The Birthday Party by Wendy Dranfield
Genre: Psychological thriller, Domestic thriller, Domestic drama, Suspense, Mystery, Crime fiction, Crime thriller
Read: 6th February 2022
Published: 7th January 2022
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Charlotte waves at her mother across the crowded lawn. Little red boots on, cowboy hat crooked over her blonde pigtails, she’s been looking forward to this party for weeks. Moments later, she disappears without a trace…
Kathy Hamilton drives away from her sister-in-law’s pristine-white suburban house in Maple Falls certain she’s left her daughter in safe hands. On the hottest day of the year, a birthday is the perfect excuse to gather friends, family and neighbors around the pool for a barbecue. But when she returns hours later to find her little girl has vanished, her world shatters.
Nobody laughing and drinking in the garden that day saw anything unusual.
Kathy’s eldest daughter is anxious and hardly eating. Is she sick with worry for her sister, or hiding a terrible secret?
The phone rings and rings, but why can’t Kathy get hold of the babysitter?
And is she imagining it, or when her husband rushed from work to join the search, was he wearing a different shirt to the one she saw him leave the house in that morning?
As the temperature rises, and long-buried secrets begin to surface, it’s clear that even the most perfect families keep devastating secrets. But in a town as small as this, is there anyone you can trust?
A totally gripping and utterly addictive page-turner that will have you racing through and reeling at the twists. Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Gone Girl and Teresa Driscoll, it will keep you up reading all night long!
MY REVIEW:
WOW! Just WOW! I loved this book by new-to-me author Wendy Dranfield and, although it is not my usual choice of setting as I tend to stick to British or Australian set books (simply because there are so many out there I have limit myself to my favourite setting...and those being Britain and Australia), I was completely immersed from the very beginning. Yes, it is of a missing child (of which there are many, I know) and yes there are plenty of secrets to unravel amidst the lies and deception...but WOW! If THE BIRTHDAY PARTY is anything to go by, I think I might have to add Wendy Dranfield to my list of authors...despite the continent difference! lol
A birthday party is supposed to be a happy occasion, an exciting time for children with loads of fun and food. In this case, it was adorned with every novelty imaginable for a child from jumping castles, pony rides, face painting and swimming to clowns and even fire eaters! It was a child's heaven. And 5 year old Charlotte "Charlie" Hamilton had been looking forward to her twin cousins' birthday party for weeks. It was all she could talk about.
So when the day came around, Charlie dressed herself in her red dress with zebras complete with yellow shorts underneath (for reasons only a 5 year old would know...lol), cowboy boots, cowboy hat and little blonde pigtails. Mum Kathy has no sooner pulled up outside her brother-in-law Scott's house when Charlie jumps out of the car and races around the side of the house to where all the fun and action is! And it doesn't take her long to discover the pony for which she lines up for a ride almost immediately. With so many adults in attendance, Kathy is certain her daughter will be safe at the party amongst the other children overseered by all the other parents. She takes a few minutes to say hello and give her good wishes to the birthday twins before making her escape. Having arranged for babysitter Megan to collect Charlie when the event is over, Kathy then heads to the refuge where she volunteers despite the migraine that continues to pound her head before keeping an important appointment with husband Mitch at 4pm.
Little did they know...
Several hours later, Kathy and Mitch arrive home to discover that Megan and Charlie aren't there when the party should well and truly be over. They try calling Megan on her mobile phone. No answer. They return to the party where all the children have now gone as have the entertainment and all that remains are a few inebriated adults with no clue as to where Charlie is or when they last saw her. Frantic with worry, Kathy calls the police to report her daughter's disappearance.
Enter Detective Chase Cooper. He and Kathy knew each other decades ago back in high school and used to date, much to her snobbish parents' chagrin as they saw him as being from "the wrong side of the tracks". But for the privileged Kathy, Chase was her first love and although she tried hiding their relationship it all went terribly wrong and she is devastated when it fell apart. But despite their history, Chase immediately begins the search for Charlie at Scott and Cindy's house, its sprawling grounds and beyond whilst trying to ascertain exactly where Megan has also disappeared to.
And then the hidden cracks of the prestigious Hamilton family facade begin to surface exposing the secrets and lies that have been maintained for decades...and nothing is as it seems. Bit by bit, the mystery unravels only to reveal yet another twist of which there are a litany!
The author has carefully constructed a tangled web of secrets and deception that are so intricately woven and, by revealing just enough along the way, keeping the reader invested and giving the impression of knowing what's happening...and then she tosses in another twist that opens up a completely different possibility. The plot was so skillfully woven that it had me completely fooled for much of the book. I did suspect a few twists along the way but mostly I was in the dark and had no idea where it was heading. And just before the final reveals, a light went on and I knew exactly where it was heading and I couldn't keep up for flipping the pages of my kindle so fast in a heart-stopping race to the end!
OK so some of the story maybe a tad far-fetched but this is fiction. And what we enjoy is fast paced, thrill ride, addictive reads that throw us so many twists that keep us engaged throughout. Who cares if it's not entirely believable? For the most part it is. And that's what balances out the far-fetched bits because at that point you're so invested in the story you don't care if it's real or not. Just that it is one hell of a ride!! And it is!
The characters are all developed enough for the picture they are depicted in. Some of them are endearing and some are hateful. I loved Chase's reliability and Megan's no nonsense style. Fay reminded me of a baby bird that takes tentative steps to see if it's safe. I sympathised with Kathy for the most part but her blindness when it came to her mother at times was irritating. Sure, she's her mother but the woman was downright rude and controlling. Nowhere did I see her "good intentions" that Kathy often talked about.
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY also contains some triggering issues for some readers but to mention them could potentially be a spoiler but I do feel it should be pointed out despite this so readers can judge whether is appropriate in such a case. Without giving too much away there is abuse and assault as well as slightly graphic crime scenes, while not overly graphic they cam be enough to upset some readers.
With its vivid descriptions and atmosphere, THE BIRTHDAY PARTY is a fast paced read that is chilling in part but oh so addictive! It is nail-biting, page-turning and heart-racing that I stayed up well into the night and into the wee hours of the morning just to finish it! And when I did I can honestly say I was speechless. THE BIRTHDAY PARTY was jaw-dropping to the extreme throughout like no other thriller I have read...and I've read plenty! This book just keeps on giving with twists and bombshells despite the red herrings peppered throughout. Not many crime thriller writers can hoodwink me but Wendy Dranfield has done it more than once in this book alone!
If you have not read THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, I can only say you need to do yourself a favour and go out and grab yourself a copy...because you won't be sorry. It is definitely one of those "just one more chapter" books that you end up reading way past your bedtime and into the wee hours of the early morning...
An addictive heart-racing thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat and blow your mind over and over again!!
Recommended for fans of Lisa Jewell, Louise Jensen, Nicola Marsh, C.L. Taylor and Teresa Driscoll.
I would like to thank #WendyDranfield, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheBirthdayParty in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Wendy's current crime series, published by Bookouture at Hachette UK, follows Detective Madison Harper as she tries to reclaim her life after spending six years in prison for a crime she didn’t commit.
Wendy is active on social media and would love readers to look her up if you’d like to keep up-to-date with book releases and find out what happens behind the scenes with her, her characters and her writing buddies; Joey, Sookie and Teddy!
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