“There are kinds of sadness that you can’t even imagine, until they happen to you. And then they happen, and you forget there’s any other way to feel.”... “So no,” she says as she exhales. “I don’t feel any sadder here than I do anywhere else. Because it’s everywhere, that sadness. And you keep on moving because you have to. You survive, because you’re lucky to have been given the chance to do so. Because it’s all that you can do.” - Evelyn Drayton, High Season
An incredibly captivating tale of echoing grief, redemption, and misguided memories. The characters were all so intriguing and intricate. Reading it during the late fall/early winter really makes me wish for summer’s quick return. Everything was great, I just knew from the start what the ending was going to be - hence the four stars instead of five.
Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, Ms. Allison Ziegler for reaching out, and, of course, Ms. Bishop for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was very hard to get into and I struggled most of the way through. For some reason it just wasn’t clicking for me. High Season tells a story of a then 5-year-old, Nina Drayton, who witnesses the murder of her sister. She claims their babysitter, Josie, did it. Decades later, a podcast/true crime influencer reaches out to Nina looking to resurface the case. The novel switches between past and present. It takes you through many themes such as family drama, friendship, manipulation, toxic relationships, and memory. I think this author has a lot of potential, however I can’t necessarily say that I recommend this book. Maybe it’ll be your cup of tea though.

Thank you to Katie Bishop and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

An excellent sophomore novel from Katie Bishop!

Nina was just five years old when she testified in her older sister's murder trial. She swears she saw her babysitter/local woman Josie shove her sister in the pool on the night of her mother's birthday party, where she ultimately died from her injuries.

Now twenty years later, Nina begins to doubt herself and her memories. Against the advice of her boyfriend and her family, she agrees to be part of a true crime documentary that is taking another look at the crime.

Josie, meanwhile, has spent the years since she was released from prison trying to form a semblance of a normal life. She is ready to uproot everything at a moment's notice anytime someone learns her true identity. Running from the past has led her right back home, the last place she ever expected to be.

Will these two women be able to use this summer to find out what actually happened the night Tamara died? Taught, suspenseful, full of complex characters -- this one is a winner!

When Nina was six years old, she provided testimony that convicted her older sister’s murder. Now, decades later, a podcast begins investigating and doubts her testimony.

This was a slower paced story but it all came together in the end with a bang. You really get to know all the characters past and present. The dual time lines were both of equal interest. There were also some small parts of a true crime podcast, which added an outsiders perspective. I was not expecting the outcome and what truly happened; it was very upsetting but I loved how the characters came together in the end.

“A summer’s day. A story told by a five-year old child. Two decades of a story that has defined all their lives.”

High Season comes out 8/12.

Katie Bishop serves up a juicy slow burn! Set in the south of France (you can almost smell the salt air), rich complex characters tell a story of the haves and have nots. Josie’s mom works for the rich people on the pink house. Hannah’s family runs the local dive shop. The girls get pulled into the lives of the rich kids and what starts out as summer fun, ends in tragedy. Dual timelines and multiple POV keep the reader engaged. Short chapters help build tension that comes to a satisfying ending. I highly recommend High Season!

Katie Bishop’s High Season is a captivating exploration of memory’s fragility, family secrets, and the ripple effects of trauma. Set against the lush, sun-soaked backdrop of the Côte d'Azur, the story alternates between two pivotal summers—2004, when Tamara Drayton’s tragic death shattered her privileged family, and 2024, as a true crime documentary resurfaces unanswered questions about that fateful night.

At the heart of the narrative is Nina Drayton, who, as a five-year-old, became the youngest witness in a French murder trial after claiming she saw their babysitter, Josie, drown her sister. Tamara. Decades later, Nina’s recollections blur, forcing her to confront the ghosts of her past and the layers of deception that enveloped her family. Bishop masterfully intertwines perspectives, painting a rich tapestry of characters, from Josie and her friend Hannah, to Tamara and Blake, whose golden-boy façade conceals a darker side.

The dual timelines are a triumph, building tension as they delve into themes of privilege, manipulation, and the power of perception. The story’s slow-burn pacing in the earlier chapters mirrors the oppressive heat of the French Riviera, while the present-day chapters, with their true-crime podcast vibes, feel refreshingly modern. The twists, though subtly hinted at, pack an emotional punch, especially as the narrative exposes the flawed humanity of its cast.

Bishop’s evocative prose captures both the beauty of the South of France and the stark realities of fractured relationships, creating a hauntingly atmospheric read. High Season is a deeply layered domestic thriller that will linger long after the final page, cementing Katie Bishop as a master of intricate, character-driven mysteries.

I truly enjoyed the balanced pacing and well-developed characterization, as well as how the mystery keeps you hooked until the very end, urging you to make guesses and savor the thrilling ride. Additionally, the city setting is another intriguing aspect that makes this book a must-read.

A huge thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sharing this thrilling novel's arc copy with me in exchange for my honest opinions.

Well-written mystery. It throws curves, twists, and turns throughout. With well-developed characters the guessing game for the reader is on.

Wow! This was a really good thriller. It kept me on my toes! I couldn't put it down.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC in exchange for an honest review. High Season is a slow burn story - set in the South of France over several years. The Draytons live in the Pink House on a cliff overlooking the ocean in the Cote d' Azure. They are considered "new money" and Evelyn, the mother and her son Blake wish to fit in with the old money.. Blake's twin sister, Tamara, isn't so much concerned with money but wishes to be her true self. Their younger sister, Nina, claims that when she was five, she witnessed the horrific death of Tamara. A local, Josie, is implicated in the murder, sending the lives of all involved into a spiral for years to follow. Ms. Bishop's writing builds up suspense. I wasn't sure who committed the crime but I was sure it was not the accused. Finding out the devastating truth in the last chapters was worth the wait.

Honestly, I wasn't that excited about this book. Seemed like the premise was similar to a ton of other books I'd read. But boy was I surprised. (Like a 4.5 for me... I wasn't as jazzed about the true crime through-line, but it grew on me.)

Once I got into this, I found it to be a juicy whodunnit in a glamorous setting, contrasting the lifestyle of the rich and famous vs the locals who make the lives of the rich run seamlessly. In that respect it has kind of a Downton Abbey vibe, parallel timelines but also parallel experiences.

I think what I liked most is that the mystery has been "solved" at the top of the book. A girl (Josie) was tried and convicted for this crime decades ago. The book explores the real story of what unfolded that night. This early reveal allows the reader to sit back and enjoy the ride.

The characters are fascinating and book moves along at a nice clip. Though it's currently snowing outside where I live, I found this to be the ultimate beach read.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

This book was both fast-paced and engaging. Between the setting and the writing, it had me captivated from page one.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book way more than I thought I was going to! The first chapter gave off major The Girls of Summer vibes, and I thought the story was just gonna be more of the same thing. Once I got into the story, it was fascinating and kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen. Parts of it were predictable, but in the whole, I really enjoyed the journey of this author took us on. I enjoyed the back-and-forth between the decades so that we got the event and the aftermath from different view points. The way this author was able to pull off character. Growth in multiple characters was amazing.

While I didn't enjoy this as much as "The Girls of Summer," this was another really strong thriller from Katie Bishop. The story had a lot of nuance to it, so while you knew Tamara's family had MANY skeletons in their closet, the end result was not predictable. It was interesting to see the commentary on how true crime "influencers" can be detrimental in many cases, but can also help bring long forgotten cases back to the forefront. I look forward to reading more by this author!

This book was a delightful, fast-paced, twisty read. I loved the setting in the south of France and found myself really engrossed in the world Katie Bishop built. I saw a few big reveals coming, but it didn’t make it less enjoyable to read, and a few that surprised me. I enjoyed getting to know the characters, flaws and all, and found them realistic and relatable as a result.

Set in the Cote D'Azur, this novel tells the story of Nina, 26, who is struggling with the role she played in testifying in the trial for her sister Tamara's death twenty years earlier. Did Nina really remember that Josie killed Tamara or is her memory tricking her? Could she have known what she saw at only six years old? In order to find out, Nina returns to her family home in the south of France and reconnects with her brother, Tamara's twin, Blake. The story also follows Josie, who served several years in jail for the murder of Tamara. Josie also returns to France as she tries to put her life back together. This is an engaging story that moves quickly and pulls you in immediately. The major themes are truth, regret, and memory. I highly recommend it!

A lushly intricate tale of love, and longing, and most of all, of lies — and what it will take to smooth out edges, creased and sharpened and soiled, by years (make that decades) of deceit.

Narrated in the alternating third-person voices of three main protagonists, the story arcs between 2004, (the setting for a terrible crime), and 2024, when a true crime documentary aims to uncover the “truth” concerning the tragic death and its consequences.

Nina, a child of five years old in 2004, has witnessed a drowning, during the hazy alcohol and drug-fueled partying accompanying her mother’s forty-second birthday party. One of the infamous Draytons, Nina’s family is rich, entitled, and envied, for the extravagance of their terracotta pink summer home in Cote D’Azur in the south of France, as well as for all aspects of their monied, privileged lives.

Josie Jackson and Hannah Bailey, sixteen and seventeen years old in 2004, come from the other-side of the tracks — locals in southern France who will never be the ‘beautiful’ people they see personified in the Draytons and their summertime ‘high-season’ it-crowd.

How Josie, Hannah, and Nina’s lives unravel, wildly and in the sudden blink-of-an-eye, is tantalizingly revealed within these pages — a story that manages to provide an extravagantly-layered plot line, a near constant razor-line of tension, and an ending that is ultimately satisfying (on many levels).

A terrific read, this is highly recommended for lovers of evocative settings, tense mysteries, and deeply character-driven stories that cannot help but leave a reader wanting more.

A great big thank you to #Netgalley, the author and the publishers for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

Another superb book by Katie Bishop!! I thought this one was woven together in such a way that I genuinely didn’t know what was going to happen in the end, and I didn’t even try to guess. I sat back and enjoyed the ride. I felt so attached to several of the characters and REALLY wanted things to have turned out differently for some! A gut wrenching, heart breaking story of loss but also redemption in the end for some. I loved it!!

20 years after witnessing her babysitter drown a young woman and her swimming pool, Nina is beginning to have doubts about what she really saw that night. A true crime influencer is looking into the whole sordid mess and questions are raised about how accurate a five-year-old‘s testimony can really be.

This book is fast-paced and entertaining. I stayed up late to read and when a story does that for me; I know it's going to be a bestseller! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

High Season is about Nina, who at 5 years old became the youngest witness to testify against her babysitter (Josie) for drowning her teenage sister (Tamara) during their famous mother’s birthday party at their vacation house in the south of France in 2004. 20 years later, there’s new found interest from a true crime influencer (Imogen) and a production company looking to create a documentary on the case. The problem is, Nina is begun to second guess her memory and what she saw the night her sister died. Told through third person POVs of Nina, Josie, Tamera, and other characters from both 2004 and 2024, the story unfolds and reveals secrets and missing details about the events leading up to that night.

I really really liked this. At first, I thought the pacing, particularly in the 2004 chapters was too slow, but it made sense why it was done that way. There also wasn’t really a twist as I could tell what would happen pretty early on. That said, I loved that the story explored so many different themes: friendship, first love, toxic relationships, memory - and heavier topics like abuse and manipulation (trigger warning there). I could understand where the characters were coming from and connected with them, and I enjoyed the way it was written. The TikTok chapters were also fun and helped to break up the writing style. It might feel a bit outdated in the future, but I still really liked that element. Oh, and the ending made me tear up a bit and was strangely quite sweet in a very sad way. There were a few areas of repetition and a spelling error or two but nothing distracting.

I’ve read a few 5/5 books this year and this is one of them for me! Thank you the Net Galley and the publisher for the arc!!