A slow burn with a solid payoff. The Wasp Trap takes a while to hit its stride, but once the secrets start unraveling, it’s hard to put down. The dual timeline works well to build tension, and while not every subplot felt essential, the final twists landed. If you’re into locked-room thrillers with messy friendships and buried truths, it’s worth the ride. Just be patient with the first few chapters.

This book had all the makings of a successful locked room thriller but it suffered from poor editing and too much length and filler. I wanted to know “what happened” so i did finish it, but Will was not a well developed character-and neither was anyone else!! Missing that foundation, i struggled to care about anyone as the secrets unfolded and when the flashbacks started to drag it just got worse.

3.5 rounded up

The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards is a twisty, fast-paced thriller that grabs your attention right away. The setup is creepy, the tension builds quickly, and it’s super easy to get pulled into the mystery. I flew through it in just a couple of sittings!

There are plenty of surprises, and I definitely didn’t see the ending coming. Edwards knows how to write a page-turner, and the short chapters made it hard to stop reading. It’s the kind of book that makes you say “just one more chapter”… until you’ve read five more.

That said, I didn’t totally connect with the characters, and some of the plot points felt a little too far-fetched for me. I wanted a bit more emotional depth or development, but if you’re in the mood for something entertaining and suspenseful, this definitely delivers.

Overall, a fun, fast read with some solid twists—even if it leans a little on the dramatic side.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Atria for the ARC!

What happened at the end of the summer of 99? Why did this group of 'friends' never see each other after that summer? Who has a secret that they've been holding onto? Or should I say secrets? All these questions come to light after 'The Revolutionaries' reunite, 25 years later. Their beloved professor passes away, and the group now finds themselves at a dinner party together. The suspense in this novel was crazy high. I didn't know who was being truthful, including our narrator, and who was keeping secrets from the group. I did not see the two big twists coming, and I absolutely loved this story!

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for an advanced copy of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Wow! I haven't had as much fun with a book as I did with this one in a very long time. I found this to be a very clever take on the thrilling whodunnit trope. I was kept guessing the entire time, down to the last page, which I thought was *chef's kiss*.

What's in a secret? What power does the threat of a secret hold? That's the crux of this thriller when, among a group of people who haven't seen each other in over 20 years, the consequences of the events of the 1999 summer come barrelling to the forefront. It is as a blade held over their necks.

I do not want to delve too deep into the contents of the book, deathly afraid of accidentally giving a spoiler, but suffice it to say that this was one smart novel. Mark Edwards did an excellent job handling all of the plot points, taking great care to pace the suspense, weaving hints and foreshadowing early in the story only to bring them back into play at precise, perfect moments. I gasped out loud a few times, it was that good.

With a dinner party, a cast of past friends turned strangers, an enormous house with a possible hidden passageway, strained jealousy and desire, and secrets, many secrets, this novel is poised with tension and undercurrents of barely leashed revenge. I full intend to seek out other books by Mark Edwards because I am an instant fan.

5/5 stars

What I loved:
- Very plot-driven, kept me quickly flipping pages to find out what happens next
- Set in 1999 and present day, with the chapters clearly labeled so it’s super easy to connect the timelines
- The plot is based on secrets coming out between the group of friends, and how those secrets came to be - lots of surprises and twists
- The twist near the end, and finding out “who had the big secret”, made everything make sense; not many hanging questions

What I didn’t love:
- Gave a 3-star rating because I did really enjoy it, but it’s not a book that I’d tell people they HAVE to read. The flow and pace was consistent, no dull moment, but for some reason the twists weren’t mind-blowing to me.
- I was picturing a kinda-cheesy movie in my head while reading.
- More of a weird annoyance that the word “niggling” was used 3-4 times; just such an unusual word to use so frequently, which made it stick out to me.

Thanks to NetGalley for an eARC!

5⭐️ positively loved it! This is the kind of book that not only makes for a captivating read but would also translate so well to the screen and you can literally see the visual movie unfold in your head as you read along.

Read it you love high life and death stakes, trapped door / locked room thrillers featuring a group of people who have no choice but to start spilling secrets.

The group in question go back to the 1990s when they were developing a dating app together, at the time they decided to lowkey combine this with a secret test for psychopathy and **something** bad enough happened to shut the whole project down.. interesting right?

Now here we are present day when they find themselves once again reuniting over a pleasant dinner that doesn’t stay pleasant for so long.

What a dynamic cast of characters as well as plot, this one moves quickly and will keep you reading until you get to the end, expect to cancel your evening plans because once you start this you genuinely won’t want to put it down, it’ll have you hooked!

This one has my full recommendation!

Thank you for the gifted copy,

Publishes : September 16th

A slow burn with a solid payoff. The Wasp Trap takes a while to hit its stride, but once the secrets start unraveling, it’s hard to put down. The dual timeline works well to build tension, and while not every subplot felt essential, the final twists landed. If you’re into locked-room thrillers with messy friendships and buried truths, it’s worth the ride. Just be patient with the first few chapters.

A locked-room thriller with a familiar premise: A group of friends is invited to celebrate the life of the late eccentric professor they worked under decades ago. This novel tries to introduce some fresh elements to an oversaturated genre by exploring pop-culture ideas around psychopathy. In the hands of barely-supervised teens, these ideas take on a life of their own.

Enlisted to design an online dating app, things take a turn when they attempt to peel back human nature with a psychopath test. Each of them has a secret from that fateful summer–some thoroughly mundane and others shocking–and they won't make it out alive if they don't reveal the truth.

At the same time, their hosts Theo and Georgina–wealthy, successful, in a picture-perfect marriage–have been hiding a secret of their own. Their daughter Olivia has gone missing, and the gathering is a ruse to learn if any of their old friends know anything about her disappearance. Tensions escalate as past and present collide, and with each passing hour the stakes get higher.

Unfortunately, the two mysteries didn't really come together for me in a satisfying way. Though everything is explained in the end, Olivia's disappearance didn't add much beyond the shock value of the lengths someone would go to protect themselves. Ultimately, while this novel tries to push the envelope in a familiar genre, it fell short for me–it's still a quick, fun read, but nothing groundbreaking.

This book flips back and forth between past and present, which is helpful as we get to know these characters both as they were, and as they are now. This book is full of twists, but it does take awhile to get going. I feel poorly saying it, but I did feel bored for about the first third of the book. I think the ending made it worth it though.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the arc of this book. This is the first book I have read by Mark Edwards and I enjoyed his writing style. This book was gripping, dark and suspenseful. This mysterious thriller has many twists and turns. I am usually pretty good at guessing the final twist and I did not see this coming at all. I really enjoyed this book.

I’ve never read anything from Mark Edwards, but after reading The Wasp Trap, that will definitely change.

This story is starts in the late 1990s when a professor brings together a group of people to help him create a dating website based on psychological testing. Things went south, and in present day the six return after the professor’s passing. What was supposed to be a group of friends getting together again turns deadly as secrets are unveiled.

This was such a great read with lots of unexpected reveals and twists throughout. Definitely kept me engaged the whole time wanting to know where the story would go. 5 out of 5 for me!

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

Who doesn't love a twisty, dinner party, whodunnit? I loved the pacing of this thriller and the general plot. Some twists were more obvious than others, but in general I found them captivating and shocking. Definitely recommend!

I was sucked into this book from the start. I really liked the characters, and the basic setup for the premise: a carefully selected group of scholars picked to work together on a top secret project for a genius professor. Yes! Very much If We Were Villains vibes.

But this was a watercolor thriller when it could have been a sharp oil painting. It could have been so much better, I just did not vibe with the execution. I loved the premise, I loved that past and present timeline. Yet somehow, this book just seemed to drag on and on and on. It felt like at least a dozen times (it was actually less than that) a chapter ended with a character standing with a gun pointed at them and someone else yelling "Wait, don't shoot, it's ME who has the secret".

The present day chapters centered around this spoiled dinner party, and I think that is where the problems for me were. When the intruders first took over, it was thrilling, but then it just became redundant when this ridiculous secrete never seemed to come to light. I lost interest. Yet at the same time, I kept reading. I did want to read to the end, but it became a chore to get there.

Overall, I think the past and the present could have been tied together in a smarter way, and I don't hate the locked room dinner party idea. But I can see myself reading this author again in the future.

I received a free digital copy of The Wasp Trap from NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I enjoyed the plot and the characters. It was a Breakfast Club Whodunnit! I had so much fun imagining f these characters and I’d love to see this turned into a film! The was my first by this author and I can’t wait to get my hands on more! A well told story!

Eeny, meeny, Miny, moe, catch a psychopath by the toe!
A dinner party. Time to bring the group of friends back together to celebrate the life of their former college professor who changed all their lives.

In 1999 this chosen group were invited by the renowned professor Sebastian Marlowe, to his compound to develop a one of a kind dating app. And perhaps the chance for riches beyond their wildest dreams.

Did everything go as planned? Is everyone now living their best life? Even bigger question… is everyone still living!?

Present day, 25 years later they’re back together. (All of them?)🤐 But tonight’s reunion dinner isn’t going quite as planned. And I don’t mean just an overdone roast! Someone is here with an agenda. And not everyone is going to survive to enjoy the dessert!

Sounds rather ominous, right!?

I’ve read several of Mark Edwards’ books in the past and he always delivers an eerie tail. This book was no different! Once again, I was giving everyone at the table the side eye trying to decide who was keeping the biggest secret! Did I guess the ending correctly? Nope!💃🏼

Pub date: September 16 2025

Thank you to Atria Books and Mark Edwards

Edgy…Fast Paced…Gripping.

Mark Edwards knows how to write a riveting, action packed psychological thriller! There is nothing I love more than a locked-room mystery thriller and Edwards crafted one that was deliciously clever and twisted.

The Wasp Trap followed six friends who reunited for a dinner party, only to find themselves trapped in a deadly game of secrets and revelations. This story alternated between past and present timelines and was told from the protagonist, Will’s, point of view. The other characters, the friends, including Will, were forced to expose their deepest truths, and the past, revealed how their shared history as psychology students led to a tragic event. I relished in the premise of this book the most. I especially liked how the core of the mystery revolved around a psychological dating app the friends created, "The Wasp Trap," which also became a tool for identifying psychopaths. I had never read a concept like this before, and therefore, I was captivated by its distinct dialogue. Even more, each of the characters had their unique personality and were well developed. Moreover, I really enjoyed how Edwards honed in on the complex relationships between the friends and how he highlighted their individual motivations and hidden agendas. Despite the plethora of characters (which was my only complaint) it was easy to keep track of them the way Edwards introduced and portrayed them throughout the story. AND…the unexpected twist at the end left me to question the truth and the nature of all the characters involved. It was fabulous!

Collectively, Mark Edwards emulated an edgy, twisted, tension filled fast paced locked room psychological mystery. I highly recommend The Wasp Trap.

Thanks to Net Galley and Atria Books for an advance e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5!

Friends from 1999 who created a dating site together and now end up trapped at a dinner party to share their secrets.

What a thrilling and suspenseful read. I loved the drama and while some parts/twists seemed a little far fetched, I totally ate it up. I was happily surprised how much I loved this and couldn’t put it down.

Holy anxiety—this was so good! I’d never read a book by Mark Edwards before, but now I definitely need to read more. I couldn’t put this one down. I had no idea where the story was going, and when it all came together, I was completely shocked.

I’d love to see this made into a movie!

Tense and twisty, The Wasp Trap kicks off with six former colleagues reuniting for a dinner party to honor their late boss. It’s been 25 years since they last saw each other, ever since their ambitious project was mysteriously shut down, just before it was set to make them all wildly rich.

What begins as a nostalgic evening quickly shifts into something far darker. The hosts reveal that their adult daughter has gone missing, but with few leads and little urgency from the police, they’re left in limbo. Then the real nightmare begins. The guests are suddenly held at gunpoint and forced to confront secrets from decades past… or face deadly consequences.

As tensions rise and old wounds resurface, everyone must question who they can trust, what really happened all those years ago, and how the missing girl fits into it all. It plays out like a locked-room whodunit meets psychological thriller, with layers of betrayal, regret, and long-buried truths.

A solid, suspenseful read that kept me guessing and fully engaged to the very last page.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.