This was such a good read, I couldn't wait to finish it. Nothing felt as it seemed, and from beginning to the end the reader is gripped. Recommended.

*The Search Party* by Hannah Richell is a gripping psychological thriller that had me hooked from the first page to the last. Set in the beautiful but treacherous Cornish countryside, the novel follows five old friends who reunite for a weekend of glamping, only to see their long-standing friendships unravel amidst a terrifying disappearance.

The premise of a seemingly idyllic getaway turning into a nightmare is executed brilliantly. Richell masterfully builds tension as the storm begins to rage and the group realises one of them is missing. The sense of isolation is palpable, with no phone signal and no way to reach out for help. What starts as an innocent catch-up between old friends quickly turns into something far darker.

What I particularly enjoyed was the slow burn of the story – Richell takes her time peeling back the layers of each character. The narrative reveals just enough of their pasts and complicated relationships to make you question their motivations and whether they can truly trust one another. By the time the body is discovered, I was already on edge, trying to figure out who could be responsible.

The friendships at the heart of the novel feel real and complex, with the group's past conflicts and secrets slowly coming to light, adding an extra layer of intrigue. It’s clear that these are people who’ve known each other for decades, and yet, the growing tension and mistrust leave you wondering whether anyone can be trusted.

While the twists and turns are certainly effective, I did find that the pacing slowed a little in the middle, with some parts feeling more like character exploration than forward momentum. However, the final act more than makes up for it, delivering a satisfying, though chilling, conclusion that I didn't see coming.

Overall, *The Search Party* is an engaging, well-written thriller that keeps you guessing. It’s a perfect blend of psychological suspense and dramatic tension, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Four stars from me – a great read that I’ll be recommending to friends!

A great read
And a great storyline
With plenty surprises
Told from the characters point of view
Thanks NetGalley

This book was a great read! Fast paced throughout and with a fabulously atmospheric setting. The characters were authentic and believable.

I love camping and Cornwall so, this book was for me. I loved the way the story was told by the different characters a different the atmosphere came through the book. This was a real page-turner and I loved it. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

The Search Party is the best psychological thriller I have read for some time. The characters are engaging and I immediately became invested in them and their shared history. Friends since university, five people and their children meet up for a weekend of ‘glamping’ (hate that term) to reconnect after their previous get together was far from successful. Max and Annie have moved away from London to set up a campaign business in Cornwall. TV start Dominic and his second wife Tanya arrive for the weekend along with Jim and Suze and Kira with her new baby and new boyfriend. The couples and their children all have time to relax before an incident occurs causing a chain of events that nobody could imagine. After a child goes missing, accusations and blame are thrown around before more traumatic events unfold. .
I often find that novels of this genre can be fantastic until a far fetched, unrealistic ending lets them down. This book was completely satisfying from beginning to end and I didn’t quite work out all the twists before they were revealed. Highly recommended.

Good fun in terms of plot. Races along! Pretty much all the characters are totally unlikeable, awful people and I found myself hoping a few more of them might be killed off (?!)

I have to start by saying, camping is not for me. I can’t imagine anything worse. My sleep is horrendous enough without being in the open. This book has reinforced this for me.

Richell is a new author for me, I was intrigued by this when I heard the title so couldn’t wait to get stuck into this one. I can safely say that it hasn’t disappointed. Richell has pulled me in and kept me on edge throughout the duration of this.

My opinion on the characters on the pages has completely changed numerous times. It has been really hard to decide who I liked and disliked. I did love the secrets that unfolded as I read this gem. Just when you think there has been the reveal, Richell unveils something else.

I found it impossible to work out who was in hospital as I’ve read this one. Richell has really developed each of the characters which means you can get to know them deeper. Add in the treacherous weather conditions and you have a plot that will give you chills.

This is written in a way that I was completely pulled in and unwilling to put this down. I devoured this book in one sitting and found myself speechless when I’d finished.

This is definitely a great read. It’s full of suspense and steals your attention from very early on. I loved the multiple perspectives because it made it easier to understand the multiple personalities.

This is a book I have really enjoyed. I can’t wait to see what’s next from Richell. I definitely recommend this book

This was disappointing as i found this kind of a let down. I thought it would be more interesting and exciting but ti wasn't that nor was it a slow burn. The characters all felt a little flat and i think they needed more work to get them up to a level where they got interesting. This wasn't bad but it certainly didn't meet any of my expectations.

I really enjoyed this, I loved the story being told from multiple viewpoints. This is a real page turner and it really keeps you guessing. The premise is tried and tested and I love it, it's a real whodunnit. Lot's of twists and turns, some red herrings thrown in. It's a great read.

I will be seeking out more books by Hannah Richell.

This was a good book. I did enjoy it and wanted to see what was gonna happen I did not see the ending coming. It was easy to get into and kept you hooked till the end.

The Search Party is a compelling domestic noir and psychological mystery thriller. I found myself totally invested in the story and read it in only a few big chunks. The story is cleverly told from multiple points of view – some of the adults and some of the children – and different times across the weekend glamping trip. I must say, I’ve never been glamping but I think Hannah Richell has managed to put me off the idea completely 🙂

The book is tense from the beginning because you know something terrible has happened because a hospital and the police are involved but you have no real idea what or who is involved. The chapters are short and jump around the group slowly revealing the truth of what has occurred. The more that is revealed, the more there is to be anxious about as the weather deteriorates, the mood sours among the glampers and secrets start to come to light.

The characters are deftly drawn and I could see them all as real people in my mind. Some are more sympathetic than others and some are revealed to be downright unpleasant. The tension is pulled tight throughout and only lets up at the very end. I didn’t guess where the story would go and how everything would turn out. The Search Party is a gripping story and I thoroughly recommend it.

A big thank you to the publisher for my copy of The Search Party.

I've not read anything by this author before so was looking forward to get stuck into it....I really enjoyed it with all the twists and turns and unpredictability!

Leaving the rat race to set up a glamping site in one of the UK’s most beautiful settings sounds idyllic. And it is for the Kingsleys, who invite their university friends and their children for a trial weekend. Max and Annie want things to go well; if they do, it’s a sure sign the business will grow and grow. But there are a few incidents which don’t get things off to a good start. Someone goes missing, someone ends up in hospital, and what’s that body on the beach? Nicely paced and plotted throughout.

I loved how this books chapters were split between the characters as you were finding out what had happened over 'the weekend' but also in the days following. Some were longer than others but I really enjoyed the variety.

The storyline had me gripped and I couldn't stop reading, I just needed to find out who it was! There were some twists and turns along the way that kept me guessing right until the end. This book was really well written and I just loved the style and pacing of it!

Max and Annie have given up their life in London to buy an old farmhouse and set up a glamping business on the coast. They have a young son Kip who has struggled with his past and believe this will be best for him. Before they open they invite a group of old college friends and their families to spend a weekend with them. It is a mix of adults, teenagers and children who all have their back stories and secrets. A storm blows up over the weekend and when a child goes missing the story begins.
This is my first book from Hannah Richell and I will definitely look for more. She weaves a fantastic story with interesting characters and plenty of tension between the search for the child, the storm brewing and the secrets beginning to break free.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for granting me an advance copy.

First of all a big thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book to read and review.

This was a really quick and intriguing read. I love a locked room mystery/thriller. This is full of characters who you don’t necessarily like and are deeply flawed and who the author makes you feel are capable of pretty much anything. All in all I really enjoyed this one and I am fully back in my thriller girl era.

It’s been a while since I’ve sat on the edge of my seat holding my breath at a scene in a book and even longer since that continued throughout the whole story. If you love tension and suspense in your stories, The Search Party has it in buckets! It’s brilliant!

The format is so clever. Each character narrates at different points over the weekend but not in order. We get to know them all this way … but the information about what happened is generalised and masks who it is happening to. We don’t know exactly what happened to who. And sometimes we know something took place but not what exactly. Names are not mentioned in these scenes. So tantalising …

For all the characters, their emotional angst, thoughts and feelings come from a place of insecurity. Their facades are stripped bare and how they really feel are laid out for all to see. The fear, at times, is palpable. I loved the dark undertow.

The weather is a symbol (as well as a character) of what rages internally for each of them – the outer reflecting the inner turmoil. Such a maelstrom! The isolation of the glamping site also made me think of how the friendships deteriorated. This friendship group become isolated from each other for obvious reasons. In Jim’s words “some things you can’t ever come back from.” Or can you?

The information we’re given, about personalities and past history, drew me to make conclusions that were oh so wrong! I made so many wrong choices that it blew me away.

The Search Party is a story you won’t be able to put down. You need to know what happened! And the outcome. Will there be a silver lining?

An outstanding read.

First book by this author but won't be the last. Really enjoyable, twisty and unpredictable and kept me guessing

It's been a long time since I read Hannah Richell's debut novel Secrets of the Tides but as soon as I saw The Search Party on NetGalley it intrigued me so I didn't hesitate to request a copy to read.

From the outset you could sense the tension and wondered what could have gone so drastically wrong on what was supposed to be a fabulous weekend spent with old friends to help celebrate the launch of their new glamping business Wildernest. The timeline is set over the weekend and following days as they recount events of the weekend that led up to them now being interviewed individually by police. So many questions were running through my mind especially after reading the prologue. What exactly had happened but more importantly whose body did they find?

Max and Annie had left the stresses of London behind them and headed to Cornwall for a fresh start with their young son Kip and were looking forward to welcoming their old university friends Jim and Suze, Dominic, Kira and their families as a trial run. I really felt for Fred, Kira's partner, as this was his first introduction to the group and he really struggled to fit in especially when a secret is revealed. As for Tanya, Dominic's wife, it was clear she wanted to be anywhere but here. I mean who turns up at a campsite wearing a designer dress!

As well as the old friends we also meet a couple of locals, eccentric farmer Kellow who owns the neighbouring farm and isn't exactly happy about Max and Annie's plans as well as Josh, a local lad who helps out around the campsite and appears to take a liking to Dominic's teenage daughter Scarlet.

Bit by bit we are drip fed snippets of information that provides us with a background to the dynamics of the group, and it's clear that behind the facade that quite a few of them are showing there are some deeply hidden secrets that they don't want revealed, as well as the events over the weekend that brought us to this point. Although you do have to keep your wits about you as the timeline jumps back and forth between the events over the weekend to the days after the incidents.

I thought I had it all perfectly figured out but definitely fell for a red herring or two as I was only partially right identifying who was in the hospital bed but was totally off track with my theories behind whose body was on the beach and what was the reasoning behind everything that had happened.

The Search Party was a tense read from start to finish and I'm hoping it's not too long a wait for the next book from Hannah Richell.