An EASY 5⭐️ Deliciously twisty from start to finish, The Wasp Trap is a compelling and gripping locked-door psychological thriller.

Six old friends reunite to celebrate the life of their recently deceased eccentric ex-employer, a professor that brought them together in 1999 to help build a dating website based on psychological testing. I loooooved the dual timeline element of this book — switching back and forth between 1999 and present day. This format added so much more depth to the story and kept me guessing how reliable and trustworthy each character was.

This was a really great page-turner with twists, turns, secrets and lies that unfold into utter chaos. Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this book!

Good story flirting between the events of Summer 1999 and the present day.
A group who had been brought together to create a new dating website but who haven’t seen each other since, are invited to a dinner party. Once there things start to go very wrong. They all have secrets, but someone wants to know a particular secret and will go to great lengths to find out what it is.
Exciting tale with good characters. Recommended.

In 1999, a group of disparate graduates spent their summer developing a dating app for their boss Sebastian to launch. But the project was aborted and the six went their separate ways. Now 25 ywears later they are reuniting at the grand London home of two of their number, to celebrate Sebastian's life. But things start to go horribly wrong when they find themselves locked in and forced to turn on each other to try to escape the very real danger they are under.
Which is hiding secrets? Is one a psychopath? What really happened 25 years ago to cause such fury and anger now?
This story had one twisted plot and a narrative, which is fast-paced, tense, dramatic and dangerous! Chief narrator Will engages the reader instantly with his take on what is happening now, and what happened then. He is the most sympathetic character in a disparate cast - each one interesting, if not exactly likeable.
Though not in the least bit literary - and as a thriller, why should it be - the book has echoes Donna Tart's Secret History with clever young people drawn into a web of deceit and lies and bad choices that will haunt them for ever more.
As the action draws to its climax, the story becomes ever more complicated with twists coming so thick and fast there's no time to take stock of what is actually a pretty unconvincing plot. if you stop to think about it.
But the drama carries you along! You want and need to know what's going to happen, and that's what makes this a really good read.

Mark Edwards has a talent for making me feel anxious and uncomfortable, something I bizarrely enjoy in his thrillers. The Wasp Trap doesn't hit the top of my list (will anything ever beat The Magpie trilogy though?) but it was still a fun read. The characters were in turn loveable and hateable as they should be, the story turned on its head and I was pleased by the ending.

A novel that really draws you in from the start. Reunion of work colleagues from years ago, which one of them holds a secret that could ruin Dominic's life?

You really do not want to go a dinner party like this one, where peoples secrets are bought to the fore either by fair means or foul.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In 1999, six college age people spent a summer at their professor’s property working on a dating app. They haven’t seen each other since, except for Georgina and Theo who are married. They invite the others to their house for a dinner party. One of the participants has a secret and may get killed if they don’t reveal it.

I am not always the biggest fan of a closed room mystery but this one was pretty good. I didn’t have trouble keeping the characters or their backstories straight.l which tends to be an issue. I was engaged enough to be interested in how it ended but I wasn’t that wow-ed by the big secret.

This book caught me and held me till the last turn of the page. A group of young revolutionaries go about creating a dating app but who could possibly have guessed the outcome of that summer. The relationships between the group and the secrets they hold. Years later they come together again at a dinner party. A night when secrets if years gone by are revealed. Full of the unexpected. A really good read

Ahh, this is pure 'Mark Edwards' stuff: nasty, twisty, 'what if' plot-driven, edge-of-the-seat writing that is what it says it is. The writing, as ever, is pacy and thrilling, and what Edwards is, and continues to be, good at, is hooking the reader and keeping them hooked. Another winner for those who love a beautifully unsettling psychological thriller. Huge thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for the ARC.

A twisty tale that looks back to a seminal time in the lives and loves of the 7 main characters. What happened in 1999 that became a secret their lives may now depend on? The book pivots between the past and present and feeds answers and more questions as it goes on. It's an enjoyable read that you whip through quickly.

This is exactly the sort of thriller I love – tense, clever and completely addictive. The Wasp Trap pulls you in from the very first chapter and refuses to let go. With its mix of old secrets, present danger and a twisted dinner party setup, I flew through it in just a couple of sittings.

The story centres around six old friends, reunited in a smart Notting Hill townhouse for what should have been a reflective evening. Instead, they find themselves trapped in a deadly game, forced to confront the darkest corners of their past or face the consequences. It is a brilliant setup that had me hooked straight away.

I thought the dual timeline and multiple perspectives worked really well. Sometimes that structure can get a bit muddled in thrillers, but here it was perfectly balanced and so easy to follow. The switches between 1999 and the present added just the right amount of suspense, and every reveal had me second guessing everything I thought I knew.

The characters were really well drawn. Each one felt distinct, with believable flaws and layers that slowly peeled back as the story progressed. I found myself genuinely invested in all of them, even when I wasn’t quite sure who I could trust. Mark Edwards has such a sharp writing style – it is pacy and precise, and the tension builds in such a satisfying way.

The Wasp Trap is a smart, unsettling thriller with emotional depth and a brilliant twisty plot. I loved every minute.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

From start to finish this book kept you thinking just who!!!!! Great range of characters, great twists and surprises. I loved it.

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.