This book starts with a party at which the soon-to-be dead main character invites seven guests who work with him in his role as a film producer but none of whom like him. One is his male partner who has replaced the other guest,his divorced wife. Why so few guests? Did he have his demise planned? His daughter has been persuaded by him to stay away. We never discover why. This book jumps about in time without any clear signals. It is long on description. The title comes from the presence in a tank in his house of his pet octopus,Persephone. The main teller of the story,the ex- wife toys with the daft notion that the fish has something to do with Richard's death during the night of his party. None of that is ever resolved which leaves a reader dissatisfied.

The Octopus by Tess Little was an interesting story. I had a difficult time reading it. There was too much back and forth in time with no warnings. I think some "Then" and "Now" as time changed would have made this story flow better. I want to thank Net Galley and Hodder & Stoughton for the early copy to review.

Wow well this was certainly a completely different kind of murder mystery and made for a very compulsive read. So a birthday party, a suspected murder and seven guests not including the magnificent Persephone who is an octopus well that surely is one heck of a start for a book. I loved finding out so much about Persephone (who actually turned out to be my favourite character) it was so interesting and fascinating, the book is exceptionally well written with a cast of some weird and wonderful who all seem to have secrets to hide or reasons to want to see the host of the party Richard dead.
Told mainly from before the party and after it a read to keep you on your toes as we are fed snippets of information and I really didn’t have a clue as to who may be the perpetrator at all. It’s a slow burn of a read and perhaps not for everyone but I really did enjoy it and thank Tess Little for a very different and absorbing read.
My thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

#TheOctopus #NetGalley
Elspeth arrives at her ex-husband's LA mansion for his 50th birthday party, she's expecting a crowd for the British film director. Instead, there are just seven other guests and Richard's pet octopus named Persephone who's watching everything which is going on. Next morning, Richard is dead. Who killed him?
This is a clever whodunit which kept me guessing till the end and after reading the ending I was blown away.
This is a must read for everyone.
Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Straighten for giving me an advanced copy.