by Rebecca Heath
SYNOPSIS
Perfect families are only as perfect as their best kept secrets.
Summer, 2000
The Whitlam siblings have it all and sixteen-year-old Lucy only wants one thing – to be close to them. Soon she's lazing around their impossibly large pool, wearing Annabel's expensive clothes and having secret rendezvous with Harry, until at their lavish clifftop party she sees something that could jeopardise it all.
Winter, 2020
One failed marriage later, Lucy is back in town and quickly lured back into the Whitlam's shiny world. But when a body washes up on the beach and someone seems determined to frame her for murder keeping their secrets this time could cost her everything.
Now that summer is over is she with them or against them?
REVIEW
One eventful summer Lucy is sent to stay with her Grandmother in Queen's Point, a plan to keep her out of trouble. During this time she meets the three Whitlam siblings - Mae, Annabel and Harry - and she is quickly swept away by their beauty, wealth and lavish lifestyle.
Twenty years later Lucy is forced to return after the death of her Grandmother and is surprised by a visit from Mae as she begins to clear out the house. The whole town (including the Whitlam's) are still in shock after the recent discovery of a body near the coastal dunes so Lucy uses this opportunity to get back in with the influential family. However, even though it might look like it's all happy families, it doesn't take long for the claws to come out!
If you judged this book on the title and cover alone it would be quite deceiving. The Summer Party is not a light and entertaining summer thriller, it's actually a dark, complex and multi-layered murder mystery. The story switches between two timelines, there are a lot of potential suspects and some of these suspects have died in the time between the party back in 2000 and the present day, making it even harder to find out the truth.
Alongside the main storyline there are also lots of smaller stories branching off which build up a picture of the relationships between the various characters. For me it was these storylines that added layers and depth and made the book such a success. Instead of this being a more superficial domestic thriller, the story delved into subject matters including emotional abuse, sexuality, drug and alcohol issues, class and even residential care.
The Summer Party is a wonderful combination of glamour and grit. It's a story of secrets and lies and sinister suspicion set against an atmospheric Australian backdrop, and these unlikeable characters are a not so subtle reminder that the grass isn't always greener.
Thanks to Head of Zeus - @AriesFiction and Rebecca Heath - @RHeathAuthor for the opportunity to read and review.
Genre: Thriller / Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Head of Zeus
ISBN: 978-1804541005
Pages: 387pp
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