A gripping read. Rachel wakes in a strange room with no memory of getting there. She doesn't remember anything of the party except arriving. She then realises she has been violated. This is so cleverly written and every character seems to be hiding something or not telling the full truth. Lots of lovely suspects. The ending was completely satisfying. A really good read.

Rachel wakes up the morning after a New Years party at her neighbours and doesn't know where she is, after leaving the room she has slept in, she realises it's her neighbours spare room, but why is she there and where is her husband Gareth, who was at the party with her and why is she half naked, bruised and sore.  After briefly speaking to her neighbours, who don't seem to know much either she returns home to look for her husband.  During the course of the next few hours she realises that something dreadful has happened to her but she can't remember what, or who was responsible.

The writer then takes us on a journey during this tense, compelling thriller to find out what happened to Rachel during the party and who did this to her, all through this journey, which is told by Rachel in various timelines before the party and the weeks following, the writer dares us to believe that it's first one person and then another that is the perpetrator, very cleverly confusing the reader in places with a couple of dead ends.  I was quite disturbed when the person I thought it was, turned out to be correct and their reason why. 

This book is the third one I've read by this author and they just keep getting better.  Lisa Hall certainly knows how to pack her books with intrigue, suspense and edge of your seat drama to keep you hooked till the very end and I was totally hooked, finishing it in less than 24 hours, I just couldn't put it down, I for one cannot wait for book 4!!!  Highly recommended.

I would like to thank HQ for the approval and will post my review on Goodreads now and on Amazon on publication day.

Lisa Hall addresses a delicate issue with empathy and understanding, when Rachel wakes up on New Year’s Day after a party the previous night at her neighbours. She is in bed alone, so her husband must have left her at the party. She is bruised and somehow knows she has been raped. She cannot recall anything.

Nobody seems to know very much about what happened and all the people she know are vague. She reports it to the police and they seem to be at a dead end.

Rachel decides to try and find out what happened to her and begins asking questions and delving into other people’s lives to try and get to the answer.

It is a good story and the author leaves the options open as to who could have done this to Rachel and why.

Thank you NetGalley, HQ and Lisa Hall for my ARC in return for my honest review.

Good read, recommended

I don’t hesitate to give this book 5 stars as it enthralled me from start to finish.

The Party takes place on New Year’s Eve when Rachel is at her neighbour’s house. Rachel wakes up the following morning in the guest room of the party house. She is confused, dishevelled and in pain but cannot remember anything from the evening before. The last thing she remembers is her husband, Gareth, leaving the party early and refusing to leave with him.

The rest of the book entails Rachel trying to discover what happened to her. There were a lot of guests and several people to be suspicious of. It is a dark and intriguing ‘who dunnit’ and I was wrong several times about who the attacker was.

This author’s style of writing draws you in and you just want to keep reading. Highly recommend.

The Party by Lisa Hall is a gripping contemporary psychological thriller that had me hooked from the start.
The action all focuses on the party. The reader hears about the action in conjunction with the party - either so many weeks before or days after. The reader gets completely caught up in events, always questioning, who is the perpetrator? Lisa Hall has set up the storyline excellently, so I suspected just about everyone!
It really is terror in suburbia. An awful crime is committed - and it has to be by someone who knows the victim, making it even more terrifying.
The victim has guts. "I might be scared, but I don't have to stay scared." As the police scale down the investigation, the victim is determined to dig deeper. "I can live in fear... or I can properly look into this myself."
I found The Party a psychological read because it really could happen to anyone, anywhere.
Everyone has their secrets and agendas. It seems that no one wants to be honest and open. People are happy to dish the dirt so long as their lives remain hidden.
A compulsive read that I could not put down. And the ending was superb.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

Well written and totally creepy, This book covered my skin in goosebumps from start to finish.

If you read only one book this year, make it this one. Spine tingling from start to finish.

I enjoyed this book. Rachel wakes up on New Year's Day in a strange bed, feeling really ill. She soon realises that she has been raped, but can't remember anything. As the story progresses, a number of possible suspects come in to the picture as Rachel takes the investigation in to her own hands. It will keep you guessing to the end. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

Actually 4.5 stars but rounded up.
Ooo, this was just my kind of book! We first meet Rachel as she wakes up in a strange bed the morning after a neighbour's party. She is a bit bruised and battered but has absolutely no recollection of what happened. She remembers going to the party with her husband but what happened to him, why didn't she leave with him, assuming he left. Sheepishly, she traipses downstairs and realises where she is and sees her hosts. Wanting to just escape and return home she says nothing of what happened and just pretends she is very hungover. Returning home proves a little tricky as the reception there is frosty to say the least. Not wanting to say anymore in fear of spoilers, I'll just say that the rest of the book is Rachel's endeavours to find out what happened to her... and why?
I do love books like this; where the main character has just as little knowledge as the reader as to what happened and, as such, we both discover things at the same time. This means for a better connection with them as a character. Even if some of the things we do learn, about her past behaviour, is a little dodgy to say the least. With little evidence for the police to go on, it falls to Rachel herself to play amateur detective to figure out what happened and I really think the author did a spot on job there. Her drive and determination really shone through for me as she pushed and barged her way around to get to talk to everyone who was at the party. As the evidence mounts up, there are twists, turns and red herrings aplenty as well as the obligatory duplicitous behaviour displayed by those with secrets. Delicious stuff indeed!
So, why drop half a star. Well, for me it was pretty obvious from quite early on who the culprit was and why they did it. I've rounded it up to the full five stars however as it's not really the author's fault that I read so many books that guessing stuff is relatively easy for me. Anyway, even with the destination almost certain in my head, there was always the chance I was wrong and, in any case, the journey in getting there was well worth it.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Absolutely love Lisa Halls writing style, fabulous characters and a plot that grips you from the first page!
The story keeps you guessing all the way through and such a shocking twist that will have you drawing in a deep breath and covering your mouth in shock!
After the unthinkable happens , I guess we all have no idea how we’d react. I love that the main character stays strong and has the guts to stand up and not let it lie.

This was an overall good read. The first few lines make you keep reading to fnd out what actually happened to Rachel, and although I did guess the perpetrator it didn't put me off reading.

The Party was a very enjoyable thriller! Revolving around a whole host of intriguing characters, it had me constantly wondering who was telling the truth and who had secrets to hide! Although I did guess who the perpetrator was I still found the lead up to the reveal captivating! A very enjoyable 4 star read!

Having enjoyed Lisa's previous books (especially BMAY), I was looking forward to reading The Party. It's a very simple story - and there's nothing wrong with that at all but the plot was simply underwhelming. Not a whole lot happens in the story and it simply plods along. Nothing happens that grips you or entices you to want to stay up late reading through the night. I found myself picking up and putting it down, very rarely staying with the book for a long sitting because I just wasn't interested. The nature of the story means there are only certain people that could be the villain and I feel like it's pretty obvious who the culprit is, so there's not even a very good twist to enjoy. Gareth's subplot also seems pointless and unnecessary and I'm not completely sure why it was needed.
I love how Lisa writes but her third novel was missing substance in my opinion which was disappointing considering what she is clearly capable of.

Lisa Hall has fast become one of my favourite authors. True to form this was an absolute roller coaster ride of a book. One of the best books of this year - not to be missed!

When Rachel wakes up after a New Years Party she has the feeling that something bad has happened to her. With no memory of the previous night, she tries to piece together what happened – but how many of those closest to her are hiding secrets?

The Party has a great yet completely terrifying premise - to wake up after a party feeling like you may have been attacked is bad enough, but to have to suspect those you love and trusted is horrifying. I enjoyed the dual timelines of what happened before and after the party that slowly come together to solve the puzzle.

I felt that although the supporting cast of characters were strong and well written, Rachel herself wasn’t that much of an interesting character. I think this may have helped in projecting yourself into her shoes but I did wonder at a lot of her choices and wish we had been given more of an introduction to her to explain why she does what she does. There are a lot of red herrings and I must admit I didn’t correctly guess what had happened until right near the end. The story is an easy read and kept my interest the whole way through although I did feel that the pace dragged in places without an over-abundance of plot to carry it. There are also a few holes in the plot which come with trying to create a twist-ending that will shock most of your readers. The ending in particular comes out of nowhere and feels very rushed.

Overall The Party has a great premise and is an easy read, just with a few flaws in pacing in places. Thank you to NetGalley and HQStories for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A woman knows when she has been raped.

Rachel wakes up in her friend’s house after a New Year’s Eve party, she doesn’t remember anything, but she feels sore and where are her knickers. At home, she comes to realise she must have been raped.

She tells her husband, who has been ignoring her for months. Rachel tells him what she thinks has happened, and although he does the correct things and says he believes her she gets the feeling he doesn’t really.

Not long after Rachel goes to the police, the case goes cold; there is not enough DNA to get a match. It becomes up to Rachel to do her own investigating, and she soon discovers lies and deceit she never thought could happen in her lovely happy village.

Who could or would do this to her?

This book is so sad as it tells us the story of Rachel and the hurt, anger and loneliness only a woman in her position can feel. It is a very compassionate book and had me in tears a few times.

Although I guessed the plot and where the book was going, I had to keep reading, in the hope Rachel would get her justice.

I have not read any other of the Authors books but if they are like this, well written, sympathetic with good strong characters I will read the other ones.

Not an easy subject to read but it is an excellent book.

Chester

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

This book started well but as it progressed I guessed the twist pretty early on. The plot reminded me of a recent Broadchurch story. There is intrigue but I did feel let down by this parallel.

I was first introduced to Lisa Hall’s books with the publication of the brilliant ‘Between you and me’. In The Party, we meet Rachel, who attends a neighbour’s New Year’s Eve party, but she wakes up the following morning and cannot remember anything about the night before. Rachel knows that something bad has happened but cannot remember it happening, or in fact almost all of the party. As Rachel starts to fit the puzzle pieces together, we are led down numerous wrong paths before arriving at the truth.
This book is not quite as gripping as my usual reads, but was really enjoyable nonetheless. Reading this book puts you in Rachel’s corner and has you egging her on with her investigation to reach the final outcome, and find out the truth, what happened to Rachel that night on New Year’s Eve!

Vomit, vomit, flashback, vomit. Repeat. If there’s a literary prize for the most vomiting incidents in a story, The Party is a real contender.
Chapters alternate between ‘before the party’ and ‘after the party’. The ‘after’ chapters (notwithstanding the vomit) are the most interesting, especially the opening where Rachel wakes up at a party unsure where she is. (I can relate). The ‘before’ chapters were quite long and tedious and could do with a good edit.
There’s a reasonably good suspense story here, but it’s about two-thirds of the length of the book.

Thanks to NetGalley and HQ for the arc.

my 1st book buy this author very much enjoyed but figured it out halfway you will be looking at your neighbours after reading this story these all have secrets Rachel you will feel sorry for her and her son her husband has lot of secrets as well highly recommend this story and will be reading more from this author

I quite enjoyed this book and it managed to engage me until the ending. However, I wasn't convinced by the ending and there were some things that didn't tie up or complete properly.