Book Review: The Murder Game by Rachel Abbott

Book: The Murder Game

Author: Rachel Abbott

Pages: 315

Read on: Kindle

Read in: 3-4 hours

Plot Summary: The first time Jemma and Matt were invited to Polskirrin - Lucas Jarrett's imposing ocean-view home - it was for an intimate wedding that ended in tragedy. Jemma will never forget the sight of the girl's body floating towards the rocky shore. 

Now, exactly one year later, Lucas has invited his guests back for a macabre anniversary.

But what Lucas has in store for them is nothing like a candlelight vigil. Someone who was there that night remembers more than they'll admit to, and Lucas has devised a game to make them tell the truth.

Jemma believes she and Matt know nothing about what happened... but what if she's wrong? Before you play a deadly game, make sure you can pay the price. 

Things I Liked: 

1. The premise and set-up for the murder mystery in this book is very interesting and nicely done. You have a group of 4 best friends and their plus ones who've been invited to an intimate wedding ceremony in a beautiful sea-facing mansion. The four friends spend time reminiscing about their youth while their plus ones slowly start to get to know each other. It is against this backdrop of friends meeting after years and old sins casting long shadows that someone is murdered. Interesting, right? 

2. The writing and character development in the book are both very good. Lucas is an extremely wealthy man and was so even when he was a young boy and so, the other boys kowtowed to pretty much whatever he wanted to do or said. The same dynamic carries forward to even when they reunite as adults, which was interesting to see. We also get to see Jemma's increasing frustration at Matt's attempts to keep past secrets from her and the impact that these secrets have on their marriage. 

3. At the centre of this book is an event, which had taken place over 20 years ago. That event itself was traumatic and tragic and has a significant role to play in the present day events. The whole mystery around this event and how the case was ultimately solved was nicely done. 

4. This is the second book in the author's Stephanie King series and the good thing is that it is not at all connected to the first book. I haven't read the first book in the series and I didn't feel lost or confused about anything whilst reading this one. A total win-win! 

Things I Didn't Like: 

1. I saw the big twist coming quite easily because that is kind obvious, but what is a saving grace is that the truth behind the events of the past is nicely done and not very easy to guess. So, that made the book not-disappointing for me. 

Rating: 4/5