Eight Guests. One Killer. No Escape

A year ago today, we gathered for Lucas and Nina’s wedding at their glorious Cornish home overlooking the sea.

But no one was married that day.

Last year there were nine of us. Now there are eight. And Lucas has invited us back for a macabre anniversary.

Tonight, he’s planned a game for us: we each have a costume and a role to play. The game, he tells us, is about to begin.

What does Lucas want? What are we not being told? And how will this terrifying game end?

I received a review copy from the publishers. My thanks also to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the chance to join this tour.

Do you ever pick up a new book and not read the blurb on the cover? Perhaps for an author you always read so you don’t need to know what the story is about? I do it quite often, sometimes just so I go into a story with no idea what lies ahead.  That’s what I did with The Murder Game.  I knew Rachel Abbott’s reputation for writing clever thrillers and after I saw the splash “Eight Guests. One Killer. No Escape” I thought this sounded like a book for me.  Naturally I assumed I would be reading about a secluded location where someone was picking off the guests one-by-one.  Naturally I was totally wrong – well you know what they say about never assuming.

I got the remote location bit correct. A large luxury home down in Cornwall where, 12 months ago, a group of old friends gather with their plus-one to celebrate Lucas’s wedding. Lucas is the wealthy one and his friends are pegged as hangers-on. They seem to crave his attention and bask in his company. Though each are successful in their own right their successes pale against the wealth of Lucas and their childhood dependency upon his favour never fades.

Lucas welcomed his friends to his Cornish home but the gathering is strange for Jemma (our main narrator) she is one of the plus-one’s.  Her husband Matt is a successful and respected surgeon but when he is back in Lucas’s home he seems nervous, secretive and is not taking time to explain to Jemma some of the important background she should know about his old friends. In particular there is a mystery surrounding Lucas’s sister Alex.  She is a nervous, flighty and troubled girl. There is talk of an “incident” many years ago which left Alex broken and reclusive. At dinner on the first night Jemma tries to bring Alex into the conversation but she is quickly talked down by her husband and it is clear Alex is not a conversation topic.

We spend time getting to know Lucas and his guests and as the wedding draws closer Jemma becomes concerned about how Lucas and his old friends seem to be holding back secrets. She also becomes suspicious of her own husband’s affection for another guest. But on the day of the wedding tragedy strikes and one of the household is found dead after a terrible accident. The wedding doesn’t take place and Lucas appears broken.

Twelve months later Jemma and Matt’s marriage is on the rocks, events in Cornwall seem to have been a main factor in the decline in their relationship. The couple receive a letter from Lucas.  He is inviting them back to his home on the anniversary of the tragic event of the previous year.  Matt convinces Jemma they have to attend.

On arriving back at Lucas’s home Jemma finds all the guests from 12 months ago have been invited back.  Lucas has decided everyone is to participate in his Murder Game. He believes one of his friends is a murderer and by making everyone play the game he will solve a year-long murder mystery.

So not a book about a killing spree but a clever psychological thriller where Jemma helps the reader navigate through a series of lies and secrets to determine if there really is a killer in their midst. Distrust and anger lead the way, suspicion leads to fear and Jemma becomes aware that revealing a killer may well put the other guests at risk – as she gets closer to the truth someone takes exception to the information she is uncovering. In a remote house with few potential witnesses Jemma is in real danger.

Clever and devious plotting, the clues are there for armchair sleuths to find and reading The Murder Game is time well spent.

The Murder Game is published by Wildfire and is available in Hardback, Digital and audiobook format and you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07T5X5X68/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0