Jemma and Matt are invited back a year after Matt’s childhood friend’s wedding turns to tragedy when his young sister drowns. Lucas, the bridegroom and older brother, decides to make them all play The Murder Game. He’s convinced someone killed his sister. That her drowning was not an accident. Lucas is such a dominant and manipulative character, holding his friends in thrall, so they play, reluctant though they are. One of the group goes missing, and Sergeant Stephanie King, called to the initial drowning, is once again given the task of sorting this out. True to Rachel Abbott’s very readable style, I was swept along with the story, believing some, disbelieving others, and the ending came as a complete surprise. This is a really good read. Go for it!

A moderns day murder murder mystery

I had many who dun it moments with this one but was disproved time and time again!

A great writing that had me gripped from the beginning to the end!

Rachel Abbott has done it again. An excellent page-turner. I feel her writing style for this 2nd novel in the DS Stephanie King is very different from the novels in the Tom Douglas series. Much more focussed on the participants in the thriller rather than the police investigation, but the writing and story was faultless if a bit improbable. It was an excellent fast paced novel and one that you want to finish but don’t at the same time.
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy.

I enjoyed this classic whodunit, and thought the characters were strong and well thought out. The story started strong with a get together for a wedding of friends who had grown up together. There were a few twist and I felt the ending fell a bit flat for me. This book read like an old style whodunit crime mystery, which is great but I’m personally into the modern shockers at the moment.

Being a Rachel Abbott fan, I was really grateful for netgalley providing me with a ARC - thank you!

I really liked the premise of this novel as I'm a fan of a good Agatha Christie style murder mystery...but the twist being, this is a real life one. You can trust your friends, right?

A good thriller and I was guessing whodunnit right until the final chapters!

The 2nd in the Stephanie King series, this book introduces us to Lucas who is marrying Nina and invites his friends to his house to help them celebrate. The morning of the wedding a body washes up on the shore of the bay beside the house. Initially believed to be suicide. Why did Alex, Lucas’s sister kill herself on the eve of his wedding?
Roll on 1 Year and Lucas invites everyone back to play the murder game. He believes one of his friends killed her and wants the guests to solve the puzzle and find the killer.
In come Stephanie King, she arrives to investigate a missing person and things don’t seem right, she was the policewoman involved in the initial investigation 1 Year earlier.

Rachel has written a classic tale of Whodunnit, cleverly woven together the secrets each character keeps.
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book

I can't fault Rachel Abbott, she delivers every time. This reads very much like an Agatha Christie who dunnit. The first part of the book starts with Lucas inviting his friends to his wedding. Everything runs smoothly until the eve of the wedding. The next part is a year later when they are all invited back. Once there the atmosphere is very subdued and tense. It seems they all have a secret that they don't want to share and The Murder Game starts.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and raced through it. There are plenty of twists to keep you guessing till the end.
Thank you to Rachel and Netgalley for an early copy.

An Agatha Christie modern day whodunnit

There’s a murder, there’s a big house with lots of guests, someone who knows too much and plenty with secrets to keep.
I did really enjoy this and there aren’t many stories in this style of murder mystery but it is a way to enjoy without scary serial killers, unrealistic police investigators and a complete lack of grizliness.
Jemma is new to the group but a key character and you feel like you could easily be her so makes buying in to this scenario much easier. Definitely worth a read if you like the whodunnit, especially in the classic hercule poirot crime solving way.
It’s not exactly a shocking end or a complete mystery on the whodunnit but enjoyable nonetheless

I give thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the ARC of The Murder Game. This is the first book I have read by this author and based on this one I will definitely read some of her past work and will look out for future her publications.

It is difficult to write too much about the story without giving away too much. Its basic foundation is a classic Whodunnit but is written in a modern & contemporary setting with many more layers. The story is set in a large house in Cornwall, owned by a key character. A group of his friends are gathering there to celebrate his wedding. The story is told primarily in first person from the point of view of Jemma Hudson, the wife of a friend of the groom. She is an outsider to the group and so all our opinions of the other characters are mostly formed from her observations. Later in the book we are introduced to Stephanie King, a detective, and the story is also then carried forward from her side. The story builds at a steady pace, creating suspense and therefore urging the reader to carry on reading. I stayed up well into the early hours to get my answers. Every chapter uncovers more clues, twists, red-herrings & unanswered questions. I can’t say much more without giving away spoilers!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend to anyone but particularly those who enjoy classic murder/detectives or psychological thrillers.

Actually 4.5 stars.
This is the second in the Stephanie King series of books but, unlike most series books, it doesn't really feature her as much as you would expect. But that's OK as the book on a whole works really well irrespective of how big a part she actually plays. It means that this could well be read as a stand alone, although the first book is equally as good so, if you get chance, maybe read that first.
Lucas is getting married. He has invited his lifelong friends to celebrate with him. One of them is Matt who brings his wife Jemma with him. It's the first time she has met Matt's friends so she is a bit on edge at the start. Long story short and there's a tragedy that pretty much overshadows what should have been a time of celebration and a young woman loses her life.
Fast forward a year and the same people who were at the non-wedding all meet again. Reluctantly but also they feel they have to out of some warped sense of duty. But what subsequently transpires is not what they expected as it appears that Lucas has a hidden agenda which he is determined to play out, whatever steps he needs to take to achieve his goal.
Ok so for full transparency I have to admit that I guessed one of the key things very early on. Probably more from the fact that I eat, sleep and breathe this genre book rather than anything the author did wrong, and the fact that I did this really didn't mar my enjoyment of the rest of the book in any way. Of course, I could have been wrong, I have been in the past, often spectacularly so, but on this occasion, I wasn't, so here we are.
There are an eclectic mix of characters, each one expertly crafted and all intriguing, if a tad hard to get to grips with during the first part. We all have secrets that we should have kept better hidden but Lucas is one of those people who, for some reason, they trust. They are all somewhat bewitched by him, compelled to retain a relationship with him, ignoring any warning signs that he has hidden agendas. This was something that I just had to accept rather than really feel comfortable believing in wholly, but I was mostly happy doing so.
There is a lot of setup in the first part of the book, some of which is a tad slow but is wholly necessary in setting up the much more fast paced second part which delivers shock after shock as more of the truth is exposed. Most of the suspects stay in play throughout, their motives remaining valid until, like a good Agatha Christie novel, the list is whittled down and what really happened comes to light.
The ending when it came was, on the whole, satisfying. Well, it did prove me right for one, but the truth does all come out with an ending that might irk some purists as it is left a bit ambiguous as to what happens next. I found it to be complete enough to be able to leave the book feeling sated but also wondering what was next for certain characters.
All in all, a good solid read that I thoroughly recommend. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I have loved all of rachel Abbott’s books and this one did not disappoint. The story is an intriguing whodunnit between a group of friends who have grown up together. There is an underlying story of an abduction of one of the friends sisters that happened when they were younger that was also never solved. There is a fantastic twist at the end. Well written and would thoroughly recommend

What I really enjoy about books by Rachel Abbott is that while they may be billed as being a police based series, the police investigations really only play a secondary part in the overall structure of the story. This book may feature recurring characters, in particular Sergeant Stephanie King, now on the verge of a new career in CID, but predominantly they are based around a slow burning psychological thriller. In this case, it is the story of a group of friends who meet for a wedding and end up watching a tragedy unfold.

From the very beginning of the book you start to get the ominous sense of something bad being about to happen. After all, in the world of crime fiction, no good ever comes from a group of friends coming together for the first time in years. Mix in a dose of wealth, a sprawling coastal manner and a dark and tragic history for the group and the scene is set for one hell of a twaited gathering.

The story is told predominantly through the eyes of Jemma, a woman who has come to the group by virtue of marrying Matt, life long friend of Groom to be, Lucas. She knows nothing of her husband's past, of his friends or of what happened some twelve years earlier. It is a really narrative tool as it means that as readers we are on the same journey of discovery, whilst still allowing that sense of tension and apprehension grow. Then there are passages told from the point of view of Alex, Lucas' sister, a woman whose own story plays a large part in the events that unfold. Then you have Stephanie King, the key Detective in the series and although her scenes are in third person, her point of view is key.

King is a great character, not without her own doubts and worries, but with a keen instinct and ability to read people, it adds a real sense of authenticity to the story. She is dogged, suspicious and determined, yet with a great empathy that makes her a brilliant characters to follow. Similarly, Jemma is a strong woman, although pushed to her limits by events that occur. I really felt her uncertainty at times, but also like the fire within her and her willingness to stand up to Lucas where everyone else only marched to his tune. She was another one with great instincts, although still unable to pull all of the pieces of the puzzle together until the end.

The clues are there for the canny reader, but the slow reveal of what is happening, the method that Lucas chooses in order to unmask a traitor in their midst, is original and a little disturbing at times, The eponymous Murder Game is designed to unmask a killer, but a raft of other secrets are unearthed too, some of which are surprising, some disturbing and others, almost playing to type with the kinds of entitlement that could be expected from this group of friends. They aren't easy to like - with few exceptions - and certainly not easy to trust, even before the seriously bad life choices are exposed.

There is one element to the story which is a little heartbreaking when put into context. It is not written in a gratuitous way, it is not really dwelt upon for too long, but it is an important part of the story which, when the full story comes to light, makes the conclusion, in a way, even more shocking. That said, this was another brilliant read from Rachel Abbott in a series which is going from strength to strength. Fans of the author are going to love it.

Absolutely loved this book! So many twists, turns and shocks, it kept me going for ages. Some gritty themes and fairly likeable characters makes this a must read. #NetGalley#TheMurderGame

Wow loved this murder mystery!! Little does Jemma know when her and her husband Matt go to one of his friends wedding their lives will change forever, so many secrets so many lies, when Alex Lucas's sister is found it is ruled as suicide, however a year later Lucas calls them all back for a game of murder mystery, someone he claims knows what happened to Alex in the past and one of them murdered her
I almost forgot it was a Stephanie King book as she didn't play a large part in it, when she did though she found herself with Gus embroiled in all the strange happenings at Lucas's house. Working together they finally get to the truth, or do they!!!

I really enjoyed this book! A great story line that kept me hooked and excellent main characters. I would highly recommend this book.

I have read other books by Rachel Abbott but not the first book in this series. However I did enjoy Stephanie as a main character. I enjoyed the premise of this book- a reunion following a traumatic event. I think I would not score this book 'full marks' as I did guess a lot of the twists. However, I still found myself eager to keep reading to discover that I was right which I always think is the sign of a good read.

Another smash hit from Rachel Abbott. I love her books. This was a dark and menacing whodunnit. Brilliant and totally unexpected xxx

This book was good but not great in my opinion.
It's good for a nice easy beach read. A classic who-dunnit.

What started a twisted dark tale of mystery and suspense ends a little less than predictable.

The murder game is a story of 4 childhood friends, Lucas, Matt, Andrew and Nick. Lucas is the leader of the pack. Now, times have changed. They have reunited for Lucas’s wedding, who’s getting married to Nina. Matt has come with his wife Jemima, aka Jemma. Andrew is engaged and has arrived with Chandra and Nick with his twin sister, Isabel. The reunion was supposed to be fun, a journey to the memory lane. They have a dark past and that will resurface and test their friendship or if they are friends.

I have read some books in the Tom Douglas series by the same author. This book is the second book in the Stephanie King series. I haven’t read the previous book in the series, but it can be read as a standalone book.
There aren’t many characters. Other than the list above is the DS Stephanie King. It was after a long time I liked most of the characters of the novel, except for Isabel. I liked the character of Jemma. She is the one who’s narrating the story (most parts of it). There are some portions narrated by Nina. Jemma is portrayed as strong & independent. She stands up against wrong done and yet feel and understand the emotions of the wrong.

There were subplots and the merge well at the end. There are plot twists and turns that you do not see coming at all. But then, a lot of it is predictable. The driving force that keeps you going is the motive.

Even though the book is a Stephanie King’s, there is not much from her narration and that’s another character I did not like in the book. She’s doesn’t seem like an integral part of the story, so I could continue without her interference.

I like the mystery and suspense of the story; however, they had major flaws. One is the story kept dragging the suspense until the end (it was a test of my patience). The book could have finished a lot earlier. There are flaws that I cannot reveal, the flaws as they will be spoilers. I expected a lot from this book and I wasn’t disappointed, but then it wasn’t completely fulfilled!

The murder game is a good afternoon that can be easily read in one sitting given its stupendous suspense.

My rating for the book 3.5 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and Headline for the review copy in exchange for my honest review.

I’ve read what seems like almost all of Rachel’s books and I’ve enjoyed every single one. This one joins that list. A well written “whodunnit” mystery novel, second in the Stephanie King series. I read And So It Begins last year and that too was filled with plot twists, so I had high hopes for this one. The ending did fall a bit flat for me, however that doesn’t take away from how brilliant the storyline is.