Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox is a multiple POV locked room mystery, sent at a party in a haunted mansion. While there are no major surprises, there are a couple fun twists in this novel. Starting with a slow burn, it gradually increases through a great pace.

I had the opportunity to read the ARC and listen to the audiobook at the same time, and was able to seamlessly move between the two. The cast of narrators did a fabulous job in engaging the listener throughout. I highly recommend this one.

Rating: 4 Stars
Pub Date: Jul 01 2025

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Party of Liars is a twisty locked room thriller by Kelsey Cox. Party of liars follows four women at a Texas sized sweet sixteen party: Dani, the new stepmother, Orlaith, the superstitious Irish nanny, Mikayla, the birthday girls best friend, and Kim, the ex-wife. Kelsey does a good job of weaving together these four women’s POVs before, during and after the deadly sweet 16 party. The characters were well written and well developed. I loved the haunted history behind the house; it did a good job of adding to the tense atmosphere, and it was like the 5th main character. This was a slow burn thriller, the author did a good job of building the tension. So much so that once I started reading I couldn’t put the book down, I had to figure out what happened. The twists and turns kept me guessing until the end. Reading this book made me a little anxious, which I loved when Im reading a thriller. Thanks NetGalley for giving me an opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a fun read! I didn't know what to expect from this and despite the unlikeable characters I absolutely flew through this trying to get to the big reveal. Overall a super fast paced read that was perfect for my summer beach bag as a thriller lover!

This is a great locked room mystery. I really loved the multi POV and I highly recommend the audio book if you enjoy them. The full cast narration was absolutely superb.

Party of Liars is full of high drama and is a perfect guilty pleasure.

I loved the great dedication "For Mom and Dad, who made me feel brave enough to try, safe enough to fail, and strong enough to try again"

My thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books/St. Martin's Publishing for the ARC of "Party of Liars" in exchange for an honest review.

Tore through this one in a couple of days. How could I not? Spend one wild night with wealthy, heavy drinking adults and their equally booze-guzzling, ragingly hormonal teenage sons and daughters? And all of them crammed into a huge cliffside house said to be haunted by a terrifying ghost? I couldn't RSVP fast enough.

We're out in the Texas suburbs where psychiatrist Ethan Matthews is throwing an all day-and-night Sweet 16 bash for Sophie, his daughter with ex-wife (and disgraced, struggling alcoholic) Kim. Sophie lives with Kim, since Ethan continues residing in the legendary, historic mansion that he and Kim painstakingly restored and renovated. (With the back wall taken out and replaced entirely with glass, like a life=size dollhouse). Ethan now uses Sophie's celebration as an excuse to show off the vast house, his new young trophy wife Dani and their new baby girl Charlotte.

Let the revels commence, with the house literally filled to capacity with friends, neighbors, Sophie's high school coterie........and possibly, "The Mother", the scary wraith who supposedly haunts the house.

As the liquor flows freely, everyone's closet skeletons come out to play - hidden romances, resentments, rivalries, all out hatreds, not to mention ominous signs of an otherworldly presence. Cleary, someone might die, , but at whose hands? 'The Mother'? Or is there a real life flesh and blood monster on the guest list?

Great nasty fun, all the way through, with every chapter designed to raise your suspicions and sense of dread in all directions. (or should I say misdirections. ) And capped off with a perfect, satisfying twist. Crash this party ASAP.

I liked the premise - but once I started reading it just felt like it wasn't for me. I struggled to get invested with any of these characters

Thank you NetGalley, Minotaur, St. Martins and the author for the arc!

Once I cracked this one open … there was no stopping! From the exciting opener to the climactic ending … I was here for it!

I love a book where you just don’t know what to expect & I felt this one 100% fit into that category! There were so many paths this story could have taken … haunted house, murder, family drama with dark secrets, teen drama with plenty of angst, adults behaving badly … all of the above? I won’t spoil it for ya, but I don’t think you will be disappointed!

There’s a lot we don’t know until the end, including who took that dive off the balcony … and trust me when I say my pages couldn’t flip fast enough to get to that reveal. Several clues are dropped throughout the book & I think I suspected each & every person at least once as I did my own sleuthing. And when that reveal hit, it was satisfying!

The whole journey is fast paced, addictive & binge worthy! Thriller lovers go grab this one now!

Wow. Wow wow wow. This was such an incredible mystery/psychological thriller, and a debut at that. Party of Liars takes place over the course of the evening of sixteen-year-old Sophie's extravagant Sweet Sixteen and is told through the eyes of four women: Mikayla, Sophie's best friend who is worried about losing her best friend as she becomes friends with the cheerleaders and the football players; Kim, Mikayla's mom who is trying to do her best after her marriage imploded; Dani, Sophie's dad's twenty-seven-year-old new wife and new mother to Charlotte, who is having a tough time being a new mom; and Órlaith, Charlotte's nanny.

The actual death doesn't take place until the very end of the book, so not only are you trying to figure out who did it, but also who the "it" is. Lots of chapters end on cryptic cliffhanger statements, which irked me a little as I was reading, but by the end, I couldn't put the book down. There are so many twists and turns and times that I literally gasped. At first I thought all of the switching POVs would be hard to follow, but each character and voice was pretty different, and they were all so interesting. The reveals of each character's history and motivations had me gasping, and all of the puzzle pieces fit so well in the end.

It was more of a psychological thriller than I expected, because there were things that were creepy and messed up and unsettling. But it was so well told and had me on the edge of my seat. Definitely recommend this to anyone in the mood for a fast-paced mystery/thriller about good people and bad people doing a lot of bad things (for good, of course).

In this twisty thriller, we are at a lavish, Sweet Sixteen party in Texas, where someone winds up dead. We get multiple perspectives in this book; the young step mother of the birthday girl, juggling a new baby, and a fear that she may be going crazy; the mother of the birthday girl, who is very bitter about her divorce; the birthday girl's best friend, and the nanny who looks after the new baby. I really enjoyed this book, and was pleasantly surprised by it. It had some very surprising twists and turns, and kept you guessing until the very end. I had a lot of fun reading this one, and definitely recommend it.

4/5 stars
Party of Liars is a wild, twisty ride that had me hooked from the first chapter. Set over the course of one chaotic night at a sweet sixteen gone horribly wrong, it’s packed with secrets, tension, and some seriously untrustworthy characters.

The story kicks off with a shocking moment—a body crashes onto the dance floor during Sophie Matthews’s party—and spirals from there. Told through multiple perspectives (mom, stepmom, best friend, nanny), we slowly unravel the dark secrets each character is hiding. And trust me, they are all lying about something.

The characters are messy, complicated, and often unlikeable—but in a way that keeps you invested. I especially liked the layers behind Dani (the struggling stepmom battling postpartum depression), Kim (the bitter ex-wife), and the eerie, folklore-obsessed nanny Orlaith. The setting—a glass-walled mansion on a cliff rumored to be haunted—adds even more tension and atmosphere.

While some twists were predictable, a few moments did catch me off guard. It leaned a bit more into emotional drama than thriller at times, but the pacing and suspense still made it hard to put down. I listened to the audiobook and thought the narration worked well for the shifting points of view.

Overall, it’s a gripping debut full of secrets, suspense, and complicated women. If you enjoy thrillers with a touch of domestic drama and characters you love to second-guess, this one’s worth the read.

A big thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to net galley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!
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Sophie is having her sweet 16 thrown at her dads newly renovated mansion with his new young wife and new baby. It is going to be the party to be at. Because this house has a history, a woman in the 1800s baby died and she jumped to her death and her presence looms. Now that it’s renovated people are dying to get inside. But someone really will die tonight…
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I was really skeptical of this when I got into it. There were SO many people and SO many POVs that I could not keep track of it. Literally at one point I read two names and I was like I’m not even trying to figure this out anymore, I’m just reading on straight vibes. And honestly? It paid off. Everything started weaving together so effortlessly and the final blows were like….holy HELL. I liked this way way more than I thought I was going to when I started it. You have a scorned ex-wife who loves to drink, Sophie and her best friend (who is hiding something), Sophie’s new step mom (who is going through something serious), a mysterious nanny, and the rest of Texas high society. If you’re skeptical, just push through. It’s SO good.

The exclusive, over the top sweet sixteen party of Sophie Matthews is the party invite of the year. The attendees are desperate to see the famed, haunted house on a cliff, with its one side glass and open, like a dollhouse. At the party, the drinks are flowing freely, adults are behaving badly and the teens are out of control. Someone won’t make it out alive. Told in the perspectives of women in the story, Party of Liars is full of secrets.

This debut is a great summer thriller. Each woman featured—the ex-wife, the new young wife, the daughter’s best friend, and the nanny—is hiding something, and readers will be questioning who is capable of murder. My mind changed multiple times while reading. I liked the short chapters and perspective shifts as the party gets going. Thank you to the publisher for the invite to read this book.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the early copy.
I went into this expecting popcorn, maybe a bit YA thriller but this is so much more then that. First, the book has a strong gothic feel to it which I always love, and while this was done many times before, the author managed to keep it fresh and new. The house is maybe, maybe not haunted. The characters all have secrets and potentially secret agendas. I kept changing my theories every 10 pages because I couldn't trust anyone and every chapter gave me just a bit more of information.
The twist was kind of what I was hoping it would be and done very well. Reader has just enough clues to put it together but there are still a few surprises at the end. Overall, really loved the way it wrapped up from all angles. Would absolutely read more from this author and I would say this is my favorite book in this trope subgenre.

If you're a fan of the locked room mystery trope, this is gonna be a hit. I think it's getting a little over done lately, but this one was a super fun time so I am not complaining!

Kelsey Cox invites you to the biggest, black tie PARTY OF LIARS in the Texas Hill Country. But not everyone gets out alive!

Ah, a Sweet Sixteen party! With dad, Ethan’s money, Sophie Matthew’s’ party promises to be the talk of the town, both before and after. With her best friend, meek, quiet Mikayla in tow, Sophie and her mother, Kim are preparing for the best night of her life. But Kim has resentment and grudges against Ethan and his current wife, Dani, who are living in the house that Kim believes still belongs to her. Dani, on the other hand, presents as a woman who has faced both physical and emotional problems since the birth of her daughter. She even feels like she loses track of blocks of hours and has started receiving threatening notes at the house. She’s had problems to the point that Ethan has even hired a full-time nanny., Orlaith, an Irish woman who sees danger and death around every corner of the house. Is she also there to spy on Dani for Ethan? But not everyone is who they pretend to be.

Things come to a head the night of the party when secrets are revealed, and Dani becomes much clearer on what is going on with her ‘problems’. Everyone seems to be hiding something and one of the party goers ends up falling to their death just before the cake is cut. But who was it and what happened?

Bouncing between past and present and from differing points of view, this novel was a downright page turner. It was one of those ‘one more chapter’ books that I read well into the night. I felt like I was surrounded by the opulence and high brow snottiness of the participants. It was a fun, twisty look at how the rich live. I believe this is my first Kelsey Cox book but it will certainly not be my last. I can’t wait to see where she takes me next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for this ARC opportunity. All opinions are my own and given voluntarily.

It’s Sophie’s sweet sixteen and to celebrate her father and step-mother are throwing her a huge party at their fabulous home. Vogel mansion sits atop a hill overlooking Bulverde and the surrounding area. It’s over a hundred years old and is rumored to be haunted by The Mother. After undergoing a gut reno, everyone that’s anyone is eager to attend the big gala.
Wow! This is an edge of your seat psychological thriller full of non-stop suspense. A story about manipulation, jealousy and revenge, it’s one twisty tale chock full of red herrings. It should be included in everybody’s beach reads, it’s that good. 5 stars

This book is told from multiple points of view with some chapters giving glimpses of what happened after the party.

As I was reading this book, it felt more like a soap opera with a kid plot line and an adult plot line. Hidden secrets and surprises were revealed with every chapter. There is a gothic novel element as well which is referenced throughout the chapters.

If you love looked door mysteries, add this book to your TBR.

Thanks to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the advanced reader copy.

It's a killer sweet sixteen party! "A lavish, Texas-sized Sweet Sixteen turns deadly in this twisty, pulse-pounding new novel — serving up a fresh take on a classic locked-room whodunnit. Let the festivities begin…"

In her impressive debut, Kelsey Cox had me completely riveted as I devoured this thriller in one day! This atmospheric, gothic novel is a propulsive page-turner, and I couldn't stop reading until I knew what happened. You don't know who the victim or the killer are until the end of the novel. There is a cast of shady suspects including the birthday girl Sophie Matthew's best friend Mikayla, the ex-wife Kim (Sophie's mother), Dani the new mom and party hostess, or Orlaithe, the spooky nanny who is always talking about death.

This locked room mystery had a feel reminiscent of Rebecca or a Rachel Hawkins novel. I loved the character development as the POV changes per chapter, and we learn things about their past as they reflect on their memories seamlessly woven into present day. In addition, there are lots of pearls on motherhood, the loss of a child, and many more brilliant themes that can't be revealed without giving spoilers. This is one of the better thrillers I've read this year, and I highly recommend it. Kelsey Cox has just become an auto-buy author for me!

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press - Minotaur Books, and Kelsey Cox for an advance reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

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This book while slow to start but half way through the pace picks up in a big way and builds up to so many twists and turns that the reader will feel like they have whip lash. Everyone is carrying a secret and there are so many within the house who could have committed the murder. The truth though is not always pretty, and there is a lot to be discovered when you go to a party with liars.
Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

3.5

This book was an easy read, told from different POVs. In the beginning, I found it to be a bit slow but that definitely changed. The twists in this book had me exclaiming ‘OMG’ and ‘IKYFL’ 😆

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC.