I don’t think I unclenched my jaw the entire time I was reading this book, but it was 100% worth the pain. From the get go, High Season has this simmering tension that made it incredibly hard to put down because I was so invested to see where the story would eventually go. It had a lot of my favorite things like rich people problems, multiple POVs, dual timelines and a little coming of age story. I truly wasn’t sure what the endgame of the book would be and it was such a good twist and ending. I loved the way the book looked at classism, trauma and family dynamics. I really enjoyed all of the POVs, but I connected the most with Hannah’s. I think this would make a FABULOUS limited series, especially with how good the pacing and chapter endings were. This one will be on my mind for a long time.
CW: death, sexual assault, substance abuse, homophobia

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for the advanced digital reader’s copy!

I loved this heartbreaking and suspenseful read! Dual timelines kept things interesting and helped to flesh out the story. I loved that there were chapters told from the perspective of a true crime vlogger. There were jaw dropping twists towards the end. This book was a real page- turner.

A true crime podcast focuses on the cold case of Tamara Drayton, a young woman murdered with only one witness: her five-year-old sister. Now an adult, the sister tries to piece together the fragmented memories of that day. This all happens as Josie Jackson, the woman who served ten years for the crime, is released from prison.
Despite finding some parts of the book slow and the characters unlikable, I couldn't stop listening. The messy, complex mystery was compelling, and the strong narration kept me engaged until the very end.

I love a thriller that involves a documentary or a podcast, so I was very happy to get an ARC of this book. This was a solid thriller. I really enjoyed how unique the concept was, and loved the look we took at Nina and her childhood testimony. I did feel like the book felt a little dragged out towards the end, but overall I enjoyed it.

This was fairly generic and although the setting was nice, I just didn't care what happened. I didn't like anyone in the book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the free e-book in exchange for my honest review.

20 years ago, Tamara Drayton was found dead in her family's "pink" mansion in the south of France. The cook's daughter, Josie is ultimately convicted of the murder at the eyewitness testimony of Nina Drayton, aged 5. Today, Josie has returned to her family just prior to a podcaster's launch of the 20 year anniversary of the murder and re-investigation.

This is a fast paced story of love, betrayal, murder, and the privilege of the wealthy. I loved most of the characters and how they matured over the course of the story. I also liked that some did not. I think all of us find the wealthy fascinating, or at least I do and this story did not disappoint. I think the characters are very real and the twists were well written. While if figured out who the murderer was before the big reveal, it did not spoil the story for me at all.

Overall, I really liked this one and highly recommend it!

This was a DNF for me. I got to 54% before I finally gave up. The characters were flat and the story bored me.

I really enjoyed this one. I loved the St. Tropez setting and the characters. There were secrets between so many characters that evolved and surfaced throughout the book. I liked how the social media and crime documentary made this feel current. The element of forgiveness was touching and surprising. Thank you, NetGalley.

3.5 stars rounded up. I think my favorite part of this book was the character development. Every single character (including the less prominent ones) felt like real people to me that I genuinely either loved, hated or in some cases love-hated. The one thing that detracted from this book for me was all the “filler”. There was WAY too much explaining of what things looked like and felt like and seemed like. A little is great, we need some of that, but this book seemed like it could have been half as long (the final chapter is a perfect example for me, was that necessary?). I did guess the twist, but it didn’t keep me from enjoying it any less and the ending definitely tied everything together, there were NO looses ends in this one. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for this honest review.

“High Season” feels like the kind of summer party where the rosé’s flowing, the pool’s shimmering, and someone definitely isn’t going to make it out unscathed. Twenty years ago, Tamara Drayton was found dead in her family’s gorgeous French villa pool, and her five-year-old sister Nina became the country’s youngest witness in a murder trial that sent their babysitter, Josie Jackson, to prison. Fast forward two decades, and a true crime documentary is digging up the past, while Nina’s memories? Yeah, those are swimming somewhere murky and uncertain now.

Katie Bishop drops you right into the glitzy, sun-baked world of the Côte d’Azur, where privilege and poison are soaked into every villa wall and the summer heat isn’t just weather, it’s a mood. This setting feels less like a backdrop and more like a character that watches and waits, silently judging everyone for their secrets. The rich kids? They’ve got everything, but zero clues on how to actually be decent human beings. The locals? Just trying to survive in the shadows of yachts and champagne toasts. It’s a delicious tension that simmered throughout, even if the pace sometimes felt like it was stuck in molasses.

The real pull here is Nina, the kid forced into a role way too big for her little shoulders. She testified as a young child, holding a truth that now feels like sand slipping through her fingers. Watching her wrestle with memory, what’s real, what’s manipulated by time and trauma, is haunting and heartbreaking. Bishop’s use of multiple POVs across two timelines means you get the full buffet of drama: Josie’s haunted attempts at rebuilding a life, Tamara’s final summer moments, and the tangled web of friends and family caught in the fallout. It’s layered, no doubt, but also occasionally too busy unpacking every little nuance until the tension threatens to drown under its own weight.

The true crime podcast and TikTok elements are a smart, modern touch that adds a pulse of immediacy, but I wish they were woven in with a bit more finesse. Sometimes it felt like the story paused just to remind you, “Hey, true crime is trending!” instead of letting the core mystery and characters carry the weight. Still, I appreciated the commentary on how those real-life podcasters and influencers can reopen wounds in the pursuit of clicks and followers, a sharp stab at our current obsession with victim and villain narratives.

Now, the twists. I’m not going to lie, I called the killer pretty early on, which always makes me twitch a bit because I want my mystery to keep me guessing. Bishop’s big reveal still packs an emotional wallop, though. The way the past and present collide, and the fallout from decades of lies, felt honest and brutal. The characters are beautifully flawed — none of them saints, all of them trapped by their own selfishness and pain. That messy humanity is the best part of the book.

But here’s the rub: “High Season” stumbles with pacing. The first half is a slow simmer, and the last third occasionally drags with too much explanation and side drama that felt like filler rather than fuel. If you’re the kind of reader who loves to marinate in atmosphere and character over a breakneck plot, this will be your jam. If you want a lean, white-knuckle thriller, you might find yourself glancing at your watch a few times.

Still, this book earns its keep with rich characters, an intoxicating setting, and a messy, painful look at memory and family. It’s a sultry, sunlit plunge into secrets that refuse to stay buried. Perfect for your next beach day, just don’t forget a cocktail in hand and a bit of patience to spare. It’s a 3.5-star kind of read that creeps up on you with its sun-soaked vibes and tangled mysteries.

Whodunity Award: For Convincing Me That Everyone in Côte d’Azur Is Hiding Something Juicy

Big thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC hookup, because without you, I’d have missed out on this sun-drenched mystery that’s basically cozy crime meets rosé-fueled chaos.

Thank you to St Martins Press and NetGalley for a copy of High Season in exchange for my honest review. Rounded up from 3.5 stars. I liked the dual timelines and the characters. I didn’t love the pacing and it felt like the readers could have been let in on more of the secrets earlier to help build their idea of who did it. I did call who did it pretty early on which I don’t like in books. It was still really good and I think worth the read if you are into thrillers but it was a little less thriller, more mystery. I liked the integration of TikTok and the true crime world. It made me want to go back to listening to true crime podcasts. I did like the growth the characters had and how each of their stories ended up tying together.

Nina goes to see her mother in the south of France where, years earlier, her sister was killed. Josie, convicted of Tamara’s death, is also back in the area staying with her brother, as she has no where else to go.

What really happened? As the 20th anniversary of Tamara’s death approaches, a TikToker amd film maker are determined to find out.

Another winner from Katie Bishop that explores rich families, identity, and women at risk.such a fantastic story.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC.

This book was really a sad mystery. What really happened to the girl in the pool? Can you trust your memories?

What really happened to Tamara? This moves between 2004 when Tamara drowned in the swimming pool,, and 2o024, when Nina her little sister is beginning to doubt what she really saw that awful day. It moves between Tamara, Nina, and Josie the babysitter Nina accused as well as to Hannah to untangle the events of that summer. This has great atmospherics- it's set in the south of France- and it leans in on the class issues. And on dark secrets, Nina actually testified in court as a six year old but how much does a child understand? I felt for Nina as she tussled with her issue, as well as for Josie, who served prison time and her community. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It's a nicely twisty tale that's well told

Katie Bishop's “High Season” is an emotionally charged slow-burn mystery that pulls readers into a family’s darkest secrets. The story follows Nina, a woman still haunted by the night her sister was killed in their family’s pool 20 years earlier. At six years old, Nina was the only witness, but now, in the present day, she’s not so certain about what she actually saw that night. When a true crime documentary decides to focus on her sister's murder, Nina is forced to face the past she thought she understood.

The book alternates between two timelines: one in the days just before the tragedy occurred, and the other in the present. Bishop does a great job of capturing the distortion of childhood memories and how time can alter even the most painful moments. Nina’s journey is full of emotional twists as she tries to distinguish what actually happened that night from what she’s always believed happened.

“High Season” is not just a mystery; it’s a thoughtful look at how the past can shape perception and how fragile the truth can be. This is a perfect book for readers who enjoy layered stories that explore memory, guilt, and the impact of buried trauma.

It’s 20 years after her sister’s murder, and Nina Drayton is questioning everything she thought she witnessed that night and the testimony she gave at just six years old.

Set against the backdrop of the lavish lifestyle of those in the Cote D’Azur and a summer that changed everyone’s lives, we see how relationships, lies, family, class, and power lead to the death of 17 year old Tamara Drayton.

This took me a bit to get into but once it got going, I couldn’t put it down! Told between multiple POVs, time jumps, tiktok videos and court documents, it set the perfect pace for this thriller. Everyone’s relationships and how they all intertwined and wove together that lead to Tamara’s murder and how those relationships lead to the truth, 20 years later was great! I also had no idea who had done it until close to the end so well done to the author!

A perfect summer read if you like thrillers!!

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

High Season by Katie Bishop was a thoughtful and engaging read that pulled me in from the start. I appreciated how the story explored complex relationships with honesty and care. The characters felt real, and their struggles stayed with me after I finished the book.

High Season is easily one of my favorite thrillers of 2025! High Season is a beautifully written book about family bonds, friendship, and memory, all incased in a twisty thriller novel that leaves the reader needing to turn the next page. Two decades ago, Tamara Drayton was discovered face-down in the family pool during a summer celebration. When Tamara's younger sister, six-year-old Nina, announced that Tamara's death wasn't an accident but a murder, the entire country becomes engrossed in the case. Nina became the youngest witness to testify and ultimately damn a person to a long prison sentence. Now, decades later, Nina still is haunted by the thoughts "Did I really see what I saw?" "Are my memories from that young age accurate?" and "What if that didn't really happen?" With Josie, the believed murderer, getting out of prison and a new documentary filming, Nina finds herself returning to southern France to try to finally find answers to all of her doubts.

Just to re-emphasize, High Season is gorgeously written - the characters are so well-developed that I felt like I personally knew them, the settings are so well-described that I felt that I was there, and the described emotions had me feeling all the feels as if I was in the book. The story is told through multiple POVs and through dual timelines. The dual timelines and varying perspectives definitely adds to the overall feel of the book. Throughout the telling, I honestly did not know who to trust/believe. I felt for every single character at different times. - even the "villain". I can't say enough about this book. Easy 5 Stars! I will definitely be reading more by Katie Bishop and will be recommending High Season to everyone I know!

I'm always a sucker for good gossip and drama, and figuring out the events that had unfolded decades prior that could have been trivial but were high stakes due to the death was super intriguing. Loved the twists and the way the characters and their friendships were built.

While a little slow going in the beginning, and a lot of internal monologue from the main characters initially, this turned out to be a fantastic page turner in the second half. I was floored by the twists and felt for the characters at so many points. This was a great suspense novel.