I’d like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Birthday Party’ written by Wendy Dranfield in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Kathy drops five-year-old Charlie at her cousins’ birthday party trusting other people to keep an eye on her until the babysitter collects her later in the afternoon. But the babysitter doesn’t turn up and no one sees what happens to Charlie after her mother leaves. Charlie has disappeared and Kathy’s old school friend Detective Chase Cooper starts the search for her but everyone is keeping secrets that are gradually revealed as questions are asked.

‘The Birthday Party’ started off being an enjoyable thriller with a missing child and a family keeping secrets but as I read I found the characters especially Kathy quite unlikeable. How can a mother leave her five-year-old daughter alone at a party when she can see the adults drinking copious amounts of alcohol and still expect them to be in a fit state to watch her. I was also surprised at the flippant way Kathy talks of divorcing her husband Mitch for a reason we aren’t immediately aware of but a bit unnecessary nonetheless. The story starts off by being interesting but then becomes so far-fetched with so many twists and turns that it becomes totally unbelievable. I like thrillers but this is just too far-fetched for me and even jumping a few chapters along the way I’ve struggled to get through it. I’m sure lots of readers will enjoy it but I’m afraid I’m not one of them.

A worthy and well-written story!
This is the kind of book that keeps my heart beating fast until the end. Kept me intrigued in every single one of its pages.

Once I got engaged all I wanted was to help figure out what has happened and be there to help.

I had my heart ripped off into a million pieces by the main characters so many times I can not help but grieve now. I am here lost in sadness and sorrow.

This book opened my mind to the possibilities of evil and danger that I had never considered before. It will definitely stay with me from now on.

This ARC was granted to me through NetGalley and approved by Bookouture in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.

I really enjoyed The Birthday Party. It kept me gripped throughout and there were plenty of twists, turns and red herrings to keep me guessing. I have read other books by Wendy Dranfield and loved them all.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my ARC.

This is a new to me author, and while I kept seeing her books everywhere I just didn't have the chance to get to her stuff. Until Now and let's just say she did not disappoint!
Kathy did a normal parent thing, she took her 5-year-old daughter to a birthday party at her brother-in-law's house. Everything seemed to be going great they were in a prestigious neighborhood, in a quiet town. But, hours later Charlie is nowhere to be found.
In a town where reputation is everything, and they try to keep secrets and how far will someone go to keep those secrets buried. I loved this story because everyone had secrets and I suspected everyone at a point in the book. Like there is not a completely innocent bystander.
The police definitely have their work cut out for them, and each time they start digging the police uncover more secrets. While the ending was definitely heartbreaking, justice was served.
This book had the pieces to a great thriller! If you enjoy thrillers with shocking and explosive family secrets then this should be your next read!
Thank you Bookouture and Netgalley for the extraordinary opportunity to read and review this one! It definitely was a treat!

Thank you Netgalley, Bookouture, and Author Wendy Dranfield for this ARC.

This was entertaining enough. Enjoyable. However, a lot of it was unbelievable. Farfetched. There was a lot to keep track of but it was fairly well organized. A pretty good read all in all.

This book was a struggle to get through for me. I hated the characters, especially martyr Kathy and found their dialogue, reactions and even the twists to be unrealistic. The story itself had potential but the whole book just felt exaggerated to me. I’m sure others will love it but this one just wasn’t for me.

This book was stunning! My first read from this author and definitely wont be my last. I loved how twisty it was. Wow I still cant believe some of the twists myself. I may have to reread this book again when it actually comes out.

I had a super hard time with this book it was extremely boring and went on and on and on. It wasn’t until the last 20% of the book anything actually happened and it was so far-fetched and ridiculous it felt like the author was going for shock value. It’s just seemed way overdone.
It almost felt like two different authors wrote it.
I love suspense thrillers but this one missed the mark for me.

Well written book with numerous characters. I prefer books with less characters but I was able to keep up with the amount in this story.
The slower first half of the book built up to a faster paced second half. I thought the ending was not believable at all.

Wendy has given her Madison Harper series a rest and written a standalone psychological thriller. Set in the town of Maple Creek, it is an absorbing read which slowly unwraps secrets and lies within a well-heeled family. A five-year-old child goes missing at a birthday party. Who could have taken her and why? It is a parent’s worse nightmare. But scratch the surface and there are things about the feted Hamilton family the locals in Maple Creek know nothing about. The disappearance of Kathy Hamilton’s daughter Charlotte (Charley) is about to change all that, bringing some unwanted intrusions into the life of controlling matriarch Connie Hamilton.
Everyone is a suspect and detective Chase Cooper has the job of discovering not only who is responsible but also finding Charlotte as soon as possible.
A worthy five star read…
My thanks to Wendy Dranfield, Bookouture and Netgalley for an ARC of The Birthday Party in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book and although Wendy Dranfield is a new author to me I will certainly look out for her in the future. My only slight "niggle" would be that, although it was a good plot, it was slightly unbelievable at times especially the reactions to Charlie's disappearance.
Thank you Bookouture and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to give my unbiased opinion.

I loved Wendy Dranfield’s Detective Madison Harper series and was excited to read this new standalone by the author. In this book, Kathy Hamilton drops off her five-year-old daughter at her twin cousins’ birthday party at her in-law’s home. Kathy has arranged for Charlie’s babysitter to pick her up from the party later that afternoon, but when she and her husband each return home, neither Charlie nor her babysitter, Megan, are there. The family becomes frantic and things get complicated when Kathy realizes the detective assigned to the case is Chase Cooper, her first love.

After only a few chapters, it becomes obvious that almost every character in the book is hiding something, so there are many suspects in the abduction of Charlie. Chase is the most likable of the characters, and I was rooting for him to solve the case, and get things straightened out in his personal life. I had mixed feelings about Kathy and Megan, and I didn’t warm to Kathy’s husband, Mitch, at all. The book has many plot twists, but I anticipated most of them from clues given in the story. There were still some revelations near the end that surprised me and I was fooled into thinking a different person was responsible for taking Charlie. WIthout spoiling anything, I was shocked at how truly horrible a couple different characters were and that people suffered needlessly because of their actions. Although the epilogue shows several of the characters full of hope, the story is full of heartbreak and is sometimes hard to read. Overall, I enjoyed this suspenseful, sometimes dark, story and look forward to reading more by Dranfield.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ebook. An advance copy was provided to me at no cost, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

I really enjoyed this it was a definite one session page tuner with lots of red herrings. In the end I wanted to throw things at some of the characters as I was so frustrated. Yes you do have to suspend belief at some parts but it is fiction after all.

I was given an advance copy by netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely my own.

Dranfield is one of my favorite authors. I was completely engrossed in this thriller. It will freeze readers to the core. Things weren’t adding up for me with the characters as I tried to discern what was going on. Halfway through, one of the main characters revealed something and I said bingo! Then all the tumblers clicked together and what I pieced as a major part of the plot, turned out to be true. This story will play with your mind and it’s a great suspense story.

This was a fast paced thriller where everyone is hiding something.

Charlie Hamilton goes missing at a birthday party. Her babysitter can’t be contacted and Kathy Hamilton and her husband Mitch are frantic, trying to work out where she could be. But nothing in this town (which as an aside is small enough that people know each other intimately but large enough that you can not see someone from your past for literal years?) is as it seems and everyone has a secret to hide.

If you put aside the incredible implausibility of the majority of the plot points, this is a really well crafted book. It really does keep you guessing and while I worked out a few of the clues others were a real surprise. However, this book is really let down by its dialogue. The characters speak stiltedly and awkwardly to each other and seem to bare their souls in conversation as a matter of course which just doesn’t ring true. I also had issue with them describing what they felt may have happened to Charlie. It didn’t feel realistic at all.

All this said, I did actually enjoy reading this book though I’ll admit my patience was wearing thin by the end. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of this book.

Another great book from this author which kept me on the edge of my seat from the beginning until the end. The characters were well developed and the story line was exciting and well written with a good ending.

I can certainly recommend this book and thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this great book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The book started out great, then kind of slowed down for me. When it picked up again, it got unbelievable, which allowed the story to be neatly tied up, but was a little disappointing. I liked how the end of the story had some real surprises though.

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY will tug on almost every emotion as the twists turn and twist again. Wendy Dranfield will keep you invested in the story by showing you just enough to believe you have it figured out and then revealing another detail that will open up another possibility.
Charlie was excited about her cousins' birthday party, and she couldn't wait to attend it. Both her parents had to work, so they left her with her aunt and uncle. There were lots of people they knew at the party, so they thought nothing could go wrong.
Later that evening, her parents discover that Charlie is missing, but her disappearance is only one in a line of mysteries that don't stop unfolding until the final pages.
I enjoyed the story. Once I read the first couple of chapters, it was almost impossible for me to put the book down.
I was given a copy of the book by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. My opinions are my own.
I recommend the book for mature readers, as some sensitive subjects are discussed in the story.

Every book I have read by this author has been extremely good. Will this be another 5 star story?

When someone you love disappears, it’s always a tragedy, but when it’s a child, it’s even a bigger one. I really could not imagine how I would feel if it should have happened to me.

The baddies feel so great about themselves, because of what they can do, but they should rather see themselves as big, fat cowards for taking on victims that are younger or smaller than they are.

I had not pictured this person as being the bad one. I had another name in my head. Was I disappointed once again for not picking up on the clues? No, not at all. I did not see this coming and that’s the way I love it. It means the author has the ability to fool me and to keep me guessing until the end.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to protect the family’s name and/or fortune, but there are limits that should be respected too. That’s where it often goes wrong, very wrong… 

A great story that I enjoyed very, very much. 5 stars

Thank you

Lots of twists in this book with some that I did not see coming. Not all of the characters were likable but that helped to make it a readable story