I got this softcover at a local Savers thrift shop. It's about a woman who's surprised to receive an invitation to a "hen party" (bachelorette-party) for one of her old school friends, someone she hasn't been in touch with for years. Indeed, she doesn't recall many of the other names on the list of invitees, and doesn't know the person who's arranging the party at all - which made the advice-column-fan in me want to shout "so just decline the invitation already!" But that would have made for a very short book, so our heroine - nudged by the one school-friend she's still close to - opts to attend, only to find that the party's quite a small one and the location, while luxurious, is very remote...

The book unfolds in two timelines, one of them featuring our heroine in the aftermath of what was obviously a traumatic situation - car accident, individual violence, possibly more, and the other the getting-to-the-party/watching-events-unfold side of things. In classic Agatha Christie style we meet the players, learn some back-story and some current-day issues, and begin to make mental bets as to who did what to whom, while the narrative gradually reveals (to us and to the main character) what actually went on.

I found the story sufficiently enjoyable to keep reading, even though I wouldn't have stayed under the same roof as those other characters for anything. And when the key to all the problems - our heroine's disastrous end-of-relationship back in the day - is made obvious, I was a bit underwhelmed; sure, in context I couldn't really blame the main character for reacting as she did, but as a genre-savvy reader (and a tech-savvy individual in general) I just shook my head - it's something of an old chestnut, that plot point (which I won't reveal as it's too spoilery).

But there's plenty of atmosphere and tension, and I suppose there's some satisfaction in having characters-in-peril whom you don't like very much {wry grin} - less bothersome when something bad happens to them!

I left this book in this Little Free Library before attending a BookCrossing meetup in the Porter Square Panera. Hope someone enjoys the book!

[See other recent releases in MA here.]

*** Released for the 2019 e-less release challenge. ***