This is an amazing psychological thriller. The story revolves about a group of friends who reunite for dinner to celebrate their old professor then things take a turn. The group, each one with secrets, is forced to share those secrets. There are so many twists and turns that you will be second guessing everything. I love when I can't guess the ending!


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Creepy and compulsively readable. Mark Edwards excels at domestic suspense, and this is no exception. The story starts with an eerie tone and builds tension expertly. The twists aren’t earth-shattering, but they’re well-placed. The ending was a bit tidy, but still satisfying. Definitely worth picking up for a quick, tense thriller fix.

The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards is super addictive and a little unhinged in the best way. What starts as a chill reunion spirals fast—secrets, mind games, and a twist that actually caught me off guard. If you like your thrillers with some bite and a bit of brain, this one delivers.

This was a lot of fun! I think it wrapped up well and it kept me guessing. I really enjoyed the secret passage parts of the novel.

This was a fun locked room mystery where a bunch of friends are invited for a dinner party. They haven’t seen each other in years and once they arrive, the chaos breaks out!

I think many will enjoy this book but the pacing was a bit off for me. I found it challenging to feel invested in the characters and their lives. Definitely worth the read if you are into locked room mysteries!

I love a good closed-room thriller, but this one missed the mark for me. A lot of back and forth and kind of stereotypical characters. Definitely a fast pace, but even with that it didn't really hold my attention. Just okay for me.

So good - fast-paced closed room thriller, with fascinating flashback scenes. I couldn't read it fast enough and absolutely loved it. Perfect for fall reading or a beach read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC!


This book made me gasp in the middle of a crowded bus-Everyone thought I was crazy and I don't care.

The plot twist I didn't see coming.

Such a great mystery/thriller.

4/5 Stars
This was my first Mark Edward’s book and definitely won’t be my last one for him!
This definitely had a unique plot to it.

A gripping and unsettling thriller that keeps you second-guessing until the end.

The author delivers another dark and twisty tale with The Wasp Trap. From the very beginning, there’s a creeping sense of unease that hooks you, and it only intensifies as the story unfolds. He does a great job of balancing psychological suspense with genuinely disturbing moments, all while building a cast of characters you’re not quite sure you can trust.

The pacing is solid, with just enough reveals and cliffhangers to keep you flying through the pages.

This is definitely perfect for fans of thrillers that explore the dark side of human nature and how ordinary lives can spiral into chaos with just one wrong move.


I would highly recommend this to everyone I know.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the arc!

My first Mark Edwards novel. A great thriller!

A group of old friends/colleagues reunites after 25 years for a dinner party. Mystery and chaos ensues! Plot twists and mysteries from long ago are brought to the surface when the group is held hostage.

This read keeps you on the edge of your seat, wanting more! An ending I didn’t predict.

Great weekend read!

A dinner party turns into a sinister game as six old friends are forced to spill their darkest secrets or else. This book is fast paced and twisty, I do feel like something was missing though I was satisfied with the ending.

This was a 4.5 star read, it was incredible and kept me on my toes the entire time. This is my first book by Mark Edwards and did they deliver, the minute they were locked in that house I knew shit was going to go down. This group of friends who haven’t seen each other in years now have to come together to figure out what secret may be worth their life. I’m not going to lie, I did not figure out anything until we were told and was I surprised. This book will keep you captivated as you wait to see what happens next and what did happen the summer of 1999 and why it’s worth killing for. Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to devour this arc!

Enjoyed this one. It was a 'locked room thriller', which is a newer sub-genre for me, and it didn't disappoint! Some of the character interactions weren't doing it for me though.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC!

Thanks for the advanced reader copy of the Wasp Trap! Definitely an interesting story line and enjoyable read.

The wasp trap was such a great mystery with plot twists that made me audibly gasp.

The story is told from Wills pov and starts in 1999. It’s told in past and present chapters which I love, the little cliffhangers after each chapter really make me want to binge those kind of stories!

The revolutionaries, as they were called, are a group of 6 who are recruited to build a brand new dating website. Whilst developing said website they get to know each other, some on a deeper level than others and have to discover a secret a few years later that could destroy them.

Getting to know the characters through the tests they had to develop for the app (butter fly dot net) and later for the wasp trap really put me into that friend group. I love a mystery where I actually care for the characters and want them to survive whatever they‘re going through! I was rooting for some and was shocked by the secrets that got revealed through out. This was dark and suspenseful in all the right ways!

Not only is there a dinner party gone wrong but also an additional plot line that ties in together very well at the end.

I will definitely be reading more from Mark Edwards from now on! Biggest thanks to netgalley and the publisher for this arc.

Who is hiding the big secret? The wasp trap unites a group of former coworkers or “ revolutionaries” who were tasked with building the perfect online dating site. That all have one thing in common, a shared experience at a mansion with the founder. The one thing they don’t share is a huge secret that 2 armed gunman demand to know. The Wasp Trap was a fun, clever ride and I enjoyed every minute of it! Thanks to the author, Net Galley, and Simon and Schuster for the ARC. Definitely recommending this read!

LOVED this one!! Super crazy and a very create and unique plot!

After the death of their former employer/professor, six friends gather for a dinner party to celebrate his life. Soon things take a deadly turn. The group is held a gunpoint and faced with a dilemma - share their secrets from that summer or be killed. I won't get into any further details as it is best to go in blind!

All of the characters were super interesting and really well developed. It was fun trying to guess who was hiding the secret and it would all play out. Mark Edwards created the perfect claustrophobic environment and landed the story with a satisfying and clever ending. Everything was done so well, with twists upon twists. I had no idea what direction the story was heading at any given point. A really excellent job my Mark Edwards - it is so difficult to create a thriller with shocking twists and turns, without being over the top.

This is a crazy and adrenaline-packed read that you will not be able to put down. Highly recommend!

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

The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards is the kind of thriller that gets under your skin from the very first page. I went in expecting twists—and sure, there are plenty—but what I didn’t expect was how tense and claustrophobic it would feel. This is a story that wraps itself around you and refuses to let go.

The setup is deceptively simple, but the way the tension builds is masterful. There’s this creeping sense of unease throughout—like something is just off, and you can’t quite put your finger on it until it’s too late. Edwards has a real gift for turning the ordinary into something sinister. He takes the familiar—relationships, trust, routine—and slowly twists it until everything feels unstable.

What I really appreciated was how personal the danger felt. This isn't about a big conspiracy or some faceless threat; it's intimate, emotional, and unnervingly plausible. The main character’s descent into paranoia (or clarity?) is paced perfectly, and I found myself questioning everything right alongside them.

There’s a kind of psychological sharpness here that really hits. It’s not just about what’s happening—it’s about what it means, especially when it comes to trust, vulnerability, and the fear of being trapped (physically or emotionally). And the title? Absolutely fitting. Once you're caught, there's no easy way out.

If you like your thrillers tight, atmospheric, and psychologically charged, The Wasp Trap delivers. It’s the kind of book you read in one sitting because putting it down feels impossible—and afterward, you might find yourself double-checking the locks and second-guessing your instincts.

Overall, I enjoyed The Wasp Trap. It was a very slow start but did come around. The multiple storylines did get on my nerves a little bit, but they thankfully all wrapped up in the end. The main twist at the end I did not see coming at all.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

This one caught my eye & the description seemed right up my alley. Unfortunately, it disappointed me. I found this almost entirely predictable, even the extra twists at the end. I think that this book could really work well for someone who doesn't read a lot of thrillers, or who isn't familiar with many of the "classic" twists and endings.
Something that does what this book set out to do - but BETTER (for me) - was In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead. It was so much richer in characterization and significantly less predictable. It still has the dual timelines and the trope of old friends meeting up after many years, but I vastly prefer Winstead's writing.
Again, nothing BAD but I wasn't wowed by this.