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.**

Thank you to NetGalley, the Publishers, and Katie Bishop for an ARC of High Season. I absolutely loved this book. I loved the style of writing and the timelines going back and forth from 2004 to 2024 and in between perspectives - all around fantastic. The character development in this book was 100/10 as well. Honestly 2025 has been a very good year for books! It was compelling, heartbreaking, and so suspenseful. I was gripped trying to find out what happened to Tamara. 20 years ago Tamara Drayton was found face down in the pool in their families legacy home in France during her mother Evelyn’s annual huge birthday celebration. Tamara’s youngest sibling, Nina, ended up being the youngest child to ever testify in a French murder trial and Blake, Tamara’s twin brother had to help out their families lives back together. Nina was the only one to see what happened to her sister. She saw her babysitter Josie Jackson push Tamara under the water. But Nina is wondering, 20 years later, is that actually what happened? A true crime documentary is coming up for the twentieth anniversary Nina wonders if this is the time to figure out if she was telling the truth on what happened or if her memories have been wrong this whole time. This is a book you do not want to sleep on!

I really tried hard to like this book but I just could not get into it. I found the dual timelines with dual points of view confusing. I did not like the characters either. This is a DNF for me.

This was a well written crime drama with multiple pov’s, mixed media delivery and strong characters. Despite the plot sounding a bit been there done that, this was original and well done enough to deserve a read.

I sometimes have a hard time when it switches back and forth between perspectives so I was worried I would get confused. I was able to keep up with everything and enjoy it. I love when stories keep you guessing about if it really did or didn't happen and his book was just that.

Katie Bishop's "High Season" pulled me in from the first pages with Nina Drayton's voice—quieter than her glamorous siblings but carrying something unspoken that instantly made me curious. As the youngest witness to her sister's murder, Nina's subdued demeanor masks a troubled undercurrent that Bishop reveals in tantalizing fragments. Her character feels authentically damaged yet determined, making her perspective the perfect lens for this twisted tale.

The Cote d'Azur setting breathes as its own character—all sun-drenched villas and crystalline pools where the wealthy play at happiness while darkness festers beneath. Bishop captures this paradise-with-poison atmosphere brilliantly, creating a world where privilege and danger intertwine like lovers.

Bishop's narrative finds its raw power in the intricate friendship between Josie and Hannah—two ordinary girls drawn into the Draytons' orbit. Their relationship evolves from simple summer camaraderie into something far more complex, layered with secrets that ripple across decades. The transformation in their bond shattered me completely when the final revelations came to light, leaving emotional wreckage I'm still sorting through.

The dual timeline structure works magnificently here. The 2004 sections pulse with teenage intensity and impending doom, while 2024 carries the weight of twenty years' unresolved questions. Bishop weaves these timelines together with increasing urgency until they collide in revelations I genuinely didn't see coming.

My jaw dropped during the final act. The tension builds so masterfully that I found myself physically leaning forward, completely absorbed as Bishop dismantled every assumption I'd made about what really happened that fatal summer night.

This is summer reading perfection—bright exteriors concealing murky depths, heat that feels both literal and metaphorical, and secrets that refuse to stay submerged.

Massive thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for my advance review copies. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

This was a book that I was hesitant to read, because going by the synopsis it seems this book has been done many times before. However, this book was different and so much better than the others before it. The writing was stellar, I loved the characters current development and backstories, and the settings were described perfectly. But… the one problem I did end up having with this book was that it ended up being too lengthy.

This story starts off with Nina Drayton, who goes back to the south of France to her childhood home where her older sister Tamara was killed. Nina was only five years old at the time of the murder, and she decides to go back home to relive that day to see if her memories were right. Nina has struggled her whole life after her sister’s death, relied on several different medications to get through a day- never quite sure of herself. Nina now works as a child psychologist, and her mother and brother are not very happy about her new choice in life.

Josie Jackson is the girl who spent ten years in prison for the death of Nina’s sister, Tamara Drayton. Since being released from prison she has never found any stability in her life, and cannot go back to her hometown since she is shunned there. But was Josie really guilty of Tamara’s murder?

It isn’t until Imogen Faye, a true crime TikTokker reopens the case of Tamara Drayton that new evidence comes to light.
This book goes back and forth between 2004 and 2024, and you get a clear picture of all the characters lives. I was especially fond of Nina’s character, and I would have liked to have read more about her in this book.

This book was divided into Four Parts, and I will say that I really loved the first two parts- and then parts Three and Four seemed to drag on. I do feel that’s when the book started to get a bit too lengthy, and fill with unnecessary drama and details. However, I did mostly enjoy this book and I do plan on reading more from this author in the future.

🪦 T W I S T E D T U E S D A Y review 🪦 featuring “High Season” by Katie Bishop!

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Twenty years ago, Tamara Drayton was found dead in the swimming pool at her mother’s lavish estate on the Cote D’Azur in the south of France. Her younger sister Nina was the one to find her body and testified at the young age of 5 that she saw the babysitter Josie drowning Tamara in the pool. This testimony sent Josie to prison for 10 years and shattered the Drayton family forever. Everyone involved that night goes through years of mixed emotions: guilt, heartbreak, torture and being haunted by what happened.

Now in present days, Nina is having a hard time remembering IF she actually saw Josie holding her sister underwater or not. A popular true crime TikToker has been digging into Tamara’s murder and Nina thinks talking to her may be the right opportunity to finally find out the truth. Her family is against the documentary and doesn’t want anyone digging up their past. They will do whatever it takes to keep their secrets buried …

💭 This book is HAUNTING, dark and twisted and readers get thrown into the dysfunction of a family so powerful that you wouldn’t dare to cross them. I love how the dual time lines switch back and forth between two summers that are two decades apart. The skeletons in their closets get uncovered over time and is masterfully written to expose all the flaws of each character in a raw and emotional fashion.

Thank you kindly to @katiebishopwrites @stmartinspress @netgalley for my advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review. This 5 star stunner releases on August 12, 2025!

I really enjoyed this one! I went into this kind of rolling my eyes thinking ‘haven’t we have heard/read this before especially with The Night Swim?’ but this blew me away! It is told in podcast style which I really loved and also multiple POVs and dual timelines which sometimes made it hard to follow, but that was really my only gripe. I definitely recommend this one and can’t wait to see what comes next from Bishop!

Read this in one day - couldn’t put it down! Really really good and unpredictable. Great exploration of wealth, true crime, family dynamics. My only criticism would be that the documentary seemed like a bit of an afterthought (though it was the impetus for the action of the book) - I thought this could have been explored more, instead of introducing a character that we only meet twice briefly. Still, 4.5 stars.

4.25 STARS

“High Season” boasts an intriguing premise with a decades-long mystery at its forefront. It’s a suspenseful tale told through different POV’s, switching between past and present. It’s a complex story filled with lies, secrets, and betrayal and one that touches on a myriad of different YA emotions and angst.

Right from the get-go, this story pulled me in, holding me in its grip right up until the very end. Centered around 4 teenagers and a little girl—Josie & Hannah, Blake, Tamara, and 6 year-old Nina—the vast differences between the “haves and the have nots” quickly become apparent. It’s amidst an elaborate birthday celebration that one of the “haves” suddenly meets an untimely death. And based on the eyewitness testimony of 6-year-old little Nina, it’s one of the “have nots” that is unceremoniously sent to prison for murder.

As the story slowly unfolds, it becomes clear that nothing is as it seems, and piece by piece, the truth surrounding that one fateful night is eventually revealed. Throughout the story, I had my suspicions, and though those suspicions ultimately proved to be right, it wasn’t until the final reveal that all of the missing puzzle pieces clicked into place.

Overall, I found “High Season” to be a very compelling story, but—as it is in real life—not all of the characters are very likeable. Hence, it made it difficult for me to connect with them . Still, I found myself emersed in this mysterious saga that transported me to the beautiful south of France.

Family drama/mystery around the death of a teenage girl twenty years before in the South of France. The story goes between present day and the summer of the event told from multiple perspectives. I enjoyed the writing of this one and was entertained throughout. Perfect summer mystery read. I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5 This book switches back and forth between the present and the days leading up to the death of a character 20 years ago. While categorized as a thriller, the pacing causes it to read more as a family drama. There were also interjections throughout where you read the thoughts of an influencer, which didn't really fit into the overall tone of the book. Overall good, not great.

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

This was a great summer read, I absolutely loved the South of France setting.

This was told in dual timelines with a TikTok series mixed in as well. I thought that was a lot of fun, since true crime TikTok is so popular. I liked how self aware the impacts of this was explored at the end too.

I really enjoyed the characters for the most part, especially the teenage versions of them. There is one character I didn't enjoy but I won't spoil that. It impacted my rating as well.

Overall this was a really good summer suspense book!

Thank you @stmartinspress #partner for this advance copy of:

High Season by Katie Bishop
Pub date: August 12, 2025

Description: " Never speak of that summer.

On a beautiful summer’s night twenty years ago, troubled seventeen-year-old Tamara Drayton was found floating face-down in the pool of her family’s idyllic mansion in the south of France, leaving her twin brother, golden-boy Blake, to pick up the pieces of their shattered family.

Also left behind was their sister Nina who, at six years old, became the youngest person ever to testify in a French murder trial. Because she’s the only one who saw what happened—who watched as her babysitter, Josie Jackson, pushed Tamara under the water, and held her there until she stopped breathing.

Didn’t she? Twenty years later, Nina's memories have faded, leaving her with no idea of what really transpired that night. When a new true crime documentary about her sister’s murder is announced, Nina thinks this might be her chance to finally find out.

But the truth always comes at a cost. Who will pay the price?

very interesting book about the fragility of memory, the potential for shifting and changing and forgetting. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

What a fantastic story!

A true crime podcaster is looking into the death of Tamara Drayton. It’s been 20 years since her death, and Josie Jackson, accused of the murder, has been released from prison. At the heart of the story is Nina Drayton, Tamara’s sister who was 5 at the time and witnessed the murder.

I loved the writing of this story! It seamlessly moves back and forth from past to present, exploring everything, the life of the wealthy, wanting a different life, friendships and fitting in; and then the flip side of what everyone has been dealing with since the murder, guilt, anxiety, trying to rebuild your life, dealing with the trauma and aftermath of your decisions.

I loved the characterization. I loved the emotions evoked in this story. It’s written so well, and you feel everything each character is going through. I enjoyed the different perspectives and constantly trying to figure out what was truth and continually trying to uncover what truly happened that day. It’s written with great descriptors that give you a feel of the gorgeous scenery and everything happening surrounding everyone.

It’s a story of manipulation, dealing with trauma, fitting in, secrets, and lies. What really happened that fateful day? This suspenseful story will captivate you to the end.

3.5 for me - there’s a lot going on in this novel, but little of it is new: the haves and the have nots, teenage angst, 25 year old murder - all in a beautiful setting in the south of France. Throw in a true crime podcaster, and you have the true killer being revealed and most of the characters having a happy ending.
Thanks for NetGalley and St. Martins for an early edition to read.