A Death at the Party begins with Nadine standing over a dead body at the cocktail party she threw for her mother Marilyn’s 60th birthday. From there, the story jumps back in time to earlier in the day as Nadine prepares for the party, and to 30 years ago, the last time Marilyn celebrated her birthday at all.

The present-day party prep is somewhat marred by Nadine’s recent infidelity and her daughter’s best friend River being in a coma after an overdose a few weeks ago. The memory of Marilyn’s birthday 30 years ago is similarly marred by the fact that Marilyn’s younger sister Colleen died that day, and the then 10-year-old Nadine having to give a witness statement to police.

Despite Colleen’s death and River’s coma happening 30 years apart, and despite the entire story taking place within Nadine’s perspective, the overall impression I get from this novel is that of an intricate and ever-expanding, ever-contracting web that encompasses the entire neighbourhood. So much of Nadine’s thoughts throughout the day flick between reflecting on the events surrounding Colleen’s death and stressing over the events surrounding River’s coma that the events feel connected, even when there’s no logical reason they should be. And so much of Nadine’s musings about both incidents lead to her thinking about one neighbour or another — it turns out many of Nadine’s neighbours and her husband’s friends were actually also in the area when Colleen died — that the story feels more complex and textured than it seems at first glance.

The story starts off a bit slow for me, with far too much detail about party prep and far too many characters that didn’t seem all that interesting. Even when things heat up, I never quite found this book to be a page-turner. But it is a very well-crafted piece of plotting. Amy Stuart patiently doles out one secret after another, with a pace that feels more deliberate than slow. And by the end, when Stuart brings us back to Nadine and the dead body at the party, we can appreciate the finely crafted web of lies and half-truths that have led to this point, and the reckoning that is to come.

Overall, it’s a well-crafted domestic suspense novel. A good read for those who prefer their suspense books with a slow burn.

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Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada and Word on the Street Toronto for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Celebrating her 45th birthday, quiet and unassuming Josie Fair meets her birthday twin: glamorous podcaster Alix Summers. Not only was Alix born the same day as Josie was; she was also born at the same hospital, and the coincidence makes Josie wonder about fate, and how her life would’ve been if she’d been born into Alix’s. Slowly, she maneuvers her way into Alix’s life, convincing the podcaster to interview her for the show as a middle-aged woman on the cusp of turning her life around. Except that Josie’s motives are a lot more sinister than merely becoming the subject of a podcast, and soon, she creates far more trouble than Alix ever anticipated.

None of This is True is an interesting read. Despite the intriguing hook, it started off really slowly for me. The set-up of Josie manipulating her way into Alix’s life — to the point of randomly stealing Alix’s garbage and hand soap — wasn’t as compelling as I’d hoped. I think part of it is that Josie acted creepy from the very beginning, so it was hard to see how an otherwise intelligent and successful woman like Alix would’ve let herself get entangled with her as badly as she did. The book tried to explain it away as journalistic curiosity, but considering that Alix’s recording studio was in her own home, the fact that she let someone with as many red flags as Josie presented so close to her family and their personal lives was just odd to me.

And if Josie’s initial creepiness wasn’t enough to raise any red flags for Alix, surely her over-familiarity should have been. She later makes some really judgmental comments about Alix’s husband Nathan’s drinking. Even if Alix agreed with her statements, those were things only a really close friend had a right to say, so the fact that Alix pretty much just lets it go was frustrating, especially since Alix didn’t fully agree with Josie’s statements in the first place!

So for much of the first half, this was turning out to be a fairly disappointing read. Except that I I got to the halfway point shortly before bed and found that I kept wanting to read just one more chapter. And when I finished that chapter, I figured I may as well read just one more. And so on and so forth, until I finished the book late into the night.

The ending was a bit of a letdown, and the final big reveal was anticlimactic, but my goodness, Lisa Jewell can write. For all my underwhelmed responses to elements of the book, the fact remains that it kept me turning the pages. The story hooked me, and made me want to find out what happens next. And for that reason, I ultimately think this is a good book. Just suspend your disbelief a bit, and hold out for the much more compelling latter half.

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Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for an e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.