This is a fast paced locked room murder mystery . It was an enjoyable and exciting read overall and I raced through the pages, but at times it could be boring and dull but I think this was down to the main character Mel. She didn’t have much depth and had been harbouring a massive secret that really was a massive let down.

Mel is the HR manager at a marketing firm who are having their annual summer party in a fancy hotel on an isolated island. 8 staff members won an overnight stay but soon they are left fearing for their lives! What has this to do with them and how does it connect to Holly who died on the last works night out?

I found this book to be rather predictable and I correctly guessed the baddy rather early on, there was some doubt and it was good to get to the end to see how everything would be tied up.

That being said, I raced through the pages and couldn’t wait to get to the end. The chapters were short and I really liked the newspaper articles and police manuscripts that were slotted in throughout the book.

If you love a good locked room murder mystery, then this will be right up your street!

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Well not sure where to start feeling a little wrung out after that, a real roller-coaster of a read that kept me reading late in to the night and picked up at every opportunity took me two days and I loved it

Thanks Netgalley and Mountain Leopard Press (Headline) for the opportunity to review in exchange for an honest review.

The story follows Mel who works in HR at a fancy PR company. Her and her colleagues get to attend a luxury trip for their summer party and they're all buzzing. It's a steady start at the beginning of the book but ramps right up as we get further into the novel. In the vein of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None", we see the fun soon turn into disaster and someone is picking them off one by one. I enjoyed guessing who it was, I loved the tension between the characters and hearing about their backstories.

I really enjoyed reading the police interviews - I thought that was a nice addition and gave us another perspective. Mel's character did annoy me though, she was a bit too much of a stickler for the rules for me with jumbled priorities - more busy worrying about HR policy than people getting murdered. I didn't expect the ending and this was satisfying and wrapped everything up nicely. Overall, a fun and thrilling read!

Unfortunately this wasn't the summer read I wanted it to be. The book didn't really give summer apart from the fact it was a work's summer party.

The writing was great however the plot and characters actions felt juvenile.

Oh my god this book is absolutely fantastic. I was hooked from the very first page. So many gripping twists.

A disused fort off the south coast has been transformed and rebranded into a luxury hotel. Eight lucky office workers are selected to stay overnight after the office party but as the last boat leaves them at 10 pm, alone except for the night manager they realise that a killer is among them.
This thriller kept me in suspense until the very end. Suspicion fell on several of the guests and red herrings floated in every direction.
I thought the introduction of the investigating officer and his witness interviews added substance and content to the story and also increased tension. Without giving too much away.
The characters were very well described and they developed as the story progressed..
A winner.

A great summer read, a page turner that kept me guessing.

A secluded hotel location for a summer party. Celebrating, despite what happened at the Christmas party..
The champagne is flowing and the cracks begin to show.

I love the format, the police interviews interspersed through the telling of the story. This is the second I have read from Kate Gray, I’m looking forward to her third.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy to review.

I love Kate Greys books and this didn't disappoint!!! If you’re looking for a page turner and gripping thriller this is for you! It’s a mix of who killed who and a ‘what actually happened’ style book - both of which I love so I found this gripping from the start. This will be the perfect poolside thriller and definitely one I would recommend to pack for your holiday. Thanks to netgalley for letting me review this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed the author's debut novel, The Honeymoon and this was another tense, gripping twister of a novel! Loved it!

The story starts with Mel and some chosen few colleagues staying at a luxurious hotel as part of their work summer party. What starts as excitement, soon turns to recriminations and then terror, as it becomes apparent that someone has revenge on their mind....

This Agatha Christie style locked room thriller hooked me in straight away and reminded me (in a good way) of And Then There Were None. Mel, as the main protagonist, is relatable especially in her behaviour around her work colleagues and I found myself rooting for her from the start. The tension builds quickly and from then on, things escalate until I had no idea who would be next! The hotel setting was imaginatively described and the uncertainty and fear between the characters was palpable!

The perfect holiday read, I cannot wait to see what Kate Gray comes up with next! Definitely recommended.

Thanks to author Kate Gray, publishers Headline Mountain Leopard Press and Net Galley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Flavour company had done a successful PR job for a luxury hotel, a hotel that was converted from an old fort set in the Solent, as a reward, the owners of Point Grey Hotel had invited the employees of Flavour to hold their annual Summer Party there and eight randomly chosen ones would spend the night in their luxury apartments.
Head of PR. meek and mild but diligent Mel is delighted to be one of the chosen few, she was even more delighted that her long time crush, Charlie, had also been chosen, perhaps her time to shine would come.
At the end of the party the eight remaining guests waved off the rest of the group as the boat took them back to the mainland and they prepared for a night of luxury and pampering but all is not as it seems on the island hotel, it soon becomes apparent that the eight were not chosen randomly but why were they chosen ?
The first death occurs and the remaining seven soon come to realise that they are trapped in the middle of the ocean, they have no means of escape.
As the body count escalates they are all terrified, who would be next ? who is committing the murders and why ?
This book is a bit slow to get going but quickly picks up, I must admit that right until the end I didn't warm to Mel's character, I thought she was a bit of a wimp but it is a good plot with plenty of suspense and action and I did guess some of it but not the whole.
Thank yo Net Gallery for my ARC, me review is totally voluntary.

The premise of this book was really good but for me this was just an ok story but I think it could have been a much better one with a few changes. I didn't let it spoil the story, but the version I read was hard to follow as lots of paragraphs were jumbled up.

Great suspenseful read, keeps the reader guessing throughout.
It should have been a luxury experience but it turned into a nightmare. Full of tension and twists this book was anything but predictable.
The format of the book is clever and keeps the reader fully engaged as you read about the events of that night and discover who (if any) survive.

A company away-week to a hotel in the Solent takes on several Agatha Christie type twists and turns. I guessed where this one was heading but it’s a breezy read. Ideal for fans of the And-Then-There-Were-None genre, told in a straightforward, easy style.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.

It was exactly the kind of book I fancied reading and it didn’t disappoint. Lots of twists and turns and not knowing quite how was good and who was bad! All the characters were well developed, flawed but with purpose. A good summer read.

This was my second read by Kate Gray, so I expected many twists and turns. Twisty this was not, I'm disappointed with The Summer Party, it was slow and repetitive and I saw the turns coming from the outset. I preferred The Honeymoon to The Summer Party. It's a good read to escape reality for a few hours but not a story that will stick with me.

Thank you to Headline and NetGalley for the ARC!

My first read from this author and it didn’t disappoint!

I loved the build up of the party atmosphere, as a reader I knew something bad was going to occur, so it was tense reading the pre-disaster scenes.

There was an interesting mix of characters, some likeable and some much less so! Twisty and turny as well as an easy summer read. A solid 4 stars from me.

Welcome to the biggest event of the year - The Summer Party, a tense and fast paced locked room thriller that is an ideal by the pool/holiday read this summer season.

In this story we meet Mel and the team at Flavour, a fashionable agency who have been invited to hold their summer shindig at the highly exclusive Point Grey Hotel, with only 8 of them winning the draw to stay overnight as VIPS. As the party develops secrets, lies and revenge become the new agenda and everyone invited to stay wonders why they were the 'lucky' ones to be chosen, especially as the bodies start to pile up.

I really enjoyed the structure of this story. Despite its initial slow start, and Mel being a wet blanket, the pace ramped up after the first third and the setting was particularly evocative and effective. I love an isolated setting which gives you 'And Then There Were None' vibes and we had also all the glitz, glamour and cattiness I would expect in this genre of vacation style thriller. I really liked the use of social media, police interviews and news articles interspersed between chapters to help move the story along as well as act as the present POV for the story. It was a more interesting way of doing a dual POV story and kept everything vague enough to want you to keep reading to see how the story unfolds.

Despite Mel being a bit of a drag of a main character at the start (especially her mooning over Charlie like a teenage girl), I did enjoy her character development and by the end was willing her on as she gained somewhat in confidence and was willing to push herself outside of her comfort zone. I admit, I saw a lot of my own personal traits in her so whilst cringing at her at times I also felt sorry for her and wanted her to come out victorious.

The ultimate reveal for the who I kind of guessed but I didn't get the why or the how which I liked. The reveals worked and I did generally enjoy the final few chapters which wrapped everything up with a few surprising elements.

This was a fast paced thriller that kept you engaged and invested as the action unfolds. Not all the characters are likeable at all but they do read very familiar to anyone who's worked in a classic office setting and some of them make for great victims. The locked room element was superb and the red herring and twists and turns added well to the mystery. Overall, a highly enjoyable read and comes recommended.

3.75* rounded up.

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

Utterly brilliant- this keeps you on a knife edge all the way through the book, it was difficult for me to work out who the killer was but then there are so many twists and turns throughout the story with a variety of different (many not likeable) characters who are guilty in their own ways. Definitely recommend- it would be a good read on a long flight as it makes time flash by, totally absorbing!

Thank you to Netgalley the author and publishers for an arc in exchange for an honest review

Amazing. A bit slow to start but once you get into it it's hard to put down with all the twists. The killer is definitely not who you expect. Great summer read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book with no obligation to review.

I was not very keen on this. I felt that it was slow and repetitive to start with and Mel moons around after Charlie like a teenager rather than a woman in in her 30s. It does pick up massively about halfway through when they get to the hotel and you race through it to see what is happening but then it gets absurd. Also, the reason why Mel feels guilty about Holly's death defies belief.

It is not unlike the Agatha Christie classic "And Then There Were None" which I suppose is also a bit absurd but somehow you accept the Christie one more readily, maybe because to us, it is set in the past which, as we all know is another country!

Anyway, the ending is not bad although the twists did not surprise me but once it is "finished", we get another few pages and then another few tying up every loose end and spelling out matters which I think the reader already knows.

The book also has the currently fashionable style of interspersing the narrative with social media posts and excerpts from newspapers and police reports etc.. I am fed up with this. When it started, that style was something different but now I find it overdone and annoying. To make matters worse the advance copy I received had lots of broken sentences .and paragraphs jumbled up sometimes over 2 pages so that disupted the flow of the book.

All in all, good in parts but overall average.