Thank you @atriabooks #partner for the gifted copy of this book!

Get together with friends gone horribly wrong, anyone? 👀 The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards is basically what happens when you gather your old friends for a cozy dinner party… and then someone decides it’s time to spill your darkest, most shameful secrets — or else start dying one by one. Yeah, these people definitely need to reevaluate their friend group. 😂

Turns out, what ties them all together is a weirdly random questionnaire they worked on back in the ‘90s for a dating site. Feels odd at first, but trust me — once you dig in, you’ll see why it matters. And from there? Buckle up book besties because woooooo doggie, it’s a twisty, wild ride.

This is one of those stories where you’re side-eyeing every single character, constantly guessing who the monster is walking among them. (My favorite kind of locked room thriller!) There are quite a few characters, but honestly, I found them super easy to keep track of — and even more fun to watch unravel.

The best part? The nonstop shocking secrets that come flying out. Just when you think you know someone… BAM. Nope. Another skeleton in the closet. I live for that stuff.

It’s fast, bingeable, and full of jaw-dropping moments. Fair warning: once you start, you probably won’t stop. Highly recommend for fellow locked-room mystery addicts and lovers of juicy drama with a deadly twist. 🔪✨

Thank you, Atria, and NetGalley for letting me review The Wasp Trap, to provide an honest review in return.

Woo-wee! I did not see these twists coming! Omg! I want more books like this in my life. The twist and turns…where you would never be able to figure out who did this or who did that.

I loved the alternating between past and present timeframes. Those are also my favorite.

This whole book starts off with a thrilling ride. Hold on tight, because you never know where this rollercoaster is going or what will happen while in the rollercoaster.

This has been the best book so far that I have read from this author. He just continues to outdo himself! I can’t wait to see what he writes next!

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for sending me an ARC of The Wasp Trap in exchange for an honest review.

In the summer of 1999, Professor Sebastian Marlowe brings together six students—Georgina, Lily, Rohan, Sophie, Theo, and Will—for the summer to try to build a sophisticated dating website. But just when the site is ready to go live, Sebastian suddenly shuts it down and sends everyone their separate ways. Now, Sebastian has passed away, and the six students are gathering to reminisce about the professor and that summer. But by the time they realize that the phones and internet are down, and the keys to the doors are missing, they find themselves at gunpoint, and told that they must reveal their secrets from that summer or be killed one by one ….

The Wasp Trap is a solid thriller. Alternating between the present and the summer of 1999, it builds tension in both timelines. There’s a big twist about two-thirds of the way through the book that leads to a series of other twists down the stretch. There are enough threads going—the psychopath test, a private detective, a murdered wife, a missing daughter—that the true thrust of the story is cleverly obscured until late. A satisfying mystery. Recommended.

Synopsis:
A dinner party in a beautiful Notting Hill townhouse turns into a sinister game, as six old friends are forced to spill their darkest secrets…or else.

Six friends reunite in London to celebrate the life of their recently deceased ex-employer, a professor that brought them together in 1999 to help build a dating website based on psychological testing.

But what is meant to be a night of bittersweet nostalgia soon becomes a twisted and deadly game when the old friends find themselves held at gunpoint. They are given an ultimatum: reveal their darkest secrets to the group or pick each other off one-by-one.


Thoughts:
An absolute wild time! I was not expecting any of the twists and turns that happened! I highly recommend this book if you’re looking for a mystery thriller with an ambiguous ending!

fast-paced, hyper-energetic novel, although the flashbacks do occasionally cut this pace and weaken the book. the plotting is great, and while some parts of the twist are vaguely predictable, others aren't. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked the premise, but I felt like the execution left a lot to be desired. The flashbacks didn’t really feel really vital to the story, and I didn’t connect emotionally with any of the characters. They all felt a bit flat, and I couldn’t be invested in any of them, or even keep track of some. The plot felt a bit convoluted at times as well; for me it fell apart at the end a bit and just took me out of the story. The depiction of psychopathy is also just not…not great? It didn’t really feel like there was any actual research put into it.

This was a super fun and exciting read! Fast paced, with lots of twists, I raced through this one. 6 friends gather for a reunion after the death of the professor who had brought them together a summer over twenty years ago for a project to create a dating website (back in 1999 when everyone was creating a website). There are secrets revealed for twisted reasons that you should discover for yourself - enjoy the ride!

This book starts off as six friends reunite after 25 years

It had me hooked right from the beginning. I wanted to know how they knew each other.
Then I needed to know what the big secret was.

There were so many twists. It was so excellently written and I loved the big shock at the end.

Thanks for the opportunity to read this advanced copy. This book kept me guessing the entire time. I was not quite sure what direction it was going in and was definitely surprised by the ending. A good suspense to keep you on your toes. I enjoyed and would recommend.

Writing was good, had an interesting premise, a large cast which means a lot of personalities, and just generally seemed like I would enjoy it.

I genuinely cannot give a reason that I just decided to not finish it. Like I said, it was going pretty well when I first started it, so I really can't pinpoint the problem. Maybe I will pick it back up again when I am able to have a physical copy in my hands. I look forward to seeing other reviews to see if they change my mind.

4.5 rounded down out of 5.

This took me by surprise in the best way. The story is a true locked room, but with a puzzle twist. The reader has to try to piece everything together with each new revelation. It was intense and captivating, holding my attention until the very end.

While I never got attached to any of the characters, the story was strong enough that it didn’t matter. There were so many moving parts that my focus was too caught up in the mystery. While I did guess the plot twists, I was wrong on certain aspects of the twist itself. It was smart and such a fast paced ride.

At first I was not a big fan of the duel time line, because the 1999 story didn’t seem to add to our main story. Only because the details we were given did not seem important. Then, it really all started to click into place the further in we get. The book itself started a little slow, but once things get moving you’re not going to be able to put it down.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this book. I finished it in less than 24 hours because I had to know what happened. It’s a great story and I can’t wait to read more by this author.

***Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was easy to follow along with the wide cast of characters. Short chapters bring me so much joy so count that as another win for me with this one. I loved the flashbacks to the late 90s. I loved unpacking all the baggage with each character. The development of characters was well executed and made for great entertainment.

This book was very up and down, like a roller coaster, giving me highs of great suspense and lows of waiting for more suspense. I enjoyed the tropes in this and the cleverness. I don't think I've read anything by this author before but he's on my reading radar now.

The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards is a psychological thriller set in a fancy mansion in Notting Hill. Six friends get together to celebrate the life of their former boss from years ago. The group of friends met one summer while helping to build one of the first dating apps, back in 1999. Fast forward to the present day reunion dinner, what at first was a happy remembrance of Sebastian’s life, soon becomes something more sinister. By the end of the night, secrets will be spilled, people will die and the truth of what really happened in 1999 will come out.
Chapters alternate between past and present, with multiple POV’s. This is the epitome of a fast paced psychological thriller. Easy to devour in one sitting, and fun right up to the twisty ending. Fans of Lisa Jewell and Alex Michaelides will enjoy this read. Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for my ARC.

Book Review: The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Wasp Trap is a gripping psychological thriller that kept me hooked from start to finish. I loved how Mark Edwards masterfully built the suspense all the way to the final pages. The alternating timelines added depth and intrigue, making it impossible to put down. Every twist kept me guessing, and the tension never let up. A must-read for fans of smart, suspenseful thrillers.

A fun, quick read if you enjoy thriller-esque stories with some twists and turns along the way. The story is about a group of friends/coworkers reuniting in the present day after the project they were all involved in in 1999 mysteriously disbanded. The dinner turns deadly soon enough with everyone having a secret to tell about their failed project. The pacing of the story was fine, and it was interesting enough to keep my attention. I thought the ending went on for a bit too long and got a little all over the place, but overall it was decent.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a complimentary ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this thriller! The story line was so well intertwined with pieces that put the whole picture together in the end. If youre looking for a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat, intrigued and stunned beyond belief...Then The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards is the read to be read! I've could not have guessed where the story could have gone. Brilliantly written!
Thank you to publishers and author for allowing me to read the arc in exchange for an honest review.

In 1999, a college psychology professor named Sebastian howard six college graduates to help him come up with a new dating website. The graduates were Theo, Georgina, Will, Sophie, Lily, and Rohan. They all went to live at Thornwood, Sebastian's home. Also living there was his nephew, Dominic. He had a woman coming in daily to clean and cook whose name was Eve. Theo and Georgina fell in love, and Will fell in love with Sophie but was too shy to do anything about it. As it turns out, Sophie was in love with him as well. Dominic was taken with Eve. The feeling was not mutual. So the team created the website and called it butterfly.net. Lily was a computer aficionado and was Sebastian's favorite. She created a program called wasp trap which determined whether a person was a psychopath. Allegedly, Dominic was one. She also created a program that was a lie detector.

At the end of the project they had a big party. There was a lake on the grounds and Dominic and Eve were out near it. Dominique put the make on Eve and she rebuked him. He got angry and hit her with a tree branch, which killed her. Lily happened to be there and she heard them. When he hit Eve, Lily ran out and jumped on Dominic's back. They ended up in the lake and she allegedly drowned him. She immediately went inside and told Sebastian. He told her to go to her room and not to worry about it, that he would take care of it. She never told a soul what she saw. The next day, Sebastian told the team that he was scrapping the website without giving them a reason. He ordered taxis for them all and sent them home.

25 years later after Sebastian's death, the now married. Theo and Georgina had a dinner party for the team. Georgina had invited Finn, who she told everyone had been Sebastian's assistant. Actually. Finn was a private detective. Georgina had two daughters, Olivia and Mia. Olivia had disappeared and Mia had hired a private detective to find her. Georgina had hired caterers Callum and Amber.

Not long into the dinner party, Callum pulled a gun on everybody. He told them that someone had a secret and he wanted to know what it was. He left them alone for an hour Finn went to the bathroom and Callum cornered him and drug him into the kitchen where he beat him and tied him up and put him in the pantry. When the hour was up Callum and Amber went back into the dining room where everyone was seated and they both had guns. Callum had them vote to decide who it was that had the secret. The vote turned out to be Theo. Callum shot him dead. Will and Rohan revealed secrets but neither of them revealed the secret they were looking for. Callum and Amber went into the kitchen and Will followed them in where Callum shot and killed. Finn.

Still no one revealed the secret they were looking for so Dominic came in. Lily was shocked because she was sure she had killed him. It turns out Dominic was the one that wanted the secret. It was a secret that Sebastian had told him would hinder his inheritance which he had willed Dominic his home and all of his wealth. As it turns out, Callum and Amber had hijacked the real caterers and tied them up and put them in the vacant house next door.. Dominique knew them and got them to go in as chefs instead. He had promised them a part of his inheritance. In the end, Georgina was the one that had the secret.

The author did an outstanding job telling this story. There were twists and turns and I never knew what was coming next. It kept me on the edge of my seat. I love stories like that. The characters were well developed and really believable. I intend to read this book again. I gave it five stars.

One of my favorite suspense reads of the year! I was hooked from start to finish and had so many potential theories but this kept me guessing until the end! Could easily see this as a show or movie!!

If you love psychological thrillers that trap you in claustrophobic settings with a rotating cast of suspects, The Wasp Trap delivers. It’s a quicker, twist-packed ride than most—and while a few beats feel a bit forced, the tension rarely lets up and the payoff is satisfying. A solid pick for fans of Lucy Foley‑style mysteries, especially if you're up for a dark, nostalgic twist on tech‑era origins.

Thank you @atria for my gifted digital copy. This doesn’t come out for awhile and it has already been causing quite the buzz… 😉 It is a fast paced story filled to the brim with drama! There are dual timelines in this locked door thriller with a couple POVs. The story grabbed my attention right away and I was so intrigued to see where it would go. Unfortunately, for me, I failed to connect with the characters. So it was hard to care too much about their outcome. I enjoyed the way it wrapped up and appreciated the twists, but wasn’t super invested in the story. I know a lot of people have loved this one, so don’t let my thoughts deter you!