The Engagement Party
by Darby Kane
Pub Date: 05 Dec 2023

This is my first book from Darby Kane and I really enjoyed it! I was completely drawn into the book.

This is a great novel about college friends that meet up 12 years after graduation for an engagement party weekend. The secrets in this group have threatened to tear them apart for a long time now, and justice is finally coming. A must read for mystery, thriller, suspense lovers.

Thank you #TheEngagementParty #NetGalley #William Morrow for the opportunity to read this E-ARC.

Will and Ruthie are getting married they’re having an engagement party on an isolated island and inviting their old college friends the only one to arrive or Mitch and Sierra and Alex and Cassie Cassie for some reason instantly doesn’t like Ruthie and it’s suspicious of her and her relationship with Will. Things are not helped when strange notes in dead bodies start showing up on the island and of course there is a severe thunderstorm with hurricane speed winds. It seems Cassie her husband Alex Mitch well a girl name Emily and another guy named Jake or a group of friends who hung out only with each other in college. On the night of the graduation Emily went missing and was found floating in the river a few days later a boy named Brendan was blamed and he was found due to suicide soon after. True to form though that isn’t the real story and somebody is after just that… the truth. They’re suspicious of the newcomers Sierra and Ruthie but when Alex is attacked outside and sees men’s boots they don’t know what to think. They’re stuck on an isolated island with a killer or maybe too! Let me just say this is what my aunt would call a kerfuffle my mom would call a cluster crunch it is a lot of a lot! I love Darby Cane‘s books but I are at many points in the story I was confused not to the plot points exactly but to who was talking who was in on it who was innocent but I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it. Sometimes books are so bad they’re good and that was the case with the engagement party there was a lot going on but it all kept me glued to the page eye rolling and all. I want to thank William moral Harper UK and NetGalley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Emily Hunt disappeared from her affluent liberal arts school during graduation weekend. Her lifeless body was discovered in a river, leading to the suicide of a quiet loner who was barely known on campus. Law enforcement, relying on a tenuous link—a single text—closed the case, believing they had solved it. However, the truth was overlooked, and now someone is determined to correct the mistake.

Twelve years later, a group of college friends assembles for a celebratory engagement getaway on a secluded private island in Maine. With only one entrance and exit, the tension escalates when they discover a deceased man in a car trunk along with a note urging them to reveal the truth. Sierra Prescott, an unconnected guest invited to the celebration, is the first to sense that things are not as they appear.

"The Engagement Party" offers a contemporary take on Agatha Christie's classic "And Then There Were None." While the book incorporates a thrilling atmosphere with elements of a slasher vibe, the multitude of unreliable and unlikeable characters creates confusion about their hidden secrets. As the villain is revealed, the complexity of their elaborate plans seemed excessive. Additionally, the conclusion of the book feels prolonged.

In summary, "The Engagement Party" provides a somewhat enjoyable read but falls short of my expectations.

This book was a wild ride from start to finish. I really enjoyed the multiple POVs and how twists were revealed throughout the whole book, until the very end. And I guarantee that you will not predict the ending. There were some very unlikable characters, but they fit in the overall storyline.

dnf. thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. I typically love Darby Kane’s books but this one reminded me of a low budget, lifetime horror movie. I stopped reading when the group went back to the garage where the car crashed after LEAVING IT RUNNING WHEN THEY FIRST SAW IT. Ever heard of carbon monoxide poisoning? Apparently they haven’t🫠

This is my first Darby Kane book and I will definitely be coming back for more! This was fast-paced, fun and full of twists and turns. I love a book with multiple narrators and found myself questioning who was telling the truth and who I could or couldn't trust.

I love a remote island/locked room type of setting so this was perfect for my little thriller heart! I have seen this promoted as a cross between And Then There Were None meets I Know What You Did Last Summer - and I would say it's more on the I Know What You Did Last Summer side. And I say that with love cause I love that movie! This novel is more of a popcorn thriller (and would make such a fun movie or mini series) than a literary thriller like ATTWN but I enjoyed every moment - other than the epilogue - I actually would have preferred it without the little button on the end that I didn't find necessary to the story or plot and didn't really serve the characters in any way.

Overall - I am so happy to have found a new thriller author that has a great backlist for me to dive into! I saw her in person at a book festival and just her hilarious personality alone and the way she describes how she writes & the inspiration behind her books makes me want to keep picking up her books!

Thank you to Netgalley & William Morrow as well as Thriller Book Lovers Promotions for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

First I want to thank NetGalley, William Morrow Paperbacks and Darby Kane for my ARC of The Engagement Party. I loved this one! I haven’t not read anything by Darby Kane but after this book I definitely will be reading another! As a New England girl I loved that this took place in Maine! A group of friends meets 12 years after graduation for an engagement party on a private island in Maine. The secrets in this group have been threatening to tear them apart. Now justice is being served. But who’s doing it? Just when you think you have it figured out.. you don’t. I couldn’t put it down! I will definitely be recommending this to all my fellow thriller readers!

I really enjoy locked room mysteries and this was the perfect setting for this story. College friends reunite for an engagement party and they are not the most thrilled to go, however they are all hiding a secret from their past so they kind of feel obligated to be there. And shortly after, a body shows up in a trunk with a message and it just goes downhill from there. Told in multiple POV’s, this was a crazy ride with a wild ending that I definitely did not see coming.

Thank you to Thriller Book Lovers and William Morrow Books for the advanced copy to review and a huge thank you to the author for this lovely signed copy.

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest thriller by Darby Kane - 4 stars!

On graduation weekend, Emily Hunt went missing. Her body was found floating in a river. The suspect was a loner who committed suicide, so the case was closed. But not everyone was happy with that and someone wants revenge. When the rest of their group of school friends gathers on a remote island to celebrate one of their engagements, bad things start happening. They'll need to stop a killer - but who can they trust?

I'm a sucker for a locked-room mystery, and this was a good one. Everyone was keeping secrets from each other and no one was above suspicion. The atmosphere was tense and while most of the characters weren't likable, I couldn't wait to see how it all turned out.

Emily Hunt, 22, disappeared on her college graduation weekend. Several days later, her body was found in the river.

Mitch Andersen has received an invitation to an engagement party from his friend, Will Mayer and fiancé, Ruthie Simmons. His business partner, Sierra Prescott, encourages him to go and she will go with him as his plus one. Reluctantly, he agrees.

Alex and Cassie Greene have also received an invitation to the party and they also agree to go.

When they all arrive, it is to find that the house being rented is on a remote island only accessible by golf cart at low tide.

They all remember Emily when they were at college with her, except for Sierra, who was not there. Emily was a nice person but she also liked to play games which may have led to her murder.

When strange things begin to happen and dead bodies are found, the people want to leave but a huge storm keeps them from doing so. As time passes, secrets and accusations come forth and things become very dangerous. Is one of them the murderer of Emily?

This was a very tense book full of accusations and scary events. It got quite frightening at times. If you like a scary book, this one is for you.

Copy provided by Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Thank you to Thriller Book Lovers Promotions for the advance copy of The Engagement Party.

The weekend of college graduation a group of friends experience a terrible event that has bound them together for better or worse. All having gone their separate way with the exception of a couple that got married, they finally reunite more than a decade later for the engagement party of one of the guys on a private island rented for the weekend by the bride-to-be.

Aside from the normal tension and apprehension the group feels towards one another, there are also two outliers at the party - the fiancee and the long time friend of one of the original gang; neither of whom seem to trust any of the others and vice versa. When a major storm comes, power is knocked out and bodies start piling up. With nowhere to go and no clue who to trust, the group focuses on trying to survive the night and figuring out who could be behind the murders - and what really happened that night twelve years ago?

This is a formula that we see time and time again, and it doesn’t work for everyone…but it works for me. I will always be on board with old friends, high school/college secrets, isolated locations. I say all the time, we need to be willing to suspend belief in when we read thrillers because they are often exaggerated scenarios and The Engagement Party is no different. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t still a whole lot of fun.

I love a book where I don’t hate the characters, but I also don’t like them. Even the nice or innocent characters in this book are unlikeable, so I was simultaneously rooting for everyone to fail or the least hateworthy to come out on top.

I enjoyed that a key twist to the story was given up early in the game but still muddied the waters enough that the reader knows there’s still more to the story than what we’ve been given. I also enjoy when a thriller borders on horror and I can definitely say there were horror aspects throughout the entire book.

One thing that I really appreciated that Darby did was give some depth and backstory to side characters and off-page characters. Some characters remained flat or one dimensional but others had a pretty nice arc.

Thank you so much to William Morrow books for the ARC!

This book started out with a bang as it recounted the story of Emily Hunt who disappeared on her graduation weekend. When her body is found, it's clear that she had been murdered. Her story is told in the form of "book notes" and those excerpts were my favorite part of the story!

When Emily's friends gather for an engagement party 12 years later, it becomes clear that things with Emily may not be as open and shut as they previously presumed. This friend group has ISSUES! I was sketched out by all of them (I think that's the point)! The book was told from 3 of their alternating perspectives plus the book notes which helped keep things moving along.

When a book's marketing compares it to And Then There Were None, it always tends to make me leery to pick it up because the plot patterns all seem to be too similar for me. While there was a little bit of that familiarity here (of which so many are fans), a couple of the twists were definitely new, fun, and original!

The ending was ACTION PACKED, dare I say almost too action packed for me that it was hard to keep up! If you like your thrillers with a ton of action, this one is for you!

Darby definitely did a great job setting a perfect moody scene (for murders ;)) and I think this will be a big hit for many!

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC, and Covid for the weeklong reading binge.

This is like a locked room mystery crossed with dark academia, and as usual with these flashback type stories, I was more invested in the previous crimes that were being covered up than in what was happening in the present day. Twelve years ago, Emily Hunt was murdered on graduation night. Her body was found in the river, so there wasn’t much evidence to go on, and she’d made quite a few enemies, so the suspect pool was rather large. It was assumed that some mysterious loner dude murdered her…because they’d exchanged a single text message and he committed suicide about a week later. It’s flimsy at best, but it seems to satisfy most people.

The titular engagement party is for Will, one of Emily’s core crew of friends, and his fiance Ruthie, who he’s known for all of 3 months. Apparently he’s been engaged several times before and never made it to the altar, so it’s unclear why everyone’s on board to celebrate again. This group of friends also doesn’t seem all that fond of one another - it’s the standard “a terrible secret binds us together” trope, where they’re reluctantly allied, but actually all hate each other (and resent having to protect…whoever they’re protecting). Along with Will and Ruthie, we have married couple Alex and Cassie, and Mitch and his business partner/love interest Sierra (and yes, I did have to look up all of those names!). Alex, Sierra, and Ruthie all share narration duties, along with some intercalary chapters titled “Book Notes,” which give some of the backstory behind Emily’s murder. It’s a decent way to dump some exposition without…seeming like you’re dumping exposition (the characters do eventually find these notes, so it’s at least used as an actual plot point). The party is taking place on an island in the Atlantic, and it’s one of those “only accessible at low tide” kind of places, so of course you know there’s going to be a terrible storm.

The weekend goes haywire pretty much immediately when Mitch discovers a body in the trunk of a car. According to Ruthie and Will, they weren’t even given keys to that detached garage, so it’s unclear how the body got in there in the first place. But it turns out Mitch knows the guy. Mitch has another novel’s worth of tragic backstory. It’s that guy’s body in the truck. So Mitch is an obvious suspect, even though it’s virtually impossible for him to have done it.

At some point the police show up (I forget why), but Cassie strongarms everyone into NOT talking about the body in the trunk, so they just leave the dude there. Then we have storms, and power outages, and another body, and it’s obvious Ruthie isn’t who she says she is, and basically everyone but Sierra is maybe probably a murderer. There’s a Shakespearean amount of double crossing and secret identities before the final showdown.

The actual story of what happened in college is way more interesting than the plot we have, and it feels like the whole thing is unnecessarily convoluted.

I did like Sierra, though. Too often in stories like this, where a group of people are hiding A Terrible Secret, they talk in these annoyingly vague terms and as a reader it’s beyond frustrating. Sierra is constantly calling Cassie out every time she tries to do it. It’s extremely satisfying.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a thrilled that kept me at the edge of my seat and turning pages. This one definitely did.

A cast of unlikeable characters (serious I think the only one I could somewhat tolerate was Sierra), a good story, and lots of twists and turns. So many. I was kept second guessing myself with every turn of the page and I never actually guessed who did and why.

It was a super quick read and pulled me in from the first page. I’d definitely recommend this to others.

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

Within the expansive pages of this novel, the author demonstrates a commendable mastery of diverse viewpoints, immersing readers in a world painted with vivid narrative strokes. The portrayal of loyal friendships added a heartwarming touch, yet my appetite for intricate twists and turns remained unsatisfied, yearning for a more profound level of complexity.

Despite my appreciation for the author's engaging writing style, I found myself grappling with unanswered questions, leaving certain plot elements shrouded in mystery. The intricacies of the narrative often eluded me, and I wished for a clearer understanding of the motivations driving the characters. While the book offers a unique literary chaos that may appeal to some readers, those in search of a more structured and nuanced storyline may find themselves yearning for a deeper, more satisfying exploration.

In essence, this novel is a journey worth undertaking for those who relish unpredictability in their literary pursuits, yet it may leave others longing for a clearer path through the intricacies of its storytelling.

Darby Kane tells a wild story in The Engagement Party.

"Three couples head to a house on a remote island to celebrate an engagement. Four of them have been friends since college and have been bound together by a deadly secret. One in which two people died. Only thye know what really happened. And now someone wants to know the truth. Someone on the island with them willing to leave a trail of bodies..."

This is a wild story from Kane (pen name of HelenKay Dimon) Reading this is like watching a heavyweight prize fight. She keeps throwing things at the couples in the house. Notes, fire, police - you name it. The action and tension never stop. There are clues that someone has a motive but you never guess exactly what's happening. Until there's a big reveal! And then more things happen and it gets crazier (Except for the scene in the shed - that's absolutely bonkers) A couple of more reveals at the end fill in the gaps.
Lots of unlikable characters (but not all of them)

Look for this book around the pool a lot next year or under the tree this year.

WOW *** This was a page turner that didn't let up for a moment. Three friends are invited to an engagement party that no-one wants to attend. Mitch's girlfriend urges him to go as it'll be their first time away together. Alex and Cassie don't want to be away from their daughter but relent. After all Will is one of their old friends from uni days and they have never met Ruthie his fiancé. The party is being held on a deserted remote island and difficult to reach. There is a feeling of tension and creepiness from the time they get to the island and it only gets worse. Four of them have a secret from years ago when a classmate died on graduation night. Fingers begin to point in all directions. Then bodies start showing up and there is a storm and no lights and no way off the island. I felt right there along with the group and cold feel the tension thru the pages of the book. With wonderfully flawed characters and the creepy atmosphere this book is a solid 5 star story. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

The Engagement Party was a thrilling story with lots of terrifying twists and turns. The action starts right at the beginning and doesn’t slow down until the end. You will feel the paranoia and heart racing fear throughout this book.
I did not figure out the mystery of the killer (past or present) and the revelation was executed beautifully. There were so many moving parts to the twists and they all came together smoothly - no plot holes or disbelief in realism.

I have posted this review on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/C0j_c_sL6XL/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6013366786

And Amazon

While this one kept me intrigued, there ended up being too many loose ends and red herrings for my liking. Coupled with unpleasant, stale characters, this closed-room thriller wasn’t good for me!

as I was reading this, I seriously thought to myself “can I really give this one star because this is just so bad” 🥴 and then the surprise ending plot twist bumped it up to two stars because that was literally the only good part of this story…

I preface this review by saying that historically darby kane is usually not the author for me 🥲 so there may be others out there who can resonate with her kind of thrillers more than me…

but this one was just so poorly planned out y’all 😅 I really should have DNFed, but I wanted to see how it ended and if there was any redemption for the lack of cohesive plot. as it’s a good old fashioned revenge story focused on a murder from college times, it gave wannabe dark academia vibes mixed with unhinged narrators and characters (but not in a good way)

I think if the plot was a little more planned out with less obviously guilty characters, it would have been not a memorable but at least a likable thriller. instead, the storyline was all over the place with the characters each lying so terribly in their own way to protect themselves that the reader has absolutely no clue what the heck is even going on…

this just felt like one bad horror movie, with a slight improvement plot twist in the last chapter (a darby kane famous moment). and while I wish I could say there were more likable moments than that, this is supposed to be an honest review and I’m scathing today 😶🫠

a big thank you to netgalley and william morrow for putting up with my critical self and sending me this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

rating: 2 stars
wine pairing: new zealand cabernet sauvignon