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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Wow I really loved this, very sad and brutal, but I thought it was so well written!!
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was pretty good I didn't have the whole story planned out. I enjoyed the ending and am glad it ended the way it did.
3.75 ⭐️
The Bachelorette Party is a quick and easy mystery/thriller read. Though I did find it relatively predictable, I enjoyed the journey. Tessa as a main character was interesting, and I found myself eager to learn more of her backstory. Does she make some bad decisions? Absolutely. Does that make her more of a realistic character to me? Yes, it does.
The plot itself was pretty standard. It wasn’t mind-blowing, but it also wasn’t bad at all. It kept me interested enough to continue reading, and though I wasn’t super satisfied with the ending, it also wasn’t bad. I think I just expected a little more. Either way, it was a fun read for me. Heavy at times, naturally, but I enjoyed the complexity those times brought to the book.
If you’re looking for a quick mystery/thriller, I’d recommend The Bachelorette Party!
Thank you Minotaur for the early review copy. All opinions are my own.
The Bachelorette Party is a quick and easy mystery/thriller read. Though I did find it relatively predictable, I enjoyed the journey. Tessa as a main character was interesting, and I found myself eager to learn more of her backstory. Does she make some bad decisions? Absolutely. Does that make her more of a realistic character to me? Yes, it does.
The plot itself was pretty standard. It wasn’t mind-blowing, but it also wasn’t bad at all. It kept me interested enough to continue reading, and though I wasn’t super satisfied with the ending, it also wasn’t bad. I think I just expected a little more. Either way, it was a fun read for me. Heavy at times, naturally, but I enjoyed the complexity those times brought to the book.
If you’re looking for a quick mystery/thriller, I’d recommend The Bachelorette Party!
Thank you Minotaur for the early review copy. All opinions are my own.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I received an advance galley of this book courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.
It’s been a while since I’ve reached for a thriller. I used to tear through them like a plate of cookies (and let me tell you, I can down some cookies!). I loved the unexpected twists, the unreliable narrators galore, secrets buried in every chapter. But after a while, they all started to feel the same. Either the twist was so far-fetched that it made no sense, or the characters were cardboard cutouts serving the plot rather than driving it. So I backed off. Took a break. Let the genre rest a bit. But then I saw this book compared to "Scream", and as someone who unapologetically adores that series of movies, I was immediately curious.
Is this book actually like "Scream"? No. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Aside from the whole “people get murdered” thing, the comparison feels like a huge stretch. But that doesn’t mean the book wasn’t enjoyable. I just went in expecting a slasher-adjacent thrill ride and got something a little more grounded. Not a bad thing, just not what the marketing led me to believe.
The story centers on Tessa Nilsson, a podcaster who once had a thriving show focused on true crime in Sweden. She’s obsessed with a case from ten years ago. Four best friends who disappeared during their annual trip to a secluded island. One of the women babysat Tessa when she was a kid, so she has a personal stake in the story. What's perplexing about the case is that the clues left behind were scarce, and no bodies were ever found. The case went cold. Kind of like Tessa’s podcast. (Though that happened for other reasons.)
When her best friend Anneliese plans a bachelorette weekend at a luxurious yoga retreat on—you guessed it—a remote island, Tessa can’t shake the feeling that the island bears more than a passing resemblance to the one from the cold case. And while everyone else is focused on girls trip fun, Tessa is here to dig. To investigate. Maybe even to solve the mystery that’s haunted her for a decade. Maybe this will help revive her podcast and her reputation as a top podcaster.
Of course, things go sideways fast. People go missing. Secrets surface. And Tessa, ever the amateur detective, is suddenly in the middle of something far more dangerous than she anticipated.
Here’s what worked: the pacing. Camilla Sten doesn’t waste time dragging us through endless backstory or unnecessary filler. The book moves. Each chapter pushes the story forward. The setting is spectacular. I felt like I was there. It adds the right amount of claustrophobia. You can feel the isolation. The tension builds at a steady clip, and once people start to disappear, the suspense holds.
Tessa is a solid main character. She’s smart, determined, and a little impulsive in a way that feels believable. Her motivations are clear, and I liked watching her try to piece together a puzzle that everyone else had given up on. There’s a decent amount of emotional grounding in her character too. She’s not just there to chase thrills, she genuinely wants answers.
The supporting cast, though, is a bit of a mixed bag. Some of them have interesting dynamics and backstories, but a few felt like stock characters you’d expect in any thriller. They weren’t badly written, just not especially memorable. I found myself having to remind myself who was who, which doesn’t help when you’re trying to keep track of possible suspects. That said, each character does serve a purpose in the story, and no one feels like pure filler.
As for the twist? I saw it coming. Maybe not every detail, but I wasn’t shocked by the reveal. That didn’t ruin the book for me, though. Sometimes the journey is more fun than the destination, and this one kept me turning pages regardless. It’s not a twist-heavy thriller in the sense of pulling the rug out from under you repeatedly. (Which I REALLY appreciated.) It’s more about the unspooling of tension, the peeling back of secrets, and the creeping sense that something terrible is about to happen.
My only real complaint is that I wish it leaned harder into the Scream-like chaos I was promised. The setup is there, but the story never really gets as wild or as unhinged as I hoped it might. It stays in that “elevated thriller” lane, which is fine, but part of me really wanted it to embrace the slasher vibe just a little more.
All in all, this is a solid read. If you’re looking for a smartly written, well-paced mystery with a strong female lead and an atmospheric setting, it’s worth checking out. Just don’t go in expecting a slasher flick in book form. Adjust your expectations, settle in, and enjoy the ride.
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
The concept of this book was so interesting. A group of girls take off to a bachelorette party set on a remote island that is being touted as the new wellness retreat. Sadly enough, however, it is the same island where another group of girls went missing from several years earlier. It had so much promise being a “locked door” type of thriller in the remote setting, but I just felt like it fell quite flat for me. There were way too many characters to try and keep straight, and none of them were that likeable to begin with. I found the skipping from the past to the future made the story a bit more muddled as well. I did enjoy the pay off as we got the story wrapped up, but it was a bit contrived and felt like it was too little too late. I went in hoping for a good thriller, and left disappointed.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press- Minotaur Books for an advanced reading copy of this book. All opinions within this review are my own.