The Wedding Night

Character Driven Suspense…
A cancelled wedding has more repercussions than were possibly imagined in this entertaining, character driven suspense. Credible, well observed and well drawn characters together with nicely crafted twists and turns add well to the engaging storyline. A satisfying piece of Summer escapism.

Lizzie and Dan had the perfect wedding planned in France; however, just before the big day, they inexplicably cancel it via email. Lizzie's uni friends convince her to still go and stay at their all expenses paid venue for a holiday. Once they arrive, things are not as they should be: somebody is causing trouble. This twisty novel will have you asking plenty of questions... Why did Lizzie cancel the wedding? What really happened on the Wedding Night? Who is leaving messages?

This book is told from multiple perspectives, although in the third person, which gives us an insight into each character's strengths, weaknesses and feelings about the others. I really enjoyed slowly learning more about each character; particularly, I found Effie to be the most relatable, with deep self esteem issues. Things are kept purposefully mysterious about Lizzie, creating suspense and a few red herrings. This novel is very character driven, which I loved, although at times it felt less thriller-y due to this.

The ending was unique and something I didn't see coming, which is always a major plus! However, it was a little infuriating that the whole thing could've been avoided SO easily if people just... spoke to each other about things. I get it does happen sometimes but it felt like the resolution realistically would've been much simpler.

On the whole, I enjoyed this book because of the character driven plot and great twist. It took me a little longer than usual to read this as it takes a while to get gripping, but it is worth getting through the beginning!