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A review by beate251
How to Slay on Holiday by Sarah Bonner
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC.
Chloe Wilson, 29, has organised a group holiday on Mykonos, Greece in a luxury villa for the entire Wilson - Cooper clan. She has planned husband Scott Cooper's murder by contract killer for months, and this trip is to convince the family that it can't have been her.
However, everything goes wrong. Scott does end up dead, but a week early, and rumours fly about who it could have been. There are parents, siblings and spouses, so there is plenty of scope for family rivalries, secrets and lies. We get three alternating POVs - Chloe, Scott's sister Tori and villa concierge Grace who might not be who she says she is.
I had high hopes for this as I loved the author's previous book How To Slay At Work. Unfortunately my hopes weren't realised. The story dragged terribly in the middle, only to then rush the ending, but even the epilogue didn't explain some things like Tori's knowledge of Chloe's murderous plans or what really happened on that roof all those years ago.
I liked the twists and the dark humour but it took me forever to read this as it didn't hold my attention sufficiently. My biggest gripe is that there were so few murders. Almost everyone, men and women alike, were so unlikeable, criminal and toxic, yet only one was universally disliked enough to give so many people motives for his murder? A good serial killer would have decimated that clan by half and made the world a better place.
Chloe Wilson, 29, has organised a group holiday on Mykonos, Greece in a luxury villa for the entire Wilson - Cooper clan. She has planned husband Scott Cooper's murder by contract killer for months, and this trip is to convince the family that it can't have been her.
However, everything goes wrong. Scott does end up dead, but a week early, and rumours fly about who it could have been. There are parents, siblings and spouses, so there is plenty of scope for family rivalries, secrets and lies. We get three alternating POVs - Chloe, Scott's sister Tori and villa concierge Grace who might not be who she says she is.
I had high hopes for this as I loved the author's previous book How To Slay At Work. Unfortunately my hopes weren't realised. The story dragged terribly in the middle, only to then rush the ending, but even the epilogue didn't explain some things like Tori's knowledge of Chloe's murderous plans or what really happened on that roof all those years ago.
I liked the twists and the dark humour but it took me forever to read this as it didn't hold my attention sufficiently. My biggest gripe is that there were so few murders. Almost everyone, men and women alike, were so unlikeable, criminal and toxic, yet only one was universally disliked enough to give so many people motives for his murder? A good serial killer would have decimated that clan by half and made the world a better place.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol