Twelve years ago, college student Emily Hunt mysteriously vanished on the night of her graduation and her body was discovered days later. When a single, cryptic text was uncovered to Emily from a quiet, longer student at the college, the case was seemingly closed.

Flash forward those twelve years, and Emily's college friends have come to a luxurious and secluded private island to celebrate an engagement. As time ticks on, outsider Sierra Prescott--that is, the only one on the island unconnected to the past--notices that things at the engagement party may not be what they seem.

And when another body is discovered, this time with a note that reads "It's time to tell the truth," Sierra's suspicion is all but confirmed.

A very familiar suspense novel, "The Engagement Party" presents all the right pieces for the making of a great Christie-esque mystery: a decade-later reunion after a horrible tragedy, a secluded island with one way out, a foreboding storm, and the list goes on. Unfortunately, it was the unshakeable familiarity of this story that made it not work well for me. Where Kane had the opportunity to reimagine a tired plot line, there simply wasn't enough newness to keep me engaged; that and the presence of far too many underdeveloped, unlikeable characters made the 400+ page-count tedious by the end.

2.5 stars rounded up for a very been-there-done-that story, I'm hesitant to give Darby Kane another try after "The Engagement Party" and would recommend readers look elsewhere for their next mystery.

The Engagement Party by Darby Kane
My rating:
3.5 rounded up to 4
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ruthie and Will are getting married and invite a few of Will’s closest friends from college to celebrate. All of them share a dark past. What they did not know when they accepted the invitation was there was more to that weekend than an engagement celebration.

I really enjoyed this thriller! It definitely had the elements of I Know What You Did Last Summer and In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead and also the Guest List by Lucy Foley. All of those elements made this one so intriguing for me as I had no idea what to expect.

Overall the pacing of this one was great until the end. The last 20% percent felt so long and lots of information / twists are being thrown at you all at once, it was easy to get lost. I did find it was a little repetitive and long towards the end, so that was my biggest issue with this one.

I would still recommend this for a fun whodunit book. I didn’t actually guess the main twists, which is satisfying to me! While some things were predictable, I didn’t have this one all figured out!

Thanks netgalley and William Morrow for the ARC! You can read this one now as it was published on December 5th!

I honestly wasn’t a big fan of the book. It was your typical stuck in a cabin story with a killer on the loose.

Wow! I loved this locked room thriller! Darby Kane has been an auto-buy author for me ever since I read Pretty Little Wife, but I have to say that this is her best book yet! I’ve read a lot of thrillers with a similar premise, but this one managed to feel completely unique. It had a healthy dose of horror vibes which added a fear factor that I wasn’t expecting (but loved!). The suspense is intense from the beginning and doesn’t let up until the very end. Definitely check this one out if you’re looking for a binge-worthy thriller!

The Engagement Party is a fast-paced locked room thriller set on an inescapable private island in Maine where a group of old college friends with complicated pasts have gathered to celebrate the engagement of their friend Will. The only way to and from the island is a causeway that is only usable temporarily at low tide. When bodies start to pile up and it's clear a killer is out for blood these friends will start to question eachother with no way to escape the island as a terrible storm rages on. I love love love a good Locked Room mystery and this one is reminiscent of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. This mystery thriller hit the ground running from the very beginning and kept me intrigued throughout. I couldn't put it down! It was a tense edge of your seat ride and will keep you guessing until the very end.

Read if you like:
Locked-Room Thrillers
Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Slasher Movies/Books

NetGalley Review — my rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

“The Engagement Party” by Darby Kane is a fast-paced thriller surrounding a 12 year old crime and a group of college friends with lots of secrets to hide.

This one showed a lot of promise. The POV switches between 3 people and “book notes” so you got lots of sides to the story. It takes place over a single night/day and — I won’t lie — all I could think about was why haven’t they slept or eaten?

This one could’ve been a 4 but the last 25% was really confusing to me. Close, but solid 3.

Thanks to @williammorrowbooks for the ARC! This novel released just 2 weeks ago so check it out!

#netgalley #theengagementparty #darbykane

All secrets eventually reveal themselves in due time. Just as all lies will catch up with you. "The Engagement Party" by Darby Kane is a prime example. It took 12 years, but the secrets and lies are about to come to light.

Of course, freaky weather, a secluded island, and an ominous feeling add to the ambiance of the plot. This part feels so over done and played out, but I enjoyed the characters and the twists more than I disliked the setting.

I think this is a great novel for someone looking for a thriller that is familiar and yet brand new.

So many years have passed since the death of Emily and Brendan. What happened to them? Somebody is willing to kill to get answers. But the question is who?

The reader is immersed into this story full of flawed characters all believing they have the same secret, until they arrive on the island for the engagement party of their lives.

Once there guilt, desperation, greed and revenge is mired with complacency the hunted becomes the killer and the lines of who's who gets blurred. That’s what happened in this excited fast paced title. One issue I had was the number of characters I had to create a flow chart of who’s who and how they are connected.

I received a galley copy of this title in exchange for my thoughtful and honest review.

The Engagement Party by Darby Kane is a riveting thriller that transports readers to a secluded private island off the coast of Maine. Secrets, lies, and buried memories converge in a deadly game where trust is scarce and danger lurks around every corner.

Why You’ll Love It:
⏳ Intriguing Premise: The blend of past and present, hidden connections, and a confined setting keeps you guessing.

🤐 Character Dynamics: Each friend harbors secrets, and their interactions are fraught with suspicion.

🔀 Twists and Turns: Darby Kane skillfully weaves a web of suspense, leading to a heart-pounding climax.

Thank you so much to the publisher for my copy in exchange for my review!

Sierra has been in love with Mitch for years, but he can’t let good his past enough to enjoy his future. When Mitch is invited to his college pal’s engagement party, Sierra convinced him they should go. What starts as a weekend with old pals in a beautiful house in a desolate location has the potential to end in a bloodbath. What old secrets will come out? Most importantly who will leave the weekend alive?

I wasn’t sure about this book starting out…there were so many characters and so much back and forth that it all seemed like too much. However, Kane was able to weave the story together and keep me into it until the end with some shocking parts along the way!

This is my third read by Darby Kane, and in my opinion, this is her best! A true locked room mystery with big secrets and many twists and turns. This was an amazing read!

Make sure to check for trigger warnings.

This story focuses on the murder of Emily Hunt. She was murdered on the night of her college graduation. Another student on campus at this time was accused of being involved in her murder, and he lost his life tragically. This closed the case. Her close knit group of friends have secrets from that night that they have been keeping for about 12 years. Someone wants to know those secrets. They are brought together for an engagment party in honor of one of the group, but things are not as they seem.

This book has short chapters that bounce between the point of views of all of the group - and some others. No one can be trusted. My head was spinning with all of the new revelations. Just when I thought that I had things figured out, another twist came around. This book is a fast read that will keep you guessing right up until the last page.

The island is a character itself. The story was so immersive, that I felt as though I were there. It was claustrophobic at times. The chapters just flew by because I couldn't get to what happened next fast enough.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for the opportunity to read this book! I highly recommend all of this author's books! This one is out now, so pick it up!

Wow, this one was a wild, thrilling ride!

A group of college friends goes to an island for the engagement party of one of their friends. He's been engaged before and they're not inclined to go. They get there and all hell systemically breaks loose. Between betrayals, bodies, blood, you don't know who is telling the truth. All we know is they're lured there...and they may not all leave until the truth comes out.

5 stars. This one's gonna stick with you.

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for this ARC!

I really liked this book, it was different than anything else I've read which was a breath of fresh air. I will be recommending this to my friends, and auto buy this author!

My thanks to William Morrow, Darby Kane and Netgalley.
This book made such an impression on me that I can't even remember it. Yes, it was a very little impression, but?
Swear on a stack of Stephen King and Clive Barker that I just finished this book last week, and I'm still at a loss.
Should I apologize for my memory lapse? Kiss my what? No! If I can't remember, but I can still recall every plot twist to Robert Jordan and his Wheel Of Time series, then that automatically means this was f word awful!
I do recall thinking to myself, somewhere in this mess that I would avoid each and every Darby Kane book in existence.
I cannot recommend this crap. Believe me when I say it's crap.

I wanted to love this one, but I really disliked absolutely everyone in this book (which I think was the point). The plot got a little crazy, but it was entertaining.

I do not like to give under 3 stars, it pains me... but, I'm so sorry I hated this book. I thought the writing was basic/not advanced, the plot line was surface-level and rushed, the characters were just names on a page (I need more backstory, more reason to root for their survival), and I just couldn't get into this book. Also, the ending was a lot of "no this is what actually happened" over and over to the point that the outcome just didn't matter to me. I think this book should have been marketed as YA because that would make way more sense & would probably change my rating slightly.

This was such a fun "locked island" thriller that had me sitting on the edge of my chair with a big bowl of popcorn. This novel follows a group of friends from college with a tragic past where one of their college friends was murdered after they graduated. Fast forward to present day and another friend in the group is getting married and invites his friends to a private island to celebrate the engagement. But someone is there to disrupt their weekend and make them account for "what they did" back in college. I would best describe this as The Last Word mixed with The Secret History and I Know What You Did Last Summer. It was twisty, dark, and had zero likeable characters. The plot twist at the end did it for me too, which I can rarely say about thrillers!

This was a pretty typical locked 'room'/trapped on a remote island that sees a college friend group reunited to celebrate the engagement of one couple only to discover mysterious note and have dead bodies start turning up brutally murdered. A high stakes, twisty revenge thriller that is sure to keep you on your toes. I didn't find it super original but it was still a good read and I enjoyed it on audio. Will it be one that sticks in my head long? Definitely not but we all need books like that sometimes. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

I truly, truly enjoyed this book and the creepy environment that Kane created! I think it's the first time in my adult-life that I read a book before bed and then turned the lights on to make sure I was alone in my bedroom. At one point, I thought I figured out a major twist only to be proven totally wrong.

Two people died during graduation weekend. Years later they all get back together for one friend's Engagement Party. Will their secrets stay hidden?

Y'all this book will grip you from the beginning and not let you go until the end. I had to jot down who was attached to who in the book. Three couples and 6 names were introduced pretty much right off the bat. In order to keep the names straight I wrote them down on a post it.

I could see different parts of myself in each of the characters which was neat but also kinda creepy. Especially when Cassie would stop at nothing to protect herself. I think self-preservation is human nature.

I did NOT see that ending coming. At. All. It was good.

I am so glad I have this book on my shelf. It is a re-read for me in the future! I honestly think I'll pick up other/different details on the second read