A spellbinding locked-room mystery about a glamping trip gone horribly wrong when a powerful storm leaves the participants stranded and forced to confront long-held secrets and a shocking disappearance.

Max and Annie Kingsley have left the London rat race with their twelve-year-old son to set up a glamping site in the wilds of Cornwall. Eager for a dry run ahead of their opening, they invite three old university friends and their families for a long-needed reunion. But the festivities soon go awry as tensions arise between the children (and subsequently their parents), explosive secrets come to light, and a sudden storm moves in, cutting them off from help as one in the group disappears.

Moving between the police investigation, a hospital room, and the catastrophic weekend, The Search Party is a propulsive and twisty destination thriller about the tenuous bonds of friendship and the lengths parents will go to protect their children—perfect for fans of Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley.

Review:

Intricate, ominous, and tight!

The Search Party is an engrossing, eerie thriller that delves into the complex bonds that exist between friends and family members and reminds us that behind all those happy, smiling faces often lies an abundance of escalating tension, simmering resentments, and devastating secrets.

The writing is taut and edgy. The characters are secretive, multilayered, and anxious. And the plot, told from alternating perspectives and using before and after timelines, is a sinister tale full of twists, turns, familial drama, secrets, lies, deception, infidelity, relationship dynamics, parenthood, reckless behaviour, swirling emotions, red herrings, vengeance, and murder.

Overall, The Search Party is a suspenseful, atmospheric, exceptionally clever tale by Richell that highlights everything is not always as it appears and is definitely one of the most gripping page-turners I’ve read in a while.

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