3.5 stars. Twenty years go,17-year-old Tamara Drayton drowns in her family’s pool in the midst of a a huge party. Eventually, Tamara’s death is found to be a murder, and her 5-year-old sister Nina becomes the youngest person in France to testify at a murder trial. And, that’s because Nina is the only person who actually saw what happened to Tamara. But did she? And if she did, was she able to really understand what she saw and to remember what had happened? Now, decades later, Nina’s memory of that day is completely blurred, she is doubting/questioning the testimony that she gave years ago, and a podcaster, who believes that a person was wrongly convicted of this crime, wants to reinvestigate the murder. This is an engaging story with a well thought out plot and developed characters. My only quibble is that it seemed to take too long to get to the heart of the story and that some parts were needlessly repetitious. Nonetheless, this was a very good read overall.

To be honest, this book was a struggle for me to get through. I didn’t connect with the characters and the writing style was confusing in my eyes. I did enjoy the mixed in interviews from the police and true crime tiktokker which I normally don’t but thought it helped move the plot along in this case. I’m disappointed that this book didn’t stand out to me because the summary sounded so promising. Thanks to NetGalley for early access! 2.75/5 stars

I enjoyed this murder mystery that delves into the complexities of family and friendship, money and privilege. I also enjoyed the Côte d’Azur setting. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.,

This was such a gripping read from start to finish. I was instantly pulled in by the podcast element, which added a unique and binge-worthy vibe to the story. The writing was strong and kept me fully invested, with a fast pace that made it impossible to put down. Katie Bishop did an incredible job balancing suspense with emotion, and I’m already looking forward to reading more from her. Highly recommend if you love thrillers that feel both current and completely addictive.

Unique and interesting premise for a thriller. It explores memory and how others can affect our memories to twist them into something for their benefit. This was a fast-paced thriller with unexpected twists along the way. I never guessed how it would end. The perfect summer thriller!

Thanks NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Some summers stain. This one never washed out.

I thought I was stepping into a slow burn…
I wasn’t.
I was walking barefoot through broken glass.

Katie Bishop’s High Season is dark, elegant, and deeply unnerving, the kind of novel that creeps up your spine in silence. It starts with a girl floating facedown in a glittering pool in the South of France and ends with your entire sense of truth flipped on its head.

We meet Nina, the little sister turned haunted adult, who can’t remember what she saw… or if she saw it at all.
But the cameras are rolling again. This time. Nina wants answers.

What happened that night? What did she really see?

Let me tell you:

This book is not just about memory, It’s about how easily the truth gets edited, by trauma, by time, by people who need the story to end a certain way.

The chapters move like heat waves, glimmering, disorienting, and full of tension. We bounce between two sultry, suffocating summers and watch history repeat itself with sharper teeth.

There’s glamour here, yes. A luxe French villa. A documentary crew. Privilege soaked in wine and chlorine. Underneath the perfection is rot. Secrets. And the quiet dread that no one’s telling the whole story, including Nina.

Katie Bishop didn’t just write a thriller. She wrote a gut-punch of a meditation on girlhood, guilt, and how memory can turn on you when you need it most.

This book wrecked me in all the best ways.

“Never speak of that Summer”

A fantastic read, perfect for fans of destination thrillers! It has some great bones here- a decades old mystery to solve, a podcast digging into the story, multiple POV & timelines, and characters you want to get invested in. I would definitely recommend this read all around. The chapters were a great length and never felt drug out, I was always intrigued by what was on each page. Add this to your TBR!

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted ARC

Imagine being five years old and the sole witness to your sister’s murder. You’re the reason a teenager went to jail, but twenty years later, you’re not so sure. A podcast about the twenty-year-old murder suddenly appears and opens up a whole new world of possibilities. Everyone has a motive, and only one person was convicted based on what a five-year-old child recalled. Who really did it? Every time you think you’ve solved the mystery, you question who the real culprit is. You’re a fan of a good mystery, and you’ll definitely enjoy this one.

This is the first book I have read by Katie Bishop and found it very enjoyable. This was well written and loved the different characters. There were many twists and a shocking turn of events. This is a wonderful summer read with layers of intrigue and a setting of high lux for this thriller. A page turner beginning to end. This is one you won't want to miss.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The story of two summers, years apart. The story has the true crime aspect that I love.
In 2004, Tamara is dead, and the only witness is her 6-year-old sister, Nina. The suspect, Josie is convicted and spends 10 years in prison.
The story bounces between the time of the crime and 2024, where an internet sleuth brings Tamara’s case back to light with new evidence.

Personally, I found the story interesting and well written. It hit some of my interests with the true crime take. The setting is interesting. And the story was overall compelling. The second half of the book drug on a bit but I would say that this is a great thriller, with a definite in the moment point of view.


4 stars, would recommend!

⭐️: 4.5/5

I’ve been in a weird reading place where it’s been taking me longer than usual to get invested in books that I’m starting, and this one was no exception. However, in the case of High Season, I think it may have honestly been by design that the plot doesn’t really grab you from the beginning, and instead kind of just gradually ropes you in until you’re unsure how you’re so invested.

The story is separated into four “parts”, and in each part you get more and more POVs from different characters in the relatively large cast of main characters. Once the POVs started switching more regularly, and we get to more of the meat of the past storyline, the story starts to move a lot quicker, until I couldn’t put it down until I got to the end. I really liked how the addition of POVs were used to build upon the story and add tension, and show that even if you think you know something, you are bound by the limitations of your own memory and experiences.

My favorite theme in this one was the impact of true crime podcasts and people’s obsession with the perpetrators and victims on the actual people central to the crime that occurred. I’ve always been a little grossed out by true crime, especially when victims aren’t around to advocate for themselves, so seeing this as a main theme in this book was nice.

Honestly, I really liked this book, and found the story compelling and interesting, especially in the back half of the book!

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for providing this eARC in exchange for my review!!

The central character is Nina, who, at age 5, was the youngest person ever to give evidence at a French trial. Largely due to her testimony Josie was found guilty. But years later Nina’s testimony comes into question. A good beach read!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Received an ARC via NetGalley.

I read a lot of thrillers/mysteries, etc. so there’s only so many ways the stories can play out. So it becomes more about how the story is told. And I think it was an interesting choice to follow different people in the past than in the present. Usually if there’s a time jump, it’s usually the same narrators. But the third person narrative branches out a bit in the past. It pays off later on bc you get to know a bunch of people who all become relevant to the story in different ways.

I always like stories that are heavy on the relationships between people and less on murder and mayhem. The under current of female friendships is nice too. That’s what made the story stand out the most to me.

Thank you @stmartinspress for the gifted copy!

Twenty years ago, Josie Jackson was convicted in the death of Tamara Drayton, all based off the eye witness account of five year old Nina Drayton. Now, a true crime documentary about the case is questioning everything, as Nina struggles to remember what really happened that fateful day.

I really enjoyed this compelling mystery set in the gorgeous Côte d’Azur in the French Riviera. I was completely drawn in by the atmosphere and complex characters. The truth of what happened was obvious to me early on, but the story was still riveting as it all slowly unfurled. The ending was poignant and emotional.

Rating 4⭐️

High Season ⛵️

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Mystery, Suspense
Pub Date: August 12, 2025

Josie has finally come home. Home being the place where she was convicted during her teen years of murder, and the only witness was the five year-old girl she babysat. With all the main characters from this case returning to the island, the truth from that day can’t stay hidden.

This was very middle of the road for me. It didn’t blow me away, and I also didn’t hate it. I enjoyed the setting of a well off area off the coast of France, with rich people everywhere you look. The cast of characters was enjoyable, I especially enjoyed Joise. I did like the pivoting between the present, and back in 2004 when the murder occurred. It was fun to see where the characters ended up as adults.

I wouldn’t really classify this as a thriller, more of a mystery of what really happened. This would be a good summer time read, especially to enjoy all the drama these rich kids and local kids bring to the table. I don’t think this will be a super memorable book for me, but I do think many others will enjoy this one!

“The High Season” is a mystery book by Katie Bishop. I found this book to be more of a mystery than a thriller, which was okay, but I had to adjust my expectations. When Nina was five, her older sister, Tamara, was found dead in a pool. Nina testified in court and the family babysitter, Josie, had drowned Tamara. Josie at the age of 16 was put into prison for a decade. Twenty years later, the lives of Josie, Nina, and Nina’s family intertwine again. My overall thoughts are that this book had a lot of promise - how reliable is the recollections of a five-year-old? How did testifying scar Nina, as it brought her unwanted fame? Was Josie actually guilty of the crime? I loved the setting of this book and thought that the exploration of the classes was well done. My problem was with the pacing - it was slow to set up and the two past/present timelines sometimes made it difficult for me to recall which timeline I was reading (though I’ll admit to being a bit distracted reading this book). But the fourth part felt like a lot of unnecessary explanation - could that part have not been woven earlier into the story? Also, why the case was brought back into the foreground seemed a bit odd as her storyline’s facts also could’ve been woven through the story. I think that if this book had been tighter and more quickly paced, I would have enjoyed it a lot more than I did. However, I will read Ms. Bishop’s next book, as I did enjoy her first novel “The Girls of Summer.”

I loved this book! A first of Katie Bishop's for me and I will definitely read more of her work. The location was to die for and I truly felt transported while reading this book. The characters were all unique, distinctive and layered. The plot have plenty of twists and turns that I wasn't expecting but also felt perfectly in sync with the storyline.

The book was so well done. Maybe the pace could have been quicker, but I didn’t mind getting wrapped up in all the layers. What really mattered was how involved I felt — in their world, in the relationships, in all the differences that came between them.
There was so much going on beneath the surface. Not everything was easy, but that made it more honest. I could feel how much was at stake for the characters, how much they had to hold back or work through. That tension, the way they reacted to each other — it all felt raw in a way that pulled me closer.

The characters stayed with me. They weren’t perfect, and that’s exactly what made them work. Their connection wasn’t simple, but it made sense once you were in it with them.

Maybe not fast-paced, but it gave enough space to really feel what mattered — and that made it more powerful in the end.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced version of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! I felt good about the author's last book, but this one took another step in the right direction for me.

The characters are well-developed, the alternating timelines build the suspense, and the ending is both thrilling and satisfying. This novel was very complex and I felt the pages flying by. Once I got about 50% of the way through, it became really difficult to put the book down.

I would definitely recommend this to fellow thriller and mystery readers- it's a little long but overall really good.

This book let you take an escape away to the south of France this summer, with a mysterious flair. This murder thriller surprisingly kept me hooked. While your spidey-senses may have been tingling on Tamara’s killer, the multi-viewpoint storytelling kept me questioning when and if there would be a new curveball. It was an easy read, perfect for a vacation.

I don’t tend to like other media like websites and social media being written into books (texts and emails are typically my limit), such as the case with Imogen’s storyline. However, her character tied everything together so I understand her value… I’m also just not sure how realistic that specific scenario came across.

**I received this advance copy free from St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.**