The Perfect Guests

The residents of the gated community of the exclusive Severn Oaks estate are amongst the elite, money, huge houses, privilege, the children attend successful public schools, and they are all doing well in their fields of work. At a lavish Halloween party Erica Spencer had fallen to her death from a tree house, it had been ruled as an accidental death. But what if it wasn’t an accident?

Everyone seems to have come to terms with her death, and begun to move on with their lives, until at a community event, a Facebook page is put up on the school website, informing everyone that there will be several podcasts broadcast, revealing what really happened that Halloween night, at the end of all the podcasts the guilty party will be exposed, six people are involved and one of them may have killed Erica but why? Everyone is hooked on the podcasts.

Initially they believe the post is just a joke, a hoax, until the first podcast is broadcasted, and when the police become involved re-opening the case, looking at what initially was seen as a simple accident, now points to foul play..

Podcasts being as good as they are now and with more and more people listening to them on a daily basis this plot line feels very relevant and current. As you are reading or supposedly listening to the podcasts the tension starts being ramped up and you are on the edge of your seat wondering which person Killed Erica. Trying to work out from the clues given, who is the most likely to have committed the crime and what was the motive? What did the killer gain?

Every one of these people have secrets, but what are their secrets, is someone’s secret that bad it’s worth killing for?

From an enclosed close knit community, with gates surrounding them to keep people out, someone within those gates could be a killer. So who is safe the ones inside the gates or the ones outside?

This is a really well thought out story with plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing, the story flows well, it’s entertaining, cleverly plotted, a good psychological thriller, and who doesn’t like one of those. Overall a good book from Jenny Blackhurst.

My only small thing is the amount of characters and keeping track of who is married to who and the children, at times it could get a little confusing, but once you have them all figured out it’s ok. Some of the characters are so shallow but somehow that added to the fun.

Absolutely gripping, just when you think you have figured it out, there’s a twist. Brilliant read, could not put it down!