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evarano 's review for:
A Death at the Party
by Amy Stuart
3.25 ⭐️
A Death at the Party follows Nadine, a stay at home mother, wife of a lawyer and daughter of a famous author who lives on a wealthier street surrounded by friends and acquaintances. Nadine is throwing a birthday party in celebration of her mother’s 60th birthday. The story follows Nadine through the entire day of the party, at times delving into a past tragedy that occurred 30 years ago to the day. The story opens with Nadine standing over a dead body, and follows her through her day, interacting with her circle, and dealing with a slew of issues all leading up to the big reveal of who died at the party.
I did like this story, it’s a really quick and fast paced read once you get into it, it took me a bit. It’s a shorter read, but despite this I did find that there were quite a few unnecessary details added it. Nadine isn’t the most likeable character, which I realized right off the bat and it was hard for me to root for her. Her children are horrible, I couldn’t believe how they spoke to Nadine and her husband, the swearing and disrespect, they’re completely spoiled and awful even though all Nadine does is try to help them. The writing is really good and I can see a lot of people liking this story. My main issue with it despite the unlikeable characters, is that it’s not really a thriller. It’s just a story with a death more than anything. All the side plots were interwoven pretty well, there was a lot going on and it developed at a good pace throughout the story. I don’t think the big reveal was too dramatic but it was surprising. I do wish the ending was expanded on and we knew what happened afterwards. I do recommend this even though it wasn’t a favourite of mine! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free preview in exchange for an honest review.
A Death at the Party follows Nadine, a stay at home mother, wife of a lawyer and daughter of a famous author who lives on a wealthier street surrounded by friends and acquaintances. Nadine is throwing a birthday party in celebration of her mother’s 60th birthday. The story follows Nadine through the entire day of the party, at times delving into a past tragedy that occurred 30 years ago to the day. The story opens with Nadine standing over a dead body, and follows her through her day, interacting with her circle, and dealing with a slew of issues all leading up to the big reveal of who died at the party.
I did like this story, it’s a really quick and fast paced read once you get into it, it took me a bit. It’s a shorter read, but despite this I did find that there were quite a few unnecessary details added it. Nadine isn’t the most likeable character, which I realized right off the bat and it was hard for me to root for her. Her children are horrible, I couldn’t believe how they spoke to Nadine and her husband, the swearing and disrespect, they’re completely spoiled and awful even though all Nadine does is try to help them. The writing is really good and I can see a lot of people liking this story. My main issue with it despite the unlikeable characters, is that it’s not really a thriller. It’s just a story with a death more than anything. All the side plots were interwoven pretty well, there was a lot going on and it developed at a good pace throughout the story. I don’t think the big reveal was too dramatic but it was surprising. I do wish the ending was expanded on and we knew what happened afterwards. I do recommend this even though it wasn’t a favourite of mine! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free preview in exchange for an honest review.