A group of university friends receive an invitation to the memorial of Henry Bellfield, their university friend and housemate who died. They haven’t seen each other for years and all have their own separate, busy lives.

Caro decides to throw a dinner party the night before the memorial to get everyone together and catch up before they all attend the memorial service. They are not all pleased to see each other.

During the course of the book secrets are revealed and lies are told as they all try to keep things hidden from the others in the group.

I really enjoyed this book and all the secrets that unfolded. A great read.

A good story, well plotted and gripping. It starts in a very bland way then, BANG, it keeps you hooked and turning pages till the last page.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

Secrets May Out..
Five estranged University friends gather for a memorial - the evening before is to be a reunion for them and a chance to reminisce over food and drinks - but all will not go exactly as planned and, as memories surface, truths and secrets may out. Character driven, slow burn suspense - always teetering on edge of a precipice of menace - and relayed in a fluidly moving dual timeline and from credible varying voices. Compelling, engaging and tension fuelled.

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HQ in exchange for an honest review.

The Fifth Guest tells the story of a group of old friends from Oxford university, reunited for a dinner as adults. The dinner party atmosphere soon turns sour as it becomes clear their bonds are not so much of friendship as having scores to settle with each other. The chapters alternate between the present day dinner party and the past days of university life, with both revealing secrets and dark happenings.

This book has one of the most generic thriller premises ever (although admittedly a good one) but boy does it execute it well! A book like this lives and dies by its characters, and all of them are fantastic here. They really do feel like real people, with their own flaws and lives going on. I particularly enjoyed the chapters set in the past-I almost wish there had been more of them, or less of a large time skip since they take place over all three years. I wanted to see how they all grew and changed throughout university life. Having said that, those sections are still very enjoyable and it does help the book to keep a good pace.

I also loved how this book didn't always go with the 'obvious' past tragedies/secrets. It took some really interesting directions and kept me on my toes as a reader, which I really appreciated. Again, it helped it feel fresh from its typical premise and really breathed some life into the book.

Overall, I definitely recommend giving this a try. It's a perfect example of how to take a classic thriller premise and create a solid story from it, as well as to have characters who are flawed but still enjoyable to read about

Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

I read this as an ARC through @netgalley ❤️

This was a really good read that had you wondering what on earth was going to be said next.....!

The night before a memorial unveiling of an old university friend, Caro invites three old roommates around for a meal and an evening of friendly reminiscing.

Then, a fifth person arrives, uninvited, and everything begins to unravel. Long kept secrets, desires, crimes, and rivalries begin to be exposed, and Caro can't control what's happening!

This story is told from different povs and two different timelines, university and now.

Reading this felt a bit like being on a train that you knew was going to crash, and you couldn't do a thing to stop it!

All of the characters were strong and well written. You could love and hate them with true feeling and could picture them all. The descriptions were so rich!

You could feel that "oh my god, please don't expose me" feeling are times. It really did pull you right in!

I highly recommend this easy to read, very engrossing book! ❤️

xx

Five old university housemates meet for a dinner party prior to the unveiling of a statue in memory of a sixth friend who died. Caro, the host of the dinner party was and still is a social climber, but was also the now dead Henry’s squeeze. She shared a house with quiet, shy Lily who is in love with self-confessed wastrel Travis who deals drugs to the student body., whilst cynical but studious Elle is the object of soppy George’s adoration.

So these five share a house in Oxford whilst attending the university. All three males are indulged, entitled, mouthy brats, with George and Henry being the worst. They’re friends and rivals, competing for a place on the famous Oxford rowing team. The three females are the complete opposite: ordinary, even poor, backgrounds, they’ve all had to work extremely hard to get their places at the prestigious university. No rich daddies to pave the way for them.

Caro has only invited Lily, Travis and George to her little soiree, whilst the fifth guest of the book title is Elle who, for reasons never really explained, hasn’t been invited but gatecrashes and proceeds to undermine and unsettle everyone. The evening, of course, descends into chaos and nastiness.

The ending is silly as no-one is held accountable for what happens, but I can’t say more as that would be a spoiler. I don’t think the author has thought this through as it all just…..ends.

This isn’t particularly well written with some grammatical errors which really grate on me, and occasional clunky writing. The backdrop of the famous boat race allows for the rivalry of the George and Henry but could easily have been set elsewhere as we learn nothing at all about Oxford and very little about the actual boat race. There is little depth to the characters – we know that Caro is a shallow red head, Elle has tumbling blonde curls. Lily is mousy, and Henry is just too gorgeous for his own good. They boys are certainly the stereotypical arrogant, indulged brats with rich fathers who demand love and respect without giving it to their kids, in fact most of the characters are really quite unpleasant.

Would I recommend this? Well, let’s put it this way….If you have a sunny afternoon, a deckchair and nothing else to do this will pass the time, but it really is just that – a quick, instantly forgettable read for a lazy afternoon.

A story of then & now. It’s as if Enid Blyton took steroids. I got far to invested in the characters of this book and tore through it. How they met at Oxford and ended up having a dinner at beautiful popular Caro’s. It doesn’t sound like the type of book I normally love but it’s definitely a great read. without Giving the game away it evolves into a brilliant ending with all loose ends tied up. A wonderful mystery to read. I will definitely be reading more by this author.
I’m a bit sad the book is finished to be honest.
Thank you NetGalley & Jenny Knight for an advanced copy of this book.

I found this started slow. It also jumps back and forth between people and timelines (sometimes I find this annoying) but I stuck with it and found it works well in the plot. There were also a few twists, I definitely did not see that ending coming. Just when I thought I knew everything!!

As always, I will note that the university reunion plot is currently being done to death in the book world! In saying that, this is actually one of the better ones I've read.

The characters are really well written and they trully come alive on the page. Their upper class lifestyle is so vividly brought to life and it is done in a way that transports the reader into the heart of that world.

There are the usual twists and turns and secrets you'd expect from a thriller but those are also really well done and not too predictable or obvious. I love when a twists happens and you didn't see it coming but in hindsight, the breadcrumbs were there the whole time.

Definitely one of the best university reunion thrillers I've come across and it feels worlds apart from a lot of the others. This doesn't feel like just another version of the same old story, it's original and hooks you in from the start

Plenty of drama to be had and found in this book as you piece together the events of the story. It is well written and will keep you turning the pages happily.

I want to thank NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book
The Fifth Guest is a fantastic read. It brought me into a world I would not be familiar with..
It is a very real and visceral read into the mindset of the privileged
I was transported there with the story telling
I especially felt the character of Elle. She is my hero
This is a wonderful read and I would highly recommend this to everyone
It taught me a whole lot more than I imagined
Full marks to Jenny Knight
I will look forward to reading more from her

There seem to be a lot of 'university reunion' thriller books out at the moment and if I'm honest I'm starting to get a bit tired of them, but this one was actually really good.

The characters were so well-written, you can picture them easily and their dialogue/actions were all realistic. I really liked the dual timelines and the plot was really engaging. Even though I disliked most of the characters, I still felt for them.

As previously mentioned, the storyline wasn't the most original but it was very well done and I really enjoyed reading it, so I would absolutely recommend this book. 4.5 stars rounded up.

This was a great thriller which had me hooked. Five estranged friends from university gather the night before their friend's memorial service some have changed from their time at Oxford but some are just the same and all of them have secrets from there time at Oxford which they want kept secret..The characters are great. I got drawn in straight away to the story.Will definitely be reading more from this author. Fantastic!

A dark, clever novel I couldn't put down. An absolute skewing of middle-class privilege. Five friends from university gather the night before their friend's memorial service. A superbly paced plot and the revelations keep on coming. The characters are well drawn and engaging, if loathsome. Really well written, I will be following this author.