A twisty, electrifying new thriller from the author of The New Neighbors and The Liar’s Room… The entire town thinks sixteen-year-old Sadie Saunders is dead. Missing now for a week, they say she was murdered. And they think they know who did it. Sadie’s five best friends aren’t so sure, and they vow to find out the truth. So they pack their bags and head into the woods where Sadie was last … their bags and head into the woods where Sadie was last seen.
But they’re not just friends, they’re suspects. And each of them has a secret.
As the landscape opens up, and the darkness closes in, the reality of their situation becomes clear…
This was never really a search party.
It’s a witch hunt.
And not everyone will make it home alive.
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This is a police procedural focusing on a missing teenager from a small town.
Local popular teenager Sadie is missing and here DI Fleet returns to his former home town to investigate her disappearance.
He’s the lead investigator on the case and he’s determined to uncover the truth.
To further confuse things Sadie’s friends decided the police were looking in the wrong place and formed there own search party taking them deep into the woods.
This forbidden excursion, unfortunately, ends in tragic circumstances as events and emotions spiral out of control.
So this is a story of secrets and lies and everyone’s keeping their cards very close to there chest.
It’s told from DI Fleet’s POV as well as the teenagers involved.
The perspective switched from each teen as they each take the spotlight and explain after the fact what actually occurred out in the woods over the period of time they were all missing.
There’s also some added angst from DI Fleet with his past within the town itself, Mostly concerning his current and past relationships so sister mother and estranged wife Holly.
So this was a fairly easy read but a tad predictable, the lack of obvious suspects really did narrow the field down in who I suspected and I wasn’t really a fan of the story narration style itself.
It kind of flitted from each teen recounting their experiences under police interview then back to the detective himself who was in real-time.
There was nothing essentially wrong with this it was a decent enough read and was well written just not terribly exciting either.
I mostly enjoyed this but it didn’t really have any wow factor and pace-wise I found this a bit slow as well, Overall it was an OK read just a bit bland In terms of excitement and it didn’t really stand out from the crowd.
I Voluntary reviewed a copy of The Search Party.
Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
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Five friends decided to form a search party and go into the woods,hoping to find their missing friend, Sadie Saunders. Two days later,the emergency services received a frantic phone call for help and when they arrived at the isolated location of the call,they discovered four,cold, wet and distressed teenagers and a dead body,a body that did not belong to the missing girl. Now not only do Detective Inspector Robert Fleet and his partner DS Nicola Collins have a missing person’s investigation,they also have a murder to solve. They find themselves in a frantic race against time to find the missing girl, everyone knows that the longer someone is missing, the higher the changes are that they won’t be found alive. They are also under pressure from their superior officer to charge and arrest one of the friends despite the lack of evidence due to rumours of police incompetence that are doing the rounds in the village. When Sadie had first gone missing, Fleet had suspected the same person but as time passes,he begins to wonder if his own judgement had been clouded by a tragic event from his past. Fleet is certain that the four remaining teens are not telling the whole truth about what happened during their time in the woods and that they also might know more about Sadie’s disappearance that they are admitting.
So where is Sadie? Is she alive or dead? What really happened during the two days that the teens spent in the woods?
This utterly enthralling thriller opens with the teen’s frantic phone call to the emergency services and then continues in chapters that alternate between the four friends police interviews and the police investigation. I thought that only two of the five friends had any likeable qualities to their characters and I struggled to understand why they had remained friends for so long. Maybe it was because they were misfits and had discontented homelives and that was the glue that held the group together. There was friction amongst the group even before they went into the woods so the more time they spent in the isolated atmosphere amongst the trees,the more the tension and feelings of paranoia increased especially when it began to appear that someone was following them. I really love reading books that are set in woods and forests, the sinister atmosphere even during the hours of daylight,the indistinguishable shadows amongst the trees, the silence that makes you feel like you are the only person alive. The smallest sound that can sound as loud as the biggest thunder clap. I loved the intensity of the scenes that were set in the woods,the atmosphere,the paranoia,the creepy feeling that the friends were being followed, the sounds that echoed around the trees at night. I thought that DI Fleet was a very likeable character and I loved the camaraderie and banter between him and DS Nicola Collins. There was a back story involving his sister that was mentioned throughout the book but it didn’t overshadow the main story.
I really, really loved The Search Party, I loved it so much that I wanted to read the whole book in one sitting but my old eyes had other ideas. It was gripping, intense,had a couple of jaw dropping OMG moments, kept me guessing and frantically turning the pages. The characters were diverse, vivid and realistic. Simon Lelic is a very very talented author and I think this story would make a very enjoyable tv crime mini series. Worth far more than five stars and very very very highly recommended
I’ve spent every free moment of the last few days feasting on The Search Party…a bloody good read and the very definition of unpredictable. Twisty, creepy, brilliantly paced, and with a denouement I never saw coming.
A brilliantly tense tale of teenage frustration, lost souls, and sibling love, with an atmosphere as tense as the end of summer storm that threatens throughout the book. Plus a whirlwind of an ending that’s like riding a rollercoaster.
A chillingly complex, well-crafted web. The voices cry out from Simon Lelic’s pages as if they are standing right next to you.
I found this book to be quite slow, particularly for the first half of the book. I wasn’t a fan of the one sided conversation that recorded the various interviews. Although the outcome was a surprise, I couldn’t really connect with any of the characters. D.I. Fleet had various personal issues to deal with, as well as the investigation and pressure from his boss to achieve a result. I received a copy and have voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
3.5 Star
The idea of 5 best friends trying to find out what happened to Sadie all while protecting each other and themselves was intriguing. I loved that they each had their own stories to tell and were willing to tell them to the police. As with any story told, I had no doubt that there was so much more to the story than what met the eye.
I am a fan of Simon Lelic. I have read his past books and loved them, found them unable to put down. With The Search Party, I struggled a little bit with the text. Maybe it was more the format. The story was told by Sadie’s 5 best friends and a DI Fleet. It seemed that the friends rambled on, sometimes reliving the same event as seen through different perspectives. There was not much dialogue and that threw me off the story. I wanted to connect with the characters, to feel their pain at the loss of their friend and to fear their fear while searching the woods.
Simon Lelic has a talent of writing thriller stories. There are twists, turns, ups, and downs. Try as I might I cannot solve the who-dun-it but I enjoy taking the ride.
Wow! I have been totally gripped by this riveting read for the past few days. When everyone is as suspicious as hell, who do you trust? I bounced from suspecting one person to another and then I had the rug pulled from under my feet. Boy was I not expecting that! My lips are zipped. No spoilers here.
I was captivated by the chapters told from the search party’s perspective. I felt as though I was right there in their heads. At first, I worried that I wouldn’t follow each voice with ease but from the off, I knew exactly whose head I was in and most of all, I really felt that each of those kids were individuals. Each voice was unique.
The main investigator, Fleet, was equally likeable and flawed. I enjoyed how his character developed through the book and how the author delved deeper into his past, allowing me as the reader to really care for him.
I loved the tension as the journey unfolded. Those chapters in the woods gave me a right chill. I wouldn’t spend a minute after nightfall hanging around there. The setting was perfect, atmospheric and chilling. The story, riveting and compelling. The characters, intriguing and suspenseful. Fantastic read! Will I be going down to the woods today? Let me think about that. No way – hehe!
The entire town thinks sixteen-year-old Sadie Saunders is dead. Missing now for a week, they say she was murdered. And they think they know who did it.
Sadie’s five best friends aren’t so sure, and they vow to find out the truth. So they pack their bags and head into the woods where Sadie was last seen.
This starts with a call to emergency services. That sucks you in. But then it goes to Day 6… Day 6 of Sadie Saunders disappearance. I felt like I had really missed something. When the police are interviewing the group of friends, it is just each individual talking to the police. Telling their story, but there are no questions from the police. The kids are talking. That took a little bit to get used to as there were no actual “interviews”.
There are two investigations going on. One is the search for Sadie, and the other is the investigation as to what happened in the woods, while the kids were searching for her. Although I was confused while reading this a little bit, it all connected and tied up nicely. I didn’t really suspect the outcome.
This book was given to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Simon Lelic and Berkley Publishing Group.