After starting The Octopus, I realized that this book was going to be more than the description implied. I am mostly a mystery and thriller genre reader, and what they often have in common are short chapters with cliffhanger endings. That isn't the case here. Having finished the first twenty pages because I didn't understand the formatting, I was lost.
To assist my fellow readers, let me say first that this book is much more than a murder mystery. Second, there are no chapters, only Part 1,2, and 3. Third, the story is told from Richard's ex-wife's POV. Fourth, the plot focuses on Richard's party, Elspeth's relationship with her ex-husband, and her life in the aftermath of the murder. The plot moves between these timelines, and that is what threw me off when I started.No ten years ago, or now, or the night of the party chapters.
Once I was certain it wasn't a DRC formatting issue, I knew I couldn't treat this as a beach read, but rather needed to be fully invested in the pages. So I started again, and honestly, the various timelines were not hard to follow. Suddenly, I was intrigued, and was back to my furiously flipping pages self!
Elspeth has been through quite a bit at Richard's hands, as have all the other guests at his birthday party. Anyone of them had a motive and the opportunity to kill Richard. As the story progressed, we learn more about the suspects and their interactions with Richard and it became painfully clear that his use of his power and privilege was extreme.
I realize I am being vague, but to say much more would be giving important plot points away! Read this knowing that there is much going on under the surface and watch this shocking story unfold.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention Persephone, Richard's octopus who was one of my favorite characters!

A very complex,complicated story.Too slow,too weird,couldn't got into it. Lots of selfish characters without many redeeming features.

This book starts with a party at which the soon-to-be dead main character invites seven guests who work with him in his role as a film producer but none of whom like him. One is his male partner who has replaced the other guest,his divorced wife. Why so few guests? Did he have his demise planned? His daughter has been persuaded by him to stay away. We never discover why. This book jumps about in time without any clear signals. It is long on description. The title comes from the presence in a tank in his house of his pet octopus,Persephone. The main teller of the story,the ex- wife toys with the daft notion that the fish has something to do with Richard's death during the night of his party. None of that is ever resolved which leaves a reader dissatisfied.

The Octopus by Tess Little was an interesting story. I had a difficult time reading it. There was too much back and forth in time with no warnings. I think some "Then" and "Now" as time changed would have made this story flow better. I want to thank Net Galley and Hodder & Stoughton for the early copy to review.

Wow well this was certainly a completely different kind of murder mystery and made for a very compulsive read. So a birthday party, a suspected murder and seven guests not including the magnificent Persephone who is an octopus well that surely is one heck of a start for a book. I loved finding out so much about Persephone (who actually turned out to be my favourite character) it was so interesting and fascinating, the book is exceptionally well written with a cast of some weird and wonderful who all seem to have secrets to hide or reasons to want to see the host of the party Richard dead.
Told mainly from before the party and after it a read to keep you on your toes as we are fed snippets of information and I really didn’t have a clue as to who may be the perpetrator at all. It’s a slow burn of a read and perhaps not for everyone but I really did enjoy it and thank Tess Little for a very different and absorbing read.
My thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

#TheOctopus #NetGalley
Elspeth arrives at her ex-husband's LA mansion for his 50th birthday party, she's expecting a crowd for the British film director. Instead, there are just seven other guests and Richard's pet octopus named Persephone who's watching everything which is going on. Next morning, Richard is dead. Who killed him?
This is a clever whodunit which kept me guessing till the end and after reading the ending I was blown away.
This is a must read for everyone.
Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Straighten for giving me an advanced copy.