Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox was an audio arc with all the bells and whistles. As a long-time audio listener (think 1980s with a huge Sony Walkman and excessively large headphones), I am always excited when there is more than one narrator. This one is absolutely fabulous with an entire cast of voices. Dan Bittner, Kate Handford, Pearl Hewitt, Saskia Maarleveld, and Suzy Jackson were all great at voicing their characters and use of multiple narrators make audiobooks even easier to digest. Thank you Macmillan Audio for the extra effort of an ensemble.

The story is set in a haunted house as a sweet 16 party for an extremely wealthy family. Told in reverse, we know a murder takes place and the story unfolds slowly over the course of 11 hours. The characters are fleshed out, the slow unveiling of their individual stories, the superb setting …… all of it make for a great read.

I was unfamiliar with author Cox but would happily read anything she writes.

I think this is the best book that I’ve read so far in 2025, it had all the elements of a great plot. Old wife, new wife, teenage daughter, new baby with second wife, shady best friends, scary nanny, and a creepy husband/father.

This book was a wild ride! It started off as a slow burner, but the ending was epic. I’ve read this in two sittings and imagine this will be one of the best books of the summer of 2025.

This book has it all- tension, intrigue and a dark story. I loved the setting of the house on the hill and the lavish party. The writer’s descriptions made me feel like I was in the story. I liked some of the characters and disliked others, but in the end it all came together. This was a great locked room mystery that burned slowly but interestingly and I couldn’t wait to find out what was going on.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy!

"It was the mother in me, it took over."

#kelseycox you deserve a round of applause. #partyofliars had me making twists and turns that I didn't even see coming and somehow you took all the maybes and instead of just letting them fall aside as you went, you successfully got them ALL to the end in a way that makes so. much. sense.

The audio book was perfectly narrated and I would definitely recommend! make sure to grab this during release week!

#netgalley #arc ##MacMillanAudio

I received a complimentary copy of this book "Party of Liars" and all opinions expressed are my own. I first read this book and then requested the audiobook to listen to. I liked both. The mystical side of the story is what drew me in. The twists and turns kept it interesting. It was suspenseful and listening to the audiobook, even though I knew what was going to happen, it was still really good.

I couldn’t stop listening to this one once I started. What an entertaining cast of characters. Many of them very unlikable, but a few good ones. Everyone is hiding something from others and everyone is guilty in one way or another.
Great narration. Well written and kept me hooked the entire time.

I had really high hopes for this one, deadly rich people party thriller sounds like so much fun. But I was kind of disappointed with this one.

During a sweet sixteen party (in a supposedly haunted house) someone dies, was it an accident? What it a murder? And if it was a murder, who did it? Doesn't that sound like so much fun?!

I feel like nothing that I wanted focus on was focused on. The haunted house thing is kind of immediately dropped and basically never brought up again (you could've done such cool things with that) and nothing really happens. And if anything does happen, it's super predictable. I just wasn't excited when reading this book, I was never anxiously waiting the next reveal because there really wasn't anything to reveal or to be excited about.

There was lots of tension from the drama and interpersonal conflicts. That was fun. But there wasn't enough of that to sustain me. I just wanted more from this book. It wasn't awful by any means, it just didn't have a wow factor.

Thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

This was a bit of a "kitchen sink" thriller. A lot of characters and a lot of issues thrown in. It did keep me guessing, but missed the mark a bit as there was a lot of back-story that didn't really build or add to the overall plot.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC.

Party of Liars - Kelsey Cox
Pub Date - 7/1/25
Rating - 3.5 rounded up to 4
Thoughts - Thank you to Netgalley and MacMillian Audio for this gifted advanced audiobook in exchange for my honest review. I really enjoyed this book! The narrators were fabulous and the storyline kept me wanting to know more. The story is located in Texas centered around Sophie Matthews' 16th birthday party where someone gets murdered and the reader has to stick around to find out the identity of both the murdered and the murderer. Throughout the story, the reader finds out the messy family dynamics between Sophie's mom, dad, step mom, nanny, dad's business party, and best friend. Very entertaining and will definitely be snagging a copy when this releases!

I signed up for this ARC because it sounded like the perfect “who dun it” “locked room mystery” and I was half right??

The beautiful mansion is the perfect, atmospheric back drop for this story. The author does such an amazing job of describing it in detail so you feel like you’re inside the walls watching the story unfold. Unfortunately the draw of the “haunted mansion” just kind of falls off and isn’t fully explored.

The story is told in alternating POVs, and I think it would have been better if we had heard it solely from the view of Dan (current wife) and Kim (ex wife) to start, sprinkling in other characters for key parts of the story. I found it a little overwhelming and confusing.

The beginning of this book hooks you, you just have to know what’s going to happen and I for sure thought this one was a slam dunk. Unfortunately the further I got into the middle the more confused I got and found the story a bit erratic. The ending is good and ties the story together nicely though.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC audio of this book in exchange for my honest rating!!

This was entertaining. Lots of viewpoints, but they are not hard to follow. The narrator voices are fantastic! You find out someone is dead at the start and then you follow the party to the end to find out what happens. But some twists you see coming. All in all, a quick read.

PARTY OF LIARS!!!! Thank you Netgalley & publishers for letting me listen to this early!

This book is set in a said to be haunted cliffside mansion, told in multiple POVS both before, during, and after Sophie’s huge Sweet Sixteen. And while the first half of the story getting to know the characters and getting inside their heads *seems* a little slow, I never lost interest in the story.

It’s hard to describe this book without just reiterating the title. Every time I thought “What’s the deal here, and how does it pertain to the story?”, I got hit with the MEANEST plot twists over and over. And even better- I didn’t see a SINGLE one coming. 😭

Every single detail and POV (there were like half a dozen) was intentional and leading up to something huge. Up to the last chapter, I was on the edge of my seat- and the utter shock I felt in the last thirty seconds of the book was SOOO good. If you love thrillers, if you love Lisa Jewell, PLEASE read this!!

This book was electric and I absolutely inhaled it! Following four different women and their intertwining paths leading up to and during the night of Sophie's lavish 16th birthday party, Party of Liars explores themes of obsession, jealousy, addiction, and motherhood. It is an explosive and dark thriller, told in alternative POV's and full of twists I was not expecting.

🎧 I appreciate they had different narrators for each alternating chapter / perspective. It really helped keep the characters and situations clear, and I thought the narrators fit the characters perfectly.

While this novel unfolds at a deliberate, slow-burn pace, its deeply character-driven narrative and late-arriving thrills ultimately won me over. I found myself genuinely enjoying the ride, even if it took patience to get there.

The story centers on a sweet sixteen celebration, brimming with a cast of dynamic, well-drawn characters. There’s Dani, the stepmother and new mom grappling with postpartum struggles that blur the line between paranoia and hallucination. Kim, the birthday girl’s alcoholic mother, simmers with resentment toward her ex-husband and his youthful new bride. Orlaith, the loquacious nanny, brings an intriguing layer of mystique with her apparent special gifts. And then there’s Mikayla, the awkward best friend whose quiet complexity hints at depths her peers overlook. Each of these women plays a pivotal role in the escalating tension of the night, and as readers, we’re tasked with piecing together how their stories intertwine.

The slow build may not suit every reader, but for those who relish rich character development, the payoff arrives in a thrilling crescendo. It’s a book that rewards your investment, leaving you satisfied as the threads of these vivid personalities finally weave together.

“Party of Liars” was a sufficiently entertaining read, with a fast pace and plenty of intrigue to keep me turning the pages. However, the red herrings were a little too obvious, making them feel more like distractions than genuine misdirection. The real villain was predictable from the start, which took away some of the tension.

Some positive notes about this book first.This is written and told in multiple points of view which I enjoyed and the narrators for all the characters were very good. This book takes place at a 16th birthday party but is told from 2 time lines, based on this we know a tragedy occurs at the party but we don't know who or why. It was interesting to hear the story from different characters at the party and to hear all the different stories going on with each character. It kept the story interesting. However my issue is I felt like in the end most of what I read didn't actually matter to the story. We hear throughout the whole book about a ghost story that surrounds the house but did that actually matter at all? We get a lot of extra fluff that really didn't contribute anything or have anything to do with the ending of the story. In the end I was just looking for a little more to the story. I wish certain things would've tied in more later on. I was really looking for more story from the nanny and more background on her but ended feeling a little disappointed. This book was interesting enough to keep me listening but I would've liked more from the story instead of an ending that I feel we've seen before in many other books.

It’s Sophie’s Sweet Sixteen party and it’s being held at her psychiatrist dad Ethan’s house, a renovated suburban San Antonio mansion reportedly haunted by “The Mother.” Real people in attendance include her stepmom, Dani (much closer in age ro her than her real mother), a baking influencer and mom to 5 months old Charlotte; her mother Kim, a bitter alcoholic divorcee who did a lot of the renovation on the party house before being replaced by trophy wife, Dani; Sophie’s less wealthy friend Mikayla; Sophie’s ex-boyfriend football star Mason; Órlaith, the Irish nanny; and various gossipy neighbors and business associates, so many unknown to Dani.

We don’t hear directly from Sophie, but we get the POVs of Dani (who has had postpartum issues but is really getting threatening notes), Kim, extremely jealous of Dani, slipping into an alcoholic delirium and who previously encountered “the ghost”; Mikayla, amazed by Sophie’s good family circumstances; Órlaith, definitely hiding some secrets; and occasionally Ethan, who seems to be a good father but is oblivious to the needs of his current wife Dani.

The story is divided into “before” and “after” the party — after a body falls from somewhere (there is a balcony overlooking the swimming pool). There’s obviously much more “before” as the story unspools and a sense of dread begins to grow (and as more alcohol is increasingly consumed by adults and teenagers). Will Kim do something to mortify her daughter? Is Dani imagining a stalker? Will some teenage angst moment come between Mikayla and Sophie? What’s Órlaith’s hiding? Everyone, including the various partygoers, appears to be lying about something.

Author Cox has constructed a brilliant storyline that allows us to get to know the psyches of various characters as we wait for the climax of the party and the reveal of the “incident.” I was totally entranced. The audiobook has a full cast — the varying voices give a multilayered performance that kept me riveted even further. There’s an Irish accented Órlaith and the Texas teenage accent of Mikayla. This is an amazing debut — I hope Kelsey Cox continues to write more thrillers like this! 5 stars!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Mikayla has green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO The Texas wildflowers are blooming, bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes covering the hillsides.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for advanced copies!

I loved this domestic thriller by Kelsey Cox (a new to me author). The full cast narration was a delight to listen to and kept me wondering what was going on.

Kim is a maybe alcoholic who is constantly trying to keep up with her ex husband and his new and much younger wife, Dani. Dani is just trying to make it through her day to day life with a 16 year old step daughter and a new baby. Luckily, she has a nanny to help and an attentive husband.

You’ll eat this book up if you liked “Big Little Lies”. It’s similar in that you get to superficially delve into the drama of other families.

Great audiobook!

Thanks to the author, NetGalley, and MacMillan audio for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! I had requested this book and when I received it, I didn’t bother to reread the summary. So I went into this book completely blind, and I was pleasantly surprised!

It started off great - the characters were interesting, the narrative was well-written. The narrators delivered a fantastic performance. There were several viewpoints, but they all provided really good structure so you never felt like you were having to get to know anyone or understand a different part of the story. The flow of the book was great, and the build up was suspenseful. I honestly had no clue who had died until the chapter before it happened. I loved the ending. I also live in Texas so the mention of Topo Chico and mums rang true. So, so happy for the ARC. Thanks NetGalley and Macmillan Audio! This really got me out of my 3 star book slump.

This was a good book. Reminded me of a Prime Time soap (Dynasty, Pretty Little Liars etc) only Party of Liars has it's own characters and its own drama. I enjoyed the tea, but glad they are not my neighbours. I listen to the audio, the narriators did a fantastic job. The were able to voice the charactors personality, deliver the punch lines without going overboard. They (narrators) were realistic and easy to listen to.