Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Today is set up to be the Sweet 16 birthday party all teen girls dream of. A pool party at your father’s mansion complete with DJ, all your friends, and a beautiful cake your stepmother made just for you. But there’s one thing that could potentially ruin your special day – the drama that comes with having divorced parents, an alcoholic mother, and adults who always seem more interested in competing to have more and be more than the rest of the community. It doesn’t help that the entire town thinks your home is haunted, too, after a series of mysterious events over the years. Will the party be a success, or will the adults’ drama end in tragedy?
Kelsey Cox brings readers on a Texas-sized thriller in her debut release Party of Liars. Set in her native Texas hill country, this book features multiple points of view through which Cox weaves a disturbing, yet all too realistic, tale of the pressure we experience to fit in with our community. Compromised values, substance abuse, and mental health struggles – all typical taboo topics and all tackled in novel as consequences of that pressure. This is a fantastic thriller that will keep readers on the edge of their seat until the final pages!
I give Party of Liars 5 out of 5 stars. I was blown away by the way Cox wove together so many different points of view in a cohesive manner almost as if this was written like a deconstructed screenplay, not a novel. With short chapters, this was an easy read with beautifully built characters and vivid descriptions. While reading this novel, the one thought that kept recurring for me was that book gave me Agatha Christie vibes in such a beautiful way – the beautiful interpersonal stories and peer pressure Cox builds between the characters, the social constructs that provide underlying motivations, and the setting that is as much a character as the people. If this is a debut release, I can’t wait to see what comes next from Kelsey Cox!
With themes of underage drinking and sex, alcoholism, mental health struggles, and professional abuse by a medical professional, this may not be the best book for all readers and should be directed to more mature audiences over 16 years old. However, if you enjoyed thrillers we’ve read previously like Melissa Larsen’s The Lost House or books by Lisa Unger or Julie Clark, this is the book for you! I also think this would make a great mystery or thriller book club selection, too!
I was approached by the publisher with the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book through Netgalley. While Thrillers are not my normal genre, I am so glad I got this opportunity to read this great book by a new author. You won’t be disappointed by this book either!
Party of Liars will release July 1st. You can pre-order your copy today on our Bookshop.org page!
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What I’m Reading
- Current print book: The God of the Woods, Liz Moore
- Current audio book: Austen at Sea, Natalie Jenner
- Book I’m most looking forward to: Deep End, Ali Hazelwood
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3 thoughts on “Party of Liars”