The Night of the Party (DI Dan Riley #5) by Anna-Lou Weatherley
Genre: Crime thriller, Domestic thriller, Mystery, Suspense
Read: 11th February 2022
Published: 12th January 2022
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
Two Couples. Three Secrets. One Murder.
In a beautiful house surrounded by woodland, the Drayton family and their dearest friends are enjoying dinner together. The wine is flowing, the meal has been lovingly prepared, and it’s going to be an evening none of them will ever forget…
A doting mother
with a manipulative daughter.
A loving husband
lying to his family.
A close friend
keeping a shocking secret.
A beautiful girl
who will be dead by the end of the night.
A totally unputdownable and nail-bitingly tense psychological thriller with an explosive double twist that will leave you reeling. Fans of Lisa Jewell, Gillian McAllister and Lucy Foley will be hooked on The Night of the Party.
MY REVIEW:
Two couples. Three secrets. One murder.
Anna-Lou Weatherley never fails to deliver a superb thriller, complete with questionable characters - some pristine, some not so. And this addition to the DI Dan Riley series is no different...and yet it is. It certainly does not disappoint. It is a fast paced thrill ride filled with secrets, lies and a ton of deception. And a whole lot of fun getting there.
The Draytons, Evie and Tom, are hosting a dinner party for their friends Una and Jim, whom they have known since their university days. Before the starters, the couples are enjoying plenty of free flowing wine and relaxing on an unseasonably chilly November night. Jim is a GP, a quiet reserved middle-aged man, while his wife Una is the seemingly life of the party, opening her mouth before her brain is in gear. Tonight, as they enjoy each other's company, Evie's 17 year old daughter Libby makes her way to the door for a night out with best friend Katie to watch a band play when her mother stops and begs her to regale them with her talent on the piano. Then bidding them goodnight with promises to text when she gets there and to be home by 10.30pm, Libby is gone.
Throughout the evening as the dinner is well underway, Evie can't ignore the nagging sense of doom she feels...particularly when Libby fails to text her as promised. And Libby always texts to let her know she has arrived safely. Always. But tonight she hasn't and Evie is even more worried when Libby fails to respond to any of her texts. And when 10.30pm comes and goes, Evie instinctively knows something is wrong.
DI Dan Riley is called in on his day off to investigate the disappearance of Libby who her parents assure him that this is out of character for their usually responsible daughter. And Dan believes they have every right to be worried. As the chill of the evening is well set in, Dan knows that Libby will not survive the night if she is somewhere out there and so he and his team begin a search of the pathway leading from the Drayton's house towards town. When Libby's body is discovered, a murder investigation begins and as Dan digs deeper into Libby's life, he discovers that the 17 year old was not as perfect or as innocent as her mother believed. Thus exposing a very different side of Libby.
Evie refuses to believe that her beautiful sweet and perfect daughter could be so calculating and manipulative. But as more of the pieces begin to fall into place, she has no choice but to confront the horrible truth that not only was Libby not who she thought she was but that everyone has been lying to her.
Libby was the apple of Evie's eye, beautiful, talented and perfect but she wasn't the sweet angel she thought she was but rather was cold, calculating and manipulative without an ounce of remorse. And thus, she was murdered as a result.
Tom is Evie's husband, with a 19 year old son Brandon from a previous liaison, but he isn't the devoted husband he appears to be. He is hiding a secret or three that he won't want seeing the light of day.
Una is Evie's best friend from university and is little a bit jealous that she was never able to conceive as Evie had. Added to that she is plagued by guilt over the secrets she's keeping.
Jim, the quiet and reserved GP, once had a thing for Evie at uni but, sadly for him, Tom got the girl. But despite his prominent place in society, he too harbours a secret that could destroy him.
Brandon is Tom's son and Evie's step-son. The two have never really gotten along as Libby has always been Evie's world with no room for him, it seems. Brandon and Libby loathe each other and make no secret of the fact, despite onlookers believing it to be just banter. But is he hiding something far more serious?
Evie's world has collapsed with the murder of her daughter and now it is being ripped apart as secrets are uncovered and no one is who they appear to be. Two couples, a dead daughter and, not one (but), more secrets than you can poke a stick at.
There are some despicable characters in this tangled tale and none more so that Libby. She is hateful with a capital H. She is cold, callous, manipulative and narcissistic. She really does not care who she hurts or how but like all sociopaths, she knows exactly how to blend in as the perfect daughter. It really is easy to see why someone would want her dead. The question is, which one of them hated her enough to kill her? And not just kill her, but annihilate her?
THE NIGHT OF THE PARTY is such a fun read with a fast moving plot that keeps the reader engaged throughout and flipping pages till the end. I love the multiple narratives of Evie, Dan and Libby (leading up the the night in question) as we watch everything unfold and play out like a screenplay.
It's definitely an intense read filled with twists, secrets, lies and deception. There are surprises, maybe not so much for seasoned readers of this genre but there are still some twists that should keep you guessing. I did work out who killed Libby but there was one final twist near the very end that I didn't see coming, which gave it that satisfactory ending. And despite being part of a series, it suffices perfectly as a standalone.
I thoroughly enjoyed THE NIGHT OF THE PARTY...but, and it is a big but, what ensued when Dan discovered who the killer actually was just doesn't seem feasible. And definitely not reasonable. I can't say much more than that but it was the only part of the story that I found disappointing, hence the half star knock down.
Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Clare Mackintosh, Gilly Macmillan and Teresa Driscoll.
I would like to thank #AnnaLouWeatherley, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheNightOfTheParty in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Obsessed with all things crime related, her adult fiction titles include Chelsea Wives and Wicked Wives, both published by Avon in the UK and Bookouture in the US and Canada, Pleasure Islandpublished by Bookouture, and Black Heart, The Couple on Cedar Close and The Stranger’s Wife(featuring DI Dan Riley) published by Bookouture.
She lives in London with her partner, her two sons and her beloved dachshund, Iggy.
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