Thank you HarperCollins and NetGalley
A great read, but a slow but interesting burn. I had trouble to start getting into this, but it eventually got me hooked.
Don't give up on this one.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
This was an interesting slow burn novel. I found myself having a hard time getting into it at the beginning but then it pulled me in and I was invested.
This author is really good at these slow burn mysterious thriller. You just never quite know what is going to happen next and how it will turn out.
I think this is another hit by this author, you just have to invest in the book.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.

This book was a slow burn, All the characters were unpleasant. It was well written but disappointing.

2 stars

A dark, twisty thriller than will leave you wondering what you would have done had it been you. However, I found it hard to connect to the characters and felt like the book was lacking in some way.

I have read other books by this author and thoroughly enjoyed them, but I'm so sorry to say that this one missed the mark for me. I was expecting a thriller filled with tension, but this actually read more like literary fiction, which isn't a problem, however I wasn't invested in either the plot or the characters.

After finishing, I'm still not quite sure what the point of the plot was. Nothing much really happened in the beginning of the book and I struggled to see where the story was going to go. About mid-way through, it did start to get dark which was one of the things about the book I did like. It had its sinister moments which was what piqued my interest enough to keep going. However the conclusion of the plot felt weird to me and I was left with a feeling of "yeah, but why".

Although this was a short read, I would have liked some more character development. I didn't feel connected to any of them therefore I didn't particularly care about the dark things they were getting mixed up in. None of them were particularly likeable but I also think that's an unfair statement for me to make when I didn't really know anything about any of them.

As much as I was disappointed by this book, I have had a great time with this author's other work so it hasn't been enough for me to give up on them. I'm sure other people have had a great time with this book and I do still look forward to reading more stories from this author.

I loved THE DINNER GUEST by Walter so was excited to read another by him. I went into this blind + was not ready for such a dark plot. A story of infatuation, retribution + choices, this was a twisted, chilling + sinister plot spanning two timelines, twenty years apart and short chapters. The audio was brilliant— I listened this on a long dog walk + the amount of times I made involuntary ‘wtf’ faces was huge. This was tense + twisty read with disturbing characters— a solid thriller but one that didn’t quite leave me satisfied by the ending/grand reveal.

(3.5 rounded up to 4🌟)

I found it hard to connect to the characters on this one. It has a past ( 20 years ago) and now timeline. I have to be honest and say this book just didnt have the wow factor for me.

Amazing book!
I was thoroughly engaged throughout this book and I didn't want to put it down! The author captured my attention from the get go! Five stars from me :)

Having read all the other books by this author i was looking forward to this one, however i soon realised that comparing this one to previous in unfair, Did not enjoy and found very short and ungripping

A locked room thriller!
It’s twisty and exciting throughout! But be warned it does get dark towards the end (in comparison to the rest of the book). 📕

This was good and entertaining. It did turn a bit darker towards the end of the book. But it was twisty and good like I like my mysteries. It was good and I enjoyed it.
I just reviewed Notes on a Murder by B P Walter. #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

title and description of this book don't really give much away about the premise. They make it sound a little like a locked-room thriller, but in fact it's much more of a slow burn psychological story.

It's told through two timelines twenty years apart, from the perspective of Oliver. In the first timeline, he's on holiday with his parents when he meets Alistair and starts an intense summer fling, before the two are drawn into something deeper by a charismatic stranger who invites them to his isolated island villa for dinner with a twist.

In the present timeline, Oliver is at a wellness centre struggling with his demons, when he encounters someone from his past who he believed to be dead. Seamlessly shifting between past and present, Walter gradually unravels a complex plot.

Set against the idyllic Greek backdrop, there's an eerie underlying tension simmering beneath the surface of the story from the beginning and it doesn't let up throughout. The characters are mostly unlikeable but strangely fascinating, and there's something compulsive about the author's writing which meant that, even when the plot was moving slowly, I didn't want to put this book down.

I did question the authenticity of the characters' actions at times - but I think that was intentional. This book is about choices, it challenges its characters and the reader to see how easily someone can be pushed to extremes. A strange, dark and gripping read.

i liked the premise and it was an interesting read. However, I was not able to connect with the characters so I wasn’t very engaged
Many thanks to HarperCollins UK and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley, BP Walter and One More Chapter for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Writing a review for this one is hard for me. I love Walter’s writing, but honestly I don’t even know what I just read. It was fast and there was twists but it felt like there was no ending or reason why.

This definitely gave "talented Mr Ripley" vibes being on holiday and the mysterious people you meet. I loved this. The idea was great and kept me interested the whole book.

I wanted to like this more than I did. advertised as being like The Talented Mr Ripley pulled me in.

It started out very strong, but ended up being a snail's pace. Even then, it still missed it's mark. An interesting take on nature v nurture, but just not my style.

I really wanted to enjoy this, the premise was so interesting and I really wanted to see how twisted a party favor could get. Sadly maybe this just wasn't my type of dark and mystery.
It started out very strong, had me hooked in the first page but I found that the pacing was quite slow. It felt like it took awhile for the story to get to its points and even then sometimes it missed the mark. I really liked the stories on the island and seeing how easily a person may change in the environment that they surround themselves in, not just the environment that they grow up it, it was an interesting take on the human behaviour.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars

Notes on a Murder by B.P. Walter  is a psychological thriller about a young man searching for himself.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


My Synopsis:    (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)
When 21 year old Oliver meets Alistair, he is immediately smitten.  This trip with his parents to Greece suddenly looks promising.  Then he meets Argento and Nita, business associates of his father, although no one wants to discuss that, and his father wants nothing to do with the pair.

Argento invites Oliver and Alistair to his island for dinner, but as visits increase, so do the dark aspects of these dinners.   Argento invites other guests who have questionable and somewhat savage back-stories, and Oliver is eventually given the opportunity to end their life, thereby stopping the atrocities that they have been getting away with.

Oliver finds himself in over his head, but Alistair seems to be on board.  Decisions must be made.

Twenty years later, the consequences of those island visits re-surface.

 
My Opinions:
I was immediately captivated by the story.  It is deep, it is dark, and it just pulled me in.

The story is told in the often-used Current and Past (20 years ago) time-frame method, and the reader was fed the background in segments.  As much as it sometimes slowed down the plot, it worked really well. The entire story is told from Oliver's perspective.

Character-wise, my thoughts were all over the place.  I didn't always like Oliver's decisions (although I did somewhat like him), didn't really trust Alistair, felt sorry for Douglas, found the parents atrocious, and don't get me started on Argento and Nita.

The book's overall theme seems to be the question of whether everyone is capable of murder.  But the answer is influenced by a number of factors including temptations, sexual desires, addiction, manipulation, retribution and revenge.  However, there are also elements of love and redemption.  

 Overall, it was a very dark and chilling book, and very thought-provoking.  It takes the reader on an interesting journey.  I loved it.

This one had chills running up and down my spine. I have read and enjoyed a few of BP Walter’s other books and this was no exception. A must read for his fans!

I love all books by B P Walter and although this wasn’t my favourite of his, I did still enjoy it.
As always it’s written fantastically and I was 100% engrossed in it, I just didn’t feel as enthusiastic about it as I have done with the others. There are great characters and the storyline is good, I just felt like there was something missing.
I give it 3.5 stars.