This was a bit of a slow burner at first with the bringing together of several different ladies for the hen night of Jen at a remote cliff top house. What starts out as a weekend of indulgence starts to unravel and secrets aplenty. Initially I found the beginning slow and it was hard trying to remember who all the characters were. This seemed like a bit of a different story from Brookmyre. When the story started to hot up it became a real page turner with plenty of twists and an altogether satisfying end.

A remote Scottish island retreat loved by the rich & famous, with no inhabitants & no mobile reception. A large, luxury house with all 'mod cons' including a spa & pool, a group of friends and acquaintances, a hired chef, and a multitude of secrects.......what could go wrong?
Jen is due to be married, so she & her friends head off for a hen weekend to celebrate. They arrive in style via helicopter, and take in the stunning island views as they come in to land. They are greated by Laura, their host and owner of the island, are shown around and meet their hunky chef who has prepared a selection of cocktails upon their arrival.
The drinks flow, but as the evening progresses the celebrations take a sinister turn. They soon realise that one of their party is missing, and there is a nasty surprise waiting for them in the kitchen.
One thing leads to another, and the friends find themselves doubting one another, and wondering who has the most terrible secrety of all.
I really loved this book, and read it in no time at all. Well written personalities, and a great plot. This would make a great movie!

I really enjoyed this book. Jen's hen weekend is going to be awesome. She has hired a luxury property on a remote Scottish island for her group of friends. However, things start to go badly wrong when one of the group disappears and the rest of them are threatened that she will be killed unless a big secret is revealed by one of the others. The trouble is, they all have a secret.......... This is a real page turner which will keep you guessing right to the end. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

Any book by Chris Brookmyre is guaranteed to entertain. Even though The Cliff House is not my favourite of his books and certainly not the most original or exciting, it is still very readable. Full of twists, mysteries and suspense, it kept my attention, even though I had to suspend my disbelief most of the time.

This story is not unique: seven people are alone on an island to celebrate Jen’s engagement and they all have a secret. By now, you must know that if you go to an isolated island, you will inevitably be cut off and terrorised! However, I felt this was a cut above the other books I have read with a similar storyline, The chef is found dead and with it a message that one of them isn’t who they say they are and must confess before another member of the party dies. The women decide to fight back and find the ‘reaper’ and each of them during this time has to confront their own past. The viewpoint shifts but I never felt that there were too many women to sympathise with each one. A very enjoyable read. Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC.

As ever, Chris Brookmyre delivers a twisty plot, high tension, excellent relationships and a very satisfying read., . A new Brookmyre is always greatly to be anticipated and this one certainly doesn't disappoint, what a clever, devious mind he must have! Thanks to Little Brown and Netgalley for providing hours of pleasure in return for an unbiased review.

This is a novel about the nature of friendship and all the secrets that remain hidden in usual circumstances.

Jen gathers with six women from completely different periods of her life, some out of sentiment and nostalgia, some out of wishful thinking, and some out of obligation. It is her hen party on a remote island in a luxurious house. Many of them didn’t know each other, one of them didn’t know anybody, including Jen, one of them quite possibly hated her, and two of them definitely hated each other.

What could possibly go wrong?

For a start, they find a dead chef and, someone sinister observes and commands them remotely. One of them is not the person they believe her to be, and one of them committed a sin that has gone unpunished. Who will confess and save them all?

It is a game of trust, paranoia, morality, hate, and pure survival.

A gripping thriller, full of twists and turns, but for my taste, there are too many details and an almost unbelievable turn of events.

A real cliffhanger, even without reference to the title. A weekend in a Scottish Manor House on a remote island.....the perfect getaway for a group of friends to celebrate before Jen gets married, the group staying in luxury with a private chef to cater for them. Of course, there is a problem. There are undercurrents, niggles from years ago that haven't been addressed. One of the group is new to them all and another has been on the scene for just a few months. But that doesn't explain the problem in the kitchen, or why the internet is playing up. Something sinister is happening and each of the group wonders if they might know what the trigger was. A pretty good read, with rather more twists, turns and confessions than it really needs. By the end, nothing would surprise the reader.

Wow! A genuine pageturner, made me gasp out loud with every twist! I absolutely loved it! Every single character was complex and flawed. The plot raced along at a hundred miles a minute, so atmospheric.

This novel starts with the journey to and arrival at the location for a hen party for Jen and 6 female acquaintances. They have rented a luxury house on a remote Scottish island and are all set for a weekend of cocktails, spas and good food. I used the word acquaintances rather than friends because sometimes obligation plays more of a part in hen parties than actual friendship. The 7 hens all have secrets they don't want the others to know about. However circumstances push them and the female owner of the property into revealing the lies of their past and testing the limits of their acquaintanceship.
I am always excited to read a new Brookmyre novel, not only because he is a superb writer but also because I never know what exactly I will find in between the covers. I read this quickly because I really wanted to know what was going on. However I will be re-reading it to try and pick up on clues as I go along. On my first read I made many guesses but got nowhere near the actual denouement.
Each chapter in the book is told from the perspective of one of the 8 female characters. As with many of his previous novels I greatly admire Brookmyre's ability to write from a female perspective. The reader's sympathies go from one character to another as more is revealed about their past lives.
The remote location is very well described. The beauty of the island is there but this evolves into an awareness of the dangers of the landscape and of the remoteness.
This is a brilliant read both for fans of Brookmyre and for those who may not have encountered his work before.

The now familiar setting of a remote island with no communication links to the outside world; a group of characters to love or hate as their deepest secrets are revealed; a plot full of twists and turns with some predictable, some shocking and some totally implausible; a villain to boo and hiss; and a neat ending to tie up the loose threads. Yes, this tale of a hen weekend on a Scottish island which descends into terror, treachery and death has echoes of other books and authors, most notably the best selling novelist of all time and her most popular mystery novel, but nevertheless it gripped my attention throughout and deserves the cliched acknowledgment that it is “a real page turner”. A recommended read for a wet weekend or a long journey.

I’ve read a few of Christopher/Chris Brookmyre books over the years most recently The Cut of which was one of my top books of 2021 so this E-Arc of The Cliff House ,I was kindly given the chance to read via NetGalley from Little, Brown Book Group UK for a fair and honest review, had high expecting to live up to glad to report it did.

One hen weekend, one remote island, seven women with secrets, no way out, no phones and a dead body…It is “And Then There Were None” for 2022 with a sassy bunch of Scottish women and a belter of a soundtrack what is not love?!?

The idea of this plot isn’t new- the remote setting, no way off, group of interesting characters with secrets- but the take on this classic plot is fresh, thrilling, tense, darkly funny and full of characters you will loathe and love. It’s a mystery full of twists that will keep you guessing to the end, some the secrets are a little predictable but didn’t spoil any enjoyment there was enough to wrong foot you to make up for that. The ending was not rushed and kept the tension to the very end, I really liked how it was neatly wrapped up and had a some what macabre happy ending…classic Brookmyre darkly funny and a bit uncomfortable.

The characters are all well written, we hear from six of women at some point and while I feel the focus was centred around Jen and Michelle I thought of six voices were well developed ,had a good backstory and interesting secret that they didn’t want to share. My favourite character was Helena there was something I really liked about her I would have liked a bit on her. For me what added to the characters was there Scottish dialect some there expressions were just so Glasgow and there were brilliant.

This Glasgowness was also used in setting which I loved, loads of places I recognised. Nicolette description of Princess Square was spot on for me I felt the same going there as a child. Brilliant writing this really added depth not only to the setting but also to the characters, it helped really picture them as real people.

This a Glasgow Kiss of a novel it will leave your head spinning. It is a twist on a classic full of twists and mystery. In all if you like your humour dark in only the way Scottish writers can do with a good old mystery and a bit of escapism this is for you. Definitely recommended here.

Bonus star for the link to the playlist featuring all the songs mentioned in the novel, brilliant touch

This review will posted to Amazon, Waterstones and Goodreads in July as pre the publishers wishes. Will also make it my book of the week on my instagram page the week of publication.

This was definitely one of the best books from Net-galley that I’ve read this year, deserving of its five stars. I wasn’t sure at first as it reminded me of other Net galley novels where a group of people are stranded and deadly secrets emerge. I also wondered if this a reworking of Agatha Christie’s brilliant Ten Little Indians, a theme so often copied with various similar scenarios and outcomes. But this was neither. What we have is a group of women, most of whom know each other, a few for literally decades, thrown together at a hen weekend on an isolated Scottish island. .I thought I had it worked out at various times, but only one of my denouements transpired. This was a roller coaster read from start to finish, I really wanted it to go on longer which is a good sign of commitment to the storyline. All of the characters were believable from Michelle the pop star to Beattie, Jens sister in law. I highly recommend this book but once you get into it forget anything else.

3.5 stars

I've genuinely never read anything by Brookmyre I didnt enjoy, and he's covered a lot of genres over the years.
This one seems quite a familiar story, but he does it well, as you would expect.
A remote island, a small cast of characters, and lots of lies and secrets.
Some of the secrets were a bit predictable, but it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book.
It kept me company on a long train ride, and made the time fly by.
If you're new to Brookmyre, I'm envious of the back catalogue you now have to investigate.
If you're old friends, this is him on usual fine form.

#TheCliffHouse #NetGalley
Wow.
Jen's hen party is going to be out of control...
She's rented a luxury getaway on its own private island. The helicopter won't be back for seventy-two hours. They are alone. They think. As well as Jen, there's the pop diva and the estranged ex-bandmate, the tennis pro and the fashion guru, the embittered ex-sister-in-law and the mouthy future sister-in-law. It's a combustible cocktail, one that takes little time to ignite, and in the midst of the drunken chaos, one of them disappears. Then a message tells them that unless someone confesses her terrible secret to the others, their missing friend will be killed.
Problem is, everybody has a secret. And nobody wants to tell.
I think this a true thriller from every angle. Loved it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown Books UK Sphere for giving me an advance copy.

This was a real page turner and it kept me up while late, since I wanted to see what would happen next. I really enjoyed the book, thank you to netgalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of the novel.

I don’t know what I was expecting here but I really enjoyed this book. I don’t see it about 50% thriller and 50% mystery. The plot was extremely interesting and I really like the characters as well. I absolutely recommend this one!

Jen invites a group of her friends to her hen party, which is to be held on an island in Scotland. All the women have secrets from each other. Some are meeting for the first time, others not speaking to each other, and a few bearing grudges. What could possibly go wrong?

This is the latest in a long line of “island” mysteries that are flooding our bookshelves at the moment. Its a well trodden plot line that everyone is familiar with. It does beg the question of why these women want to be together, when there is such animosity and hard feeling amongst them. There was nothing new in this version, no great reveal as the outcome was pretty obvious.

However, it was as good as many of this genre that I have read, and certainly not the worst. The back stories of the characters were enjoyable. A fair, easy read, that kept me interested.

Thank you NetGalley.

When I first started reading ‘The Cliff House’ I thought I’d read it before, then realised there
have been a number of books with broadly the same plot, the most famous of which is Agatha Christie’s ‘And Then There Were None’. A small number of people, all hiding secrets they don’t want revealed, in peril on an island with no way of communicating with the outside world.
That said the novel soon settles into a gripping read. Jen Dunne is holding her hen-party weekend on a remote scottish island, and it’s apparent before they set off that some of the hens have long standing and complex relationships with each other, and to say there is a lack of trust would be an understatement. Once on the island it’s not long before they discover a murder, and discover one of the hens has been kidnapped. Then the the kidnapper gets in touch with his demands. What he says puts them in fear of having to reveal their secrets and as this plays out overnight we learn more of their back stories and motives while trying to puzzle out who is the villain. It keeps you guessing right to the end.
I don’t think this book has the depth of some of the author’s earlier novels, but it is an
enjoyable mystery with lots of plot twists, great recommended playlist and the author’s
trade mark sense of humour. In all a bit of escapism and definitely to be recommended.


Many thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for an ARC
*I’ll send this review to Goodreads, Waterstones & Amazon in July as requested by the publisher

This book is an easy read. I thought it would end with similar endings I've read. It didn't. Which I am glad off.