Title: The Murder Game
Author: Rachel Abbott
Genre: Psychological Thriller
# of pages: 416
Expected date of publication: 16th April 2020
What started a twisted dark tale of mystery and suspense ends a little less than predictable.
The murder game is a story of 4 childhood friends, Lucas, Matt, Andrew and Nick. Lucas is the leader of the pack. Now, times have changed. They have reunited for Lucas’s wedding, who’s getting married to Nina. Matt has come with his wife Jemima, aka Jemma. Andrew is engaged and has arrived with Chandra and Nick with his twin sister, Isabel. The reunion was supposed to be fun, a journey to the memory lane. They have a dark past and that will resurface and test their friendship or if they are friends.
I have read some books in the Tom Douglas series by the same author. This book is the second book in the Stephanie King series. I haven’t read the previous book in the series, but it can be read as a standalone book.
There aren’t many characters. Other than the list above is the DS Stephanie King. It was after a long time I liked most of the characters of the novel, except for Isabel. I liked the character of Jemma. She is the one who’s narrating the story (most parts of it). There are some portions narrated by Nina. Jemma is portrayed as strong & independent. She stands up against wrong done and yet feel and understand the emotions of the wrong.
There were subplots and the merge well at the end. There are plot twists and turns that you do not see coming at all. But then, a lot of it is predictable. The driving force that keeps you going is the motive.
Even though the book is a Stephanie King’s, there is not much from her narration and that’s another character I did not like in the book. She’s doesn’t seem like an integral part of the story, so I could continue without her interference.
I like the mystery and suspense of the story; however, they had major flaws. One is the story kept dragging the suspense until the end (it was a test of my patience). The book could have finished a lot earlier. There are flaws that I cannot reveal, the flaws as they will be spoilers. I expected a lot from this book and I wasn’t disappointed, but then it wasn’t completely fulfilled!
The murder game is a good afternoon that can be easily read in one sitting given its stupendous suspense.
My rating for the book 3.5 stars.
Thank you NetGalley and Headline for the review copy in exchange for my honest review.
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