Sandy M’s review of The Engagement Party by Darby Kane
Suspense Thriller published by William Morrow Paperbacks 5 Dec 23
Darby Kane (aka HelenKay Dimon) has become a favorite of mine since she began her suspenseful stories a couple of years ago. She keeps you guessing till the end, makes the stories twist and turn when least expected, and always gives you a satisfying ending after living dangerous lives with her characters.
And while all that pretty much happened this time around too, a few things got in the way for me as I went along for this ride. Number one is I didn’t like a lot of the characters and how they treated their supposed group of friends during their time on an isolated island to celebrate the engagement of one of their own. There are only a couple of characters who are at least likeable, one being Ruthie, the fiance of one of the friends. Being an outsider is a perk for her, despite all the terrible things that happen over their time together. The other is Sierra, best friend to Emily who went missing twelve years before, a tragedy that was never really solved, even though police made an arrest.
Little by little, strange and then horrific things begin to happen to the group, putting them in fear for their lives with no way off the island due to weather. Ms. Kane keeps it real, tossing characters overboard to keep the story moving forward, toward only heaven knows what when the end does come. That’s where those twists and turns come in, blowing you and all those sneaky, untruthful people away. There’s also a wrench or two thrown into the whole mess, giving everyone another dose of their own medicine and keeping you on the edge of your seat.
All in all, another good story from Ms. Kane, but with all those unlikeable characters, I didn’t enjoy this one as much as her earlier books. It’s still a great suspense/thriller that I recommend, however, especially if you read the genre on a regular basis.
Grade: B+
Summary:
Emily Hunt went missing from her affluent liberal arts school on graduation weekend. Her body was found floating in a river, and a quiet loner who most people on campus really didn’t know died by suicide. A tenuous link—one text—bound the two dead students together and was enough for law enforcement to close the case. But they got it wrong and now someone is determined to set it right.
Twelve years later, college friends gather to celebrate an engagement over a long overdue getaway on a swanky private island in Maine—with only one way in and one way out. Sierra Prescott, invited as a guest and unconnected to past events, is the only person who soon senses not all is what it seems.
The tension in the air is ignited when they find a dead man in the trunk of a car with a note: time to tell the truth. And things only get worse. As a torrential storm strands them together, the group’s buried stories begin to surface and secrets are bartered. To survive this deadly party, they’ll need to stop a killer before they become prey.
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
