Reviews - A Death at the Party

377 reviews for:

A Death at the Party

Amy Stuart

3.49 AVERAGE

saareman's review against another edition

4.0

Secrets Lead to Murder
Review of the Simon and Schuster Kindle eBook (March 7, 2023) released simultaneously with the Simon & Schuster paperback.

She always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day. - from Virginia Woolf's [b:Mrs. Dalloway|14942|Mrs. Dalloway|Virginia Woolf|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1646148221l/14942._SY75_.jpg|841320], used as the epigraph for 'A Death at the Party.'

This was a new Canadian author for me and I may check out Amy Stuart's Still (2015-2020) trilogy in the future as well, as this current book was definitely a compelling read. In fact I think I finished it in one day, and am only writing this review now as I am always several days behind in completing books and actually reviewing them.

I'll admit that what drew my attention to this book was the advertising blurb "Virginia Woolf meets Agatha Christie." Learning from the synopsis that the book involved the preparations for a same-day evening party led to its association with Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway (1925), but any other parallels with the earlier book & author are few. It was too much to hope for that I would find another example to add to my meagre list of ASMR* in Fiction.

A Death at the Party is one of those inverted chronology books where the supposed climactic death is actually presented to us in the very first chapter. The whodunnit? is pretty evident up front, but it is the whydunnit? and the whomwasitdunto? questions which make for the drama and suspense of the rest of the book.

Nadine is making party preparations for her mother Marilyn's 60th birthday. Marilyn is a popular mystery author who shies away from birthday celebrations in general, but has acquiesced in this instance. There is a dark association with birthdays of the past, as Marilyn's younger sister Colleen died under mysterious circumstances 30 years ago, the same day as Marilyn's 30th birthday.

You can pretty much guess that there will be revelations which uncover the secrets behind Colleen's earlier death during the course of Nadine's current day. These will lead to suspicions about numerous suspects as various present day friends and acquaintances are discovered to have known Marilyn and Colleen in the past. It all leads to the inevitable confrontation.

Trivia and Link
* ASMR = Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. For further background on ASMR and Virginia Woolf's description of it, you can read my Mrs. Dalloway review Are You Experienced (with ASMR)?.

5feet_of_fury's review against another edition

5.0

Super bingeable family drama/mystery takes place the day leading up to a famous author’s 60th bday party as her daughter reflects on a death from 30 years ago… & a death that will happen later that night.

candragonsread's review against another edition

2.0

The synopsis sounded so good but I had to get past 60% for anything to happen. Up until then it was just Nadine bitching about the man she had an affair with (the infidelity btw serves no purpose to the plot, Nadine and Lionel just fucking suck) and complaining about nothing. Nadine has to be one of the worst characters I've had the misfortune of being introduced to. She has a lovely family and she just shits on them. The only entertaining bit was the plot twist and the action Nadine took because of it.

meghan_oflynn's review against another edition

4.0

The writing was lovely, the suspects plentiful, and the stakes high. I kept turning pages, so it did draw me in. However, as the story unraveled, I couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment. There were no twists at the end, no ah-ha moments. While the book wrapped up as expected and in a satisfying way, it was like finding a beautifully wrapped present, only to discover it was filled with... socks. I still really like socks. Not quite the climax I had hoped for, but it's still worth the time for the literary thriller-ness of it all.

laurieb9's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 Not a bad little story, a fun palette cleanser of a thriller.
A lot of characters and then everything came together, but it took some time.
Fast!

melodyemcintyre's review against another edition

3.0

A Death at the Party is a murder mystery with an unusual twist. The killer is revealed immediately, but the identity of the victim is left unknown. Stuart opens her novel with the killer watching their victim's last breath exit their body. A bold, enticing opening, which unfortunately does not set the pace for the rest of the story. It was wise to begin the story this way because despite taking place over the course of only a single day, the pacing is a bit slow. Too much time is spent chasing the main character, Nadine, around as she completes her distracted errands in preparation for her mother's birthday party later that night. There are plenty of secrets and reveals to maintain and sate the reader's curiosity, but this story might have worked better as a tightly paced novella.

The weakest part is the main character, Nadine. She is a complex, well-rounded individual, but she is unpleasant. I can enjoy a flawed and difficult protagonist if they are engaging and maybe a little tragic, but Nadine is judgmental, self-righteous and hypocritical. I grew tired of her unwarranted suspicion of everyone quickly. I found the characters around her more engaging. Her complicated mother was my favourite and I would have loved to read the story from her point of view.

Even with the pacing and character struggles, the overall mystery and amount of reveals and secrets is strong. I also appreciated that while some of these secrets were shocking, none of them felt gratuitous or forced. I read a lot of mysteries and too often authors force the least likely candidate to be the culprit and it rings hollow. The answers in this book were complex and well chosen.

Overall, I did like the story and would try other works by this author.