Fast paced, page-turning thriller. I sped through this book, caught up in the intrigue which is beautifully created.

A creative media company host their company summer party at an exclusive hotel. 8 colleagues were randomly selected to spend the night as a treat, but it soon becomes apparent that the selection wasn't so random. A young girl was murdered a few months prior, and it appears there is some connection to her death and the disturbing events that are unfolding.

I loved the mystery and intrigue that was created against the glamorous backdrop. The characters were subtle and cleverly suspicious. And the pace relentless, with many unpredictable twists. My only issue is that it tried to get too clever, too many twists which started to undermine each other. By the end I was rolling my eyes with each new reveal, it was becoming farcical (perhaps that was the intention?). Which is why I cant award the last star.

4 stars for a thoroughly addictive read.

This is a good summer read. Easy to read but a good story.
I liked the character development and it kept me interested.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is an office party I am pleased not to have received an invite to. What do you actually know about the colleagues you work with.

Really good read makes you think about the intentions of someone against how it’s perceived by others

One office two office party’s months apart and both end in tragedy.

The Summer Party is a very tense, roller coaster of a novel that will keep you guessing until the very end. If you enjoy Lucy Foley books then you'll love this, My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy.

Party Turns Dark..
A work party, a luxury isolated island hotel, a group of colleagues. Let the fun begin - as this particular Summer party is about to turn very dark indeed. A tension fuelled, twisting locked room style mystery with a familiar premise, a well imagined sense of place, a well crafted cast and a twisting narrative to keep the reader guessing. Enjoyable and entertaining.

A really great read with lots of twists and turns keeping you guessing for most of the book! A must read.

An unpredictable tale with characters that are often awful. But this makes it even better as we all love a good villain!
Will be looking out for more of this author’s books. String 4/5. Recommend for the beach, garden, bus, train….you get the picture!

Kate Gray has done a great job in bringing to life in a book office politics, woven into a mystery death at the agency ‘Flavour.’

Anyone who has worked at or with a creative agency will recognise some of the characters and the gossip!

It’s a good holiday read, bringing to life the heatwave and creeping dread of Point Gray….with no way out.

The segments of police interviews and online comments worked really well in between chapters.

I would recommend this book and looking forward to Kate’s next novel!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.


The Summer Party by Kate Gray is a mystery thriller about Mel who attends a work party set in an exclusive Island Hotel.

However as the drinks flow, things start to turn dark as things start to turn dark and for the lucky few who are staying overnight even murder.

The Summer Party is a mystery novel, that uses the setting of a small island to heighten the tension as there is no war for the individuals to escape, yes I know this is not a new plot line however Kate Gray carries this of well,

The narrative of the story is told entirely through Mel’s perspective who while playing a major part of the story she puts herself on the outside of any friendship groups of the workforce.

However I am not sure if this is because of a number of reasons, Mel works is the only one in HR, Mel’s personality or even just the way that the story is written.

Either way this allows the reader an overview of the novel, however only from one perspective, having said that Mel’s character is very good at keeping personal information from the reader, in an almost unreliable narrator way.

Having said this about only having Mel’S perspective to the story allows The Summer Party by Kate Gray to have a number of twists and turns needed for a thriller to work.

All of which makes The Summer Party by Kate Gray an enjoyable beach read mystery Thriller.

Wow! I did not see that coming. All the way through I questioned all of them. This book is amazing! Kate will be a go to author for me, after her first book was such a hit and now this! Incredible. I couldn't put it down and the twists and turns kept it moving nicely.

Thank you so much to the author, publisher and netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a highly tense page turner. I kept reading just one more chapter late into the night, but was then too scared to sleep so read one more chapter again and again! It has put me off work parties forever! A must read summer book.

When Flavour an agency host their Summer Party in a 5 star boutique hotel developed in a fort in the Solent hopes are high that they will be selected to stay overnight in the luxury surroundings. But as the boat leaves with the rest of the staff of the hotel and the members of Flavour’s team the successful guests and the Night Manager are all that remain - cut off by the sea in this ancient fort. As they settle down to enjoy the luxury strange events start to happen and they are reminded of the graduate trainee who died after the previous Christmas party and slowly the scene is set for the worse night of their lives. I enjoyed the way the author built up the tension and slowly the body count increases and they don’t know who to trust in this scenario. An interesting technique employed by the author is to us newspaper reports and blogs to describe the final moments at the fort. What a great read! It was very different from my usual reading matter but definitely made me continue read into the night as I was totally gripped by the book!

What a fabulous storyteller Kate Gray is. The fear of being on a fort in the English Channel, isolated and a killer on the loose. A works summer party should be a fun events but this turns into a nightmare for 7;of the employees. A previously dead colleague resurrected as a blast from the past and lots of secrets and lies. What’s not to love.

I couldn’t put the book down!
It was a fast paced thriller that kept me turning the pages as quickly as I could to find out the ending.

Lots of twists and turns to this book, which leave you on the end of your seat and not knowing what was going to happen next.

Great read and the main character was someone you could relate to and the story unfolded quickly and had me gripped!

Oh my goodness..what a rollercoaster of a book. What seems out to be a lucky draw to an unusual hotel out in the sea, for a firms summer party..soon turns into a tense, desperate struggle to remain alive. With the prior death of one of the employees at forefront of peoples minds the ensuing actions takes several gory twist and turns.
I couldn't put it down and loved that the book was written from two points of view....
It was a great read.

The Summer Party tells the story of creative agency, Flavour, and their employees as they head to a remote sea fort turned exclusive venue for their annual Summer party. Some find it hard to let their hair down as their colleague died following their Christmas party in a tragic accident. But before long, the cocktails are flowing; at the end of the evening most employees travel back to the mainland except for a select few 'VIPs' who have won the chance to stay overnight. Before long, the murders start and it is a frantic race to solve the mystery and work out who they can trust.

What can I say? This is the best book I've read for a long time and I stayed up WAY later than I should to finish it as quickly as I could.

A popcorn thriller, it is perfectly located to bring the creepy feelings and I enjoyed every minute.

My thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for sending me this ARC in return for an honest review.

Really enjoyed this book. Was perfect for a summer holiday. Definitely not a party I would like to be invited to where people die. I did like the characters and really wanted to see how the story ended was very easy to get into.

This started off quite slow for me and it took me a few attempts to get into it, but once I did it worked and I had to keep reading. I loved the explanations re the sea forts as they always intrigue me when I leave Portsmouth.

I loved the ending and it left me wondering and wanting more.

Couldn't wait to read this book.

Page turner and wanting to know what happened even though you don't want the book to finish.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC

I wasn't totally enamoured with this one I have to admit. The copy I received was a digital copy and the sections with the newspaper reports and police interviews were quite muddled up which may have affected my enjoyment of the book.

I'd had an idea who the "baddie" was going to be so the ending fell a little flat for me. The build up was good though.

3.5 stars rounded up