Sophie Matthew’s sweet sixteen party was supposed to be a lavish gala that would create lasting memories. However, the party took a tragic turn when a body fell from a balcony. The events that unfolded were not only shocking but also deeply disturbing for all involved.

One of the main characters in this story is Dani, Ethan’s much younger second wife with a newborn daughter. Dani is struggling with postpartum depression and paranoia, possibly due to the eerie and reportedly haunted house they now live in. Her dark thoughts and emotions were particularly unsettling for me, as I have a daughter who has suffered postpartum depression twice and is expecting again in less than a month. Seeing Dani go through such powerful emotions was deeply upsetting, and I almost considered giving up on the book more than once.

Despite the disturbing elements, the story was captivating due to its drama, intensity, and the secrets, lies, and deceit that unfolded. The audiobook format, with five narrators, was particularly compelling, as each narrator performed their roles masterfully, delivering pristine performances.

While Dani seemed to be the primary protagonist, there was also Kim, Ethan’s bitter ex-wife and Sophie’s mother. Once a successful veterinarian, Kim had become a broken woman, dependent on alcohol for comfort and consumed by bitter rage.

Órlaith, the elderly Irish nanny for Dani and Ethan’s baby, was an intriguing character. She was a woman full of superstition and eerily watched over the Matthews family. Along with Sophie, her best friend, Mikayla, completed the compelling cast, though she was anything but innocent.

This enigmatic story, told through multiple perspectives and flashbacks, builds a compelling resume for the five women involved. Kelsey Cox, a new author to me, has certainly become an author I would love to follow. She brilliantly captures the essence of the characters, presenting a wonderfully written locked-room mystery. The suspense is palpable, drawing the reader in like strong tentacles. Major issues like postpartum depression, paranoia, and one woman’s desperate struggle with alcohol are woven into the narrative.

Many thanks to Macmillan Audio, Minotaur Books and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

This book was a little confusing but also really liked it. I like when they’re are multiple readers for the different characters

The way I loved PARTY OF LIARS by KELSEY COX 💫

It’s a party to die for + a book that is right in my sweet spot.

▫️Rich people behaving badly
▫️Dual timelines
▫️Multiple POVs
▫️Setting as character (this time a cliffside mansion!)
▫️Complicated female relationships
▫️A gothic vibe thanks to house with a haunting history
▫️Deliciously dark + messed up people doing all the delicious dark + messed up things

Sophie Matthew’s lavish Sweet Sixteen party brings together her friends and family for one truly unforgettable party — and someone won’t make it out alive.

Told over the course of one party in the present and through the pieced together past, we try to puzzle out whose body falls from the balcony of this cliffside mansion — and why.

Get ready for lots of secrets, some well-time creepiness and a cast of characters that have snark, sass, insecurities, doubts, grudges, resentment, resilience, loyalty and motives. And so many cocktails!

I absolutely devoured this book and loved everything about the story + the mystery. The writing hooked me from the start and I had so much fun try to figure out what was happening at the birthday bash set in Texas Hill Country.

I am so here for rich people being the absolute worst and for the four female POVs who led this story — Dani, Órlaith, Mikayla + Kim. Give me complicated + messy + relatability women wrapped inside an entertaining thriller.

As time ticks on and the cocktails flow, past secrets culminate in a party no one can forget.

Huge thanks to NetGalley + Minotaur Books + Macmillan Audio for the ARCs. I altered between the two and have to give a shoutout to the full cast audio who did a tremendous job bringing these characters to life.

Thank you to the Macmillan Audio, St. Martins Press & Minotaur Books for providing me with advanced copies of Party of Liars. Here are my thoughts!

One extravagant Sweet Sixteen birthday party goes awry, leaving someone dead and the blood on someone’s hands. In this novel the reader gets some before, during and after Sophie’s birthday party. We read the perspectives of the stepmother, the nanny, the mother and the best friend. Each of these women will help the reader try to piece together exactly what happened at Sophie’s birthday.

I love a summer thriller, and this novel is perfect for summer. I listened to it for the most part and having the full cast made listening that much more engaging. I loved the way this story unfolded, and I genuinely didn’t know what was going to happen. I didn’t have any guesses on who the victim would be or the murderer. When I finally reached the end of the book, I was so happy with how everything tied together and played out.

The variety of characters was the best part of this book. I loved hearing all of the women’s experiences. It touched on the gossip and judgement that women sometimes face, and how their pasts can hang over them like a shadow, tainting everyone’s views of them and making people think the worst. And this happens at every age in this novel. It was such a powerful piece to include. Especially around topics such as addiction, pressures to fit in in high school, post-partum depression and class.

I can’t recommend this one enough to my fellow thriller lovers! And I’ll be keeping an eye out for other novels by Kelsey Cox, because I am hooked!

3.5/5 stars - Please don’t let my 3.5 rating deter you from giving this book a read - this was fun and fast-paced. Full of twist and turns plus unreliable narrators which I always love. The characters were well developed which is always a win when the book as character driven as this one. I couldn’t put it down!

What prevented this being a full 4 star was having 4 different povs - I think only having Dani and Kim’s pov would have made more of an impact once all the reveals started happening. For me the other 2 gave away a little too much throughout.

I recommend this to anyone looking for a quick, fast paced Thriller! I will definitely be checking out this author’s future books!

This platform has made it possible to connect with so many people: fellow readers, publishers, PR companies, bookstores, and even authors. Connecting with an author, while reading their book is a different reading experience, one I will treasure. Kelsey Cox reached out to me on social media when I tagged her in a post about her debut Party of Liars, and I just have to say, she is the sweetest most down to earth person ever. I particularly love her authors bio and relate to her on a deep level. This connection made my reading experience so much more.

I devoured this book to the point that I had no listening time and went and bought the book from my local indie. The audio is tremendous and I highly recommend it. The full cast makes the amount of characters easy to follow and I heard their voices even when I was reading. I loved the character of Dani and completely empathized with her. I loved the twists and how each was revealed at just the perfect time. The twist at the end I didn’t see coming, and that doesn’t happen very often.

This thriller is worth the hype. Go pick it up. Go read it. You won’t be sorry.

Thank you so much to the publishers for this! What a great edge of your seat read! I absolutely loved the narration of all 4 women’s perspectives. I kept thinking I knew who was at foul play and then was proven wrong! This moved so fast paced and with short chapters making you feel like you’re flying through with ease. So many great themes wrapped into this thriller-motherhood, mental health, regret and for some redemption. A fantastic read!

Thank you to NetGalley, Kelsey Cox, and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook. This was a gripping and intense listen, brilliantly narrated by Dan Bittner, Kate Handford, Pearl Hewitt, Saskia Maarleveld, and Suzy Jackson. A pitch-perfect psychological thriller packed with twists, turns, and enough gaslighting to keep you second-guessing everything.

This fast-paced thriller doesn’t disappoint! I would label it as a locked room style scenario, not because the characters are trapped but because the action takes place during a short time period. Although we get lots of background information about the characters through flashbacks, the main story takes place during the sweet sixteen birthday party for Sophie, the daughter of Ethan and Kim who are divorced. The setting for the party is the home of Ethan, a psychiatrist, his new young wife, Dani, their infant daughter and the Irish nanny. This is Kim’s former dream home and this is just one of the many factors that could lead someone to murder. Among others are Dani’s postpartum depression and possible psychosis, Kim’s alcohol abuse, a superstitious nanny, gossipy friends and neighbors and teenage angst. As the story unfolds, more secrets are revealed and the complicated relationships just make the book more and more suspenseful.
This is such a cleverly written and enjoyable read! I liked the suspense of knowing that someone was going to fall from a balcony at the beginning of the book but not knowing who or why. The reveals were surprising and juicy but not over the top. There’s no way that I could have predicted the ending but it was very satisfying. I will definitely look forward to more from this author.
I listened to the audio version of the book and the cast of narrators was fabulous! The accents were so good! I think I could listen to Saskia Maarleveld read a dictionary and be entertained but all of them were very good.
Thanks to NetGalley and the MacMillan Audio for the Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own.

Wild story with lots of secrets and lies.

We know from the beginning that someone dies, but we don't know who or how it happened.

A huge sweet sixteen party for Sophie is occurring at her father Ethan's house. Ethan is married to Dani, who has recently given birth to a baby and has had some psychological issues post-partum, so they hired Irish nanny Orlaith. Also among the attendees at the party are Mikayla, Sophie's best friend, and Kim, Sophie's alcoholic mother and Ethan's ex-wife. As the party progresses, each of the character's secrets begin to come to light with explosive results.

This book is a wild ride! There are so many secrets revealed--some I saw coming and some I did not. There are twists galore and the ending is very satisfying. The book even had me questioning my own sanity at some points as various characters are lying, gaslighting, and the reader doesn't know who to trust. It's told from multiple points of view and some of them are definitely unreliable narrators.

I listened to the audiobook of this novel, and it is a full cast narration which really elevated it for me. Each character has their own distinct voice while we are in their first person narration, so I was able to keep them all straight with ease. I highly recommend the experience of this book as an audiobook.

If you like bingeable thrillers with twisty plots, definitely pick this one up.

Everything is bigger in Texas—and Sophie Matthews’ sweet sixteen is no exception.

Kim and Ethan bought the cliffside Victorian mansion in Bulverde, Texas that no one else wanted. Local legend says, “the mother,” the original owner, still haunts the house after losing her daughter there many years ago. After a lengthy renovation, which gutted the home and added a sleek glass façade to the rear, Kim never got to enjoy the fruits of her labor. Life didn’t go as planned: her veterinary license took longer than expected, an unplanned pregnancy delayed the opening of her own practice, and eventually alcohol became her coping mechanism. One glass turned into too many, and her marriage to Ethan crumbled.

Now Ethan lives in the same house with his new wife, Dani, a young baking influencer, and their baby girl Charlotte. With the help of their Irish nanny Orla, they’re surviving the sleepless newborn phase. But Dani is battling postpartum depression and is unraveling under the pressure of maintaining her perfect online persona while prepping an elaborate cake for Sophie’s party. To manage, she’s seeing Ethan’s psychiatry partner for advice on how to move forward.

Told from four alternating points of view—Kim, Dani, Orla, and Sophie’s best friend Makayala—this domestic drama slowly peels back the façade of a picture-perfect family. As the party unfolds, so do the secrets. Emotions run high, alcohol flows freely, and tensions boil over—culminating in someone falling from the glass balcony above the dance floor. What follows is a sharp, fast-paced unraveling to uncover who died—and who’s responsible.

The pacing of the audiobook will keep listeners hooked until the final twist. While the haunted house subplot with “the mother” can feel a bit forced, it ultimately adds to the novel’s atmosphere and sense of unease. Just note: though pitched like a thriller, this is more of a domestic drama wrapped in mystery than a high-octane suspense tale.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and of course the author Kelsey Cox for the advanced copy of the audiobook. Party of Liars is out now. All opinions are my own.

WOW. The twists and turns this books takes are WILD! I am hard on thriller/mystery ratings bc if I can guess the story that's it for me-book ruined. Not this book. Just when you think you know, guess again! Also, must say I loved the *ghost* aspect. 4 Stars!

Rich people behaving badly! long-held resentments and jealousies, alcohol, gossip and backstabbing, what could possibly go wrong? Murder?
Sophie Matthews’ sixteenth birthday party is an exclusive bash in the heart of
Bulverde, Texas estate owned by her father, Ethan, and stepmother, Dani. The residence, reputed to be haunted, becomes the scene of tragedy when a body falls from the balcony during the event, lending new weight to local rumors. Potential suspects include Sophie herself, Ethan, Dani, Orlaith—the nanny to Sophie's infant half-sister Charlotte—Mikayla, Sophie's longtime friend who is experiencing strains in their relationship, and Kim, Sophie's mother, who may still harbor past resentments.

I did enjoy this book but would have liked to see more development in “the haunted house” and some character background. I don’t want to elaborate in case of spoilers. I thought it was well done for a debut author. I would definitely read what Kelsey Cox has for us next.

Kelsey Cox has written one of the thrillers of the summer with Party Of Lies. An incredibly entertaining locked-room mystery and domestic thriller set at a Sweet 16 birthday party where the birthday girls' family and friends have challenging secrets.

The audiobook edition is narrated by an engaging collection of narrators who lend their voices to the intriguing collection of characters/suspects.

Each of the four main characters has a distinctive voice and role within the story and Cox did a fantastic job of leaning to and subverting common tropes of the bitter ex-wife, elderly nanny, new young wife and nerdy teenage sidekick. Each narrator did an incredible job bringing them to life in the audio edition of the novel and their performances fully immersed me in the story.

Cox spends a lot of time developing each character before really getting into the weeds of the central murder/mystery, a strategy that I usually dislike but in the case really works well. Delving into themes of motherhood, manipulation, emotional abuse and more that I'm probably too dumb to unpack or understand fully, Party Of Lies is both a fun summer thriller and a deeper novel that a range of readers can form thought-provoking conversations from. Party of Lies should be on a lot of book club lists this summer/fall.

The target demographic for this novel is likely women, but it's a read that I think anyone could enjoy and one that men like me could probably learn from.

If you enjoy mysteries that can double as domestic thrillers, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Party of Lies in print, audio or digital format.

4.25/5 Stars

Thank You to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for providing me with an ARC of this phenomenal audiobook.

Another slow (very slow) burn novel, which are not my favorite. For the first half of the book, I wasn’t even sure what the point of the story was and the multiple points of view made it difficult to get invested in it because as soon as something got good, you moved on to someone else. Overall, I somewhat figured out who was responsible but it wasn’t until the very end until you understood what they were responsible for. Did I finish it? Yes. Am I glad I did? Not really. It was just OK for me but fans of slow burns and multiple points of view will enjoy this one.

This is the perfect thriller read for summer! A jaded ex-wife, extravagant ex-husband with a young new wife, the birthday girl and friends, a strange elder nanny with supernatural suspicions, neighborhood acquaintances who may have hidden agendas… all crammed together for a lavish birthday party thrown for the 16 year old honored guest. Well, not really. It’s more for show with these types, isn’t it?

Coming from multiple viewpoints and steeped in secrets, this audio book will have you invested from page one! As grudges and motives unfold, a decadent party turns to a murder scene. Who was callous and evil enough to be the culprit? Follow the twists and turns and enjoy the ride! I sure did!

Many thanks to NetGalley and publisher for gifting me an ALC copy. This review is my own opinions.

Sophie's Sweet Sixteen is at her dad's cliffside mansion, one side being completely glass like a giant dollhouse. Among the guests is Dani, Sophie's step mom who recently had a baby girl and is suffering from post partum depression. Or is the mansion haunted? Or is she going crazy?

I really liked this twisty, atmospheric whodunnit mystery. I can't believe it's a debut! I will definitely be reading whatever Kelsey Cox writes next.

The full cast of audiobook narrators was excellent. It definitely added to the experience.

I really liked this one! The story pulled me in right away, and I definitely didn’t see some of the twists coming. It had that “just one more chapter” feel, which is exactly what I look for in a thriller. Lots of secrets and shifting suspicions that kept me guessing until the end.

The narrator did a great job. Their voice worked well for the tone of the book, and I was able to tell the characters apart without any confusion. They brought a good amount of emotion and tension to the story, which made it even more engaging. The pacing felt right—not too fast or too slow—and the flow between chapters was smooth, even without visual cues.

The audiobook kept my attention the whole time, and I found myself totally caught up in the drama. It was easy to follow, and the narration really added to the experience. I’d definitely recommend this one as an audiobook—great for a long walk, commute, or just when you want to be absorbed in a good story.

Okay I LOVEDDDD this! I devoured it! Twisty whodunnit page turner! this definitely met my needs of everything in a book! Narrator was amazing aswell

I recently listened to this audiobook and thoroughly enjoyed the diverse cast of narrators. Each voice was clear and pleasant to listen to. The story itself was a complex exploration of family dynamics, featuring elements of gaslighting and unreliable narrators, ultimately culminating in unexpected twists. Overall, it was an engaging read.