A glamping weekend in the back of beyond together with their families including kids severely tests the twenty year long friendship of five formerly inseparable best mates. A nasty thunderstorm and the instant aversion and tension between the children and partners culminate in a few very nasty life-threatening incidents. Author Hannah Richell‘s clever twisty plot will keep you at the edge of your seat throughout.

Hannah Richell is a new author for me and from the synopsis I was looking forward to reading this book. It certainly didn’t disappoint. I was drawn in from the start and it had me hooked to the end. It’s full of tension and secrets and will entertain to the end. Thank you to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster UK and the author for the chance to review.

I tried terribly hard with this novel but I'm afraid it just didn't capture me. It is written in a fashion where I simply couldn't invest in the characters, and after a few attempts if going back, hoping it would take a turn into the fascinating, eventually I gave up and moved onto a new novel.
I wish the author all the success, and hope many other traders are enthralled by The Search Party.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this arc!

Through my social media I was also lucky enough to receive this physically from the publisher. I finished this book a couple of days ago and wow. I normally don’t enjoy a book that has multiple POVs and timelines because I find it hard to keep track and boring but I really enjoyed this, the back and forth always left you wanted more. Needing to know what actually happened!

A fantastic thriller/mystery that I will recommend time and time again! 3.75⭐️

I am sorry to say that this book didn't really grab me .I found it quite slow going ,and it didn't wow me. I wish I had enjoyed it more.

Relations between old friends can lead to tensions, but can the latter explain why a child was contemplating jumping off a cliff? And is this the reason why a mother is sitting by a hospital bed where a child lies in a coma? A police investigation is underway and as it proceeds we learn about the events of the last few days at the Cornish Glamping site recently set up by Max and Annie (former architects) who’ve been together since University twenty years ago. Before it’s official opening, they’ve invited old friends from their student days to “test-drive” the facilities: Jim and Suze (unreconstructed hippies), Kirra (Medic) and her husband Fred, and Dominic (TV personality) and his second wife, Tanya. Their assorted children are also there, of course. Tensions between the adults are increasing over the first two days, but the kids are allowed to run free and that leads to Dominic and Tanya’s daughter, Phoebe, going missing and Max and Annie’s son, Kip, coming under suspicion. But things aren’t as obvious as they might appear.
This is a fairly standard example of the isolated group (did I mention that they are in a place with no phone reception and a thunderstorm has knocked out every other method of contacting the “outside” world?). It is presented as a series of chapters each focussing on one of the characters. The mix of characters is good, although they are fairly archetypal with little depth outside the expected, and the integral involvement of children is unusual, although again they have little depth. The plot construction contains a number of pale-pink herrings which the average reader will ignore in favour of the obvious solution. There is a certain amount of tension, especially towards the dénouement, but there isn’t much doubt about the outcome. Fans of this type of story may feel a bit underwhelmed but general readers looking for something to pass the time will find it fills that purpose.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

'The Search Party' is one of those "tease" kind of books. You know, the ones where you're told from the beginning something bad has happened but it takes ages to be told what. Or to whom. Now, I'm not the world's most patient person, so I had to resist the urge not to shout at my kindle to tell me what the heck was going on right now please and thank you.

I must admit I struggled a little bit at the start. There is a prologue you need to somehow make fit with the rest of the story, and boy, did I get that bit wrong. But this is exactly why I love prologues. They make you think and wonder. There are police interviews with various members of the group, and on top of that, chapters keep switching back and forth between the end of the weekend and what came before. Quite frankly, it was just a bit too much for my peanut brain to handle at first.

Once I got the hang of it, though, I found myself utterly gripped. Yes, it's still a big fudging tease but it actually works really well for this story. As the reader, you are determined to figure out who is in hospital, who has gone missing, and who is lying at the bottom of a cliff. And why. I quite quickly decided I knew who was in hospital and got that right, but the other two questions remained unanswered for most of the book.

'The Search Party' is about more than solving those mysteries though. It's about friendship and family, those you choose and those you don't. Often I wondered if these characters even liked each other, and to be quite frank, there were one or two I wouldn't have spent one day with, never mind twenty years. There's one in particular I would have quite happily thrown off the cliffs myself. Considering their longstanding relationships, there are quite a few secrets they're keeping from one another. Which isn't all that surprising because you'll notice after a very short time some of these "friends" are remarkably judgmental, prejudiced and not worth the label of friend at all.

All in all, a bit of a bumpy start for me with this one. But in the end, I really enjoyed it. Great Cornish setting, a raging storm that amps up the tension and the drama, and adds a sense of isolation turning this into a locked room thriller. Plus a cast of characters whose lives will never be the same again. Some of it might be a little over the top, some of it isn't particular original or unexpected, but 'The Search Party' is definitely entertaining and suspenseful.

Most of all, what have we learned? Glamping is bad for you! 😉

I originally found it hard to get ingrosed into this book, however I was pleased that I persevered and found it had a good ending, but more that the book was not for me!

I think this was one of the fastest books I've read. Once I started I could not put it down. I loved that it started with a hint or preview of what happened but not to whom let alone by whom. The author then kept layering on small reveals bit by bit subtly twisting the story and your suspicions with each tidbit. This was perfectly complemented by the brilliantly flawed cast which meant that literally everyone had motive. With four families, the inclusion of a character list and alternating points of view each chapter, I did think it might be hard to keep track but the characters' personalities are so distinct that it's really not. And it's these differing personalities and the dynamics between them that not only kept me captivated but set in motion the particular chain of events that allowed what happened to happen. So, basically in case you hadn't guessed I absolutely loved this!

Annie and Max escape the London life with their adopted son Kip to set up a glamping site in Cornwall. Before the launch they invite 3 couples, their oldest friends to spend a fun weekend with them. But soon the weather changes, a child goes missing and secrets and past traumas are revealed.
I loved the suspenseful style of writing, we meet the couples one at a time as they are interviewed by Detectives, but we as readers have no idea at this time what crime or incident has happened. A very good read

Loved the story of 5 friends who meet on a glamping site with views out to see and set on a cliff top that one of their friends have brought and want them to test drive the site as it has no internet.
It starts well until a storm approaches and one of the children goes missing and accusations are made and the friendships start to crumble as secrets are revealed., and when someone is found dead they wonder who killed the person and why.
This is a story that keeps you guessing about what really happened on the cliffs. and the scenery is lovely as you learn more about each of the friends life.
I received a ARC for a honest review and would highly recommend.

A group of friends reunite for a glamping weekend in Cornwall. Their 20 year friendship however is put to the test quite quickly when one of the party goes missing at the start of a terrible storm. There is no phone signal and pretty soon they appear to start turning against one another. Passing the blame around. Then a body is found and they wonder if one of the group is responsible and are they really capable of committing a murder?


This was a slow burn in my opinion and I want sure where it was going but I am not a quitter so I persevered and I am very glad that I did. It definitely had me guessing whose body had been found and who was responsible. The storyline points at a specific person but I was like that’s too obvious surely? Well I am not one for spoilers so all I’m saying is I’m glad I stayed with this and for the twists that came later on in the book. A few of the characters I didn’t like but I think that was the intention. Overall a good thriller.

This had me hooked! What.a.book.
I especially enjoyed the way it was written in terms of the ease of transition from past to present, it was effortless. I would like to describe this group of friends as frenemies, what a bunch!

There were a lot of red herrings along the way, it keeps you guessing and explores the sensitive subject of childhood trauma so very well.

An atmospheric thriller that is bootable to read.
This is a book of multiple storyline’s, well written and nice to sit down and read.

another incredible thriller!! a little predictable in places but overall so tense and kept me turning the page!!

Lots of twists and turns in this engrossing read,there are a lot of characters and POV to get used to but as long as took a minute now and again had no probz getting to know them all
Good fluid writing and an interesting plot made for an altogether good read

This thriller is based on a group of friends who met at university and their children who meet up at one of the couples new glamping site on the Cornish coast. They are all there to test the new enterprise before it opens to the public, but other landowners are not so happy!
There are certainly some odd characters in this story and most have hidden secrets, which they have kept from each other. The book kept my attention throughout and I particularly liked the way the chapters were written from the different characters perspective. I was left guessing until almost the end of the book, which for me, is a sign of a good thriller.
My thanks to Net Galley and the publishers Simon & Schuster for the ARC.

A decent, atmospheric suspense tale, set in a remote campsite. The cast of characters is a bunch of old friends, with their partners and children, so there are relationships that are set and changing and emerging. I would add a trigger warning for the mistreatment of an autistic character—I almost stopped reading at one point. There is suspense and some not-so-subtle misdirection.

(Review copy from NetGalley)

I was engrossed in this book from the start. A group of old friends meet up for a weekend 'glamping'. After a child goes missing along the coast all the recriminations and secrets from the past emerge. All the characters were well drawn out and you empathize with them. An enjoyable story. My only criticism was the the 'twists' in the story were too well signposted.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK for the advance copy of this book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.
I started to read this book a couple of months ago. There are quite a few characters to get familiar with, and I found with just reading a chapter a night I was constantly having to go back to remember who was who. I found in the end it was putting me off reading at all. I’ve now made the decision not to continue for the time being, and start another book to hopefully get my reading mojo back.
The only review I’m able to make at this time is, I don’t think this is a good choice for those who like to read a chapter a night.