The Beach Party: A completely gripping psychological thriller with a jaw-dropping twist

Product Information

Thanks to Bookouture, Bookouture Audio, the author and NetGalley for the ARC and audio copy. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review*

Who would have thought our beach party could end the way it did? Close friends gathered on the last night of a long hot summer—which one of us could have killed the girl everybody loved? Now, some years later, Katie co-hosts a true crime podcast with a friend from Uni, Sophie. Sophie is also beautiful, popular, a social media influencer, etc. Sophie is also dating a guy Katie grew up with. Given these... personal connections... Sophie talks Katie and her BF to do a new podcast called "Small Town" investigating Lacey's death. Side note #1~ I could have went for the blurb to hint at this really being about the podcast. I thought I was going to be at the party in real time.Katie and Sophie met at university whilst studying Journalism together in London. Sophie enjoys being more of a broadcaster whereas Katie enjoys writing. They combine their talents together to create a True Crime podcast called Small Town. They focus on the unsolved murder of nineteen-year-old Lacey Crew in Cornwall. Katie grew up in Cornwall and has inside knowledge surrounding the event that led to Lacey’s body being discovered. She was there – does she know something that she had forgotten? Can secrets stay buried forever? rounded up to three stars. Jumping on the true crime obsession and trend, the beach party tells the story of Lacey, murdered five years prior, through the lens of the main character and the true crime podcast she hosts with a friend. I love the concept of this book where the podcast was a cold case where two of the people on the podcast team knew the victim and were present at the time of her murder. As someone who has never actually listened to a podcast, it was interesting to see some of the process involved. I also liked the extenuating circumstances that made it very difficult to figure out who the killer was. More than that, the twists closer to the end of the book really caught me off guard, thus making this debut novel a truly riveting read.

Sadly, the victim of that murder, Lacey, was at that party that was attended by several teens who were soon to go off to college. Most of them were friends since childhood, yet one of them was very likely was responsible for Lacey’s murder. This is especially the case because not all of this group of young people were friends.Kate and Sophie were writing and producing episodes for the podcast quite happily together…until Tom came on the scene. She knows him from Cornwall, they grew up together, and he was also at the party that preluded Lacey being found dead. There is a lot of tension between Katie and Tom, and they allude to something happening between them at one point. As the smoke from the bonfire spirals into the night sky and the cool drinks slip down our throats, none of us can take our eyes off Lacey . She dances in the dunes, her long golden hair damp from her late-night swim, her smile dazzling, her blue eyes closed. I'd also like to add that I had some trouble with the writing style. It was far too choppy at times, which made it difficult for me to follow and understand. I get the appeal and power of using short sentences and chapters in this particular genre, but I don't think it was executed that well here.