**BLOG TOUR**
I’m excited to be posting as part of the Bookouture Blog Tour for their latest thriller, The Birthday Weekend.
Back in college, there was a close-knit group of girls who were seemingly very close: Amy, Kat, Louise, Daisy, and Hannah. Everyone got along until Hannah’s boyfriend and first love Sam left her for Daisy. Not too much later, Hannah was found dead in the woods by the school, presumed a suicide. Now, 25 years later, the group has grown apart — the catalyst being Hannah’s death — but after a battle with cancer, Amy wants to bring them all back together to get some closure. She inherited a cabin near the woods were Hannah went missing, it’s her birthday, and she wants everyone to come back together to try to figure out why Hannah killed herself. And while they’re there — and all being awkward and feeling uncomfortable — a reporter shows up — the police are reclassifying Hannah’s death as a potential homicide, and they want to interview everyone. But the group decides to take matters into their own hands…
This was a fun, quick read. There’s a creepy forest, lots of secrets, and a love triangle, so even though the big death happened more than two decades earlier, there is still the psychological suspense. The big twist honestly wasn’t a big surprise, nor was the smaller twist closer to the end… Most (but not all) of the big reveal was something I had figured out closer to the beginning of the book. But, even so, I liked the premise and it was interesting to see these characters come together.
This book was told almost exclusively from Louise’s point of view — she’s the person still best connected with the rest of the women — and she steers the reader’s knowledge of each of the women at the birthday weekend. She’s keeping some secrets — one big one we don’t find out until the end — and a bunch of smaller ones that friends keep for other. She doesn’t know if she can trust the other people in the group, and the reader doesn’t know if we can trust her. There’s also a side plot with her husband and an affair they are trying to move past, which also builds during the party, and gives Louise the motive for most of her actions.
Some of the characters are a bit flat… they’re there to fill a role in the story and aren’t any deeper than that. But even so, if you want a book to escape for a few hours, pick up this one.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Bookouture in exchange for my honest review. It has not influenced my opinion.