Book Review - The Fifth Guest by Jenny Knight - #HolidayReading Mallorca

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Title: The Fifth Guest

Author: Jenny Knight

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: HQ

Publication Date: 3rd August 2023

Rating: 5 Stars

Five friends. One deadly secret.

Five old university friends gather on the eve of their flatmate’s memorial at a beautiful riverside house.

Host Caro is as perfect as always.

Shy, awkward Lily’s now a bestselling author.

Sports hero George loves suburban fatherhood.

Bad-boy Travis only gets his highs from meditation.

And gatecrasher Elle is still a troublemaker.

Estranged for years, they’re finally ready to reminisce over dry martinis and delicious food. But there’s more than that on the menu…

Because each guest is hiding a dark secret about their time at Oxford.

They’re all guilty of something. Is one of them guilty of murder?

I couldn't get enough of this book, I loved the dual timelines of what happened all those years ago at Oxford, and what was happening at the dinner party being hosted by Caro. 

It's about a group of people who under normal circumstances probably wouldn't have been on each other radars, but due to an accomodation issue, all ended up living together 

In the past sections I was rooting for George and Henry to make the boat race boat, for Lily and Travis to get it together, and for a whole lost more too. 

In the present sections I was reading with bated breath to see just which character would reveal something shocking or eye opening next and that might she new light on their past times together. 

By the end of it, I was really despising at least one character, thought another was incredibly brave, and was shocked at the lengths others would go to. 

This may be the author's debut thriller but all of her women's fiction skills that I have loved in the past were present in this book, making it incredibly readable, to the extent I read it in an afternoon. 

Absolutely enthralling. 

Thank you to HQ and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.