All your friends are invited. But which of them will survive?
‘Wow… This is a complete page turner. I couldn’t put it down’ ***** Netgalley reviewer
An addictive and twisty psychological thriller about the dark secrets that lie within a peaceful neighbourhood.
Eight friends. Eight secrets. One killer.
A group of old friends gather in a peaceful suburban street for a dinner party.
They are … killer.
A group of old friends gather in a peaceful suburban street for a dinner party.
They are expecting a fun evening of wine, food and pleasant company. But then they start to play the game…
It’s about trust and dark secrets – it tests marriage to its limits – and none of them can begin to imagine its consequences.
Because the next day, two guests are dead and the others are trapped in a nightmare…
Readers love The Dinner Party:
‘This one kept me gripped and guessing to the end’ Stephen Edger
‘A deliciously twisted thriller’ Michael Wood
‘Woah! Once you pick it up you will NOT want to put it down!’
‘So many twists and turns! This thriller has you guessing until the very last chapter’
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They are a group of eight friends … all married … all have been friends for at least 10 years. Ted and Juliette are hosting a dinner party at their house. They are expecting a wonderful evening of fun, good food, laughter, great company, and wine.
But one of the others suggests a parlor game …. a game that no one should ever play. These eight friends cannot foresee just how dangerous this is.
By tomorrow, two of these people will be dead …and everyone else will be living a nightmare.
There are secrets and lies aplenty … add suicides, possible homicides, drugs, alcohol and well hidden pasts that are slowly being revealed, and the suspense is palpable. I found the first half riveting, but them it kind of fizzled toward the end. The story was all wrapped up, but some of it didn’t rise to the level of tension I had expected.
Many thanks to the author / Harper Collins UK / Killer Reads / One More Chapter / Netgalley for the digital copy of this psychological crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
Good story with twists.
HE’S BACK…..R.J.Parker (aka Richard Parker) one of the masters of the ordinary guy finding himself thrust into situations that are out of his control stories returns with another gripping stand-alone thriller.
Four couples who are apparently life long friends get together at one of the couple’s houses for one of their regular dinner parties. It all appears to start off ok although even from the beginning the reader gets the feeling that these people are not as close as they pretend to be. There is tension in the air and the atmosphere gets worse after one of the women suggests that they play a game called the truth game.
What starts off as an innocent dinner party swiftly descends into.a twisty tale of murder,lies,deception,secrets and betrayals that hooks the reader in from the first page,keeps you guessing and frantically turning the pages.
The story is narrated entirely by Ted who was the host of the dinner party along with his partner Juliette. We follow him as he tries to discover what the hell is going on,why his friends are being killed and by whom,why it appears that Juliette is keeping things from him. Why his life is suddenly falling apart because of one stupid party game and why don’t Juliette and their friends what him to tell the police about the game. Out of all the realistic characters,apart from Ted’s son Georgie who was a wonderful character, Ted was my favourite character and I found myself routing for him as his life unravelled around him,he found himself in danger and not knowing who he could trust. I can’t honestly say that I liked Juliette or any of the other friends for various reasons and I wasn’t very impressed with DI Renton either.
I really really love Richard Parker’s thrillers and The Dinner Party was no exception. Fast paced,packed full of twists and turns,vivid characters and intense hero in danger moments. The chapters are short and snappy and give the reader a very bad case of Just one more chapter syndrome. As always this is a extremely well written thriller and is worth far more than five stars. I think this very talented author deserves far more recognition. Very very highly recommended
Four couples attend a dinner party as friends, but dark secrets are boiling just beneath the surface. A trust game pits husband and wife against each other, and the next day, two of the guests are dead, while the other guests are left to figure out why.
For a book that is meant to be “an addictive and twisty psychological thriller,” it didn’t provide many thrills. If the book had not started with the main character, Ted, fighting for his life, I don’t know if I would have gotten through it nearly as quickly as I did. As it was, I did want to know how it got to that point, but it was quite a chore to get there. And more than once, I got to the end of a chapter and had no real compulsion to continue immediately, like I’d expect to have in a good book, especially a good thriller.
All four of the couples came across dull and lifeless to me–not necessarily as individual people, but in their relationships. Ted and his wife probably showed the biggest spark of life, but that was likely just because he was the main character. As such, I had a difficult time connecting with anyone in the book.
After the first murder victim appeared, most of the suspense seemed to be attempted through Ted questioning things repetitively–like why the victim had died, if the person they’d suspected to be the murderer had really done it, and if “the game” was responsible.
And that brings me to one of my biggest gripes. This trust game that they played was silly at best, yet became far too pivotal in the book. Everyone but Ted basically decided that the police shouldn’t know about it, or they’d all be blamed for the death…I mean, just far too much emphasis was put on this party game. And worse yet, it turned out to be a big part of the underlying cause for everything.
In the end, the reason behind each death was weak and, frankly, boring. I had theories of twisty goodness that would be revealed at the end, but when it ended, and no exciting twists had occurred, I basically was left with my mouth hanging open, and not in a good way. No, I didn’t guess at the motive behind the killings, but that didn’t make it good. A few surprises and betrayals did come up in the second half, especially relating to Ted’s wife, but none of them delivered on the punch they set up.
For those who want to know about how clean a book is before reading–there are no sexual situations and no language whatsoever that I can recall. The violence and bloodshed does get a bit much near the end, but nothing more than I could handle (and my threshold is fairly low).
I really wanted this book to deliver on its twisty promises, but it was unimpressive. It wasn’t terrible, though, and I think there are those who will enjoy it. It just wasn’t for me.
Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for providing me a copy of this book to review.
Hard to follow and ugly
It was a page turner, intriguing, and entertaining. It went in many directions.
Kept me guessing until late in the story! Well I constructed!
The Dinner Party is a classic domestic mystery novel. For readers expecting the psychological thriller that is advertised, you may be disappointed. While the premise of the plot is intriguing, the pace is a bit slow and foreshadows any trepidation set by the author. The characterization is well-developed for the main character who is also the narrator of the story but all other character development fails to reach any further than surface depth. All in all, a mediocre read. Recommended for those just getting started in this genre. 3 stars.
Thank you to #NetGalley for this ARC, which I read and reviewed voluntarily. All thoughts and opinions are my own.