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.

I adored The Magpies but it's been a while since I'd read a Mark Edwards book so I was looking forward to diving into his latest. I liked the inclusion of past and present chapters although I would have liked more from the POV of the past as this felt lacking in detail to me at times. Likewise, the group of friends had a great mix of personalities but a couple like Rohan felt lacking in depth although I appreciate with so many characters, this can be difficult to achieve. A few parts of the book was quite far fetched so you did have to suspend belief but I enjoyed the twists threaded throughout. Overall, this was an easy read that kept me hooked.

The Wasp Trap, Mark Edwards

Synopsis: 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.
Everyone has something to hide about what really happened that summer. But only one of them is willing to kill to find the truth...

🐝

Firstly, a huge thank you to NetGalley, Michael Joseph and Mark Edwards for this ARC in return for my honest review.

This is only my second Mark Edwards book and so far this one sits in second place!

This book flips between 1999 and the present day, which I felt was useful to build the characters and the setting. However, I found it to be a little slow in the first half of the book.

The second half of the book ramped up and I enjoyed all of the twists and secrets that came to light. Was a twisty, dark thriller that would be perfect for fans of dark academia.

I don't think it'll be very memorable for me, but definitely a solid thriller that I enjoyed! I enjoyed The Psychopath Next Door more, so if you fancy trying this author out - I'd recommend that one first 😄

Rating: 3.5⭐️

It's been a while since I've read a book by Mark, but I have to say, I loved this.
Six friends reunite for a dinner party to celebrate the life of Sebastian, their professor back in 1999.
What starts as a lovely catch-up soon turns into something more sinister.
A deadly game, where one of them has a secret. Who knows something from 1999? Are they going to reveal it before someone gets killed?
A brilliant twisty, fast-paced thriller that alternates between past and present.
I loved how each character revealed their secret thinking it would save them, very clever.
I was definitely invested in this and the twist at the end!
Addictive.
Thanks to Netgalley and Michael Joseph/Penguin Random House for the ARC in return for an honest review.

I am not going to like doing this review. I’ve been a fan of Mark for many years now, I’ve read and reviewed a lot of his books and always rated them highly. Not the case with this one unfortunately.

Another reviewer commented that if they’d not seen Mark’s name on this cover they’d not believe he wrote it. I totally agree. This is not the standard of storytelling I’ve known from Mark.

Where do I begin? The plot switches between two timelines and I know the past timeline (1999) is designed to build the picture of the characters and how they all come to be sitting around a dining table in a dining room with a couple of lunatics with shotguns demanding to know a secret, or die one by one. But, I was SO bored going back there. I felt it was too wordy with very little going on until closer to the end. Then it got a bit more juicy.

The current day plot started out really interesting. I was definitely intrigued for a while then it started to get so unrealistic I was getting frustrated. The characters never really expanded so most were very hard to connect with, very one dimensional and even key figures seemed to be very peripheral.

But..then it just got ridiculously silly. Very unbelievable and at times I saw such major plot holes that didn’t make sense. It got very disjointed too, jumping timelines then throwing in new elements to confuse it more. It just was all over the place. When it got near the end and the “reveals” occurred I was so dissatisfied that it led to where it did. It felt like too much was crammed into the end part of the book and the rest of it was excruciatingly slow. If this was not Mark Edwards and my hope for a turnaround this would have been unfinished for me.

The lack of realistic storyline is what really lets this down. It’s way too far-fetched and too much mixed in. Like overkill that didn’t enhance the plot. Tied in with the non-existent character development and depth which also lets it down. It could have been a really good novel but it wasn’t for me.

I hate to rate this only 2 stars and if you’ve not read any books by Mark Edwards don’t let this one put you off. I’ve raved about other books he has written. Given them 5 stars so this surprised me. This is an anomaly, a blip for me in my reading journey of Mark’s books. Overall it was really boring sadly. I’m going to bump up my reviews of his books I loved on Goodreads so you can compare, don’t write him off based on this review alone.

‘The Wasp Trap’ by Mark Edwards tells the story of a group of former PhD students, reuniting to remember the legacy of their former supervisor. What begins as a refined and nostalgic dinner party soon turns in to a nightmare, where unrequited love, missing people, past sins and ruined lives coalesce into unbearable tension.

I’ve really liked many of this author’s books and this is another great addition to his repertoire. I’m giving it four stars and would recommend to fans of twisted academic thrillers.

I received a Digital Review Copy of this book from the publisher Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Bonus points for having the book title appear in the plot in a clever way !

The Wasp Trap was an interesting story, told from various points of view of a friend's group. The story also contained engaging flashbacks that were wholly relevant. The book had a great flow and kept me eager to read one more chapter (I finished it in a day!).

While it had a similar feeling/setting to that of Agatha Christie's "And then there were none" this still felt like a fresh story. While it kept me guessing, it also had a very satisfying ending.

My one criticism would be the writing of the two chefs we meet early on but other than that, I loved it.

Would definitely read again!

I was so looking forward to this book but it wasn’t for me it was too slow and unbelievable and couldn’t connect with any of the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for an ARC

IN 1999 a group of 6 recent graduates and an eccentric professor, does some research in developing a new dating site using psychological testing but things start to go wrong.
Years later they are all invited to a dinner party in London. They haven’t seen each other in years except for Georgia and Theo who are both married. But when things start to get deadly. They are held hostage until someone reveals a secret. But they are all unaware of what that secret it is, until they reminisce back to 1999 and suddenly, they start opening up to each other and secrets start being revealed.
I am always excited to hear a new Mark Edwards book. So, I was looking forward to reading this one. The author is a great storyteller, and I was intrigued by the premise of this story. But for me personally found this to be quite slow and a very long build to the main part of the story and I only got really fully invested in it until the latter half when all the secrets are revealed. 3.5 stars from me

I literally read this in one sitting - I couldn't step away. A mysterious dinner party for those who have a shared history from their post university days, but after arriving at dinner: The doors are locked and others turn out not to be who they thought - they then endure hours of threats and being held at gunpoint to confess their sins. Lies and secrets they're not even aware they have to begin with...I liked the flipping between the two time eras and I liked the characters now were clearly built on exaggerated versions of their 20 something year old selves. Full of surprises, twists, turns, lies - I couldn't put this down, 5 stars from me!

Gripping read, that pulls you in right from the beginning. Lots of twists and turns which will keep you guessing till the end.

I unfortunately ended up DNFing this book as I just found it too slow and like I had to force myself to read.
It did have a good opening, gripping and making you wonder how you would devise a test to catch a psychopath.
After this the book because very push and pull. I felt like I really had to push myself to read it, but then after a long slog something pulled me back in. Then again unfortunately after a short while I feel as if I had to force myself back into reading.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC of The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards in return for an honest review.

As a longtime fan of Mark Edwards, I went into this book with high expectations. Unfortunately, The Wasp Trap didn’t quite deliver for me. While I usually find his thrillers gripping and compulsively readable, this particular storyline failed to keep my interest. The plot felt wildly far-fetched at times, stretching the bounds of plausibility to the point where it pulled me out of the story rather than drawing me in.

Additionally, the constant switching between past and present made the narrative feel disjointed and more laborious than it needed to be. Rather than building suspense, the structure made it difficult to stay engaged.

This one just didn’t hit the mark for me.

Mark Edwards has done it again—The Wasp Trap is one of those books that grabs you by the collar, throws you into a locked room, and refuses to let go until the very last page.

It kicks off with a dinner party that’s meant to be a nostalgic reunion, but it quickly turns into a nightmare. Six old friends, a gun-wielding intruder, and a sinister ultimatum: spill your darkest secrets, or suffer the consequences. From there, it’s a race against time (and each other) to unravel the mystery lurking in their past.

The dual timeline adds an extra layer of suspense, taking us back to the late ’90s when this group of university students worked on a groundbreaking dating app with their psychology professor. But alongside the main project, they also dabbled in a separate, much darker experiment—one designed to identify a specific psychological profile. And that side project? Well, let's just say it might have left behind some unfinished business.

Edwards’ signature style shines here: fast pacing, gripping tension, and just enough psychological twists to keep you second-guessing everything. And the ending? Oh, it delivers.
If you’re a fan of locked-room mysteries, juicy secrets, and thrillers that keep you on your toes, this one’s a must-read. Clear your schedule—you’re going to need to finish this in one sitting.

Thank You NetGalley and Penguin Random House for a Review Copy.

I loved this book. The storyline, the characters, the setup.. everything was great. Would highly recommend.

A clever story, that is dark and gripping with an excellent build up of tension and enough twists that it is impossible to guess which way it is going.
After finishing university a group of students are employed by psychology Professor , Sebastian Marlowe, to put together a dating app and launch it into the world. It is the summer of 1999 and the six of them move into his house in order to work together on the project. Roll on to the present time and the group come to a dinner at the house of Georgina and Theo to celebrate the life of Sebastian who has recently died. None of them, apart from Theo and Georgina who married, have been in contact with each other since that summer, after Sebastian abruptly terminated the project and sent them all home.
All of the students, now adults, carry baggage from that summer, and as they are beginning to get to know each other again they are interrupted the internet going down, and then the house doors locking and eventually an ultimatum - which one of them has been keeping a secret from that time. Tensions rise and secrets are revealed as the group struggle to stay alive, but each time something new is exposed, the group find there is more to come.
Well written and cleverly put together, this is a very satisfying read. It is my first Mark Edwards book, but definitely an author I'll look for again.
With thanks to Netgalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House for the arc copy in return for an honest review.

Mark Edwards knows how to write a page-turner, and The Wasp Trap is no exception. It’s one of those books that sinks its teeth in right away and keeps you guessing as it peels back layers of long-buried secrets, simmering resentment, and a whole lot of "what really happened that summer?" tension.

The setup is immediately intriguing: six idealistic graduates in 1999, holed up with an eccentric psychology professor, working on what they think is going to be a groundbreaking dating site. Flash forward 25 years, and Will—our likable, slightly regretful narrator—gets an invitation to a dinner party with the old group. What starts as a nostalgic get-together quickly turns into something much darker. Someone hasn’t moved on. Someone wants answers. And someone’s willing to kill for them.

The dual timeline works really well here. The chapters alternate between the sunny, idealistic days of 1999 and the increasingly claustrophobic, locked-room-style tension of the dinner party. Edwards paces the reveals nicely—just enough to keep you invested, but always leaving you wanting more. Every chapter ends on a little jolt or question mark, which makes this very hard to put down.

I also appreciated how different each of the six original group members felt. They’re not just filler characters—they each bring a different energy to the table, and part of the fun is watching how their seemingly successful adult lives have or haven’t lived up to their youthful ambition. Will’s voice holds everything together—he’s grounded, observant, and just unreliable enough to make you question what really happened.

Where the book stumbles a bit, for me, is in the final stretch. There’s a twist, and while it’s definitely entertaining, it teeters on the edge of feeling too sensational. None of it ruined the book, but it did slightly undercut the tight, psychological realism that made the first half so compelling.

That said, The Wasp Trap still lands as a solid, clever thriller with a unique premise and great pacing. It asks interesting questions about ambition, loyalty, guilt, and how the past refuses to stay buried. If you’re into stories where a group of people is forced to confront their shared trauma—with a healthy dose of danger and secrets along the way—this will absolutely scratch that itch.

Not quite a five-star masterpiece, but a super satisfying ride all the same.

I’ve read books by this author before and really enjoyed them so think I’m the outlier on this one as it seems to be receiving rave reviews. Without spoiling anything I just didn’t feel invested in the characters and the choices they were making and the latter parts of the book did require a lot of suspension of disbelief.

Thank you to netgalley for providing an ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this dark thriller about a group of friends reuniting for a dinner party after a long time apart. The only problem is everyone is keeping secrets and someone at the party is determined to find out the truth and will kill to find out. Don’t miss this one.