The Summer Party is a very tense, roller coaster of a novel that will keep you guessing until the very end. If you enjoy Lucy Foley books then you'll love this, My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy.

Party Turns Dark..
A work party, a luxury isolated island hotel, a group of colleagues. Let the fun begin - as this particular Summer party is about to turn very dark indeed. A tension fuelled, twisting locked room style mystery with a familiar premise, a well imagined sense of place, a well crafted cast and a twisting narrative to keep the reader guessing. Enjoyable and entertaining.

A really great read with lots of twists and turns keeping you guessing for most of the book! A must read.

An unpredictable tale with characters that are often awful. But this makes it even better as we all love a good villain!
Will be looking out for more of this author’s books. String 4/5. Recommend for the beach, garden, bus, train….you get the picture!

Kate Gray has done a great job in bringing to life in a book office politics, woven into a mystery death at the agency ‘Flavour.’

Anyone who has worked at or with a creative agency will recognise some of the characters and the gossip!

It’s a good holiday read, bringing to life the heatwave and creeping dread of Point Gray….with no way out.

The segments of police interviews and online comments worked really well in between chapters.

I would recommend this book and looking forward to Kate’s next novel!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.


The Summer Party by Kate Gray is a mystery thriller about Mel who attends a work party set in an exclusive Island Hotel.

However as the drinks flow, things start to turn dark as things start to turn dark and for the lucky few who are staying overnight even murder.

The Summer Party is a mystery novel, that uses the setting of a small island to heighten the tension as there is no war for the individuals to escape, yes I know this is not a new plot line however Kate Gray carries this of well,

The narrative of the story is told entirely through Mel’s perspective who while playing a major part of the story she puts herself on the outside of any friendship groups of the workforce.

However I am not sure if this is because of a number of reasons, Mel works is the only one in HR, Mel’s personality or even just the way that the story is written.

Either way this allows the reader an overview of the novel, however only from one perspective, having said that Mel’s character is very good at keeping personal information from the reader, in an almost unreliable narrator way.

Having said this about only having Mel’S perspective to the story allows The Summer Party by Kate Gray to have a number of twists and turns needed for a thriller to work.

All of which makes The Summer Party by Kate Gray an enjoyable beach read mystery Thriller.

Wow! I did not see that coming. All the way through I questioned all of them. This book is amazing! Kate will be a go to author for me, after her first book was such a hit and now this! Incredible. I couldn't put it down and the twists and turns kept it moving nicely.

Thank you so much to the author, publisher and netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a highly tense page turner. I kept reading just one more chapter late into the night, but was then too scared to sleep so read one more chapter again and again! It has put me off work parties forever! A must read summer book.

When Flavour an agency host their Summer Party in a 5 star boutique hotel developed in a fort in the Solent hopes are high that they will be selected to stay overnight in the luxury surroundings. But as the boat leaves with the rest of the staff of the hotel and the members of Flavour’s team the successful guests and the Night Manager are all that remain - cut off by the sea in this ancient fort. As they settle down to enjoy the luxury strange events start to happen and they are reminded of the graduate trainee who died after the previous Christmas party and slowly the scene is set for the worse night of their lives. I enjoyed the way the author built up the tension and slowly the body count increases and they don’t know who to trust in this scenario. An interesting technique employed by the author is to us newspaper reports and blogs to describe the final moments at the fort. What a great read! It was very different from my usual reading matter but definitely made me continue read into the night as I was totally gripped by the book!

What a fabulous storyteller Kate Gray is. The fear of being on a fort in the English Channel, isolated and a killer on the loose. A works summer party should be a fun events but this turns into a nightmare for 7;of the employees. A previously dead colleague resurrected as a blast from the past and lots of secrets and lies. What’s not to love.

I couldn’t put the book down!
It was a fast paced thriller that kept me turning the pages as quickly as I could to find out the ending.

Lots of twists and turns to this book, which leave you on the end of your seat and not knowing what was going to happen next.

Great read and the main character was someone you could relate to and the story unfolded quickly and had me gripped!

Oh my goodness..what a rollercoaster of a book. What seems out to be a lucky draw to an unusual hotel out in the sea, for a firms summer party..soon turns into a tense, desperate struggle to remain alive. With the prior death of one of the employees at forefront of peoples minds the ensuing actions takes several gory twist and turns.
I couldn't put it down and loved that the book was written from two points of view....
It was a great read.

The Summer Party tells the story of creative agency, Flavour, and their employees as they head to a remote sea fort turned exclusive venue for their annual Summer party. Some find it hard to let their hair down as their colleague died following their Christmas party in a tragic accident. But before long, the cocktails are flowing; at the end of the evening most employees travel back to the mainland except for a select few 'VIPs' who have won the chance to stay overnight. Before long, the murders start and it is a frantic race to solve the mystery and work out who they can trust.

What can I say? This is the best book I've read for a long time and I stayed up WAY later than I should to finish it as quickly as I could.

A popcorn thriller, it is perfectly located to bring the creepy feelings and I enjoyed every minute.

My thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for sending me this ARC in return for an honest review.

Really enjoyed this book. Was perfect for a summer holiday. Definitely not a party I would like to be invited to where people die. I did like the characters and really wanted to see how the story ended was very easy to get into.

This started off quite slow for me and it took me a few attempts to get into it, but once I did it worked and I had to keep reading. I loved the explanations re the sea forts as they always intrigue me when I leave Portsmouth.

I loved the ending and it left me wondering and wanting more.

Couldn't wait to read this book.

Page turner and wanting to know what happened even though you don't want the book to finish.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC

I wasn't totally enamoured with this one I have to admit. The copy I received was a digital copy and the sections with the newspaper reports and police interviews were quite muddled up which may have affected my enjoyment of the book.

I'd had an idea who the "baddie" was going to be so the ending fell a little flat for me. The build up was good though.

3.5 stars rounded up

Digital Agency, Flavour, arrange their Summer Party at a disused Sea Fort in The Solent that has been converted into a luxury hotel. The only way to reach (and leave) the hotel is by a pre-arranged boat. Eight lucky members of staff, who think they have been randomly selected, stay overnight as VIPs. At a previous Christmas party Holly, a graduate trainee, had died of hyperthermia as she walked home alone. The death of this trainee is very much on people's minds, especially Mel from HR who is one of the eight chosen to stay over. As the drinks start to flow we become aware of the many undercurrents between various departments and individuals. All of which culminate into an explosive and gripping tale.

At the end of the evening the partygoers and hotel staff are taken back to the mainland, with the exception of the chosen eight and the hotel's Night Manager. Not too long after, one of the eight is found dead. The remaining seven very quickly realise they are trapped with no way of leaving the hotel. From this point the pace accelerates with twists, turns and unexpected revelations on nearly every page. Who, if any, will survive. The eight are a very interesting mix of quite complex personalities, with secrets and back stories that ultimately reveal why they were the ones selected to remain behind.

I thought the regular insertions of newspaper articles and police interviews a clever way of dropping tantalising clues into the narrative. At times I did question some of the decisions the eight made as they fought for survival. On a couple of occasions the storyline seemed a little far fetched, however I genuinely couldn't put the book down. The conclusion was very satisfying, and thinking about it after, wondered if there could be a slight variation to the one written. I love thrillers that leave one or two strands for the reader to ponder over.

Highly recommended if you want a fast paced and addictive Summer read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headlinefor my advanced reader copy in return for my honest and unbiased review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline Books for letting me read the Summer Party by Kate Gray. My first Kate Gray book but won't be my last. Gripping from the first page and just when you think you know the plot, you are wrong. Definitely a five star read.

rounding up to 2.5

as mel attends a summer party to try and distract herself from what she did at the “christmas party”

the interviews and news articles spread throughout the book, intrigue the reader as they also wonder what mel is hiding.

although the story is filled with twists and turns, the pacing of the story felt very slow. i often felt that i wanted more from the writing and the plot felt like it was going around in circles.

overall, i think the honeymoon was a stronger book than this latest release.