The Search Party by Hannah Richell was published by Simon and Schuster UK on 18 January 2024.
Five old friends.
One glamping weekend.
A storm that will change everything.Max and Annie Kingsley have left the London rat race to set up a glamping site in the wilds of Cornwall. They invite old university friends – TV star Dominic, doctor and new mum Kira, and free-spirited Jim and Suze – and their children for a trial weekend but the reunion quickly veers off-course.
First, there’s The Incident around the campfire on the first night. The following afternoon, a storm quickly develops off the rugged North Coast. When one of their group goes missing, all hell breaks loose. And as the winds batter the bell-tents, emotions run high and tension mounts for all the characters.
Who is lying in hospital, who has gone missing and who is the body on the beach below the cliffs . . .?
Gripping, cleverly structured and brimming with secrets and lies, this is a masterclass in narrative tension and a chilling exploration of the ways in which aspiration and anxiety collide. It will keep you guessing until the last page.
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The Search Party is a compelling domestic noir and psychological mystery thriller. I found myself totally invested in the story and read it in only a few big chunks. The story is cleverly told from multiple points of view – some of the adults and some of the children – and different times across the weekend glamping trip. I must say, I’ve never been glamping but I think Hannah Richell has managed to put me off the idea completely 🙂
The book is tense from the beginning because you know something terrible has happened because a hospital and the police are involved but you have no real idea what or who is involved. The chapters are short and jump around the group slowly revealing the truth of what has occurred. The more that is revealed, the more there is to be anxious about as the weather deteriorates, the mood sours among the glampers and secrets start to come to light.
The characters are deftly drawn and I could see them all as real people in my mind. Some are more sympathetic than others and some are revealed to be downright unpleasant. The tension is pulled tight throughout and only lets up at the very end. I didn’t guess where the story would go and how everything would turn out. The Search Party is a gripping story and I thoroughly recommend it.
A big thank you to the publisher for my copy of The Search Party.
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