Omg......... this book was amazing I flew threw the pages with Olympic speed I was hooked from the very first page. I found it full of twists and turns threw out and it kept me on the edge of my seat all the way threw  I would defiantly recommend this book if you like a good book to keep you reading threw the night hopefully you enjoy it as much as I did

I've never had the desire to attend any of my high school reunions, and after this book, I will definitely never attend one! This was an entertaining read, recommended.

It took me a little while to get into the book but once I did, I was totally hooked. Some great twists and turns to keep you guessing, especially at the end. This is the first book I've read by the author but I'm looking forward to seeing more of their work.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

I loved the blurb of this book and it sounded right up my street. Well it sure was that and more. An utterly brilliant read that hooked me in right from the very beginning,

Once I finally got around to this one (it somehow got buried in my 'to read' pile) I absolutely raced through this! i thought it was a terrific, atmospheric, twisty thriller with good pacing and a very strong sense of place. It's the sort of thriller you could imagine on a big screen with lots of gorgeous locations! The translation was excellent. I'd definitely recommend it and would be keen to read more by the author....

This is an excellent read which revolves a school reunion. Which are already for most people a thing of dread. Imagine you have to go to yours because the school holds secrets that have been hidden for 25 years. In 1992 the girl you loved, disappeared with her teacher, neither of them were ever heard of again.

This is the scenario that Thomas Degalais finds himself in, he is a successful author now living in the USA but travels back to France to attend his school reunion. It is 25 years years since he left the school and the body that is hidden in the gym behind. With the school about to be modernised the gym is going to pulled down, and his secret is about to be exposed.

This is an excellent mystery as Thomas and a couple of friends return to the school to face their demons. Told with flashbacks to 1992, the author weaves a brilliant story that has you quickly flipping the pages.

Satisfying suspense - a school, a scandal and a bucket load of secrets. Spanning two time zones and zipping between the two this is set on the French Riviera, glamorous and atmospheric -with a deftly plotted storyline starting with an intriguing premise. Very enjoyable reading.

This book was a quick moving thriller tale with well written characters and a followable plot. The story kept me interested thoughout.. I recommend it!

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book.

I could not connect with the book at all, which is quite strange and odd because it sounded similar to most things that I read and thoroughly enjoy.

I was disappointed with the lack of connection on this book.

I recently founded out that this book was translated and I am unsure if this has any bearing on my review

A decent read, but felt that something was lacking. I know this is a transcribed or at least I thought it was from another language, so I thought it might be it. I got through it and enjoyed it okay, but didn’t find it unputdownable or completely enthralling.

I tried to start this book a couple of times but just couldn't get into it. I couldn't seem to get beyond the first chapter as there was noting which interested. I have no idea why I felt like this but I did. Consequently I didn't finish and haven't reviewed this elsewhere.

Oh what tangled webs we weave with the folly of youth, as we soon discover in the dual timeline of The Reunion and a web that will prove particularly tricky for three former students with more than one secret between them. This is a top notch psychological thriller, effortlessly keeping the reader in a state of anticipation as Musso slowly drip, drip, drip feeds the events leading up to the disappearance of femme fatale Vinca, which gradually reveals a tale of jealousy, lust and greed, spanning families and decades. There are tricksy little twists in the narrative that genuinely caught me unawares, and there is a real assured sense of control as to how and when these little surprises are revealed to the reader. Musso writes with a real sensitivity and intensity about the dilemmas of youthful emotion and obsession, and the changing perception we have of ourselves, and self realisation that we all experience as we grow older and look back on our younger selves. There is a real finesse to this one, and again a wonderful translation by Frank Wynne. Although it is hard to feel any kind of empathy with Musso’s cast of, it has to be said, quite self absorbed individuals, I was genuinely entranced by this clever and knotty thriller. Recommended.

I found this book extremely hard to get into. It didn’t grab me and although I persevered, by the time I found out ‘whodunnit’, I simply didn’t care.

When I was asked to be on this blog tour, it was that opening line of the synopsis that had me screaming YES PLEASE SIGN ME UP to my computer screen while I frantically tried to reply. Let me tell you, I love, LOVE an intense mystery thriller and this book had “get ready for a ride” written all over it.

I was not wrong.

Here is this absolute magician of an author from France, who I hadn’t heard of, and who is now ranking up there on my must-read everything they write list.

First off - the things I loved about this book:

Brilliantly atmospheric - the French Riviera? Um yes, please.

Plot twists galore! Every time I was hit with another one, I became completely convinced I had the story figured out. Spoiler alert: I didn’t.

Complex and dark characters - I think I suspected every single character at least once in the course of this reading. THAT is good writing. That you can make everyone a suspect, and yet, everyone pretty likable at the same time.

A past/present telling - I love a book that moves between timelines, especially when it does it as well as this one does for teasing out hints of what is coming, but without actually telling you a damn thing.

My only complaint with this one? It does a BIT too much label name dropping for me….it got to the point where it was nearly distracting. But then I remembered that the French Riviera is fabulous and therefore name dropping is permitted.

Overall, I loved this book. This book is ripe with suspense and tension, dripping with secrets page after page. It was a delicious summer read that I devoured in one beautifully warm afternoon, lounging in the sun and so completely engrossed in the story that I forgot to change positions enough times and ended up with a bookworm tan line - which is to say there is a tan line of me holding my book above my stomach. A small price to pay for such a terrific read.

You all know that I don’t offer any spoilers to thrillers, because we all love our thrillers without expectation, but I can promise you that this is a worthwhile addition to that summer TBR you are building. The exact right kind of book for getting lost by the pool, with a frosty, fruity beverage and nowhere to be, but on a date with your read.

Rating 4.5/5

I’ll be honest I picked this book up and was a bit unsure about it at the beginning, it was taking me a while to get into and I started to think that maybe it wasn’t going to be for me. Luckily I stuck with it because once I got a bit further into the book I was completely hooked by this tense and unpredictable story.

There was so much that I liked about this book but I think the thing that really struck a chord with me was how much the author played with perception. There is a quote in the book that definitely summed it up perfectly…

Everyone has three lives: a public life, a private life and a secret life.

This duality between what the characters know of each other and what they come to find out about each other definitely keeps the suspense throughout the story. It has you constantly questioning each of the characters that are introduced wondering how they have impacted the story.

Another impressive quality that this book has was that I was always kept guessing and even when I thought I was having a lightbulb moment and that I might have figured out where the story would go next, I then realised that the author was just playing with me. He has crafted this amazingly clever plot that puts new obstacles up at every turn and can easily create the obsessive quality that you can see in some of the characters as we try and discover what happened to Vinca.

I especially liked the fact that none of the characters were perfect, everyone had a little good and bad in them and even though there are some awful things that happen, I found myself rooting for certain characters even though I knew they had done a terrible thing. I think it’s when you grasp the passion, manipulation and deception throughout the story you start to understand where the leniency comes from.

The story is mostly told from Thomas’ point of view and in varying timelines but occasionally we get a glimpse into another character that adds another dimension to what is happening and also helps to keep the mystery alive. I think maybe the switching narrative at the start didn’t help with my understanding of the book but once I got used to the format it really helped to keep the thrilling pace that kept me turning the pages eagerly.

I’m exceptionally glad that I didn’t give up on this book because it is definitely a contender to be a favourite for the year.

School reunions are the sort of events which are likely to engender anxious emotions in many people but Thomas, Maxime and Fanny have a good reason for fearing what may come to light when they meet up with old classmates and former teachers after twenty-five years. They know everybody will be discussing their friend, Vinca and wondering what happened to her and her lover, Alexis but they also know that the night the couple disappeared ended in tragedy and it looks as though a body which has laid, hidden for quarter of a century may soon be found.
I expected a book which would reveal some dark secrets but I had no idea just how many twists and turns would occur before the truth about Vinca and Alexis is finally revealed. The story switches between the present, where the now adult friends realise somebody else knows what they did and is set on a deadly course of revenge, and the past which shows what drove the teenagers to choose a course of action which has resulted in a shadow hanging over their lives for years.
The story is mostly told from Thomas' perspective with the occasional chapter showing the viewpoint of other characters. Contrary to my initial expectations, Thomas isn't a villain intent on escaping justice but a man weighed down by the guilt he has carried with him for years. The Reunion is as much about words left unsaid, the power of love and the danger of obsession as it is about any crime which may have occurred. In the years since Vinca's disappearance she has achieved an almost mythic status, with current and past pupils alike consumed by the mystery regarding the enigmatic young woman's fate.
Although mostly set in the resort city of Antibes, there is a rather intense, small town feel to The Reunion due to the intertwined relationships of several of the characters, most of whom have links to the Lycée International Saint-Exupéry. It means there is a fascinating juxtaposition between the close ties of friendship and shared experiences and the chilling sense of tension which arises amidst the old grudges and the lethal anger which has festered for so long.
The complex mystery, intriguing, often unreliable characters, beautiful Cote d'Azur setting and the shocking revelations which lead to a denouement I didn't expect at all meant that The Reunion ticked every box for me. I thought it was a fabulous read and an excellent translation from the original French by Frank Wynne. I highly recommend it.

The Reunion starts with something that many will hate, the school reunion. Thomas has more reasons than many to hate the idea. He is estranged from his parents who worked at the same school and still live in the area. But more of a problem for him are threatening letters that claim to know what happened to him. These could damage his career as a novelist and take away his freedom.

Much of the novel takes place in modern day and is told from Thomas’s point of view but you also learn what happened from his friends and family. You also hear all of their views about what happened at the time that had an effect on all of them.

It’s a tale of unrequited love, misunderstandings, a failure to talk to each other and a fear of being found out. It did take me a while to get into it but once I did I couldn’t put it down.

Thomas is returning to France for his school reunion….but with the school about to have some new building work he knows it might be the last time he’s at the school, or on the outside of a prison….because there’s a body in one of the walls….and he was responsible.

But when he gets back together with his friends more secrets start to unfold, secrets that have been kept for the last 25 years. More secrets that he could ever have imagined.

I’m not saying any more about the plot because I genuinely don’t want to spoil it for you. This was full of suspense and I was completely hooked! Every time you found something out, you thought that would be it…..but NO! There were more…and more…and more!

The story and plot are fantastic and you absolutely will not be able to guess how it ends! It’s one of those that you THINK you’ve sussed a bit out but nope…I was pretty wrong every time!

I loved the characters, loved the plot and 100% need to read more from this author! Highly highly recommended!

In 2017 there is a reunion at school that Thomas, Maxim, Fanny and Vinca attended 25 years ago. However, it’s a meeting that the three remained friends never wanted to attend, as some hidden secrets can be revealed, then those 25 years ago one of the group disappeared and had never been found. Now, the gym which was built at that time is going to be bulldozed, and do those two facts have something in common? What kind of secrets are going to be buried in the walls of the school and what are the three adults, that used to be best friends but have never spoken again over the years, planning now to keep some of the secrets hidden?

The characters are not too likeable, but in this kind of book I really don’t expect them to be. They’re all brilliantly fleshed out. Thomas, now a popular novelist living in the States, was a truly interesting protagonist, a character with a difference. The story is narrated by him in the first person so we really get a good opportunity to see how the events in 1992 affected him, what makes him tick and what has shaped him and his life. We see, through his eyes, the alluring Vinca, woman that even after all the years still has a hold over him. Because of what happened in 1992, he cut himself off from his previous life, all his friends and family, so returning to the town is like opening a Pandora Box for him. His best friend from school, Maxim, is a politician and, to be honest, has better contact with Thomas’s parents as Thomas himself. Now they have both a lot to lose, their whole lives are at stake and they are to face up to their past and future – a great person description here, captivating and capturing all the feelings and emotions.

The story takes us back and forth in time, slowly revealing all the secrets, unpeeling all the layers, fitting all the elements of the puzzle until all of them are revealed. It flits from the winter of 1992, when some of the characters disappeared, to the spring of 2017 when the reunion happens. In the meantime, we are given many different versions and option of what has happened, which makes the reading really exciting and I liked how they were all cleared at the end – even if they felt a bit too rushed for my liking.

The darkness of the tone brilliantly contrasts with the gorgeous setting of the French Riviera, the Côte d’Azur oozes with atmosphere and is a perfect backdrop. The descriptions are evocative and vivid, and you not only hear the waves but also feel the light wind on your skin.

It was dark, full of twists and turns, compelling and thrilling read, full of juicy secrets, about secrets, lies, jealousy, obsession and friendship. There is a lot of names dropping, which usually makes me really sceptical, but this time it still worked in this book. And well, I’m not sure if after reading it you’ll be finding the courage to go to your own school reunion. And yes, I could have been trying to guess no matter how long – my detective skills are non – existent. All the time, when I was thinking oh yes, now I know for sure, I turned the page and bam, there was another twist to come and hit me on the head. But on the other hand, it is great to simply let the author take you by the hand and guide you through the story, let him surprise you with the twisty, suspenseful thriller. Be prepared, though, that the book, that starts in such an innocent way, mentioning finding a body in the school, will offer you so much more than a straight – forward mystery. It is multi – layered and complex, full of ugly secrets threatening to rear out of the past and come back

Altogether, “The Reunion” is a read with difference, with one of the most unpredictable plots, with secrets coming at you thick and fast but in a way that you don’t feel overwhelmed with them. The writing style is so eloquent and almost lyrical, the plot is thickly packed with suspense and fast – paced, the characters are very well fleshed out, the setting is beautiful – simply a brilliant read that I highly recommend!