I couldn’t put this down! A group of old friends trapped in a snowy, remote house for Christmas makes the perfect setup for secrets, tension, and shocking twists. The story flips between past and present so well, keeping me guessing until the very end. Dark, suspenseful, and completely binge-worthy—definitely a must-read for thriller fans!

i mean if after years an old acquaintance who happen to not have been in touch since a devastating event took place, then happened to be in touch and invite you to a remote get together. would you go? i might question it myself haha. but im happy to read about it.
because one night over a decade ago Gabby's little sister went missing at Christmas. 6 friends were all having a party thinking she was safely tucked up. turns out all that time her bed was empty. now all 6 get invited back together.
so what happened to Seffie? well this re gathering Gabby intends to find out because she thinks one of the group knows...
how well do we really know our friends or those closest to us? here we learn exactly what happened as we switch between timelines and i certainly was suspicious of most of the group.
this book gave that unsettled feelings. with the group now locked in a remote location in a storm you can feel the pressure building. the author gives each character their own voice and personality so it was easy let them get under your skin. they all seem to have secrets so you are never quite sure if its the big one or means they have something darker to do with the missing sister.
this is a great read and being so fast paced and shorter it really take you on an exciting ride. no fluff, no faff just story solving from beginning to end with a great round off.
i really enjoyed this book and it was a satisfying read for sure.

The Christmas Party is a chilling psychological thriller wrapped in festive glitter. What begins as a holiday celebration soon spirals into secrets, tension, and shocking revelations. Fast-paced, addictive, and impossible to put down.

The Christmas Party by Kathryn Croft is a gripping, atmospheric psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Thank you to NetGalley, Kathryn Croft, and Bookouture for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

The story revolves around Gabby, who twelve years ago experienced the traumatic disappearance of her younger sister, Seffie, during a Christmas party with six friends. Now, she invites them all back to her remote Scottish lake house for a holiday reunion—but it’s clear she has ulterior motives. Snowed in and cut off from the outside world, the friends must confront secrets and betrayals that have haunted them for over a decade.

What I loved most about this novella was the way Croft masterfully builds tension and suspense. The alternating timelines of “Then” and “Now” peel back the layers of the past slowly, keeping the reader guessing until the very end. The snowbound setting adds a claustrophobic, chilling atmosphere, perfectly mirroring the unease among the friends. Every character harbors secrets, and just when you think you know who to trust, another twist upends your assumptions.

The pacing is fast and engaging, making this novella almost impossible to put down. While some may find the ending a bit abrupt, I found the reveals satisfying and the overall experience thrilling. Croft expertly balances a suspenseful plot with glimpses into the emotional fallout of past events, making the story more than just a mystery—it’s also about guilt, betrayal, and the fragility of friendships.

If you enjoy a tense, winter-set psychological thriller with dark secrets, twists, and an isolated setting, The Christmas Party is a perfect choice. It’s quick, engrossing, and packs an emotional punch that lingers after the final page.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kathryn Croft, and Bookouture for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own!

This book had a few twists and turns that kept me turning the pages, but overall I struggled to connect with it. The characters came across as shallow and self-centered, which made it difficult to feel invested in their stories. While I enjoyed some of the tension and buildup, the reveal at the end felt predictable and didn’t quite deliver the punch I was hoping for.

If you’re looking for a quick holiday-themed thriller with some drama sprinkled in, this may still be worth picking up, but it just wasn’t a standout read for me.

When you read a book in one day you know it was good. It tells the story of 6 friends that are all linked to a younger sister to one of them going missing twelve years ago under their watch. Gabby wants to find out what happened to her little sister so invites them all to meet up and spend Christmas at her house. She wants answers and is determined to find out who was responsible.
Great book from start to finish with plenty of suspense.

A close group of friends. A Christmas party without parental supervision. The only condition: keeping an eye on your younger sister, Seffie. That seems like a dream scenario for Gabby, and she gladly takes her parents’ offer with both hands. The atmosphere is great, but the next morning everything has turned into a nightmare. What happened to Seffie?

We jump forward in time — twelve years later. Gabby once again gathers the same people around her to spend Christmas together. Only this time, the goal is to finally find out who was responsible, because she doesn’t doubt for a second that one of them knows more…

Although it might not be entirely accurate, I had the feeling that this was a locked-room story. I love these kinds of books, but often they also carry a deeper emotional weight. Here, the crime is committed by someone very close to you, and the people you trusted blindly have betrayed that trust in the harshest way.

The question that arises is: how well do you really know your friends? The deeper I was drawn into the story, the more I realized I could not — or did not want to — trust anyone. Still, one person was singled out, and the group closed ranks.

Is this character simply an easy target, or a brilliant actor?

I was a big fan of Seffie. I thought the author portrayed her perfectly. I even recognized a bit of myself in her, remembering the times my big sister had friends over for a party at our house.

The other characters were also wonderfully crafted creations of the author’s imagination.

The revelations… they struck me like bolts from the blue. Fantastic.

It’s a novella, which means you learn everything quite quickly. But it’s clear that a limited number of pages in no way diminishes the quality.

I read it with great pleasure. 5 stars.

Thank you.

The setup is irresistible: a group of teenagers partying on Christmas Eve, a missing little girl in lilac pajamas, and twelve years of silence between friends. When Gabby invites everyone back to her remote Scottish lake house, you know the past isn’t going to stay buried and the snowstorm outside makes sure nobody can escape what’s coming.

The atmosphere is spot-on: isolated, tense, and laced with that creeping dread that someone in the room knows more than they’ve ever admitted. I loved the way suspicion shifted from one character to another. Every time I thought I had figured it out, another layer of secrets unraveled and I was second-guessing myself again. The claustrophobic being locked into the house added to the sense of danger, making this a perfect winter thriller.

What stood out most was how the author balanced the mystery with the emotional fallout of the past. These aren’t just characters piecing together a crime; they’re people haunted by guilt, grief, and broken friendships. That gave the story more weight and made the final reveals hit harder.

If you enjoy slow-burning psychological thrillers with a locked room twist and a wintry backdrop, this is absolutely one to pick up.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookoutre for an ARC

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5

There’s nothing quite like a thriller set against the backdrop of a cozy Christmas scene, especially when the “cozy” quickly twists into claustrophobic and chilling. Kathryn Croft’s The Christmas Party is exactly that: a novella that hooks you from page one and doesn’t let go until the final reveal.

The story circles back to a haunting event twelve years earlier, when a young girl vanished during what was supposed to be a carefree Christmas party. That mystery alone is enough to set the tension high, but Croft layers on so much more, a reunion, a remote snowed in house, fractured friendships, and the growing suspicion that one of them knows far more than they’ve ever admitted.

What I loved most is how the novella format works in its favor: the pace is razor sharp, the atmosphere deliciously tense, and every chapter ends with that “just one more” feeling. I tore through it in a single sitting, desperate to uncover the truth about what really happened to Seffie.

The mix of festive setting and dark secrets made this such a compelling read, its equal parts psychological thriller and locked room mystery, with a satisfying level of paranoia and unease. Croft excels at pulling the reader into the emotional weight of the past while ratcheting up the present day suspense.

Dark, fast paced, and utterly addictive this is the perfect winter thriller to read under a blanket while the snow falls outside.

In this short novella, the main character Gabby sets out to find out what exactly happened to her younger sister Seffie when she disappeared on Christmas Eve 12 years ago. Gabby invites her 6 old friends to her remote Scottish lake house and claims one of them knows what happened to Seffie…

I loved how suspenseful this book was, it was full of twists and turns. I definitely found it an interesting and entertaining read. I did feel the ending was perhaps a little abrupt but that definitely did not dull my overall enjoyment of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

I received a free copy of, The Christmas Party, by Kathryn Croft, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Its been over a decade since Gabby;s little sister Seffie went missing, at Christmas time. This is not a cozy Christmas read at all. This book goes back and forth between present and when Seffie went missing. I did not care for the characters, especially Anna, but it was a chilling read.

One of my favourite authors but sadly this just didn't keep me involved in the storyline. I found it a bit of a bore to read personally as I was really looking forward to it.

The characters were all well developed but for me personally I wasn't a page turner unfortunately.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for this ARC which I wish I could have enjoyed more

I want to be honest and say I did not finish The Christmas Party. This was not due to the writing, Kathryn Croft’s storytelling is engaging and well done. However, the book includes openly explicit scenes, and that’s just something I’m personally not comfortable reading. Because of that, I had to step away from it. I know many readers who enjoy that style will find plenty to love here, but for my personal reading preferences, it wasn’t the right fit.

What a story!! Very gripping and suspenseful! It is definitely a good story to read before Christmas! A highly recommended book!!

What really happened to Gabby's pesty younger sister Seffie Christmas Eve 12 long years ago. Once a closer than closer group of 6 college friends, the tragic disappearance of Seffie during their holiday party abruptly ended the friendship with everyone going no contact since that night. Sasha is then understandably shocked when Gabby reaches out with an offer she is loathe to ignore. Gabby wants to get the old group together for one last Christmas Eve to gain closure, or so she says, at her remote Scottish manor. As the guests arrive they realize a huge storm is approaching and its obvious everyone seems to have something to hide. As Sasha makes her way through old friendships and simmer resentments, she must contend with her inability to remember the evening. Was she drugged? Is she responsible and blocking the ugly truth? As she embarks on a quest for the truth, she realizes one her oldest, nearest and dearest friends maybe a murderer and to survive she will need to uncover the truth before it is too late.

Gabby has always wondered what happened to her sister Seffie Christmas Eve, 12 years ago. She invites her friends who were at her home that night to her remote home in Scotland for a Christmas break to finally discover the truth.
Secrets and lies have stayed with the friends all the years but all too soon the truth prevails.
As with all Kathryn Croft novels she builds the tension and suspense until the conclusion, due to the novel being a novella the ending seems slightly abrupt but having said that all the questions from the start are answered so maybe that just adds to the skill of the writing.
This was previously released as an audible book

Another compulsive read from an author who seems to do no wrong. I absolutely devoured this one… You will want to clear your afternoon to read this one straight through, so riveting are the twists and turns. Recommended The Christmas Party!

I really enjoyed this. For a short whodunnit I really liked it. the chapters were nice and short, always something to look forward to in the next and it kept me interested the whole time. I thought the ending wrapped up really quick.. Gave a "stage play" ending, almost to fast and to the point. there's a couple questions left unanswered but could possibly be answered by a second book.
thanks net galley for allowing me a arc copy to give my honest review.

by Katherine Croft
Kathryn Croft has always been one of my goes to authors and I have read most of her books. The Christmas Party Is a short story of 172 pages but for me felt so much longer that that. This is an engaging read about a bunch of close-knit friends. Reuniting at Christmas in a remote part of Scotland. Bring brings back memories of the last time together when someone goes missing. Never to be seen again.
Although I found this to be an engaging read, I didn’t really like much of the characters. But it did have a satisfying twist at the end. 3.5 stars from me.

For a short story this was quite impactful. There was a lot going on and occasionally it was hard to keep track of all the different threads. Worth a read though.