WOW! Everyone has secrets and these women have more/darker secrets than most people! This was a gripping read that I couldn't put down until we figured out who was behind it! I do love a redemption story and this book has quite a bit of it! This was my 1st book by Chris Bookmyre but will not be my last!

#TheCliffHouse
#NetGalley

The Cliff House is the perfect beach read or travel book. Not only does it grab your attention early and hold it, but it doesn't introduce a lot of new characters to keep track of. There are well-placed twists that kept me interested until the final page. This is my first Chris Brookmyre, but now I'm on a search for backlist books. Thanks for the opportunity to read early and review!

This was an okay thriller for me. I felt like it read a bit slow over to halfway through. They were unlikeable characters, but that was how they were supposed to be portrayed. It was a bit hard to keep track of all the characters. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this e-arc in exchange for my review. 3 stars

Forty-two-year-old Jennifer is getting married for the second time but is still going to go all out for her bachelorette weekend. She's taking her closest friends to a remote Scottish island for luxurious pampering, but one person goes missing. The only thing linking these women together is her, and how well does she actually know them?

Seven women on a remote island is essentially a locked room mystery. Of course, each of them has secrets, and of course those secrets will play a role in motive and whether or not the reader actually cares about them. From the start, Jen has trust issues, which sucks you right into the story. We meet all of the women as they get together in the airport and reach Clachan Geal, and get a glimpse at the relationships between them. We discover why Jen has those issues, the secrets old friends had kept, and the reveals as the women search for Jen's future sister-in-law. The searching is tense, the heart-to-heart conversations gripping, and the many reveals over the course of the novel are fantastically placed. This thriller will keep you guessing as you stay up late to finish it.

Show me a book with the same old tired story of friends gathered at a remote location/locked room murder mystery and sign this girl up!!! Yep! That's exactly what you get with this one and that was just fine with me! Jen is a soon-to-be bride and thinks it's a great idea to gather her nearest and dearest friends on a remote island for a bachelorette/hen party. What could possibly go wrong? Well, a murder for starters. Surprise! Yes, it's the same basics. Backstories on all the characters, secrets, lies, overall bad behavior, but was it fun? Again, yes. I thought Jen was pretty cool and after getting past the first quarter or so with all the introductions, the story moves fairly quickly. I did think there were a lot of characters to keep straight, but I feel the author tried to give each one a distinct personality, not always found in these sorts of stories so I overlooked that. Twisty and turny and I did not guess the ending. Also, great job with the atmosphere and setting. Creepy and beautiful sounding! Fun read!

Thank you to #NetGalley, Chris Brookmyre and Penzler Publishers, Scarlet for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I will post my review to Amazon, Instagram and various retail and social media sites upon publication.

4.5/5 ⭐️
Seven women go to a remote island for a hen do (bachelorette party). Soon after getting there though, the private chef is murdered and one of them is taken hostage. They get a mysterious message that one of them must reveal their secret or the kidnapped friend dies.

I enjoyed this one a lot! It was so suspenseful with all the secrets, and I think the narrator did a great job making things feel like cliffhangers. There were literal times I thought "oh snap!" at the end of a chapter. The reason it isn't five stars for me is that I think some of the twists were a bit predictable. There was also a point with about 15% left to listen to where I thought oh no, please don't let this be the big reveal. However, there were lots of twists and turns more after that! I think the author also did a great job of creating situations that led to suspense and tension. I'd definitely recommend to thriller lovers!

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Jennifer is getting married, again. Her first marriage was more the stuff of nightmares, and she has never fully trusted anyone since it ended. She has a successful business now, and she has spared no expense to ensure she and her old and new friends spend a luxurious hen weekend on a private Scottish island.
But someone knows these women are here and makes sure that they can’t contact anyone or leave the island. Who is hiding a secret that someone would kill to make her confess? It seems like everyone in this group has something to hide, so which secret has trapped them on this island? Everything is slowly revealed, and just when I thought I knew whose big, juicy secret was the one, nope, the author had something else in mind.
This book kept me guessing, and I was really surprised at the ending. It doesn’t publish until November, but for me, it was a perfect beach read. Of course it’ll make a perfect pre-winter read too.

This one was a little slow for me. I've read quite a few bachelorette party away on a island books lately and this was my least favorite. Had a super slow start, didn't care much for any of the characters. It was a hard slog until about 60% when it finally picked up. Then I couldn't put it down. Good twist at the end, brought it back to average for me.

In The Cliff House there are 7 people getting together for a bachelorette party (hen party) at a home on an isolated island. In addition to the seven, the owner and chef are also present.

When someone gets killed, and another taken, a stranger threatens them and promises to take more lives if the one person with the big secret doesn't confess. The problem is that they all have secrets, and nobody is willing to put themselves on the line because what if it's not their secret he's after.

TBH, I'm not a fan of locked room (or locked island) thrillers. I know there is a huge fan base for them, so I keep trying. Again and again.

I liked the back stories of everyone, they were complex and surprising. The secrets, lies and betrayals were definitely surprising. The final twist at the end was perfect. Chef's kiss. It blewe away.

The Cliff House brings me a step closer to appreciating locked room mysteries. I will keep at it until I fully convert to a forever fan.

This is a re-release and I’m so glad I caught it this time around! Not having read anything from this author before I didn’t have crazy high expectations, but The Cliff House delivered a great thriller!

I love thrillers, but they are often my palate cleanser between horror and sci-fi books because I can breeze through them. The Cliff House had some substance to it and I really enjoyed the story. Also, maybe I’m getting rusty but I didn’t see that ending coming at all.

When Jen and her 7 “friends” go to an off-the-grid island for a hen weekend, what could possibly go wrong?!

The thing I liked most about this book is that the characters were all believable. Deeply flawed? Yes. Unlikeable? Yes. But they were real and I didn’t have to suspend a lot of disbelief for the sake of the storyline. Overall, I thought this was extremely well done and I will be checking out more from Brookmyre!

**Thank you to NetGalley and Penzler Publishers for the eARC of this thrilling title!!**

Eh...

There's a little too many characters to keep track of. Jen's getting remarried and has invited her five (or six... who really knows) friends to help celebrate on a remote island for her hen weekend. But when the hunky chef is found with his neck slashed....it turns out the ladies are not so alone and someone is determined to clear the air of all the secrets.

Hmmmmm. This was just okay. It was a little confusing with one too many people to keep track of and a little too much petty dramas. Plus, everyone was just a little too unlikeable. Like, who cares.

It's a bit of a locked room mystery with the isolated island, but it just didn't work for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Titles like The Cliff House always yank me...isolated island and closed-circle mystery? Check. Though the characters are unlikeable and unrelatable, sometimes that can be a good thing in thrillers. This time, most of the seven women who meet at an opulent resort on a remote Scottish island are in their 40s, some with children. One is in her late 20s. But are they really friends? They certainly don't act like it. There is cattiness, deceit and false glamour. Not even remotely close to my own life, thankfully, but can make for a good read. However, immature female characters in particular get on my nerves which happened here. If you have "friends" like these, who needs enemies?

Along with Jennifer who is marrying for the second time are six other ladies who are keen for a reprieve from their problems for a few days. Upon disembarking from the plane they see are greeted by Lauren, the proprietor who is on hand to make their lives convenient, though her goal is invisibility, the epitome of the perfect posh environment where some celebrities vacation. Every technology is available except cell phone coverage which is hopefully a good thing, right? The chef is not exactly hard on the eyes or stomachs, either.

But right off the bat there are ripples of jealousy and a range of real and fake double kiss emotions. When one of the women disappears, the claws come out in full force. Wariness becomes palpable and suspicions arise.

This book would be an excellent beach or pool read, though I read it during our first winter blizzard in October which gave me chilly vibes. If you need a quick suspenseful escape, this could be for you.

My sincere thank you to Penzler Publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this enthralling thriller.

The isolated-place murder mystery is one I’ve always enjoyed, and I’ve liked quite a few of Brookmyre’s books in the past, so I thought it would be fun to give this one a try. Our isolated place is a small Scottish island with a luxury manor house that is rented out for retreats and small gatherings. This time it’s a weekend-long hen party before Jen’s wedding to her fiancé Zaki. Instead of a close circle of friends, she’s invited women from various stages of her life, from her childhood to her young adulthood, and including her sister-in-law-to-be, Samira, and her sister-in-law from her first marriage, Beattie. Some of these women already know each other and some don’t. Two, in particular, know each other and have bad blood between them from when one, Michelle, dumped her bandmates, including Helena, to become a solo act, going on to fortune and celebrity. It also turns out that Beattie is hostile to Jen, thinking that she wrongfully accused her first husband and Beattie’s brother, Jason, of being mixed up in criminal activity before he disappeared 10 years earlier.

Though the setup might make you think this will be an Agatha Christie-ish murder mystery, this is much more of a Jo Spain-style women’s thriller, or what Liane Moriarty might write if she decided to get more crime-y. Each woman’s POV is aired in short one- or two-page bits as the weekend goes on. Dirty laundry and grievances are already starting to be aired during the first day’s cocktail hour when a horrible discovery shocks them and alerts them to deadly danger. They under threat that can pit them against each other or force them to trust each other against a common peril. There are loads of twists and turns and a heart-pounding climax. This is one to read in one or two sessions to get the full thriller effect.

An isolated island and a group of women who don't know each other very well (even when they think they do) combined with murder, secrets, and lies makes this a trope-y but entertaining read. There's a lot of information about Jen and her pals up front (it's a little confusing to keep everyone straight at first) but then things speed up and you will find yourself questioning your assumptions. And what about that chef? No spoilers for me. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

This locked room thriller was just what I needed during the chilly days! I loved all of the secrets and how they all wrapped together at the end for one big story. It all came together in the end and I loved it.

If it ain't broke don't fix it. I love this trope so much and I can not get enough of it! I will devour any book with this plot.

I have read several books by this author and each one has had me reading into the early hours as I just
couldn't put them down. This book was the same. Seven women at a luxury resort, on an isolated island. A murder occurs and there is no way out, and no communication with the outside world.
3.75 out of 5 ⭐️

Jen and her friends arrive on a private island for her hen weekend and almost immediately are thrown into a locked-room murder situation. Secrets are revealed as they all race to save Jen’s soon-to-be sister-in-law from someone who claims to know one of their secrets.

It took me some time to get into this one but once I did I was hooked. The relationships amongst the women were full of twists and secrets and while I did have suspicions as to who was behind everything, I didn’t anticipate how it would end.

In the best tradition of And then there were none, Jen is taking a group of friends on her bachelorette weekend party to a private island. She knows them all, but they don’t all know each other and the few who have a history together had a falling out. What could possibly go wrong? Turns out, quite a lot. One goes missing and a mysterious entity calling itself the Reaper wants to play a game: one of the women is not who they believe her to be, so she must confess. Turns out that, oops, they are all hiding a secret so it could be anyone and, of course, no one wants to be the first to fess up in front of the others. I loved the descriptions of the island and its many features. The plot is solid and I truly had no idea who was behind it all. I also liked how the characters are all resourceful, smart and easy to root for. The rhythm kept up throughout the novel, making it a fast read. The ending is really good. This is a very enjoyable read for mystery lovers.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Penzler Publishers, Scarlet!

Jen is at her weekend hen party at the luxury island resort of Clachan Geal. With her are her tennis friend Nicolette, tennis coach Kennedy, former sister in law Beattie, future sister in law Samira and former school mates Michelle and Helena who were once in a mildly successful band that Michelle jettisoned to become a solo pop sensation. Also on the island are Lauren, the resort’s owner and their chef.

The party has just started when tragedy strikes. It appears that someone else is on the island and intends to do the group harm unless one of the party makes a confession. But everyone seems to have a dark secret.

Nothing like a good locked room mystery and I quite enjoyed this one, though, wow, some serious sociopathy in this little group! Enjoyable.