The author did a fantastic job with Vivian – the more I read about her the more my skin crawled as I found her creepy. As for Jess, I found her an amazing young woman who refused to do what was expected of her as she did her best to remain authentic only to discover that maybe she was trying just a little too hard. Her youth was beautifully captured.
In case it is not clear – I loved this book. I could not get through it fast enough and when I reached the last page I was disappointed that it ended. I could have spent a little more time lost on that incredible Greek island. As you turn the pages, you feel like you are there with the characters.
Thriller fans will find this glamorous tale gripping, chilling and impossible to put down. This is a magnificent read which I highly recommend. Soon-to-be-Brides might want to wait till after their big day before reading this – as it just might leave you a little paranoid seeing what all could go wrong!
August 24, 2021
I’m a huge Tammy Cohen fan, and I jumped at the chance to read her latest novel, The Wedding Party. A wedding is supposed to be a happy, joyous occasion that you’ll remember for the rest of your life. This wedding, however, will be remembered for entirely different reasons. From the first few pages, we know that someone will end up dead. But how have we got to this point?
What drives the tension in this book is the question we are presented with at the beginning. Who will be the victim here? The family members and friends in this book who are attending are characters who will get under your skin. I’ve only ever been a guest at a wedding, but I can imagine they can be very stressful for the bride and groom and their families. That stress plays out on the page in the run up to Lucy and Jason’s big day on a Greek Island. Tammy Cohen explores the family dynamics so well. From the opening pages, there are tensions between the characters. Lucy is, of course, desperate to make everything perfect. She is also worried about the strange person her sister has brought as her plus one and what is going on in her parents’ life?
We also have transcripts from police interviews following the discovery of the body. This adds another layer to the tension as we begin to understand what has gone on. This is also a clever way in which Tammy reveals what the characters think about each other. There are parts of the novel which are also told through journal entries. However, we don’t know which character is writing their thoughts down. Is this our victim or our killer? The Wedding Party really is more of a character driven thriller novel, I think, and that is what I loved about it.
I loved the Greek Island setting. I think as well it added to the sense of mystery to the plot as the characters are in an unfamiliar landscape. I thought Tammy Cohen drew on the setting so well, and she brought it to life. I could feel the heat, and I could picture the hotel so well. I think the tension between the people attending the wedding also helps create a claustrophobic atmosphere. You know that at any moment, someone is going to snap.
I flew through this book. Tammy Cohen is a master at writing gripping suspense novels. She always delivers a tension fuelled plot that keeps you turning the pages. I loved it.
What drives the tension in this book is the question we are presented with at the beginning. Who will be the victim here? The family members and friends in this book who are attending are characters who will get under your skin. I’ve only ever been a guest at a wedding, but I can imagine they can be very stressful for the bride and groom and their families. That stress plays out on the page in the run up to Lucy and Jason’s big day on a Greek Island. Tammy Cohen explores the family dynamics so well. From the opening pages, there are tensions between the characters. Lucy is, of course, desperate to make everything perfect. She is also worried about the strange person her sister has brought as her plus one and what is going on in her parents’ life?
We also have transcripts from police interviews following the discovery of the body. This adds another layer to the tension as we begin to understand what has gone on. This is also a clever way in which Tammy reveals what the characters think about each other. There are parts of the novel which are also told through journal entries. However, we don’t know which character is writing their thoughts down. Is this our victim or our killer? The Wedding Party really is more of a character driven thriller novel, I think, and that is what I loved about it.
I loved the Greek Island setting. I think as well it added to the sense of mystery to the plot as the characters are in an unfamiliar landscape. I thought Tammy Cohen drew on the setting so well, and she brought it to life. I could feel the heat, and I could picture the hotel so well. I think the tension between the people attending the wedding also helps create a claustrophobic atmosphere. You know that at any moment, someone is going to snap.
I flew through this book. Tammy Cohen is a master at writing gripping suspense novels. She always delivers a tension fuelled plot that keeps you turning the pages. I loved it.
April 27, 2022
I struggled a bit with this… the story was actually pretty good but there’s quite a lot of tooing and froing in it and so many different characters that I felt we didn’t get to know them all properly. I spent a lot of the first part of the book trying to figure out who everyone was and join the dots and the mystery aspect of the book just didn’t have me gripped enough. I listened to this on audio and also had Covid at the time so they could have contributed to my lack of concentration too. Overall, it was just ok.
July 30, 2021
Starting with a dead body at a wedding without knowing whose it is, we then get in real time the run up to their death from various focal points of the wedding party, as well as police interviews, and one characters diary.
It took a while to discover whose diary it was, and from the moment you have that knowledge the book kicks up a gear and suddenly becomes rather interesting.
I mean I was enjoying the first half but it was that first reveal that really made things start to click in my mind. And I was able to stay coming up with totally wrong theories.
I was shocked by the outcome, and couldn't put the last quarter of the book down at all.
The writing was excellent as I've come to expect from this author and I absolutely loved the setting of this book.
The characters were perhaps a tad harder to gel with, but I was invested in discovering just what went wrong with this wedding party.
Plenty of drama and for me an unexpected conclusion which made sense, make this a book definitely worth reading.
Thank you to Transworld and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
It took a while to discover whose diary it was, and from the moment you have that knowledge the book kicks up a gear and suddenly becomes rather interesting.
I mean I was enjoying the first half but it was that first reveal that really made things start to click in my mind. And I was able to stay coming up with totally wrong theories.
I was shocked by the outcome, and couldn't put the last quarter of the book down at all.
The writing was excellent as I've come to expect from this author and I absolutely loved the setting of this book.
The characters were perhaps a tad harder to gel with, but I was invested in discovering just what went wrong with this wedding party.
Plenty of drama and for me an unexpected conclusion which made sense, make this a book definitely worth reading.
Thank you to Transworld and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
September 5, 2021
Lucy is getting married anshe wants this to go perfectly she wants her guest to remember her special day for ever, Lucy gets what she wishes for but only because someone dies!
This Was a fantastic psychological thriller. We have 3 time lines first is the build up to the wedding. All the guest arriving and the scene is set everyone of them has a secret bur the question is whose secret is dangerous. Secondly we have the diary entries of one of the wedding guests, we just don't know who and finally we have the police transcripts from the day of the wedding. There are so many characters that I won't list a their uniqueness, you shall have to read this one to find out. Keep thinking throughout why a6bd you might guess what happens, I guessed wrong or so wrong so my jaw hit the floor.
This is one of those you must read especially if this is your favourite genre its so well put together that I commend the author. I would recommend this book 5 stars. I loved it. 5 stars again.
Thanks to netgalley, the author and the publishers for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my fair and honest opinions.
This Was a fantastic psychological thriller. We have 3 time lines first is the build up to the wedding. All the guest arriving and the scene is set everyone of them has a secret bur the question is whose secret is dangerous. Secondly we have the diary entries of one of the wedding guests, we just don't know who and finally we have the police transcripts from the day of the wedding. There are so many characters that I won't list a their uniqueness, you shall have to read this one to find out. Keep thinking throughout why a6bd you might guess what happens, I guessed wrong or so wrong so my jaw hit the floor.
This is one of those you must read especially if this is your favourite genre its so well put together that I commend the author. I would recommend this book 5 stars. I loved it. 5 stars again.
Thanks to netgalley, the author and the publishers for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my fair and honest opinions.
August 27, 2024
Another gripping novel by Tammy Cohen! I wasn't massively surprised by the ending but I loved every minute of the journey!
April 23, 2021
Rating: 2.3/5
Immediately prior to reading this I had just completed "The Guilt Trip" by Sandie Jones, which has a similar setting and also a similar premise in many respects. The subject matter will also lead to understandable comparisons with Lucy Foley's "The Guest List".
Lucy (the character in this book, rather than the aforementioned Ms Foley) has long been planning her dream wedding to Jason. Now they find themselves about to tie the knot on the Greek island of Kefalonia in the company of an assorted group of friends, relatives and acquaintances. There would be no story if everything ran smoothly and there was absolutely no tension surrounding any of the guests - and, sure enough, it isn't long before things start to go awry.
The book has a reasonably large cast of characters and the story is told from the viewpoint of several of them. Additional parts of the narrative come from "Therapy Journal" sections (the provider of which is initially anonymous) and extracts from witness interviews conducted by the Kefalonian police. (We learn at the outset that a body has been found, but we don't know whose.)
As I indicated at the start of this review, the premise is far from unique and there are plenty of similar examples out there. That, in itself, doesn't really matter. The setting chosen by Tammy Cohen is appealing and - as if a wedding isn't potentially stressful enough anyway - there are more than enough historical tensions, secrets and yet-to-be-discovered backstories among the dramatis personae to give the author plenty of scope to work with. But, having said that, "The Wedding Party" didn't consistently draw me in, captivate me and hold my attention.
There are certainly some appealing elements: Tammy Cohen's writing is wonderfully descriptive at times. The use of the witness interviews and the "Therapy Journal" sections works well. Aspects of the characterisation are quite tongue-in-cheek and amusing. On the one hand, this last point was a nice touch, but on the other hand, it was illustrative of part of the problem ... namely that it wasn't always clear what the author wanted the essence of the book to be. At times it had this light-hearted element of poking fun at the characters, that seemed to invite the reader to not take the book too seriously, while on other occasions it appeared to be positioned more as an earnest psycho-drama. There were even sections that read as though they could have been lifted straight from a piece of "chick lit". I am not suggesting that writers can't successfully incorporate variations of style and tone into a novel, but it needs careful handling in order to work well - and I am not sure that it passed muster in this instance.
In summary, "The Wedding Party" has lots of good ingredients, but, somehow, the overall recipe doesn't quite work as well as it could have.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.
Immediately prior to reading this I had just completed "The Guilt Trip" by Sandie Jones, which has a similar setting and also a similar premise in many respects. The subject matter will also lead to understandable comparisons with Lucy Foley's "The Guest List".
Lucy (the character in this book, rather than the aforementioned Ms Foley) has long been planning her dream wedding to Jason. Now they find themselves about to tie the knot on the Greek island of Kefalonia in the company of an assorted group of friends, relatives and acquaintances. There would be no story if everything ran smoothly and there was absolutely no tension surrounding any of the guests - and, sure enough, it isn't long before things start to go awry.
The book has a reasonably large cast of characters and the story is told from the viewpoint of several of them. Additional parts of the narrative come from "Therapy Journal" sections (the provider of which is initially anonymous) and extracts from witness interviews conducted by the Kefalonian police. (We learn at the outset that a body has been found, but we don't know whose.)
As I indicated at the start of this review, the premise is far from unique and there are plenty of similar examples out there. That, in itself, doesn't really matter. The setting chosen by Tammy Cohen is appealing and - as if a wedding isn't potentially stressful enough anyway - there are more than enough historical tensions, secrets and yet-to-be-discovered backstories among the dramatis personae to give the author plenty of scope to work with. But, having said that, "The Wedding Party" didn't consistently draw me in, captivate me and hold my attention.
There are certainly some appealing elements: Tammy Cohen's writing is wonderfully descriptive at times. The use of the witness interviews and the "Therapy Journal" sections works well. Aspects of the characterisation are quite tongue-in-cheek and amusing. On the one hand, this last point was a nice touch, but on the other hand, it was illustrative of part of the problem ... namely that it wasn't always clear what the author wanted the essence of the book to be. At times it had this light-hearted element of poking fun at the characters, that seemed to invite the reader to not take the book too seriously, while on other occasions it appeared to be positioned more as an earnest psycho-drama. There were even sections that read as though they could have been lifted straight from a piece of "chick lit". I am not suggesting that writers can't successfully incorporate variations of style and tone into a novel, but it needs careful handling in order to work well - and I am not sure that it passed muster in this instance.
In summary, "The Wedding Party" has lots of good ingredients, but, somehow, the overall recipe doesn't quite work as well as it could have.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.
September 10, 2021
Tammy Cohen is one of my favourite authors. An absolute auto-buy. So it saddens me to say for the first time - this just didn’t work for me. It was so bogged down with unnecessary backstories, and too many characters. Destination-themed parties gone horribly wrong is hot cakes right now, especially with the pandemic author are choosing foreign locations for their thriller novels. This one just didn’t do it for me. Even though there were excerpts from police interviews and the mysterious diary of person getting therapy, it just didn’t grip me, as the main narrative lacked suspense and the characters were whiny. I wanted the thriller to pick up sooner.
July 7, 2022
Short sharp chapters. The perfect read before my own destination wedding next week. It had all of the tools of a good thriller.
August 15, 2021
All her life Lucy has dreamt of the perfect wedding. It took her 18 months to plan everything to detail so that her nuptials to Jason would be the most spectacular moment. The wedding party arrives on the beautiful Greek island of Kefalonia already a couple of days prior to enjoy themselves and to prepare for the big day. Yet, from the start, things do not run as smoothly as expected. Lucy’s sister Jess appears with a stranger in tow, her parents behave strangely and her wedding planner Nina is asking repeatedly for the pay of the last bill which Lucy simply couldn’t settle as she has been overspending and is totally broke. It is only her best friend Shelly who supports her unconditionally. But this is only the beginning, with the strange woman Vivian, a doomy omen seems to have arrived at their luxurious hotel threatening not only to destroy the best day of her life but her whole family.
I have been a huge fan of Tammy Cohen for years and thus was looking forward to reading her latest novel. Again, she did not disappoint me but created a gripping plot which had me struggle to put the book down once I had started. Brilliantly crafted, suspense is high from the beginning as you know that something absolutely terrible is going to happen, yet, the big question is: what?
Lucy just wants her wedding to be perfect, not necessarily for herself, but much more for her Instagram followers and colleagues. She seems to be doing everything right except for spending money she does not have and not telling her husband-to-be about it. Her sister, on the contrary, is more on the rebel side of life not caring too much about outer appearances and following her own ideals. That she might spoil her sister’s wedding by bringing a total stranger does not really occur to her, it is just her way of having a bit of fun. Their parents, too, seem to have fallen apart, even though the girls do not have a clue why this might be. Just for the sake of the wedding, they all try at least to play their assigned role for a couple of days longer.
Even though it could be a carefree week under the sun, smaller and bigger secrets surface one after the other leading to an increasingly dense atmosphere among the party and opening up all doors for speculation about what might happen. From the police interviews interjected, you can only guess so much, but this is this theorising that makes reading the novel great fun.
Wonderfully depicted characters who all have their flaws and shortcomings mixed with a lot of drama and suspense – a perfect summer read.
I have been a huge fan of Tammy Cohen for years and thus was looking forward to reading her latest novel. Again, she did not disappoint me but created a gripping plot which had me struggle to put the book down once I had started. Brilliantly crafted, suspense is high from the beginning as you know that something absolutely terrible is going to happen, yet, the big question is: what?
Lucy just wants her wedding to be perfect, not necessarily for herself, but much more for her Instagram followers and colleagues. She seems to be doing everything right except for spending money she does not have and not telling her husband-to-be about it. Her sister, on the contrary, is more on the rebel side of life not caring too much about outer appearances and following her own ideals. That she might spoil her sister’s wedding by bringing a total stranger does not really occur to her, it is just her way of having a bit of fun. Their parents, too, seem to have fallen apart, even though the girls do not have a clue why this might be. Just for the sake of the wedding, they all try at least to play their assigned role for a couple of days longer.
Even though it could be a carefree week under the sun, smaller and bigger secrets surface one after the other leading to an increasingly dense atmosphere among the party and opening up all doors for speculation about what might happen. From the police interviews interjected, you can only guess so much, but this is this theorising that makes reading the novel great fun.
Wonderfully depicted characters who all have their flaws and shortcomings mixed with a lot of drama and suspense – a perfect summer read.
August 26, 2021
Ohhh this is definitely my type of book ! This cosy murder mystery book will have you hooked in no time !
In this book we meet Lucy , days away from the wedding she has dreamed of , the wedding party is gathered on a beautiful idyllic Greek island , the perfect setting, the perfect day ! Is it just her nerves making her think her parents are acting weird ? Who is the person her sister has brought as her plus one and who is the strange odd lady hanging around... oh and then there is a body that has been found too !
It is brilliantly written, has a bit of everything you need in a cosy murder mystery book . I totally fell in love with the way it is written , the way that it hooks you , the way the author describes the setting and the characters , everything is done just so expertly. I will definitely be reading more by this author.
In this book we meet Lucy , days away from the wedding she has dreamed of , the wedding party is gathered on a beautiful idyllic Greek island , the perfect setting, the perfect day ! Is it just her nerves making her think her parents are acting weird ? Who is the person her sister has brought as her plus one and who is the strange odd lady hanging around... oh and then there is a body that has been found too !
It is brilliantly written, has a bit of everything you need in a cosy murder mystery book . I totally fell in love with the way it is written , the way that it hooks you , the way the author describes the setting and the characters , everything is done just so expertly. I will definitely be reading more by this author.
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April 12, 2021
Discover the locations in the novel The Wedding Party
Tammy Cohen does like to choose some stunning locations for her novels. This time it’s Kefalonia and some places are real and others are fiction but the author invites you in her author note to visit anyway to see for yourself. She warns you however that you might not want to leave. In real life that is, in the novel, you’d not want to be at THIS wedding party!
It is paradise with the blue seas, wonderful beach and the endless days of having the island at your disposal. However, the hotel venue is not all that it’s cracked up to be…well the guests aren’t acting as they should, there is another wedding when you thought you’d be the only ones there and….there are secrets, secrets and even more secrets there on the island too.
The setting is clearly paradise and set on an island but the sense of Kefalonia is not particularly strong. It's a strong character study though with Christiesque red herrings and family secrets and links between the people on that island...
April 21, 2024
6,5/10 there's not much thriller or suspense here but the characters are portrayed with care and a keen sense of observation. It's interesting how little they know about themselves and how wrong can they be in their perception of their own character.
August 23, 2022
I'm not sure why but I didnt have high hopes for this book from the start but it really showed me how wrong you can be on first impressions. I found it to be tough at first to get used to the characters and who they are as there are a few but once that's sorted and you know who's who there were some great little twists that I did not see coming and was very pleasantly suprised.
February 9, 2021
4.5 well deserved stars
Lucy has a dream that many brides-to-be share, getting married on a beach in the sun, surrounded by close friends and family.
I know that if anyone can spin this dream image into a nightmare it’s Tammy Cohen and she does it with verve. I wanted to keep on reading this novel all day long and every free moment I had I picked it up again and found myself surrounded by a family that I came to know as close as my own which is how I ended up reading this novel in record time.
Lucy and Jason chose sunny Kefalonia in Greece to have their dream wedding. Lucy’s parents Hazel and Dom and sister Jess are invited and Jason has his mother Cora with him and they also both have their best friends by their sides, Shelly being Lucy’s friend and Gil and his wife Zoe are there for Jason. The cast isn’t complete yet, there’s also the wedding planner Nina, Jess’s surprise guest and Vivian, an old woman who happens to be around a lot.
In the first pages of the novel there’s a body found but the author doesn’t let on who it is. There are extracts from police interrogations with several characters that helped me mostly to eliminate who wasn’t dead, but it didn’t really mean I found out who the killer of the party was. There were also Therapy Journal entries that told of a very tragic childhood and this person’s history up to the present. I didn’t have a clue whose point of view this was so I tried to figure out first whether it was a man or a woman and when I knew that there were still several people who could fit the bill because quite a few of them were acting dodgy about their past.
That alone would have kept me busy but no there was a lot (A LOT) more going on. You see, this story really is riddled with secrets, and everyone seems to be hiding something. I had the feeling I couldn’t trust anyone here and there was motive enough for killing but I couldn’t really see it in any of them… and yet, it did happen in the end. I must say I was kind of surprised after all but more than that, I was actually feeling a bit sad and I felt even sadder for the person who died when more about the past events came to light.
The Wedding Party is a novel filled with lots of domestic drama and tragedy. It is especially that tragedy and the psychological pain one of the characters feels in the novel that made it so noteworthy and memorabel for me and this character’s personality was developed so well that they krept under my skin. The novel has a great cast of characters and they each contribute to the story brilliantly. I’m sure it will surprise you in the best way! It’s definitely a novel to read for fans of Catherine Cooper (The Chalet) and Lucy Foley (The Hunting Party).
Lucy has a dream that many brides-to-be share, getting married on a beach in the sun, surrounded by close friends and family.
I know that if anyone can spin this dream image into a nightmare it’s Tammy Cohen and she does it with verve. I wanted to keep on reading this novel all day long and every free moment I had I picked it up again and found myself surrounded by a family that I came to know as close as my own which is how I ended up reading this novel in record time.
Lucy and Jason chose sunny Kefalonia in Greece to have their dream wedding. Lucy’s parents Hazel and Dom and sister Jess are invited and Jason has his mother Cora with him and they also both have their best friends by their sides, Shelly being Lucy’s friend and Gil and his wife Zoe are there for Jason. The cast isn’t complete yet, there’s also the wedding planner Nina, Jess’s surprise guest and Vivian, an old woman who happens to be around a lot.
In the first pages of the novel there’s a body found but the author doesn’t let on who it is. There are extracts from police interrogations with several characters that helped me mostly to eliminate who wasn’t dead, but it didn’t really mean I found out who the killer of the party was. There were also Therapy Journal entries that told of a very tragic childhood and this person’s history up to the present. I didn’t have a clue whose point of view this was so I tried to figure out first whether it was a man or a woman and when I knew that there were still several people who could fit the bill because quite a few of them were acting dodgy about their past.
That alone would have kept me busy but no there was a lot (A LOT) more going on. You see, this story really is riddled with secrets, and everyone seems to be hiding something. I had the feeling I couldn’t trust anyone here and there was motive enough for killing but I couldn’t really see it in any of them… and yet, it did happen in the end. I must say I was kind of surprised after all but more than that, I was actually feeling a bit sad and I felt even sadder for the person who died when more about the past events came to light.
The Wedding Party is a novel filled with lots of domestic drama and tragedy. It is especially that tragedy and the psychological pain one of the characters feels in the novel that made it so noteworthy and memorabel for me and this character’s personality was developed so well that they krept under my skin. The novel has a great cast of characters and they each contribute to the story brilliantly. I’m sure it will surprise you in the best way! It’s definitely a novel to read for fans of Catherine Cooper (The Chalet) and Lucy Foley (The Hunting Party).
September 25, 2021
The Wedding Party tells the story of the wedding of Lucy and Jason, a destination wedding on the island of Kefalonia in Greece. Lucy has been dreaming of her perfect wedding day her whole life and has planned the trip with great care. But far from being the joyous occasion she imagined, things seem off from the start - as if it wasn’t bad enough that the costs of the wedding have spiralled out of control and she hasn't dared admit it to her future husband, the tension between various members of the wedding party is rising, her parents are behaving quite strangely, her sister has brought a random stranger as her plus one, a strange woman seems to have latched on to them and the wedding planner has issues of her own. Add to that the fact that the book opens with an unidentified dead body on the beach.
Told from the perspective of several characters, we learn more about the days leading up to the wedding and events surrounding the death. The victim is kept a mystery - what we do learn is that almost everyone in the group seems to have something to hide and the more we learn about the characters, the less trustworthy many of them seem. None particularly likeable, all somewhat flawed, the reader is left feeling that they all might be capable of something and it is hard to know who or what to believe. The suspense builds throughout the book - the chapters are short, interspersed with extracts from a “Therapy Journal” whose author is initially unknown, as well as police interviews, and it is a book that kept me turning the pages and had me guessing right till the end.
Told from the perspective of several characters, we learn more about the days leading up to the wedding and events surrounding the death. The victim is kept a mystery - what we do learn is that almost everyone in the group seems to have something to hide and the more we learn about the characters, the less trustworthy many of them seem. None particularly likeable, all somewhat flawed, the reader is left feeling that they all might be capable of something and it is hard to know who or what to believe. The suspense builds throughout the book - the chapters are short, interspersed with extracts from a “Therapy Journal” whose author is initially unknown, as well as police interviews, and it is a book that kept me turning the pages and had me guessing right till the end.
February 25, 2021
I found this to be an enjoyable, slow burner of a novel in the psychological fiction genre.
Lovely bride Lucy brings her small wedding party to Greece, early on we learn (through police interview snippets) that not everyone will make it home unscathed!
This is a slow burner in the sense that there is a big build up focusing on the relationships between the characters, and I constantly found myself wondering who would be the victim of the crime that is eluded to!
For one wedding party, there are a LOT of potential perpetrators! It seems everyone has a dark secret.....Bridesmaid / sister Jess meets a mysterious man the night before the trip to Greece and randomly invites him along....Mother of the bride, Hazel and husband Dom are experiencing all sorts of marital discord, then there is Nina, wedding planner who is proving rather unpopular with the locals! Not forgetting the mysterious Vivienne, a holiday maker who seems to be taking a little too much interest in the party...
This is a well written novel, it is enjoyable and contemporary. I am happy to recommend it.
My thanks to NetGalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an advance copy.
Lovely bride Lucy brings her small wedding party to Greece, early on we learn (through police interview snippets) that not everyone will make it home unscathed!
This is a slow burner in the sense that there is a big build up focusing on the relationships between the characters, and I constantly found myself wondering who would be the victim of the crime that is eluded to!
For one wedding party, there are a LOT of potential perpetrators! It seems everyone has a dark secret.....Bridesmaid / sister Jess meets a mysterious man the night before the trip to Greece and randomly invites him along....Mother of the bride, Hazel and husband Dom are experiencing all sorts of marital discord, then there is Nina, wedding planner who is proving rather unpopular with the locals! Not forgetting the mysterious Vivienne, a holiday maker who seems to be taking a little too much interest in the party...
This is a well written novel, it is enjoyable and contemporary. I am happy to recommend it.
My thanks to NetGalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an advance copy.
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