The Search Party by Simon Lelic was seductive and compelling and everything you would want from a thriller. I read way it way into the night, much later than I should have done but I found it impossible to resist. The mystery of the disappearance of Sadie and the body in the woods was one I wanted to solve.

The book begins with a frantic emergency call made from an abandoned house in the woods.

16- year-old Sadie has gone missing. The evidence the police have uncovered so far is sketchy at best and doesn’t quite add up but Fleet, the officer in charge isn’t quite sure why.

Sadie’s twin brother Luke and their friends think the police are looking in the wrong place and decide to mount their own search.

When the teens are finally found in the woods days later Fleet is under pressure from his superiors to solve the mystery quickly, but he has his own issues. Fleet has recently separated from his wife and dealing with the complications from that. Also, being back in his hometown is causing issues for the inspector because of the history he has with some of the locals surrounding the death of his sister.

The book is set out as a series of interviews with the children and also chapters from the point of view of Fleet. I thought this style lent itself well to the feeling of suspense built throughout the novel.

Sadie and Luke had been friends with Mason, Abi, Cora and Fash a long time but like any friendship at that age there were a lot of simmering tensions below the surface.

Mason is the number one suspect. Is he a jealous and controlling boyfriend guilty of murder or is he a loving boyfriend worried about Sadie?

Cora had her own motives for killing Sadie because of her history with Mason but that doesn’t mean she did it, right?

The whole group knows Abi’s father is verbally abusive and she was jealous of Sadie because of her loving and supportive family but that doesn’t mean she was involved in her disappearance does it?

Likewise, Sadie’s twin Luke is always second best in his parent’s eyes and always having to parent his little brother because his parents only care about Sadie. Maybe he had enough.

The Search Party threw up a lot of questions. Where is Sadie? Is she dead or has she run away? What are the friend’s hiding?

The Search Party is full of suspense and I just had to know how it ended. A great read.

Such a a good read, with twists and turns and an ending that you won't see coming. I couldn't put this book down.

Thankyou to Penguin and Netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is an utterly tense, riveting and addictive thriller. The storyline is that a teenager is missing, a police detective who is experienced in this type of search is drafted in to assist and is ordered to get a quick result. However, he has ties to the town and memories to face up to. Five best friends of the missing person decide to form their own search but after that goes awry they are taken in for questioning and from each of their narration you think you are beginning to piece together what actually took place and who (if anyone is guilty) except you aren’t! Brilliant twist at the end. I didn’t see that coming!

What a great thriller - I was completely gripped! The story is told from the view points of 4 teenagers and the detective, which I'll admit I found a bit confusing to start with but once I'd got to know the characters I couldn't put it down. I had to know what happened to Sadie! It was well paced, unnerving and twisty which is exactly what you want from a thriller. I'

I enjoyed this twisting mystery. The dynamics between the teenagers searching for their friend were complex and believable. The history of the lead detective also made this a layered, interesting read.

The Search Party is award-winning crime writer Simon Lelic’s latest psychological thriller, and although it has a bit of a teen/young adult feel to it I found it every bit as enthralling and all-consuming as his previous books. Sixteen-year-old Sadie Saunders has been missing from her small-town community for six long days which ignites a fire under the local police who begin a huge search in the nearby woods, rivers and the surrounding undergrowth headed by Detective Inspector Robin Fleet. Not satisfied with the police response and believing they are looking in the wrong area, some of Sadie’s teenage friends Abigail Marshall, Cora Briggs, Fareed Hussein (known as Fash), Mason Payne and Sadie’s twin brother Luke gather their own search party to scour where some of Sadie’s personal effects were found, however, their hunt concludes tragically when one of them is fatally stabbed. But how exactly could this have happened? Fleet is under immense pressure from his superiors to solve both cases but can he maintain his composure and remain unbiased in order to arrive at the truth of both situations, or will he bow to the pressure and take the easy way out?

This is a sinister and compulsive thriller with more twists and turns than the meandering river at the centre of the story. Simon knows exactly how to write a book that gets under your skin and into your psyche and then refuses to leave either of them; hence I read it in a single sitting in which my heart was thumping and my attention never strayed far from the narrative. It's pacy, well written and the characters were interesting, though mainly unlikeable; this includes Sadie's friends and the bulk of the police. DI Fleet is the only one who can be considered likeable and affable but his backstory is stereotypical for detectives — marital and alcohol problems, for instance, so he feels like a character you see in a plethora of books in the genre. The majority of people cannot be trusted leading you to suspect many different characters over the course of the novel. The woodland setting created a chilling and claustrophobic atmosphere which worked very well and added to the suspense. The tension was ratcheted up towards the conclusion and I was quite taken aback by it. If you enjoy thrillers that mess with your mind then this is a must-read. Many thanks to Viking for an ARC.

A clever jigsaw puzzle of a story. The teenage members of a search party trying to find their friend provide all the pieces during their police interviews, and take the reader on a tense journey through dark woods and even darker secrets
Thank you to netgalley and penguin books for an advance copy of this book

Thanks to Net Galley and Penguin Books UK for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
A teenager, Sadie Saunders is missing for 6 days, presumed dead, her five friends decide to form their own search party to find her.
Has Sadie been murdered or has she left of her own accord.
I didn’t enjoy this book at all, it just dragged on and I was bored with the teenagers in the forest for the entire book, squabbling with one another.
I have to say though I was totally surprised by the ending.
2.5 stars

When 16 year old Sadie Saunders goes missing in the woods one night, the finger of suspicion falls on her boyfriend Mason. With no body found, Mason, Cora, Abi, Fash and Luke (Sadie's twin brother) decide to form a search party to try to find their friend. But as tensions rise, it seems that they all have something to hide. They all begin to suspect one another, and events take a violent turn.

Meanwhile DI Fleet is trying to uncover the truth, and despite pressure to arrest and charge Mason, he is adamant that he is not the true killer.

As the search party are found, two things are apparent. There is a dead body. And one of the teens is missing. And still no sign of Sadie.

As the truth emerges right at the end of this nail-biting thriller, it is definitely a twist that I did not see coming. Fast-paced and gritty, this was a quick and enjoyable read.

Okay... The synopsis gave me The Hunting Party feels but it fell short of the mark for me. The premise is good, great even: a young girl is missing and a group of friends go into the woods in search of her, but one of them ends up dead and none of them seem to know what happened.
That's a good storyline. Not to mention we have a DI with a history in the town and a failing marriage. There is plenty for the author to delve into to keep the reader excited.
This book is written from each of the teenage character's perspectives. However, where that doesn't suit me is when their dialogue and narrative style is the same. If I stopped mid-chapter, I wouldn't be able to tell you whow as supposed to be explaining their POV. One of them said 'obviously' more than the rest and a couple of them enjoyed saying 'f*ck' or 'sh*t' but that's about as much character development as we get with this book. We don't get much else from them.
There isn't much emotional connection to this story. Given the relationship to all the characters, the fact they are teenagers and now 2 siblings are dead, as a reader I'd expect to feel some emotion from the other characters about what they have witnessed. But there isn't any. It kind of reminds me of my review for Gone Girl in the sense that all the characters are awful people. None of them have any redeemable qualities and I understand that can be difficult to convey via first person narratives but it reads as though the author never even considered it.
What I did enjoy was the gentle touch of Di Fleet's past. The author gives only enough information about his sister's suffering without distracting from the main plot. There's enough to make the reader angry at the perpetrators but not too much. I enjoyed that the author didn't want to dwell too much on the Inspector's history but instead, just linked it with the main storyline and moved on.
Overall, I didn't quite enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. It's a bit slow paced and I think it would have been better written if the characters had their own personalities and perhaps something good about them. They're kids who behaved wrongfully but that doesn't make them awful people.

3 out of 5 stars.

Good premise but just did not deliver for me. Did not enjoy the writing style or relate to the characters. Sorry found it hard to get to the end. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

I found this book to have an unusual way of presenting the story. It seemed to consist mostly of "teen speak" from the various members of the search party - a group of teenagers searching for their friend who has been missing for several days. The teenagers do not trust the police to look in the correct place, so they set off to the woods to search for her. They are ill prepared and before long start falling out amongst themselves.
The end is a little surprising.
I liked the police character, although there was not a lot of him, but he did sound to be a nice personality.

I cannot say that I enjoyed the book much, it was just not for me. sorry

Gripping read from start to finish.
Sixteen year old Sadie Saunders has been missing for almost a week and her friends, dissatisfied with the police search fearing it is in the wrong place, head off into the woods to try and find her on their own... what could go wrong!

As the story progressed I changed my suspect several times. It’s a good, fast paced thriller with loads of opportunities for you to jump to the wrong conclusions.
The book is full of twists and turns and kept me hooked until the end.

Thanks to , NetGalley and the author for an ARC of this book.

A very different kind of read from Simon Lelic, but no less gripping from start to finish.

When 16 year old Sadie Saunders goes missing, DI Fleet is brought in to find her. With the police seemingly making no headway, her friends decide to take matters into their own hands. But these five are not just her friends, they are also suspects . . .

I don't think I've ever read another novel like this one - and I've read a LOT of books. With contributions to the narrative from each of the friends along with the Detective Inspector, this is a riveting read and I have been absolutely glued to the pages. What happened to Sadie? Well, I didn't discover that until it was put in print - although I thought of enough options. I really enjoy this author's writing; I reviewed both his first and second novels and am sad that I missed others but what there are so many good books out there and I can't get to them all! I really appreciate that all his books are different; he doesn't have a formulaic style and that makes for a much more surprising read. I seemed to move through it all so quickly, and yet the action went slowly - if that makes any sense to you. Beautifully crafted and skilfully plotted, this is a first class, completely unpredictable story and one I highly recommend. Absolutely worth all five sparkling stars.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley; this is - as always - my honest, original and unbiased review.

This was a kind of story within a story tale. It follows the investigation by DI Fleet into the disappearance of Sadie and the subsequent search party made up of her close friends. I found it slow to start and difficult at first to get used to the style of writing, where Sadie’s friends give their accounts of what happened in police interviews. However, once accustomed to this it was a great read, with surprise twists and turns as the truth about what happened to Sadie and the search party is uncovered. I enjoyed this book and will be looking out for more from the same author. I was given a free copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Secretive teenagers assist in the search for one of their own.

I did not expect to enjoy a book about teenagers, except this densely tense riveting plot winds like the pathways in the forest described. However, once I got to know the characters and realised that their lives were complex, hard and from dysfunctional families, I started to become intrigued.

Sadie, one of the teenagers, is missing, and when the police are unable to find her or maybe her body, the other five teenagers go looking for her. But soon it becomes a search for all the teenagers, and when they are found, there is a body, but it is not Sadie. Coming back to his hometown with his own demons and memories, Detective Fleet has to investigate what happened in the woods and who is responsible. Is Sadie still alive? If not, why not? What happened?

There are so many questions from the start, you will have as the reader, and is why this novel is full of intrigue. This novel is sad because of families being so dysfunctional and parents unable to love their children. It is worth reading but be prepared for the end with an unexpected curveball.

BonnieK

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book to review

When 16-year-old Sadie Saunders goes missing in the middle of the night, DI Robin Fleet returns to his home town as the chief investigating officer. He is booked into the Harbour View Hotel by proprietor Anne and there he ponders about the last time he was home. That was when his sister drowned and he decided to leave home forever, even though his mother still lived locally. Some memories are too hard to bear and Robin knew it was for the best if he put some distance between himself, the local riffraff and the family home.
Joining Robin’s team is DS Nicola Collins and some of the local police men, all under the leadership of Superintendent Roger Burton. They interview Sadie’s father Ian and mother Alison and her two remaining brothers Luke, Sadie’s twin and Dylan, the youngest member of the family. It appears Sadie was very popular at school, talented and the apple of her parent’s eyes. They urge the investigation to begin and hope against all hope that the police will bring Sadie safely back home again.
Meanwhile her closest friends feel antsy and as though they know Sadie’s haunts best of all so together they decide to set off in a search party of their own, visiting all of the places they have explored together. They walk through dense woodland and towards the river, flowing eventually out to sea. Each of the friends knows something of why Sadie has disappeared but they do not divulge what they know to each other. Some of the friends are protecting each other and others know about a terrible secret Sadie was keeping from most of them. They are determined to find Sadie, preferable alive. Five friends set out but not all of them will return to their homes near the seaside hometown where they first met each other.
Not everyone likes Sadie though. Lara Sweeney and her friends are her arch enemies and rivals. Her friends suspect that her adversaries may have had a hand in whatever has happened to Sadie. Lies and secrets abound, rumours are spread and the seaside community are baying for blood. They believe her boyfriend knows more than he is telling and is guilty.
The five arrogant friends that set out into the woods to find Sadie are Sadie’s boyfriend Mason Payne, Fareed Hussein (known as Fash), Luke Saunders, Cora Briggs and Abigale Marshall. They are not only friends, family and rescuers but also suspects in the case. They all have different motives and one of them is desperate to find out exactly what is going on. This person will stop at nothing to find out what has happened to Sadie and has come ready for business. This is their story, a story of teenage jealousy, lust, underage sex, alcohol abuse, rumourmongering, fake news and violence. They are out in all weathers for what seems like ages. They even sleep in a cave and stay out in the open despite the rain. What happens in the woods is terrifying. This is their story.
I really liked the idea for this edgy story full of menace and malice. I liked the storytelling as well but I did feel it was slow-paced at times. I liked the various twists and turns and what I liked most of all was the climax of the story when all of the lies and secrecy had been revealed. It felt scary but very satisfying. I have read and enjoyed all of (or have in my ToBeRead shelf) Simon Lelic’s mystery and thriller novels but this is not one of my favourites. It was a bit drawn out and I thought the teenage characters were not very realistic. I didn’t like any of them. My favourite character is DI Robin Fleet and his Wife Holly and I really loved their ongoing story of friendship, love but unresolved issues. I received a complimentary copy of this novel from publisher Penguin through my membership of NetGalley. These are my own honest opinions without any outside influences. It is a 3.5* review from me.

Really gripping thriller that kept me turning the pages from the beginning. I absolutely had a great time and loved the plot.
Would read from the author again.

Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

A search for a missing teen turns into a murder inquiry -- sounds like something to settle down with over a weekend, particularly if you are a sucker for psychological thrillers, like I am. However, and it's something I can't put a finger on, the book never managed to grip me. I found it meandering, and the testimonies of the children were not convincing. I mean, they were supposed to be one-sided transcripts of police interviews, but people speaking in direct speech made it even less convincing. Also having multiple narratives confused matters, and eventually I ended up with little understanding of the "why" of the whole mess. Robin Fleet was a likeable protagonist, though, and I'd like to read more about him.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest, independent review.

"16-year-old Sadie Saunders is missing. Five friends set out into the woods to find her. But they're not just friends... THEY'RE SUSPECTS. You see, this was never a search party. It's a witch hunt."

I really enjoyed the format in which this book was written; I felt like I was right in the middle of the investigation, as one of the detectives quizzing the friends.

The writing style is amazing; very atmospheric and quite addictive. I stayed up late to read on quite a few nights! I love the secrets, the lies, the deceit.

I was kept guessing throughout the book, and loved the way it ended; I didn't see it coming!

Definitely one to read!