I was really intrigued by this book - the description seemed so inviting and mysterious! A 5oth birthday party, an interesting group of guests, a death and a beguiling octopus watching on.

One of my main issues with this book was that I didn't really like any of the characters, and I felt as though there were a few guests at the party that didn't really get enough attention. All the major players seem flawed in their own ways, and that's something I usually really appreciate - but these particular characters just didn't seem to have any redeeming qualities. Our narrator, Elspeth, is quite one dimensional, and also very selfish - her daughter is really struggling and all she seems to think about is her own problems.

It's also quite a difficult book to follow - we move between two time frames in each of the three sections, but there's no real markers as to where flashbacks end and the present comes back. It can simply be the difference between two paragraphs. I love stories with flashbacks or different time periods, and I also don't like being spoon fed (too much exposition is a massive bug bear for me), but this just seemed quite disorientating for no real reason.

Aside from that, I also found the ending very disappointing. After all that intrigue and darting around through parts of Richard's life, the ending just doesn't seem to fit. I really expected more here - maybe a late twist, or some revelation which we hadn't heard before.

Unfortunately, this just wasn't for me and I found it quite a slog to get through.

A whodunit murder mystery set at a 50th birthday party that gets out of control! The characters are well developed, there are twists and turns with an unexpected ending. Definetley recommended reading!

The Octopus is an intriguing murder mystery set in the glamorous world of Hollywood film making.

A famous and unpleasant English director named Richard is found dead on the morning after his 50th birthday party. We learn about this from the viewpoint of his American ex-wife Elspeth in the present day and flashing back to her and Richard’s history together. The flashbacks are sometimes a little disconcerting as they happen in the middle of the plot, but it’s an effective strategy that reveals their complicated relationship over the course of the book.

The octopus is Richard’s pet, Persephone. She can’t have had anything to do with the murder... or could she?

A fun read and recommended to all murder mystery fans.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

A good old ‘who done it’ set in the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.
Enjoyable with some twists and turns

Wow, this book was not what I was expecting! Don't let the odd title throw you off choosing this brilliant story of Hollywood glitz and glamour aka the self-obsessed, vacuous world of the celebrity.

Elspeth hasn't seen her esteemed Hollywood Director ex-husband Richard in exactly a decade. When she receives an invite to his 50th birthday party, she reluctantly agrees to attend because their teenage daughter Lillie will be there too. Planning on spending her evening glued to Lillie's side, Elspeth is surprised to find that the birthday party is not the huge, extravagant celebrity bash she expected, but an intimate dinner party with only 8 guests, Richard and his "pet" octopus Persephone. The guests are a seemingly random mix of Richard's friends and colleagues, old and new. What follows is an evening of food, drink, drugs, gossip, a self-absorbed celebration of celebrity, sickeningly self-indulgent and hedonistic which results in Richard's death. And to make things worse, the subsequent police enquiry suggests that one of the party guests may in fact be a murderer.

The Octopus is told in three parts based before, during and after the birthday party and subsequent death of Richard. At first I was confused (may be the eARC edit) but I soon picked up what was happening and the different timelines. The way this story unfolds is brilliant. The reveals in each timeline are perfectly paced to provide the reader with a growing understanding of Richard and Elspeth's relationship past and present. We also see the relationship between Lillie and her parents and how her own world is affected by Hollywood.

The Octopus is a really good read, enjoyable and shocking and extremely well written, especially for a debut novel! I'd highly recommend The Octopus; a brilliant book which keeps throwing shocks at you right to the very end.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tess Little and Hodder & Stoughton for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good murder mystery to solve and this story felt like a real life version of Cluedo. Was it Elspeth in the dining room with the champagne bottle? Or Honey in the bedroom with the drugs? These eight strangers, who were all present at the dinner party, all had one thing in common; their mutual love/hate for Richard. Every single one of them had been drawn in by his charm, charisma, money etc and before they knew it he was squeezing the life out of them. Each had a motive and the means but who did it? Don't worry I'm not going to spoil the ending for you, you'll have to read it to find out. 

Richard was one of those characters that I instantly knew I would hate, everything about him was smoke and mirrors. Elspeth and Honey were my favourite characters. Both had been hurt deeply by Richard and there was this unspoken understanding between them. By the end of the story I felt that had formed a new connection. My least favourite character (not including Richard) was Lillie. I found her quite naive at times and thought there could be a bit more understanding where her mother was concerned. I know that a lot was hidden from her but how she came across was a bit grating at times. I liked the uniqueness of Persephone, in some ways I think Elspeth could sympathise with the creature. Both had been trapped and desperate to escape but never quite managing it the first time.  

I found this to be a very quick read filled with interesting characters, beautiful settings and a tense investigation. My only little niggle was the ending. Whilst I understand why it was written that way I would of preferred a slightly different twist. 

This is a great debut by Tess Little and I can not wait to see what she writes next. Thank you to Hodder and Stoughton for the ARC in exchange for my review.

The Octopus is a strange mystery. Elspeth goes to her ex-husband’s fiftieth birthday party at the request of their daughter, though their daughter does not show up. Instead of the big event she was expecting, there were only eight party guests. A strange collection of lifelong friends and new stars orbiting her ex, a famous film director named Richard.

Richard plays cruel party games through the evening, finding ways to humiliate and debase these friends, and for the reader, there is no surprise that when they pass out drunk, they wake up to a very dead Richard.



I enjoyed The Octopus. That party could have been on the Orient Express. Everyone is a suspect because everyone had motives, even the octopus Richard kept in a tank. He loved to film it unscrewing the cap and crawling out of the tank and then being forced to return in order to breathe. There’s more than reason enough for the octopus and for the eight guests.

While Elspeth is focused on solving the murder to acquit herself to her daughter and the world, the much more fascinating thing is seeing Elspeth recover her true history from the history she has been telling herself.

I received an e-galley of The Octopus from the publisher through NetGalley. It will be published on April 30th.

The Octopus at Hodder & Stoughton | Hachette
Tess Little author site

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

Richard is a film director but he's also a very controlling man. He used and abused people, even the ones he called friends. He's arranged a fiftieth birthday party and in attendance are people that he has upset at some point or another. But Richard is dead the morning after the celebrations. His ex-wife Elspeth was among the guests. But who or what killed him.

This story is told from Elspeth's point of view. It's another whodunnit. There is no chapters in the book, just parts 1, 2, and 3. Its told mainly from before the party. We are given snippets of information to help us work out what had happened. Everyone at the party could have had reasons to want Richard dead. This is a well written and interesting read. I just felt there were a couple of loose ends that still needed tied up.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton and the author Tess Little for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book, not quite sure about the octopus though!! Very well written, I was gripped from the beginning to the end. As a reviewer I read lots of murder mystery novels, this one was a brilliant, different murder mystery. I will definitely be looking out for Tess Little.
Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review.

Three and a half stars raised to four. A man dies at his fiftieth birthday party that only eight people attended, among them, his ex-wife. He was a celebrity director, his ex an actress who hadn’t worked in the ten years since their divorce, five guests were people with whom he worked and the final guest was the man who has been his life partner for years. The octopus was his pet who was kept in a huge two story aquarium and who regularly escaped from it, but always returned. The novel is told from the ex-wife’s view and covers many years of their life together in various circumstances. It also deals with her relationship with their daughter whom his ex sheltered from the realities of their life. Did he die naturally, o.d, or was he murdered? The police are investigating. Thanks to Net Galley and Hodder & Stoughton for an ARC for an honest review.

3,5 Stars
„The Octopus“ is a weird and unique whodunnit murder mystery. The main character is Elspeth. She is surprisingly invited to her ex-husband’ 50th birthday party. She does not want to go and is happy, that at least her daughter will also attend. She expect it to be a big event than her ex is a famous film director. But to her disappointment it is more of an intimate dinner party with only 9 guests. And her daughter is not coming at all. She decides to just take a drink and talk to one or two old friends and then leave. But somehow she stays and then the party gets out of hand with alcohol and drugs. She falls asleep in the living room and when she awakes she sees that her ex is lying death on the floor.

This is really a different kind of murder mystery. Richard, Elspeth’ ex-husband, is a bully, almost a Harvey Weinstein kind of guy. Elspeth never told the real story of her marriage even when Richards new partner came up with accusations about abuse. She never said anything because of her daughter who loves Richard more than her mother. There is really an octopus in this book. Richard has a pet octopus which he keeps in a giant tank. Elspeth is fascinated by this animal and spends a lot of time researching online about those creatures. She even thinks it has something to do with Richard’s death. This element is the weird part of the book.

The story is a bit old fashioned. There are nine people at a party and afterwards someone is dead. So who is the murderer? Everyone has a special connection to Richard and may have had reasons to wish him to be dead. I early on had an idea and I was almost right. The tension is moderate because the main thing here is how a bully like Richard could be so loved and supported and successful. The book is unique in many ways and the writing is very good. I am also fascinated by octopuses so the book will stay in my mind because of that. But the story is really unique and weird in a good way. It was an easy read and I would recommend it.

It's been done before: put a group of people in a big house and let the reader figure out why one of them was killed. Simple?
The Octopus is not so simple.
None of the people invited for the party where Richard gets killed is completely innocent. They all have something in their past that makes you think they could have done it. Even the octopus seems not entirely innocent.
The real story unfolds slowly with each time we read about the past and the link between what happened then and now. For me, a little bit too slow and with eight not very likable characters it was sometimes hard to keep interested. It's very well written and it has a clever plot and I can see why most people rate this book higher than three stars. I'm happy though to have read it.

Title : The Octopus

Author : Tess Little

Genre : Mystery

<i> I have received an e-copy of the book on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review </i>

A few months back when I had come across the movie Knives Out, it reminded me a lot of how much I missed those murder mysteries that has an intriguing setup with each character having their own motives. So, when I recently came across The Octopus, I was pretty much intrigued on a debut author's take on how it will be handled and here is what I think of the book.

Not revealing much about the plotline, the Octopus is the story of Richard who has been murdered on the morning after his birthday party. Number of Guests - 8 plus his pet Octopus. Every guest has had an interesting part in Richard's life and anyone could be the murderer including the Octopus.

The book is pretty intriguing throughout since one of the main suspects that the readers need to focus on is an Octopus. Though, the book ain't pretty detailed when it comes to sketching up of characters which is pretty much apt for a murder mystery, the book does tend to keep you hooked throughout with the various twists and plots that one comes across when it comes to the characters and their relationship with one another.

What could have been a brilliant murder mystery falls short at certain areas which I'm sure the author would cope up in future books. The transition from past to present and back to past is a bit confusing at times since there isn't a proper demarcation of the same. The book also seems to drag a bit towards the climax with a pretty unsatisfactory end. Certain plot points were pretty much guessable but overall the writing is quite strong and has an interesting essence towards better books in future.

So, would I recommend this book? Ofcourse, I would if you are looking for a murder mystery with a twist. The book isn't that hard on language but has its own shortcomings which can be overlooked at times.

A very different kind of murder mystery, with the focus on the victim's ex-wife, Elspeth, who attended the strange party he threw and died at. And on the victim's octopus. I really enjoyed this - I liked Elspeth and I liked seeing everything from her point of view. It seemed to be more of a character study than a thriller, but I liked that too. Looking forward to seeing more from Tess Little!

Tess Little's debut is a strangely weird literary mystery which opens with the discovery of the apparent OD'd death of British director, Richard Bryant, at his exclusive Hollywood home, Sedgwick, the morning after his raucous drink and drug fuelled 50th birthday party. For those that may harbour illusions that this straightforward crime fiction, let me strongly disabuse you of this notion, if that is what you are looking for, steer well clear of this novel. Instead, this is an intelligent exploration of power, its abuse, exploitation and the parallels between Richard's ex-wife, Elspeth, and the Persephone of myth and legend. Persephone here is the all too smart eponymous octopus, controlled and owned by Richard, imprisoned in his aquarium, constantly trying to escape, but unable to do.

Elspeth arrives for the birthday party from New York, apprehensive, anxious, not looking forward to it, but expecting the presence of her 19 year old daughter, Lillie, and large numbers of others to ameliorate the painful experience. However, Lillie does not turn up and there are only a small number of guests, including Richard's current male partner and lover, Anton Honey Carlisle, his manager, Jerry Debrowski, schoolfriend, Tommo Coates, rich producer, Miguel Montana, cinematographer, Kei Nakamura, leading lady, Sabine Semi and young actor, Charles Pace. Evidence suggests that Richard has been murdered by one of the guests, and in a narrative that goes back and forth in time, it is slowly revealed how each of the guests have motive for wanting Richard dead, and we learn just how much of a monster the odious Richard was. Elspeth becomes obsessed with Persephone, entertaining the idea of Persephone being a murder suspect too.

Richard is a Harvey Weinstein type of figure, and Little explores the nature of why no-one is willing to be honest and open about Richard was really like through the years, the NDAs, the fear, his financial generosity, the shame, and the raw power and influence that Richard wielded. Richard has addictions, is detestable, controlling, volatile, a perfectionist, not above blackmail, a master manipulator. Elspeth lies and lies about her marriage, to the police, to her daughter, Lillie, publicly proclaiming Richard as the best of men and husbands, when this is so far from the truth. What will it take for her to be truthful? This is a astute study of a abusive marriage, memory, perception, and how the blatant horrors and terrors of a nightmare Hollywood director are tolerated. Elspeth stays with Richard for Lillie, living in denial, with her confused and fractured memories, until the pressure and threats become too much. A brilliant and offbeat read. Many thanks to Hodder and Stoughton for an ARC.

I really wasn’t sure what to expect when I read this. I was looking for something original and boy did I get that. I think this is the first book I’ve read where an animal is a murder suspect. I still can’t get my head around that concept. The octopus is actually the only nice character in the book. The humans are all pretty nasty and deserve each other’s misery. The main character is a woman attending her ex-husband’s 50th birthday party where one of the guests is his male lover. Nice one! Not awkward at all! You can imagine how uncomfortable the party is. There’s a lot of drinking and taking drugs and you can guess how well that ends. The next morning the ex-husband is dead. Who or what killed him? The book is intriguing but as the characters are all pretty nasty I felt no sympathy or empathy for them. It’s made clear from the start that Richard, the ex-husband is pretty nasty so I didn’t care that he was dead. That’s where this book’s big flaw lies. I need to get behind a character, even an unpleasant one to invest in them and their story. I couldn’t. This is an interesting idea for a murder mystery that didn’t work as well as it could have.

A story about a controlling man, Richard, a film director. About his family life and work life. Richard used people, making friends initially, but abusing that friendship. With his ultimate demise at his 50th Birthday celebration, which he arranged with a group of people who he seemed to have all upset at some point in his life. Therefore they all held grudges/bad feelings towards him and so the mystery of his death, at the end of his party, is investigated by the police and questioned by his daughter, wife and old friends.
The way this story was laid out irritated me a little as it flipped from the present to past happenings without any warning or chapter break. Sometimes without even a paragraph break.. Is this a clever technique? or a frustrating one? It certainly meant you had to be alert to be able to follow the story line.
The title Octopus relates to the fact that Richard had a pet Octopus, which could escape it's aquarium?? and this to me was the most interesting part of the book, learning about the habits and reproductive process of an Octopus.

I loved this from start to finish!

It was gripping and gave you just enough information to keep you wondering just what the hell was going on.

The writing style worked really well for me and I liked how we flitted between the past and the present. The story itself was really well thought out. A superb book in my opinion.

This is a 21st century version of a classic country house mystery - the murder must have been committed by one of the few at a dinner party, but which one? The novel begins strongly with a brief description of a death and moves back to the beginning of the dinner party, told from one guest's point of view. Unlike other reviewers I didn't find the shifting time frame a problem, as it was fairly clear when the narration was happening. As the novel progressed I found I was losing interest, and finally I skipped through it quickly to the end.

Genre: Murder Mystery
Publisher: Hodder &Stoughton
Pub. Date: August 20, 2020

Mini-Review

In this unusual whodunit along with eight party guests, a pet octopus is also a murder suspect. The octopus may just be the most interesting and emphatic character. Our long-suffering protagonist is a woman attending her ex-husbands 50th birthday party. He is now living with his male partner. There is lots of boozing and drugging going on. They all pass out. When the guests wake up the birthday boy is dead. Early on, the ex-husband is outed as a nasty guy. The author ensures that you won’t feel much sorrow about his death. After all, what sort of person, just for the fun of it, traps and watches a living creature constantly attempting escape? This is a murder mystery. There should be tension but because there are changing timelines with no warning of the change, the tension is dulled. Although I didn’t particularly care for Little’s debut novel (she has published two short stories), it is hard to miss that she is talented. I look forward to her future work.