The occasion is the wedding of Julia (Jules) Keegan & Will Slater. She heads and runs a magazine and he’s a reality television star. They’ve invited friends and family to their celebration, a remote island off the coast of Ireland that’s barely inhabited. The cell service is spotty and there’s intermittent electrical outages but everything else about the festivities is lavish. But not everything is harmonious among the guests, the bride and the groom. Told from the perspectives of five of the participants, tension grows over the weekend until someone turns up dead.
I’m a fan of stories told from multiple points of view, especially on audio where multiple narrators are used. This one is ideal to listen to as it heightens the pleasure, especially since all performances were done so well. It’s a deliberately slow burn as each character reveals just a little bit more about her or himself throughout. My opinions of them shifted back and forth with every new morsel of information until even I felt I knew the players intimately. While I deduced the probable scenario, I was never certain of who would meet their demise at the end.
This was a cleverly designed plot with superb character development in an über creepy setting. There were times I didn’t like any of them and formed rash conclusions because I thought I knew the direction. It’s the one time where the journey is the thing because the storytelling enthralls you. There are startling twists and revelations but not the kind that throw you out of the story, more like the missing pieces you didn’t know were misplaced. I enjoyed everything about this book and think it’s best served up in the audio format. One of my friends described it as a mashup of Agatha Christie and Big Little Lies and I couldn’t agree more!
Book Info
- Release Date: May 5, 2020
- Narrators: Jot Davies, Chloe Massey, Olivia Dowd, Aoife McMahon, Sarah Ovens & Rich Keeble
- Audio Length: 10 hours, 22 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
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(Thank you to Libro.fm and HarperAudio for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.)
Great review! I still need to read this one.
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Thank you, Lorilin💜
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Fantastic review Jo!
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Thank you, Nicki💜
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Wonderful review, I still have this one on my list! I love multiple pov and lots of possible suspects as well so I’m really looking forward to it!
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Thank you, Inge💜 You’ll love this!
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I just finished this book and I agree, the author did a fine job giving us bits and pieces of information at a time. Your review, says it all. A definite fun read.
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Thanks, Marialyce💜 It was the best kind of slow burn.
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I’ve been seeing so many good review for this one! Happy to hear you enjoyed it!
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Thanks, Carol💜 It lived up to the reviews!
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Great review! I loved The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley, so I’ll definitely be checking this one out.
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Thank you, Jacob💜 I still have that one to listen to. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did!
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Terrific review, Jonetta, and you give me a lot of hope for going back to this one! I listened to it when it first released and could not get into all the voices/narrators- I think the pandemic had just started and I could not focus as well. I’ll give it another shot when I can focus better, which is probably still not right now. 😂 ♥️
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Thank you, Jennifer💜 In my opinion, it had a weak start. It took me about an hour to engage. Then, I got intrigued and at about hour three, didn’t want to stop. I hope you do go back and listen. Just hang in there🥰
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That’s really good to know! I didn’t last long so I’ll definitely give it another shot!
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It’s why I didn’t give it the full five stars. I debated about mentioning it, too.
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I absolutely adored this. The narration was amazing. Fabulous review!
Anne – Books of My Heart
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Thank you, Anne💜 I definitely get why you loved it, too!
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I enjoyed the ebook of this one and can only imagine how much more I would have loved it on audio. I really need to read more books from this author.
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Same here, Suzanne!
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This is one of my favourite books of the year so far – I’m glad you enjoyed it too 🙂 GREAT review.
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Thank you, Jules💜 I get why it’s one of your favorites!
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I’ve had this book forever and I still haven’t read it, ugh!!!! Great review, lovely! xx
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Thank you, Meggy💜 It’s extremely atmospheric, too. Took me a little bit to get into (not long) but once it hooked, I needed to stick with it.
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Ohhh I really need to find time to read this one! Fab review. xx
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Thanks, Yvo💜 Obviously, I’m going to say you should make the time😏
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Haha I hope to do so soon! Although I have so many titles I want to read ASAP that I’m not sure when exactly that will be. xD
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