Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
A gripping page turner, that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

25 years ago, a group of students were brought together to create a revolutionary dating site that would take the dot com era by storm, but just as quickly the project was shut down before it could take off.

After the death of the professor who brought them all together, the group reunite for a dinner in tribute to his work. What starts off as a regular dinner party, quickly takes a dark turn.

This book had me riveted. I could not put it down. We follow the POV of Will, one of the students who was hand picked by the enigmatic professor to create a dating profile that levels the playing field. He’s a likable character and has an Everyman quality to him. You can’t help but root for him. The story is fast paced and the action doesn’t stop until the very end. Weaving between past and present timelines, Mr. Edwards ties up all the loose ends masterfully culminating in a chilling ending. I really enjoyed this thriller, especially the twists and turns he brings you on. Highly recommended for thriller lovers.

Mark Edwards’ The Wasp Trap drops you straight into a London dinner party where nostalgia curdles into paranoia. Six old friends come together to honour their late former boss, a psychology professor who once united them to launch a revolutionary dating website. What should be a bittersweet reunion quickly turns sinister, as buried secrets claw their way to the surface and the night slips into a game no one can win.

Edwards knows exactly how to dial up the tension. The story jumps between the present and the late ‘90s, peeling back layers with each chapter. The characters, each carrying their own scars and regrets, feel so real that they can flinch from them. As the dinner party unravels, so does their trust in each other, and Edwards keeps the suspense razor-sharp all the way through.

In The Wasp Trap, Edwards gives readers brisk pacing, alternating perspectives, sufficient psychological insight to sting, and a twist you won’t see coming. Fans of Lucy Foley and Alice Feeney will feel right at home. The locked-room vibe works, trapping readers in a claustrophobic tangle of suspicion and betrayal. If there’s a flaw, it’s that the crowded cast can sometimes blur together, especially early on. But once the story hits its stride, it’s nearly impossible to put down.

The Wasp Trap is clever, wild, and genuinely fresh. Edwards delivers a thriller with teeth—a story where every page buzzes with tension and every character might be hiding something. If you love your thrillers smart, tight, and full of surprises, this one’s worth your time.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Over all I enjoyed this but I will say that the writing style isn’t for me so it was hard to stay engaged with. That’s 100% a “Me” issue like not enjoying a singer despite them having incredible technical proficiency with their vocals.

I have never read Mark Edwards before and he is a solid writer with one caveat. The transitions between the timelines were a bit jarring and interrupted the flow. Don’t get me wrong, I love duel timeline but this was just missing something. I also wish I had the physical book for this one. Sometimes you just want to curl up and flip pages to get the full experience as you try to sort out late mystery at play.

This comes out September 16th making it a perfect offering for the season. Locked room, old friends, secrets spilling- it’s a great recipe!

I was fortunate to receive a complimentary eARC from Simon and Schuster through NetGalley, which gave me the opportunity to share my voluntary thoughts.

How I Rate
Because I mostly read ARCs, I focus on how I think fellow readers with similar tastes will respond. I sometimes round up or down based on pacing, prose, or overall impact, and I try to keep my personal preferences from weighing too heavily.

⭐️ 1 Star – Finished, but not for me; I never DNF ARCs.
⭐️⭐️ 2 Stars – Struggled due to writing, content, or editing issues.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 Stars – Decent read with untapped potential; recommend with some reservations.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 Stars – Really enjoyed it and would recommend for several reasons.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 Stars – Exceptional; lingers in my mind well after reading. A story I’d glad

A young group who are coming back together, over dinner, to remember a beloved professor and boss for a project long ago. This group hasn't seen each other for years - since an abrupt ending to a job one summer where they thought the were making THE break through dating app in 1999.

But here they are, after it all. Who has made a success of themselves and who is still struggling? But this dinner is about more than just comparing lives. And as things get progressively worse, we know not everyone will survive.

This was a fun mystery. The back and forth past and now chapters were easy to keep straight. The characters were unique and the POV were easy. The reading was fast, I raced through as I wanted to know more! I liked the idea of the app and this group. The secrets were surprising, every last one. And the ending was fun. Such a good read!

Friends who haven’t seen each other for 25 years were invited to spend the weekend to celebrate the life of their boss who had passed.xa

Was that really the reason? It was more like tell your secret or die.

As a few guests arrived and stood on the porch, they heard a scream and once they were in the house, their guests dead bolted the door.

Pretty odd, and to top it off, there was no phone service.

Everything seemed cordial and casual, but all of this was concerning.

Just what was going on?

We find out once dinner was over.

The chefs who prepared the dinner are actually thieves and murderers and told the group they have to tell them the secret they were keeping from 1999 or they won't get out alive.

Everyone is dumfounded - no one has a clue what secret the chefs are talking about.

A very tense, slow-moving read at first, but once the evil characters come on the scene it picks up.

This is my first book by this author. I do have to say the book was a little too brutal for me and a bit too long, but it was well written, cleverly put together, and the tell-all at the end was good. 4/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This one didn’t pull me in and I found myself getting distracted every time I picked it up. Sometimes a book isn’t the right fit and sometimes the author isn’t. Not sure if it was a little of both for me.

𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙒𝘼𝙎𝙋 𝙏𝙍𝘼𝙋
𝘽𝙔 𝙈𝘼𝙍𝙆 𝙀𝘿𝙒𝘼𝙍𝘿𝙎
𝙍𝙀𝙇𝙀𝘼𝙎𝙀 𝘿𝘼𝙏𝙀 09/16/2025

Will’s college professor, Sebastian, has passed away, and after 20 years apart, Georgina and Theo (who are married) are hosting a celebration of life to reunite the old gang.
Will, now a professor himself, is joined by his college girlfriend Sophie, who makes jewelry. Lily, a coder, is the brains of the group. Rohan, always chasing quick wealth, rounds out their circle, along with Georgina and Theo, who are financially secure and want for nothing.
In 1999, the group and Sebastian created a dating website focused on connecting people based on their interests—think EHarmony or Match.com. However, while creating this, they realized they may have tapped into something that could set them up for life, but certain events didn’t allow it to come to fruition.
Fast-forward to the night of dinner. As the Chef serves dinner, they discover they are trapped and forced to play a deadly game: “Who has a secret?”
If you don’t reveal your secret, you die. Each has had their suspensions about each other for over 20 years; any of them could have orchestrated this.
The super fast-paced page-turner was told in alternate timelines and different POVs.
4 🌟🌟🌟🌟S̤̈T̤̈Ä̤R̤̈S̤̈

#penguinmichaeljoseph
#atriabooks #atriathrillers #atriapartner #lovetoread #bookstagrammer #thewasptrap #markedwards
#bookrecommendations #pageturner #simonandschuster
#penguinrandomhouse #simonandschuster #smpinfluencer #smpearlyreaders

This book starts off a bit slow but once it finally gets going it pulls you in. I enjoyed the flashbacks to 1999 when the group was working together. Each member has a secret and it is interesting to see how big a secret each person possesses.

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I had several issues with this book, but the biggest one was pacing. Nothing of real consequence happens until around the 30% mark. When it finally does, it’s a relatively minor event. Yet the characters react as if they’ve encountered the most extraordinary, implausible scenario imaginable (think zebras instead of horses at the sound of hoofbeats).

The second major problem is plausibility. There are two central mysteries: a missing daughter and a so called “secret” the villains are holding the characters hostage for. That words "the secret" are repeated so often it started to feel like a drinking game. But the bigger issue is that the hostage takers refuse to actually say what the secret is concerning, even though people are literally dying over it. If you’ve got a gun to someone’s head, you tell them what you want. The vagueness and lack of context here makes no sense, and it drains the tension rather than building it.

Between the endless filler, the repetitive dialogue, and the constant back and forth between two sluggish timelines, the plot felt stretched far beyond its natural length. With some tighter editing and more grounded character logic, this could have been a tense, gripping thriller. Instead, it could have been an email.

Many Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

A big thank you to NetGalley and the opportunity to review this ARC. I stray from my go-to genres and read about two thrillers a year and this is the best I’ve come across in a long time! The name and concept intrigued me and the plot did not disappoint. The Multiple time lines were not confusing and were written with what seemed to be a careful balance. Plus there was 90s nostalgia, and twists and turns that were hard to predict. At about 3/4 of the way through I started to find the pace lagged but then things took a turn and it picked right back up.

The Wasp Trap had a lot of potential, but it started slowly. The main character was kind of a drag, but overall the characters are interesting and fairly well-developed. The dual timeline is well-done (and I love anything from the late 90s), a couple of plot twists that mde me roll my eyes, and it felt like there were subplots that were brought up only to be of little importance later on. A decent mystery with a tight close. Well done.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Secrets, lies, and a wasp’s sting in the dark

Six old friends reunite in London to honor the professor who brought them together decades ago to work on a dating site project. What should be a night of nostalgia quickly turns deadly when they’re held at gunpoint and forced to reveal their darkest secrets - or turn on each other. As the night unfolds, the truth behind their shared past and the ominous “Wasp Trap” slowly comes to light.

I had a hard time sinking into this one. The premise hooked me, but I found myself putting it down for days at a time. The pacing in the first three-quarters felt sluggish, and I never really connected with or cared about any of the characters, which made the tension less gripping.

That said, the last 15% delivered the payoff I was waiting for. The twists were clever, the pace finally kicked into high gear, and I enjoyed how past and present threads tied together. Overall, I liked the concept, but it didn’t quite land as a new favorite for me.

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

A group of people who worked together 25 years ago get together for a dinner party to honor the professor who they once worked for after his death. Once there they learn one of them has a secret they've been hiding and someone will do anything to find out what it is. This was closed door thriller/mystery with some flashbacks to when they worked together previously. I thought this was an entertaining read with some good twists and would recommend it. I want to thank NetGalley and Atria Books for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Great Plot

I really enjoyed this book. In 1999 a psych professor gathered a group of young adults to help him create a new dating app. He shut down the project before it launched and the people dispersed. Decades later they were gathered together to mark his passing. But the dinner did not go as planned. People are murdered as someone tries to discover who has a dangerous secret from their time together.

The plot was great and there was a twist at the end that I did not see coming. Very good book. I will be keeping an eye out for more from this author.

This book was delightfully suspenseful and twisty. I liked the dual timeline of the book and it had me guessing until the end. Perfect for fans of revenge plots and locked room mysteries.

This drew me in right away. A dinner party with old friends turns murderous. The writing was really good and I became invested in the characters right away. Nice plot!

Trigger Warning(s): Murder, Divorce, Attempted Sexual Assault, Psychopathy, Mental Illness, Death Of Spouse, Death Of Child, Violence
POV: Multiple, Third Person, Singular, First Person (Will)
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Genre: Thriller
Burn: 🔥🔥🔥
Safe or Dark: Dark ️️️
Expected Release Date: September 16, 2025

Quick Take Review 💥:

A thriller that starts off a bit slow (not boringly so) but takes off as soon as you get to the heart of things. Once the ball gets rolling, it doesn’t stop. The short chapters make this a quick read despite the slower pace of group introductions.

Strap in for (at times farfetched) twisty turns and reveals that are sure to keep you on your toes. You’ll find unlikeable characters galore in here, so if that’s something you enjoy, make sure to pick this book up!


In Depth Review 👇


Plot 📖:

Six friends reunite in West London, England, at a Notting Hill townhouse to celebrate the life of the professor that introduced them to one another in 1999 to build a dating website based on psychological testing.

However, what they hoped to be a night of bittersweet memories soon turns into a sinister and deadly game. The old friends are unexpectedly held at gunpoint and given an ultimatum: reveal their darkest secrets to the other five or take each other out one by one.

The group soon realizes their current situation is related to their joint past. The love questionnaire they thought they were making for a dating site in 1999 ended up being used as a tool for what’s known as The Wasp Trap. Tragic events revealed from a youthful summer will help reveal who the killer is, one who has been hiding in plain sight the entire time.

Writing 📝:

Mark Edwards’s writing is easy to follow while managing to give off the tense vibes it’s intended to. However, his prose could be a bit “flowery” and overly descriptive, but it was enjoyable enough. There were only a few spots where I felt things were dragged out too long and could have moved on to something else much quicker.

The past and present timelines never got confusing or felt choppy. They flowed into one another nicely and added a nice element to the story.

Main Character(s) 👫:

William “Will” Harper - Will is Sophie’s former love interest, a creative writing teacher, and an unsuccessful writer who is stuck in the past. Character Rating: A-

Sophie - Sophie is Will’s former love interest, who feels as though she is missing something despite inheriting a comfortable life from her late grandmother. Character Rating: C-

Rohan – Rohan is a married father of two; he and his wife are trying to raise their children with little money in their pockets. He’s always looking for his next big business deal and is hoping for an easy fix to their financial struggles. Character Rating: D

Lily - Lily is a divorcee with two children. She is keeping the tech innovation she’s working on under wraps but hopes it could change her life for the better. Character Rating: B

Theo & Georgina Howard - The hosts of the dinner party. Theo and Georgina, who started dating that summer in 1999, are now happily married, or are they? Beneath the surface of their shiny marriage lies a family tragedy that’s threatening to tear them apart. Character Rating: (Theo) B+, (Georgina) C

Side Character(s) 👫:

Sebastian Marlowe - Sebastian is the group's former professor and mastermind behind the dating website developed in the late 90s. Character Rating: F

Finn - Finn is a stranger who tells the group that he used to work for Sebastian as his assistant. Although, his odd behavior and easy demeanor with the catering staff might prove that all isn’t as it seems to be. Character Rating: C

Amber - Callum’s sous chef that was sent through the agency. Character Rating: B-

Eve - Dominic’s love interest and Sebastian’s cook and housekeeper in the summer of 1999. Character Rating: A

Callum - The Howard’s chef that they hired through an agency for their special dinner. Character Rating: B+

Dominic - Dominic is Sebastian’s nephew and right-hand man. He was with the group during the summer of 1999, suffering from Eve’s unrequited love, and took care of Sebastian in his old age and when he suffered from cancer. Character Rating: D

Olivia Howard - Theo and Georgina’s twenty-year-old daughter. Character Rating: Undetermined

Felix - Olivia’s boyfriend, whom her parents don’t like. Character Rating: Undetermined

Mia Howard - Theo and Georgina’s second and youngest sixteen-year-old daughter. Character Rating: C

Thoughts 💭:

“If any of us were a psychopath, I already had a good idea who it would be.”

Sometimes it's just better to leave old friendships in the past. Catching up after twenty-five years can get messy...especially when everyone’s got their own baggage.

You know that old saying, “Secrets, secrets are no fun unless you share with everyone”? Yeah… not all secrets are meant to be shared. And this one? Probably should’ve stayed buried.

Let me tell you, my anxiety would’ve tapped out the second cell service was cut off and I realized there was no way out of the house. I don’t care how many “friends” were there. I would’ve lost my mind. Totally unhinged. Honestly, I might’ve beaten the people in this book to it.

One thing I absolutely love about this book is the short chapters. If you’ve read any of my other reviews, you already know this is a big plus for me. It made it so easy to fly through. It was definitely not a chore to keep turning the pages once I cracked this open. That’s always going to land in the “pro” column for me when it comes to reading.

From the very first page, I was hooked. I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next or how all the secrets would unravel. This one definitely kept me on my toes from start to finish.

“Something about that smile, the way it had vanished, made the hairs on my arms stand on end.”

While I did enjoy the way each character was introduced and how the dinner party slowly came together, this story is for sure a “slow and steady wins the race” type of situation. Or in this case… slowly builds to some wildly unrealistic chaos, but I’ll let that slide. It takes a while to really get to the heart of the plot. The first 35% of the story might feel like a bit of a slog, but if you stick with it, the twists and turns that follow make the slow start worth it.

I really liked Will as the narrator. Honestly, I don’t think I would’ve cared much if any of the others had told the story. Will just felt the most relatable to me. As someone who deals with anxiety, I totally got the way he was picking up on all the weird energy around him. His thoughts about the people and the situations at the party? Yeah, mine would’ve gone the exact same direction. I ate that crap up.

I also liked how Will kept hinting that things didn’t end so great between the group, especially between him and Sophie, when they last saw each other in 1999. You can tell Sebastian had done something shady, but it’s not clear right away what actually happened.

Figuring all that out as the story went along was honestly one of the best parts for me.

Once you get through the slow-moving, though still interesting, character backstories and the setup of the dinner party, the story kicks into high gear. From that point on, it’s a fast-paced, bumpy rollercoaster ride. The tension ramps up and doesn’t let go. The atmosphere between this group of friends is so thick, you could cut it with a dull butter knife.

“You think he might be a psychopath?”

I really enjoyed how the story weaved together the timelines from 1999 and 2024. It was handled smoothly and never got confusing, which added an extra layer to the story for me. That said, my millennial nostalgia was hoping for a bit more from the ’90s scenes.

Reading about MP3 players, those bright fruit-colored iMacs, and other bits from that era made me smile. It was such a fun trip down memory lane.

I’m a total sucker for red herrings, and this book delivers plenty of them. I WAS HERE FOR IT! They were perfectly timed and genuinely threw me for a loop. The plot kept me guessing and on my toes the entire time. There were so many twists and turns, you might want to keep a barf bag nearby, especially if you’re prone to motion sickness like me.

Just when I thought I had it all figured out, the rug was completely pulled out from under me. I was pleasantly surprised to realize I’d been wrong the whole time.

I’ve got to say, I really enjoyed all the big reveals, but the plot got a little unrealistic and kind of went off the rails toward the end. Things started moving way too fast, and it felt like a bunch of stuff was thrown at me all at once. I wish the ending hadn’t been so rushed. It answered most of my questions, well, except for one. Even with the over-the-top moments, I still closed this book feeling satisfied.

Overall, a few moments that stretch reality aren’t a dealbreaker for me. Since thrillers often tend to lean into that, it’s definitely something to keep in mind before diving into this book.

“The clock’s still ticking, you know. Tick tock. Tick fucking tock.”

I’m usually not a fan of unlikeable characters unless they’re all unlikeable in the best possible way, and that’s exactly what Mark Edwards delivers. Even though some of the characters felt a bit flat and showed little growth, I still found this group insufferable in the most entertaining way. For me to root for an unlikeable character, there has to be a reason behind their flaws, and these characters had plenty of that. Honestly, I absolutely loved it.

That said, there are quite a few characters in this book, so it’s worth paying attention to keep them all straight. Although, honestly, the author makes it pretty easy. He does a great job of setting things up so you can keep everyone and everything clear as you read.

Overall, Mark Edwards delivers a solid thriller that I genuinely enjoyed. It avoids many of the usual clichés you often find in books like this. All you have to do is buckle up and let the story take you wherever it wants to go.

What really stood out to me was how the story plays on that quiet fear we all have, wondering how well we actually know the people around us, the friends we trust, and the ones we let into our lives.

As the saying goes, keep your friends close and your enemies closer still.

“Ah, who was he kidding? They’d call him Posh Boy and kick the crap out of him every day.”

P.S. I still can’t wrap my head around what was so amazing about Sophie. What exactly had Will so smitten? Girlypop was giving me major “pick me” energy, and not in a good way.

Final Verdict ⚖️

A decent thriller with decent pacing, twists, turns, and slightly flat but highly unlikeable characters.


As always, remember that reading is totally subjective, and that’s exactly what makes it so wonderful. 😊

I would like to thank Atria Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

This is my voluntary, unbiased, and honest review.

4 stars

This is my first book by this author, but I will make a concerted effort to guarantee it isn't my last. This was a fun experience.

When six friends come together for a celebration of life, they expect that it won't just be a night of reminiscing but that they may also uncover a bit more about each other and themselves. After all, they've been out of touch for many years, and they have a complicated past. That noted, none of these friends is fully prepared for the chaos that will ensue.

There are a lot of different possibilities and details that come through in multiple timelines, but the content is more than manageable, and unlike many similar reads, it's easy to keep the characters aligned to their past and present actions. Some outcomes are very obvious and others are harder to determine, and this makes for an engaging balance between what's coming next and misdirection.

This book may make readers think twice about attending an upcoming reunion or reconnecting with old pals, and it will almost certainly make folks wonder about the value of their secrets and those held by others they *think* they know. I enjoyed this very much and will not hesitate to accept any future invitations to read more from Edwards.

The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards is a mystery novel that revolves around the question of who committed a heinous crime. The story is presented in a past and present narrative, with a gathering taking place after 25 years. The reasons for this gathering are unclear, and the attendees are filled with a mix of fun, jealousy, and deep-seated secrets that are about to be revealed. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and found it to be a well-crafted and suspenseful read.

Thanks to Atria Books for providing an advanced copy of the book through NetGalley.

It takes a little bit to get going but keep reading. Once things start to roll, the unraveling sucks you in. There are a lot of characters-each with their own relationship to the events of the past. The storyline alternates between the summer of 1999 and present. The intrigue ramps up as each person admits ‘their secret’ and things start to piece together. (3.5/5)
Thank You to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read and enjoy this ARC.