Six ex-colleagues sit down to dinner, having last worked together in 1999, but there is one extra guest, who narrator Will is instantly suspicious of. When it turns out one of them has a secret from all those years ago, the meal takes an unexpected turn and violence ensues.
This was an intriguing read with good twists later on in the book. However, there is much violence which might put off some readers.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards in return for my honest review.
Mark Edwards has done it again with this really well written duel time line thriller it had me hooked from the beginning with lots of intriguing characters most of which are pretty much unlikable but intriguing nonetheless, plenty of twist and turns and an ending that I wasn’t expecting. I definitely recommend reading this and any of Mark Edwards books.

An intoxicating thriller which spans over two decades. During the summer of 1999, six university students were given the opportunity to join the entrepreneur Sebastian Marlowe at his luxury home. Each has a particular skill, and their internship task is to create and build a dating App like no other. “Butterfly.net”. A slight detour sees one of the students, Lily deviating from the program when she announces that using a set of algorithms, she will be able to create and build another program “The Wasp Trap”. It will have the ability to identify psychopaths lurking within society. This is of great interest to her mentor whose wife was murdered.

Now in February 2024 the six come together at the celebration dinner for the life of Sebastian in Theo and Georgina's upmarket home. There is immediate tension between the friends, and it becomes that it stems back to that summer. In addition, there appears to be a shady character masquerading as Marlowe's last assistant only his absence of knowledge is quickly catching up with him.

As the night unfolds secrets, fears and deception will spill as each one must reveal their hand if they are to get out alive. What happened all those years ago and why is it so important now? What is there to gain, and will it be worth it in the end?

Mark Edwards is a writer who never disappoints, his storylines are cleverly woven and always end with that twist you thought you saw coming but didn’t. As usual it is a pleasure to read his books, and I highly recommend this one.

My thanks to NetGalley and eARC for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication.

I chose to read a free eARC of The Wasp Trap but that has in no way influenced my review.

I have always been a huge fan of Mark Edwards‘s books. He’s probably one of my ‘most read’ authors, although I should confess that I’ve fallen a little behind with his more recent novels. As a slow reader, there just aren’t enough hours in the day *sigh*. I do feel that you can really trust a book by this author though. You know you’re going to get a thrilling, twisty tale with believable characters. Good people in bad, often terrifying situations. And that it’s going to be entertaining from start to finish. Which is exactly what The Wasp Trap delivered.

It’s 1999 and a group of strangers are gathered together to work on a new dating website. Sebastian Marlowe, a psychology professor and the project’s lead, is planning something spectacular, something to shake up the world of online dating. The groundwork is a little monotonous, a little mundane, so the graduates start to work on a side project dubbed ‘The Wasp Trap’. An algorithm to discover whether you are a psychopath. Imagine the possibilities. Imagine the potential carnage. They’re so close to having a working model, but before the results can be revealed, tragedy strikes the group. The website never sees the light of day. Now, twenty-five years later, the group have gathered over dinner to mourn Sebastian’s death. But on arrival at Theo and Georgina’s house, Will feels a strange sense of unease. There’s a stranger in their midst who claims to be Sebastian’s research assistant. But he doesn’t seem to know anything about Sebastian or his work. Who is the stranger? And what really happened that fateful summer? Everyone at the dinner has a devastating secret. And someone is ready to kill for the truth…

The Wasp Trap is a cracking locked-room reunion thriller with bucketloads of suspense. There is a lot happening in this book, along with a fairly large cast of characters. But it was easy to follow the complex, dual timeline plot and keep track of the well-drawn characters. I quite liked Will, our main protagonist. There aren’t many characters to root for in this particular book, so I was a little surprised to find myself warming to him. He felt like a normal, believable chap. Thrown into a terrifying, unpredictable situation. He shows courage at times, cowardice at others. The other characters are all very well drawn, and they all really added something important to the storyline.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. The Wasp Trap is a thrilling, gripping tale where things go from zero (lovely evening out, nice dinner with ex-colleagues) to one-hundred (absolutely everything else that happens in this book!) for the characters in a split second. It’s fascinating to see how quickly things escalate for the group. I very much enjoyed the dual timeline aspect, seeing the group as they were back in 1999, against their more modern personas. There are a number of secrets within the group which the reader does get to discover as the plot marches on. Some of the secrets are corkers, others…less shocking. But there is an external pressure on proceedings which really ramps up the tension, adding to the intrigue and ladling in lots of lovely suspense. All in all, The Wasp Trap is a well-written, intriguing thriller that held my attention from start to finish. The psychological aspect of this one is strong, and I was intrigued to see in what direction the author would take the story. A tense, highly readable and engaging suspense novel. I look forward to more from Mark Edwards soon. Recommended.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of The Wasp Trap. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

Wow! This is a fabulous, intricately crafted dramatic read that I devoured in pretty much one go.

A triumph Mark Edward’s! Congratulations.

A group of people who worked together years ago meet up for a dinner party and what should be a celebration quickly takes a dramatic turn when they are all forced to consider what secret was kept all those years ago and unless they confess, they will die.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview this fabulous 5* read.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an ARC of The Wasp Trap.

I have enjoyed several of Mark Edwards’ books recently, especially The Psychopath Next Door. So I was hopeful of another corker as I started this one.

It was a much slower burner than previous reads, but I enjoyed how the characters were developed and the flashbacks to 1999, the last summer they had all been together.

The lives of each of the characters were intertwined more than initially it seemed they would be, and the twists kept coming in the final quarter of the book.

Overall, a decent read that kept me entertained, I look forward to the next!

This masterpiece of a closed door thriller will take you on a journey filled with tension and suspense leading to a jaw dropping climax. Told from Will’s perspective with flashbacks to 1999 and over 2 equally gripping parts. The secrets held by the characters are all equally as shocking, leading you to wonder what the real secret could be. The short chapters leave you yearning for more, the flashbacks to 1999 creating a lull in the dramatics to heighten the impact of the present day with this intense slow burn delivering everything a thriller should. Immaculately written, no wonder Edwards is such a praised writer.
If this isn’t on your radar for a summer thriller, it should be.

The first book I have read by this author and I enjoyed it. Read in a day it followed a current trend of telling a story across two timelines. Looking forward to reading Mark Edwards next book later this year. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.

I was fortunate enough to be at Harrogate Crime Writing Festival while Mark Edwards was there, and the excitement for The Wasp Trap was second to none! The writing style is fabulous and the book had me gripped from page 1. Absolutely fabulous and highly recommend!

One of the best psychological thrillers that I’ve read in a long while. I literally couldn’t put it down. Great characters, great plot and great twists make this a must read book.

I was drawn to this book instantly having read a lot of the author’s previous books. Unfortunately, I’m really sad to say that I was left feeling disappointed.

The premise of this story was interesting though the blurb didn’t give a lot away. I struggled to get into this book and was almost a quarter of the way through before something mildly interesting happened.

This book was so overly drawn out. The characters fell really flat and by the time things did start to happen I wasn’t invested at all. The pace was awfully slow.

I persevered in the hopes it would get better but it didn’t and by the time the ‘twist’ was revealed, I genuinely didn’t care.

So disappointed as I had such I hopes.

In 1999, Professor Sebastian Marlow had gathered together a group of his students to create a revolutionary dating app based on psychology, it was an app that was going to make them all wealthy but without explanation, the professor suddenly dropped the project.
Twenty five years later, the six students, Georgina, Theo, Will, Sophie, Rohan and Lily had gathered at the grand house belonging to Georgina and Theo, to remember Sebastian.
The six were nervous about the reunion, now wealthy, Georgina and Theo were married with two daughters, one of whom had disappeared, Sophie was whiling her time away living on the inheritance left to her by her grandmother, Will, still carrying a torch for Sophie was a, would be ,writer, Rohan was married with children and still chasing his dream of wealth and Lily, the brains of the outfit was divorced with children and unbeknown to the others, had created a mind blowing app called The Wasp Trap.
The dinner party had hardly started when the guests realised that they were locked in the house with no wifi or phone lines.
As the story unfolds, guns are produced from an unexpected source, one of the guests had a secret that the gunman needed, people started dying and so the guests each in turn revealed their secrets from 1999.........were they the secret that the gunman wanted ? they certainly surprised the rest of the group.
This is a good, well written story, my only downside was that I didn't really find any of the characters likeable and I thought that it went on a bit too long, it did however have a neat twist at the end,
Thank you Net Gallery for this ARC my review is totally voluntary.

Thank you to netgalley, the author and the publisher for early access to this ARC !

This story has dual timelines so if you aren't a fan of that you should avoid this book. I found the first half of the book a little slow but after half way the story picked up and had lots of twists and turns. You think you can guess the ending but you end up wrong !

I would rate this a 3.5 🌟

The story is told over different time periods with multiple voices. Summer 1999, a group of six students begin to work on a project for Prof Sebastian Marlowe that could revolutionise online dating. Fast forward 25 years, Will receives a dinner party invite with his fellow students to honour the Prof's passing along with a stranger, who claims to have know Prof Marlowe. Will senses something is quite right - strange noises and unexplained sightings. What happens next came as complete surprise to me? It was full of twists and turns, gripping and locked room vibes added to the telling of this book. All I know is keeping secrets can be bad for your health!!!

This intriguing story is set now and in 1999. In 1999, six graduates were working with an eccentric professor on a project for a new dating website. Fast forward 25 years and the professor has passed away. To commemorate this, two of the graduates decide to reunite the six at a dinner party.

From the start, there is definitely an unsettling vibe. One guest hears what sounds like crying upon arrival, then catches glimpses and sounds of someone moving around just out of sight and who is the stranger that says they are connected to the professor but his story just doesn't add up. The hosts are noticeably cagey, which only adds to the tension. Things escalate, turning violent, and suddenly, everyone's fighting for their lives. It all points back to a secret from 1999 when the project was shut down suddenly but what is it and who holds it?

Whilst I enjoyed it by the end, it was a slow burn for me and it took a while for me to get into it. I liked the twists, the characters were interesting and well developed and the story was complex and intriguing and whilst it pushed the boundaries of plausibility at times, I still enjoyed it.

I haven't read anything by Mark Edwards before but I enjoyed his writing style and the complex story he created so will look out for more from him in the future.

Many thanks to the author, Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of this intriguing book.

I am very excited when a book by Mark Edwards is released as they are always highly readable and full of interesting twists. The Wasp Trap is no exception to this and I flew through the chapters wanting to find out what the outcome would be.

Set in a dual timeline in 1999 and present day we meet Will who is our narrator for the most part and one of the students who meet in 1999 at the house of their professor to take part in the setting up of a dating site, each having their own specialist area that they can bring to the potentially money making concept. In present day the reader learns that the students have, apart from one couple who are married, not kept in touch since the sudden closure of the project they were working on. A dinner party has been arranged and one that they will not all leave unharmed.

The two stories really had me thinking and trying to figure out what had happened in 1999 that shaped the future and caused the events of the present day. The concept of the way they were setting up the site and the side story of the tests to see if someone is a psychopath was an interesting subject to learn about.

Great characters and a solid story which made for a great book, one that I have no doubt I will be recommending.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Summer 1999. Will joins five other idealistic graduates working for an eccentric psychology professor. They're going to launch a website to change online dating forever. No one expects it to end in tragedy. Twenty-five years later, Will gets an invitation: a dinner party. A chance to see the old gang again. But as soon as he arrives, something doesn't seem right. There's an unexpected guest. And on the way in, Will is sure he heard crying. Everyone has something to hide about what really happened that summer. But only one of them is willing to kill to find out the truth.

Six friends who first met in 1999 when working on a new dating site, meet up again twenty-five years later when they attend a dinner party hosted by two of the friends.

This story has a dual timeline - 1999 and the present day. During the dinner they have to reveal their hidden secrets that ends up a deadly game. The pace is fast, there were plenty of twists, in fact it has everything you want and need to hold your interest. This is a fantastic read.

The Wasp Trap is a psychological thriller set in 1999 and the present day. Working within the psychology field, I was intrigued by the premise of the book.

There were twist and turns towards the end of the book which were somewhat surprising. However, I felt the first half of the book was slow. There were lots of characters but not much depth to them. I often found myself having to re-read sections to remind myself who was who.

Overall, an average read. 3.5 ⭐️.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Michelle Joseph, Penguin Random House for access to this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve read a few of Mark Edward’s books before, this one is just as good. Took me a while to get into it with the characters involved and who did what and who was who, but once that was established I raced through the book. The ending was not what I expected. Would recommend to others.

I am between 3 and 4 stars with this one but I have rounded it down cos although it was a relatively quick read that, despite my misgivings, I did mostly enjoy even if I also found it messy and rather implausible, it left me a bit cold at the end. One of the things I really love about this author is that the things he writes about are so clever and scary mainly because they are also wholly credible and likely to actually happen in real life. I found the "dinner party" shenanigans to be totally over the top and containing quite a few plot holes and things that in my mind just didn't add up. I fared better with the past stuff and did find that to hold my attention, as well as being so much more tightly plotted, and containing stuff I didn't see coming but was delivered with shocking aplomb.
So for me it was a book of two halves, with the worst half being the dominant one, hence the rounding down.
It probably also didn't help that, apart from a couple, I really didn't get on with the characters and, tbh, probably didn't care enough about them to worry what happened. I never really got on board with the point of the "reunion" and the way they all agreed to attend it, especially given what happened when the "gang" first broke up and went their separate ways. And I guess that was the theme that followed me throughout the book, especially as I learned more and more about what happened in 1999.
All that said, it was a quick and easy read, delivered in the author's wonderful no nonsense, no waffle, no padding succinct way. Pacing was mostly good, a tad on the slow side initially but I guess that was to ramp up the suspense. The ending was solid enough but didn't leave me as satisfied as maybe I could have been.
And it hurts me to say all this but I have to be true to myself. The author has had a change of publisher for this book and I hope that this is not the reason for any of my above misgivings. That said, I will probably pounce on his next book as soon as I can (I already have his Christmas special locked and loaded) as I fully believe that this blip is just that and normal service will resume...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.