The Birthday Party is every parent's worst nightmare. A simple celebration of an 8 year olds birthday turns into tragedy when one of the young guests goes missing. As the 10 year anniversary of the disappearance approaches strange things start to happen and the story then flips between the present day and the time the child went missing. This story was packed full of twists and turns that I thoroughly enjoyed and did not see coming.
It was a great read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for my ARC.

This is a parents' worst nightmare. I read this book with my heart in my throat. It felt so real. The author definitely knows how to make her readers have heart palpitations! This is a page turner, and possibly the best book I have read this year so far!

A twisty mystery by best selling author Shalini Borland.
This story starts out with a birthday party for an 8 yr old girl at and ice skating rink and soon ends in disaster with a girl missing. The book takes us back and forth from past to present to unravel the details and secrets of what happened to missing Elle. It was an exciting read/listen with a few red herrings and several surprises.
A definite for fans of Boland, she did not disappoint!

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK | Thomas & Mercer for an ARC of this ebook.

Love this ladies books and this one didn’t disappoint
Great read from the first page to the last
Read in one sitting
One of my favourite books at the moment
Thanks Netgalley

Shalini Boland’s The Birthday Party is a haunting and emotional psychological thriller that is every parent’s deepest fear, the disappearance of a child. A child’s birthday celebration is turned into a nightmare when one of the girls disappears.

Six giggling girls gliding on the ice rink to celebrate the eighth birthday of Natalie’s daughter. But the joy turns to horror when Natalie does a headcount and realises one child, her niece, Elle is missing. Later they discover that Elle was lured away by someone dressed in a cartoon costume and no one saw it happen.

A frantic search is made, as Natalie feels deep guilt due to the fact her niece has disappeared while she is in charge of the children. Her sister, Jo, is devastated and begins a long, painful descent into grief and obsession. For ten years, Natalie supports Jo, but when the anniversary of Elle’s disappearance nears, Jo starts to suspect she’s being watched, by someone who knows what happened.

The story is well told on two timescales drip feeding the secrets from both past and present , which succeeds in adding tension to the novel. This is a fast paced psychological thriller that is an exciting read.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Amazon Publishing UK for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This was my least fave of hers that I have read, and I have read almost all, I found the pace to be a bit draggy and found the characters to be highly unlikeable. This fell flat for me, she's still one of my fave Authors.

This book was gripping from the very beginning and keeps you wanting more! Definitely had me wanting to keep reading it. First book I've ever read by this author and definitely looking forward to more!

The Birthday Party
by Shalini Boland

My first read by Shalini Boland and I’m utterly impressed! This was such a great book with unexpected twists and redeeming characters.

The last chapters were jaw dropping!

★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)

It was a day that they would never forget...

I have read most of Shalini's psychological thrillers (except for the first few before I discovered her) and she's always been my go-to author for a good fast-paced quick and thrilling read. And while the last few have failed to live up to the calibre of her previous ones, this one smashes them out of the ballpark! It is probably her best yet with this publisher and it was like reading the Shalini of old. And best of all, it keeps you guessing until the very end.

THEN: Natalie's daughter Georgia wanted an ice skating party for her 8th birthday with her best friends and since she was a December baby (welcome to my world), they had themed characters skating the ice along with the children. What more could any little girl want? So Natalie and husband Theo were tasked with the care of six little girls - Georgia, four of her friends and her 6 year old cousin, Elle. Six little girls went onto the ice...and now only just five remain.

When Georgia's best friend Sasha falls on the ice, Natalie takes her off for a few minutes to recover and thus becomes momentarily distracted. When she looks back, she counts five of them and finds Elle is missing. Frantic, Natalie informs Theo and they immediately take the girls off the ice and try searching for young Elle. When there is no immediate sign of her, Natalie calls the police. Though she dreads telling her sister Jo that she has lost her six year old daughter.

NOW: Ten years later and Natalie is planning Georgia's 18th birthday. But as always, her birthday is shadowed by Elle's disappearance a decade before. How could they possibly celebrate? But every year, Georgia's birthday has been a subdued affair but this year she is 18 and she deserves to celebrate.

Their lives have stalled since that day ten years ago. For Jo, the mother whose child disappeared; for Natalie and Theo, the ones in charge of all six girls; and for Georgia, whose birthday has never been the same again because to celebrate it would be like forgetting that it was also the day her cousin disappeared. Everyone is stuck in a kind of rut but no one more so than Jo who, understandably lost a child but her behaviour just went from bad to worse. She couldn't face going back to their flat so instead moved in with Natalie and her family, thus placing undue pressure on them. They even converted their garage into a self contained garden flat for Jo so that they could all have their own privacy. Over the course the past decade, they each found their own ways of coping whilst also sweeping everything under the carpet to maintain the peace and stop from upsetting Jo's unstable equilibriam.

But then Natalie receives a phone call from the past and suddenly a new lead offers new hope. Could this be it? Will they finally learn what happened to Elle all those years ago? Or will it be another colossal waste of time?

The story unfolds in the past and present timeline in Natalie's first person narrative with a few chapters by an unknown narrator interspersed throughout. All through the tale the reader is kept guessing - even me! And I could usually pick them! I did have a few suspects but then when Shalini threw in her trademark twist it knocked all my theories out of the water. Although funnily enough, the twists were some of the theories I had pondered but not quite settled on. In fact, I got them around the wrong way! So in effect, I did guess them correctly but in the wrong order. LOL

As for Jo. I get she lost her daughter and that has to be a mother's worst nightmare. But I just could not warm to her. I found her to be completely selfish and too dependant on Natalie, expecting her to clean up her messes each and every time - because she knows exactly that's what Natalie would do. I was incredibly frustrated by her behaviour and though some of it may have been part of her grief, as Natalie ruminates her sister has always been "a bit flaky". Even events prior to Elle's disappearance show her selfish nature. After her daughter disappears, she is quite happy to sponge off her sister and husband indefinitely without contributing to household costs or making an effort around the house. And she always expect Natalie to come running at her beck and call, regardless of boundaries or her own accountability (of which she had none). I didn't like her at all. I think it was because of her that I knocked off half a star.

Despite my incredible dislike of Jo, this is a thrilling fast paced quick read from start to finish that is wholly entertaining.

I would like to thank #ShaliniBoland, #Netgalley and #AmazonPublishing for an ARC of #TheBirthdayParty in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

Another great book by Shalini Boland. Full of twists and a great ending that I didn't see coming. Recommended
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest review

Wonderful Shalini Boland it again! Never disappoints and always with such relatable and genuine characters! I loved the pace and the thrills thanks for sharing!!

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

Wow, what an excellent book! Though the author, Shalini Boland, is a great author so why am I surprised.

The story follows a family celebrating their daughter - Georgia's 8th birthday party at an ice skating rink with her friends and her 6 year old cousin, Elle. Suddenly they realise that Elle is not with the other girls and chaos ensues, everyone looking for her. The story then skips 10 years in the future and what the lives of the people look like now.

The story flips between present day (10 years on from the day Elle goes missing) back to the past, when Elle goes missing.

The story has some great twists in and is written very well. I will be recommending this book to lots of people.

Great idea for a book! This was my second read by Shalini Boland, and I was eager to delve into another. At first, the story was quite gripping, and I didn’t want to put it down. However, eventually it became a little too drawn out and I found myself getting annoyed with some of the main characters continuously making the same mistakes and wrong decisions. It’s still worth the read - especially if you’re a Boland fan. 3.5 stars! Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the digital ARC.

I’ve read almost everything that Shalini Boland has written and they keep getting better. As a parent this book hit my nerves hard and kept me on edge. The twists are amazing. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

A little girl goes missing at a birthday party for her cousin. No one saw her leave the ice-skating rink with someone dressed in a dog costume. Ten years later her family is still reeling from the trauma, while they also try to remain hopeful that she’ll still be found.

The Birthday Party has two timelines – then and ten years later. Natalie, the little girl’s aunt, feels the brunt of the guilt and at the same time her mother, Jo, is struggling to cope with her grief. For the most part, the two timelines work well and help give the reader a sense of the frustrations and sorrow the various characters are experiencing. But, at the same time, there does seem to be quite a bit of repeated self-recrimination (especially from Natalie) that becomes a little tedious.

The final few chapters produced several imaginative and unexpected twists that really did change my opinion of some of the characters. Overall enjoyable, I would give The Birthday Party 3.5 stars but will bump the rating up to 4 stars. NetGalley provided an advance reader copy.

This is one of those stories that brings up your most horrible fears as a parent and thus, I became hooked! The middle part where they're enduring this tragic event but moving on with their lives was harder to get through for the not knowing but Ms. Boliand manages to make even everyday events tense with excitement! The twists at the ending were wonderful but shocking as well, especially the very last page! OMG!

Prepare to be drawn into a chilling enigma with Shalini Boland's latest thriller, The Birthday Party. What begins as a day of innocent celebration at an ice rink shatters into every parent's worst nightmare when a child vanishes without a trace. Boland masterfully weaves a tale of escalating dread, where the lines between reality and suspicion blur with each turn of the page.

Decades pass, but the ghost of that fateful day lingers, a silent predator in the lives of those left behind. Long-buried secrets claw their way to the surface, and the unsettling feeling that someone knows the truth, someone is watching, grips you in a vise of suspense. The Birthday Party is a rollercoaster of twists and turns, a psychological labyrinth that will keep you guessing until the final, breathtaking revelation. Boland proves once again why she is a master of the thriller genre, delivering a story that is both mesmerizing and deeply unsettling. If you crave a read that will haunt your thoughts long after you've turned the last page, step into The Birthday Party – if you dare.

Check out this teaser :

A party. A nightmare. A child gone without a trace.

It started out as a party: six little girls gliding and giggling at the ice rink to celebrate Natalie’s daughter’s eighth birthday.

But by Natalie’s next head count, it’s turned into a crime scene. Six children went onto the ice—and now there are just five. Nobody saw her niece, Elle, being taken. Nobody saw the person in a cartoon costume lure her quietly away.

Traumatised by what happened on her watch, Natalie spends the next decade supporting her sister, Jo, as the years since Elle’s abduction tick by. But as the tenth anniversary approaches, Jo becomes convinced that someone is stalking her—someone who knows the truth about that day on the ice.

As long-buried secrets start to surface, the sisters must relive the horror of losing Elle—and watch the world as they know it shatter before their eyes.

I've enjoyed previous books by this author, but this one didn't quite hit the same.
The premise seems to be a common one lately: a missing child, and to be honest I don't think I'll be reading any more with this theme.
The story starts off well, but the pace wanes and starts to become repetitive and I started to think the entire thing was just completely improbable.
Towards the end, the pace does pick up again, although by then I didn't feel all that invested in the characters.
However, I did like the rather realistic ending. For me, it redeemed things somewhat as it didn't try to sugar-coat the situation.

Shalini Boland has done it again. Another thrilling book full of solid character building and suspense... right to the very end. Enjoyed this one immensely.

When Elle disappears at Georgia’s birthday party, her aunt and uncle blame themselves for not looking after her properly. Elle’s mum goes to live with them, putting huge pressures on their marriage. When the 10th anniversary of Elle’s disappearance comes round, old memories resurface.
I did enjoy this book but it was quite repetitive with chapters alternating between how bad everyone felt then and how bad they still feel now. The conclusion was far fetched but interesting. Not my favourite Shalini Boland book but still a good read.