One of those books where you need to make sure you’re free for a few hours cause once you start you won’t be able to put it down! I loved the many twists and turns throughout and WOW the ending was amazing! A fantastic thriller!

It was heart-pounding and jaw-dropping which compels you to keep turning the pages late into the night Prepare to be gripped from the first page to the last.

This was definitely a 5 star kindle read!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ stars!


This was definitely a 5 star kindle read!

Creepy, tense, and impossible to put down. Mark Edwards has a knack for pulling you into the minds of his characters, and The Wasp Trap is no exception. The slow build had me on edge, and the final twist genuinely got me. Loved it!
What I found especially gripping was how normal everything seemed at first. Edwards is brilliant at taking something ordinary, such as a relationship, a home, or a quiet life, and twisting it just enough to make you feel like something is deeply wrong, even if you can’t quite put your finger on it. That sense of unease creeps in early and doesn’t let go. If you're a fan of Mark Edwards or fancy a gritty thriller then I highly recommend you read this!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

Loved this book which is well up to Mark's excellent standard. When a group of university students are selected by their psychology professor to work on a project together they jump at the chance. The premise is that they will firm a company to research and implement a new dating site. This will be unique in that it will rely on psychological testing as well as the other traditional formulae to give prospective candidates a more accurate match.
In the dot com era, if successful the venture could net them millions.

When the site is closed to launch and undergoing testing something happens and the group are suddenly disbanded with no explanation.

Years later, hearing their professor has passed away, arrangements are made for the group to reunite. Things suddenly take a darker turn when the party is crashed by 2 strangers demanding to know the secret held by one of the group. If the person with the se ret fails to disclose it, the friends must vote each hour to say which one of them should die.

Just who is the holder of the secret, what is the secret and how many will die before it comes to light.

Gripping from the start

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I really enjoyed this fast paced, page turning thriller with great characters. Would recommend to others.

An amazing and exciting thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat with the twists and turns. The premise seems simple enough, a dinner party is interrupted and to make it out they just need to tell their secret from the summer of 1999. Who knew just how many secrets a group could have been them? I found the pace of this book so good that I just could not put it down. The narrative moves between 1999 and the present day as the secrets slowly come to light; adding to the suspense and depth of the characters. I loved the layers to this book and it keep me guessing throughout. The story also explores some psychological themes that I found interesting and present thought provoking ideas about psychopathy and how this is viewed by others. This element especially has kept me thinking about the book long after reading it, as I ponder the little clues throughout the novel about the true nature of the characters within it. This is definitely a book I would recommend to others. Thank you to NetGallery, Mark Edwards and Penguin Books for the ARC; I thoroughly enjoyed it :).

I always enjoy a locked room thriller, and this one definitely did not disappoint.
In 1999, a professor named Sebastian Marlowe hired some university graduates to work on a new dating app, which was not going to be a run of the mill dating app, but a superior app based on in depth personality profiles. The graduates spend the Summer at the professors home, along with the professors nephew and the cook/cleaner. Suddenly, at the end of the Summer, the professor shuts down the research work, and sends the graduates home with no explanation.
Twenty five years later the group get together again to remember the now deceased professor, but the dinner party soon descends into a dark situation. The story is told in dual timelines, what happened in 1999, and then the present time. All of the people involved appear to have secrets, but someone is willing to kill to find out one of them.
A gripping psychological thriller. 5 stars.

I found this a cleverly thought out story with an unusual setting. Beginning at a dinner party it suddenly becomes dark and dangerous and very unexpected for those round the table. It moves between past and present explaining the motivations for the “invasion”
The history of the group is the basis for all that happens.
I enjoyed reading it in spite of the improbable events.
Recommended

An excellent dual timeline thriller showing how the past can come back to haunt you in unexpectedly. The psychology setting adds an additional layer of fascination to this terrific novel.

I went into this book blindly, purely based on the popularity of this author and seeing everyone raving and excited about it!

I was instantly intrigued with the storyline… told through two different time lines, past and present.

Once I hit part 2 of the book, I could not put it down! I was desperate to find out what the secret was and all the other secrets that were uncovered too… one after the other but still not the one they wanted… bombshell after bombshell. Then BOOM, huge twist that I did not see coming and I loved how it revealed more of the truth of what happened that summer in 1999 and it all stared to piece together... or so I thought anyway...

Then BAM, another huge plot twist near the end had me sitting with my mouth agape! Then the ending was just perfect - I love how the author left it open for us to interpret what comes next.

I was really sitting on the edge of my seat as I sped through this book - it was so thrilling and I would highly recommend that you pick this book up when you can!

My first Mark Edwards book and definitely not my last! Looking forward to getting my hands on his other books now.

Another amazing read from Mark Edwards. Full of twists and turns to the very last page. Make sure you won’t be interrupted so you can read it in one go. Loved it!!

This is a thriller involving a group of ‘friends’ meeting up for the first time in over two decades for a dinner party in a house with very high security. This makes it impossible for thieves to get in and guests to get out. But what if the thieves, or worse, are already inside?
The book is written in two time frames, 1999, when this group are working together to produce a new dating app, and the present. 1999 has ramifications for what is about to happen. My problem was that I did not care about the main characters, with the exception of Will and Sophie. And their predicament felt solvable and the ending was tame.
If you like a thriller this is for you. Just not for me.
I read an ARC provided by Netgalley and the publishers.

Clever, creepy, and completely gripping!
I flew through The Wasp Trap in just a couple of days — it’s such a smart, twisty thriller. I loved the dual timelines and how the story slowly revealed what really happened all those years ago. The whole concept of a dating questionnaire that can also detect psychopaths is so original and eerie. The characters felt real, the tension kept building, and the final twist totally got me. One of Mark Edwards’ best!

Mark Edwards is an instant buy for me. He writes quick, suspenseful and gritty stories and I eat them up every time. The Wasp Trap is no different, totally recommend for a fast-paced thriller. 4.5 stars from me because I felt very meh about the secondary storyline of Olivia/Mia but otherwise great!

Overall, and enjoyable novel. It did the locked room mystery well. I liked how the characters had to make choices with their secrets and lies. I also liked the dual timelines.

I found some plot points unconvincing and improbable. I won't mention them to avoid spoilers. Sometimes the suspension of belief required stretched a bit too far

I was so excited to read this! I started it as soon as I received it as I loved the last book by Mark Edwards (The Psychopath Next Door). The basic premise is six friends meet up for dinner after spending a summer in 1999 together, it goes back and forth between the timelines. It was a great read, it had a few twists, some suspense and I love the author’s factual basis for psychopaths and human behaviour in general. It was more of a slow burn but it definitely picked up nearer the end. The author’s writing is really good too, I look forward to reading more by this author.

1999 and a diverse group of university graduates are assembled at the house of Professor Sebastian Marlowe. A man of big ideas and the funds to implement them, Professor Marlowe has gathered these young people to help him produce an internet dating app. Not the usual matchmaking site, something far more sophisticated and thorough, and he now has the people, his revolutionaries, to help him achieve his aims.

Twenty five years later and the group are once again together, having been out of touch for years, thanks to the abrupt ending of the dating app and its launch. At a dinner party hosted by two of the original members who are now very much an extremely wealthy power couple, there is much reminiscing. That is until things take a sudden turn that is totally unexpected.

Told over the two timelines this is a captivating and thrilling read, never sure what is coming next and how will it all resolve.

An author I admire very much and this is another well thought out book, and really good read. Will definitely recommend.

Thank you NetGalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House.

I’ve read a few Mark Edwards books now and I’ve always got a pretty good idea of what to expect: an ordinary person thrust into an extraordinary situation, an enjoyable easy-to-read style, some witty one-liners and a twisty plot. The Wasp Trap has all of these elements—and so much more.

It’s told over two timelines—the sultry summer of 1999 when a group of young people are brought together by a professor to work on a revolutionary new dating website, and the present day when the group is brought back together for a reunion dinner that quickly goes disastrously wrong. I loved the nostalgia of the 90s timeline and the slow drip-feed of clues about the dark events that happened that summer, while the creeping sense of unease in the reunion dinner chapters is brilliantly done.

The Wasp Trap is a locked room (or locked house!) mystery, an unsolved murder, and a missing persons case all rolled into one. It’s also a must-read and Mark Edwards best book so far.

OMG Mark Edwards certainly knows how to tell a story and this book is fantastic. I stayed up until 3am to finish it. In summer 1999 six young graduates are working for an accentric psychology professor. Fast forward 25 years and they all meet again for a dinner party.
The book is very fast paced all the way through. All the characters have secrets which are gradually exposed as the book hurtles along leaving me reeling! The book is very creepy and the feelings of dread! I felt as I read increased with every page. I didn't understand the title until I read the book, but it's very, very clever. This is definitely one of Mark Edwards best books and I know I will be revising it on Audible when it is published.

I've read a few thrillers from Mark Edwards and enjoyed them all.
We've come across similar formats before whereby something happens to friends many years ago then they all reunite in present day, usually concealing deadly secrets but it is testament to the writing skills of the author that we remain hooked in this one throughout.
Beautiful written with plenty of twists to keep it interesting, this is a well paced, engaging novel and well worth a read. .

This was my first novel by Mark Edwards. I enjoyed the story which is set in two time periods, then and now. The current part of the plot is set in a large house and, at times, it felt like a farce with people rushing from room to room or floor to floor. Also, some of the characters were a bit over the top for me. However, overall it was a decent read.