PR company Flavour is having a huge company summer party. They have done PR for a place called Point Grey, a remote sea fort-turned luxury resort, who as a thank you have let them have an event at the Point Grey Castle sea fort in the Solent, off the coast of the UK. Flavour staffer Mel can’t wait, she is looking forward to a night out with her colleagues in a relaxed setting, and chance to talk to her work crush, Charlie, in a non-work environment, and perhaps, get to know him better.

As a big perk, eight lucky staff have been randomly chosen to stay overnight. Mel can’t believe her luck that she is one of the chosen ones, along with her crush! The staff all start to relax and enjoy themselves, the drinks are flowing and the sun is shining. The party is fantastic, until Mel’s boss makes an announcement that goes down like a lead balloon. When the sun goes down the rest of the company leave the eight lucky selectees behind, heading off via boat, the only way off the fort. The chosen few try to continue to party. It is just the eight of them, and the night manager Eddie, available if they need him.

The party soon takes a dramatic turn however, with tensions rising and lies uncovered. Then the murders start. Who can be trusted? How can they escape? Was it such a random selection that put them all together to begin with?

This was a thrilling read. The drama and suspense were built up really well and the cast of characters was broad, and the author had no compunctions about killing off people we were starting to form relationships with as a reader. The characters being trapped in such an isolated, yet luxury setting was a wonderful juxtaposition. I really enjoyed how the story was told from a mix of points of view, police interviews, and newspaper articles. It kept you engaged, and also guessing as to what the ending would be. A very fast paced, page turner, and definitely one to read!

*I received this book from NetGalley, but all opinions are my own.

Mel works in HR for a creative company. The staff are having a staff party at Poi nt Grey a castle in the Solent. The company has done PR for Point Grey and as a thank you, 8 lucky staff can stay overnight. When Mel wins one of the rooms she is very excited.
At first, all is well but once the other staff leave, it becomes apparent that all is not as it seems. Strange thi gs begin to happen to the residents.
And where is Eddie the night manager.
Cleverly the story, told by Mel, is interleaved with police interviews with party attendees and press bulletins.
Worth reading

I’ve enjoyed Kate Grays writing a lot before. The Summer party didn’t quite hit the mark for me, I found myself skimming parts and there was a lot of description that I :didn’t necessarily need. But there was a good story keeping it all together, and I was keen to find out what was going on.

I loved Kate Gray’s book The Honeymoon and was looking forward to this next book so much but sadly not as good. I loved the idea of a summer office party where secrets ,lies and revenge all came to the surface and it was all very intriguing but I got bogged down in all the boring( for me) detail of Point Grey hotel and I found I was skimming bits and losing interest.. It probably was linked to the plot but the descriptions were overly detailed. On the whole though a very good read.
My thanks to Netgalley and publisher for giving me the chance to read this book.

This is the one summer party you will not want to miss! A scorcher of a read, if you’re into thrillers that read literally in one sitting!

This book is very gripping! I love this author’s work and this one was just what I needed. A real who did it kind of plot with some twists and turns along the way. Definitely an auto buy author for me, would highly recommend.

This book is really gripping and a fabulous read at any time, not just the holidays.
Following a previous Christmas party where one of the 'Flavour' staff sadly lose their life the next event is to be held on a remote resort island for which the company have just completed some rebounding.

8 staff are seemingly selected at random to have an overnight pampering stay at the resort and they are the envy of all their colleagues.

All seems fine at first and for Mel, it's a perfect opportunity to get to know her office crush Charlie a great deal better.

As the staff start to relax and enjoy themselves they rapidly discover that their random selection is not as random as it first seems.

As the accidents mount up and the body count starts to rise, the remain8jg group members try to work out why this is happening and just who is to blame. Excellent 'whodunit and a real page turner.

I'm pleased to say I wasn't disappointed by this second thriller from Kate Gray, after reading and enjoying her first book in the same genre last year (The Honeymoon). If anything, I enjoyed this book more.

The locked room element, with the employees staying at a luxury hotel in a sea fort in the Solent, worked really well in escalating the conflict and tension, while providing a gorgeous setting for all the fear and gore to be juxtaposed against. The cast of characters were varied and intriguing, the secrets and lies provided lots of pace and kept me reading, and the newspaper articles and police interviews acted nicely as hooks to keep readers engaged too. This had a satisfying ending, and there is definitely a touch of Lucy Foley about the setting and tone. Overall, a hooky, fast paced summer thriller.

With thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

Mel is the HR Manager for an advertising company. Her boss decides to throw a Summer Party for his staff at Point Grey, an old fort off the coast that has been turned into a glamourous hotel. The only access is by boat. 12 of the staff have been chosen to stay the night and Mel is one of them.

After last the Christmas Party one of the staff had been found dead in nearby woods, did she die from exposure or was she murdered!

A tense thriller which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for an ARC of The Summer Party.

This book is a good read, nice and simple to keep track of characters and quick to get through. Great storyline also.

The summer event of the year..... Flavour a fashion agency that is holding the summer bash at highly exclusive Point Grey Hotel, where only 8 employees winning the draw to stay overnight as VIPS. When one of them turns up dead, the pressure is on to find out what happened, before anyone else dies…
A fast paced summer thriller read.

The book had a slow start, and it took me a while to get into the story. However, once I did, I found it to be well-written. While I'm not typically a fan of dual points of view, the inclusion of interviews and news article pieces made it more bearable and added an interesting layer to the narrative.

The plot itself was engaging, though some of the characters were hard to like and came off as almost juvenile at times. Despite these drawbacks, the overall story was decent and had enough twists to keep me invested until the end.

Thank you to NetGalley for a digital review copy of "The Summer Party " in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

At the company summer party, Mel is excited for a day of sun, sea, and cocktails, with her sights set on her work crush. But as the festivities unfold, tensions rise and secrets emerge, revealing cracks within the team. When someone is found dead, Mel realizes that a sinister plan is in motion, and she must uncover the truth to escape alive.

The police interviews add an intriguing layer to the story, providing a fresh perspective on the unfolding drama. While Mel's obsession with HR policies can be irritating, the unexpected ending wraps up the story effectively. Overall, this is a fun and thrilling read that keeps you on edge from start to finish.

http://thesecretbookreview.co.uk

The staff party is set to be an event to remember for the team at Flavour Digital Marketing. Following their work promoting the venue they’ll be partying the night away on a disused sea fort in The Solent. Even better for a randomly selected few they’ll get to stay over in the uber luxurious setting. Sounds good so far? Obviously it doesn’t go to plan, and the random selection? Well it’s pretty obvious from the get go that all of these characters have something in common. Could it be the death of a former colleague in mysterious circumstances?
If you’re expecting an ‘And Then There Were None’ style story you’ll be disappointed. Yes they’re a group of spend five minutes in a room with people like them never mind the hours forced to read about them. And as for their supposed motivation as suspected killers? Weak at best. Even the name seems odd as there’s no real relevance of the season to the plot in any way. A real disappointment.

After enjoying Kate Gray's debut The Honeymoon and enjoying it, I was really looking forward to the summer party. This hit my expectations, I was totally invested in the storyline and I was kept guessing until the end. I think Kate's writing in this genre has settled more and this title was certainly a page turner. I just wanted to know exactly what was going on and who was the mastermind. I didn't find the formatting of the eARC particularly reader friendly. So I may also purchase and re-read to get the full effect as there were multiple jumbled paragraphs and I think a couple of missing pages in the copy I was sent to review.

I will reccomend this title to my followers and bookish friends.

You can take the people out of the office but the politics will follow wherever they go!
A great cast of every type of colleague you might come across, a great setting of an isolated half luxury, half creepy rundown dump of a hotel and a number of incidents that soon lead to a rising body count with no obvious perpetrator in sight!
Thoroughly enjoyable read!

When Mel's boss organises a party at Point Grey (imagine Fort Boyard as a luxury hotel in the Solent!) she is concerned that this follows too closely on the heels of the death of a colleague but agrees to attend. She and seven other colleagues are rewarded with an overnight stay at the hotel. Within a short time of the rest of the guests leaving, things start to go horribly wrong...
This was a tense, nail-biting novel from Kate Gray, with a gripping narrative which had me hooked from the minute things started to go wrong and left me reading deep into the night. If revenge is a dish served cold then this was icy! Look forward to reading more from this author.

Fast paced, page-turning thriller. I sped through this book, caught up in the intrigue which is beautifully created.

A creative media company host their company summer party at an exclusive hotel. 8 colleagues were randomly selected to spend the night as a treat, but it soon becomes apparent that the selection wasn't so random. A young girl was murdered a few months prior, and it appears there is some connection to her death and the disturbing events that are unfolding.

I loved the mystery and intrigue that was created against the glamorous backdrop. The characters were subtle and cleverly suspicious. And the pace relentless, with many unpredictable twists. My only issue is that it tried to get too clever, too many twists which started to undermine each other. By the end I was rolling my eyes with each new reveal, it was becoming farcical (perhaps that was the intention?). Which is why I cant award the last star.

4 stars for a thoroughly addictive read.

This is a good summer read. Easy to read but a good story.
I liked the character development and it kept me interested.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is an office party I am pleased not to have received an invite to. What do you actually know about the colleagues you work with.

Really good read makes you think about the intentions of someone against how it’s perceived by others

One office two office party’s months apart and both end in tragedy.