Allegra and her twin brother Fergus decide to throw a weekend party at an abandoned castle their father purchased that's about 2 hours from their boarding school. They invite about 20 people for the weekend. All of the teens lie to their parents about their weekend plans. The main character Bessie and six others drive to the castle early to set up for the party. On the way, they stop at a convenience store where she meets a local who is hanging signs about the castle purchase. The locals don't want it bought and turned into luxury apartments and some would rather it just be burned down. At the castle, they begin to decorate when a huge storm arrives. Three more friends arrive but after that, the roads are too terrible for anyone to arrive. One of the girls is out in the storm when a tree falls on her. She doesn't want to get the others in trouble by having to take her to the hospital so she takes painkillers and keeps partying. The next morning she is found dead and everyone's phones are missing. As the weekend progresses, the teens know someone is hunting them. They don't know if it's one of their own or one of the angry locals. I liked the story but felt the characters needed development. They all seem to be rich boarding school teens with no redeeming qualities.

"The Party" is a stand alone young adult/teen thriller novel by Natasha Preston. A group of high schoolers from a local boarding school are throwing a secret party at a run down castle owned by two classmates' parents. When the weather gets nasty, only a few of the students make it to the castle and are cut off from civilization. When one of the guests dies and cellphones go missing, they figure out that there is a murderer who has trapped them. Clouding things is the fact that some of the students were in a car wreck last year and don't fully remember what happened. Full of twisty secrets and suprises, this is a recommended purchase for YA collections where thrillers are popular, especially Preston's other novels.