**Disclaimer: I received an eARC of Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this opportunity.
Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox is an adult mystery novel written in multiple points of view. The events of the novel center around the sweet sixteen birthday party of Sophie Matthews. Unfortuantely for Sophie, things go horribly wrong. It is set to be published on July 1st, 2025. I rated it 5 stars on Goodreads.
Here’s the summary from Goodreads:
A lavish, Texas-sized Sweet Sixteen turns deadly in this twisty, pulse-pounding new novel — serving up a fresh take on a classic locked-room whodunnit. Let the festivities begin…
Today is Sophie Matthews’s sixteenth birthday party, an exclusive black-tie bash in the heart of the Texas Hill Country, where secrets are as deep-rooted as the sprawling live oaks. Sophie’s dad has spared no expense, and his renovated cliffside mansion—once thought haunted—is now hosting the event of the season. Then, just before the candles on the three-tiered red velvet cake are blown out, a body falls from the balcony onto the starlit dance floor below.
It’s a killer guest list . . .
DANI: Sophie’s new stepmother who’s been plagued by self-doubt ever since the birth of her own baby girl
ÓRLAITH: the superstitious Irish nanny who senses a looming danger in this cavernous house
MIKAYLA: the birthday girl’s best friend who is not nearly as meek as the popular kids assume
KIM: the cunning ex-wife who has a grudge she can’t let go of . . .
Everyone is invited in. Not everyone will get out alive.
I love a good mystery book, so it was pretty easy to want to request this one. It’s been a while since I read one with multiple points of view, and so that was a real stand out feature of this book. It’s always fun to wonder which characters you can trust and to wonder who exactly is telling the truth. This was an absolute perfect example of that.
Each of the characters brought something different to the story, and their unique perspective kept me engaged. I would get to the end of one chapter and want to know what was happening with them more, so I would have to keep reading in order to find out. However, then the next perspective would keep me just as engaged. It made for a read that was very hard to put down.
Sometimes, with a mystery, I’m able to guess what will happen next, but I can honestly say that this one kept me completely guessing. I fell into the trap of trusting the narrators too completely and they duped me. I was suspicious of the wrong people, and I really did not expect the outcome of the final story. It was very well-plotted.
I think that my favourite perspective to read from was Dani’s. I found her the most interesting with how she felt that she was going mad because of the way she was being told that she was going crazy. I really felt for her when no one was willing to believe her in what she had seen, and then simply dismissed her. However, the other characters were just as interesting and just as compelling.
Overall, I had a great time reading this book. It was so fun and twisty. If you like compelling mysteries, I highly recommend this one.
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