I’ve been a fan of Mark Edwards' work for years and am always looking forward to his next book. He writes dark, fast-paced, gripping thrillers. But as for The Wasp Trap? It lost its grip on me early on. It’s unusual for me to have a DNF, but sadly The Wasp Trap has become one of the few.

Thank you to Michael Joseph, Random House and NetGalley for the ARC and chance to review this book.

I am a huge fan of Mark Edwards and this book was his usual character driven story with lots of tension and suspense.. It is as ever so easy to invest in the characters. The story is fast paced and kept me guessing to the end. This was compulsive and I stayed up to read it. Would highly reccomend and thank you for the arc.

A quarter century ago, Will was involved with a ground breaking psychology project that went badly wrong. Now he has the opportunity to meet those people again, at a reunion that has been organised all these years later.

But given what happened, does he really want to? And does he know what he's getting into?

Mark Edwards proves yet again why he has gained a well deserved reputation for writing creepy thrillers with this entertaining and twisted story. It gets 3. 5 stars.

DNF.

I’ve read lots of books by the author- some 5 star, some 3, but this one I could not finish.

It was very slow, overly wordy, pages and pages of dialogue and conversation going nowhere. I lost interest half way through.

Not for me.

am a huge fan of Mark Edwards and this book did not disappoint. It is a character driven story. I quickly got invested in the characters. The story is fast paced and kept me guessing all the way to the end. At no point in the book was I bored. It is a book that I really didn’t want to put down and kept me reading into the early hours.

Ever since I read The Magpies, I’ve been a big fan of Mark Edward’s.
The Wasp Trap did not disappoint! I loved the 90s nostalgia and references and the characters were very relatable.
Without too many spoilers, I enjoyed the psychopath testing and the setting of the dinner party game (if you know, you know!)

Highly recommend if you enjoy a good thriller!

Set in 1999, this is a great thriller for anyone nostalgic for floppy discs, 90s music and pre- internet life. Based around a group of young graduates trying to break into the dot com bubble, it has a kind of dark academia vibe as they are under the spell of their enigmatic psychology professor in creating a dating website. It's all about relationship secrets, sexual tension and deadlines and has a really edgy feeling throughout. I absolutely loved it I loved Will , and couldn't believe the final twist! Wow!

ARC received from NetGalley with thanks.

By Chapter 11 (21% in, not that I was checking obsessively), I was properly invested. The characters had me hooked and I’d already developed strong opinions on who I felt was shady, who was innocent and who just needed a break. The dual timeline worked really well, and the setting in both was absolutely gorgeous. I’m a sucker for books set in a big sprawling house and this book had two… winner.

By Chapter 38, some of the secrets were out and there was a big reveal. I was expecting elements of this so no huge surprise but it kept me completely gripped regardless. I couldn’t stop reading, it got to the point where I was sneaking chapters in whenever I could with 4 kids around me. Fast paced and addictive.

Then came the ending. It tied things up nicely, but I was waiting for one last jaw-drop moment and it didn’t quite land. I don’t need fireworks, but I wanted just a bit more oomph.

All in all, this was a brilliant read. Tense, twisty and with two brilliant settings in a timeline that worked really well. Nearly five stars, but I’m docking half for the slightly underwhelming ending.

Final rating: 4.5 stars
Highly recommend.

Tense but satisfying locked room style thriller. Six friends reunite for a dinner party after many years and it seems one (or several?) of them have a secret. The story moves between current day and flashbacks to the 90’s. This book kept me eagerly turning the pages to find out what happened next. Another great story from Mark Edwards.

Thanks to Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House for my advanced reader copy. This review is my own honest opinion

The Wasp Trap is a fast-paced thriller with a clever premise and some fun twists along the way. It’s definitely entertaining, but I didn’t feel as hooked as I’d hoped.

Still, it’s an easy one to fly through—great if you’re in the mood for something light and suspenseful!

This book ticks all the boxes for a good psychological thriller: it is packed with suspense and the tension rises until the very end.

In 1999, six young and ambitious students become the disciples of the excentric and even more ambitious Professor Sebastian Marlowe. He tasks them with creating a novelty dating app. The group works under extreme pressure and in seclusion but full of hope to make it in the by now strongly emerging tech economy. The App never gets released because the project gets abruptly abandoned, the six friends separate and start leading very different lives.

25 years later – the real time of narration – they meet up again to celebrate the life of their late professor. This reunion turns into a nightmarish game of survival in which no secret remains unearthed. The reason for their sudden dispersal so many years ago slowly emerges and they are all somehow linked to what had happened then.

The wasp trap is all about how to catch a psychopath, it is full of twists and turns – a really clever page-turner. Some aspects of the storyline struck me as quite unrealistic – but then I don’t really expect realism in a psycho-thriller. It had me hooked and I finished it in no time.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

With many thanks to Netgalley for this free arc and I am leaving this unbiased review voluntarily
If you like your locked room mysteries then you are going to love this. Full of tension and suspense as it flows beautifully between past and present. Totally unpredictable completely addictive and some great twist and turns. Not as creepy as I thought it would be having only read the Magpies by this author. The writing is on point and the pace builds nicely to a dramatic climax. The epilogue was a clever addition. 4.5⭐️

In 1999 six recent graduates are recruited by a rather eccentric Professor to build a dating website based on psychological testing. Although it seems to be going well the project is abruptly abandoned. Now 25 years later two of the group Georgina and Theo who married, invite the others to a reunion dinner to celebrate the life of the recently deceased professor. What should have been a pleasant evening spent reminiscing soon turns sour when the guests are informed that one of them has been harbouring a secret for the past 25 years and unless it's revealed there will be dire consequences for them all.
I liked the premise of this book and the first half was enjoyable but the pace slowed and the story became rather far fetched.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity of reading an ARC of this book.

Twenty five years; the guests at Georgina and Theo's dinner party have gathered to remember the professor and the project they worked on together at his rambling mansion twenty five years ago. Dark undercurrents are at play as they each remember their own roles at that time, and how their work was so suddenly halted. And when the chef from the catering company appears, brandishing a shotgun and demanding to know The Secret.......appetites diminish.

I liked this book but it wasn't one of my favourites by this author. It took me until I was half way through to get into the story before I started to enjoy it. I liked the past and present timelines and was surprised by the twist at the end. There just seemed to be something missing, usually books by this author grab me straight away and I can't wait to find out what happens next but with this one didn't do it for me. I'm hoping it's just a blip and look forward to reading the next one. Thanks for my ARC.

Six friends find themselves back together after 25 years. Something happened that summer of 1999 that not all of them know about. But one is keeping a secret and someone wants to know who is keeping the secret and what it is!!!

This is a dual timeline book with a dinner party in present day and the past as young adults working together.

Mark Edward’s has written a great book here with lots of plot twists and another plot being told under neath too. A great book with a. Good twist.

this book was definitely the best thriller l've read all year. It was fast paced and I was hooked from the start. Every time I thought I knew what was going to happen the story took a sudden turn.
It was about six friends who meet up at a dinner party after 25 years to celebrate the life of Sebastian Marlowe, their former professor who had an unhealthy obsession with investigating
psychopaths. After a while, suspicious things start to happen and the old friends begin to regret coming.
This book was
mainly from the perspective of the MC, Will, but there was also multi POVs and there were flashbacks. There was also a romantic subplot.
I highly recommend this book and I have no complaints. I loved how all the characters were written. They were all very interesting and had their own unique traits. I have never read a book by Mark Edwards before but this book has convinced me to read more of his books!

The wasp trap was an excellent read. I loved the back and forth of time. The twist about the real psychopath at the end was great.

The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards begins with old friends gathering for a dinner party. Things take a drastic turn for the worse when they are held hostage, one of the 6 friends has a secret the captors want and no-one can leave until the secret is revealed.

I really enjoyed the first 75% of the book but then felt things got a little far fetched in the last part of the novel. The tension and fear felt real in the first part of the novel but then kind of fell away in the last part. in saying that I would recommend it to anyone who likes thrillers.

A slow burner which only springs into life after halfway. Far fetched at times but just too slow and it didn't really grip as one would have both liked and expected.
My thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph Penquin Random House for this arc in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.