'The Eight' are four couples who have everything money can buy, perfect afluent lives in the Buckinghamshire commuter belt..... at least that is what everyone thinks. In fact one family will be found dead in the opening chapter of this story. As the rest of the book unfolds, we discover more about the hidden details of each couple to reveal the identities of the victims and the motives behind the murders. Lawson manages to maintain the uncertainty about which family has been killed until about three quarters of the way through the book. The author really does keep you guessing, and it is only after the final details of the deaths are revealed that the reader can see the truth. This book is both a social commentary on the UK just after the financial crash, as well as being both comic and tragic in parts. An enthralling read.

Four rich, snobby families in the countryside and one has been murdered, but who? Darkly funny and shocking. This has a rather large cast of characters and it was sometimes hard to keep up with each one but it was a fairly enjoyable read and I was very curious to find out which family had died.

I'm not sure what to say about this one. It was bitingly funny at points and I was keen to keep reading to find out how it all tied up. On the other hand, I didn't like any of the characters. Obviously you're not supposed to like them - they are elitist narrow minded snobs. This makes for good comedy at points but I just couldn't get all that invested in them to care when you find out which of them have been murdered. (As referred to by the title - not a great big spoiler.) I don't want this to be an negative review. I did laugh out loud at points, I enjoyed the writing in terms of the social satire and especially liked the portrayals of marriage.

Four wealthy families live in four exclusive listed houses in the countryside, a half hour commute from London. From the outset we know that one of these families has been murdered, and Lawson’s novel keeps the big reveal of who and why until the end part of the book. Instead he introduces us to each of “The Eight” as they commute, work, shop, drink, eat, and holiday together. On the surface all is perfect, inevitably, not far beneath those glossy veneers, all is far from ok. The difficulty with having four sets of couples is in establishing distinct personas for each. Max, Jenno, Emily and Jonny seemed more vivid to me than Simon, Tasha, Libby and Tom. Added to their voices are those of the children, Nick (a fellow commuter), the investigating police officers, a female vicar, a nanny. Lawson’s cast is large, as is the novel, and I don’t think he manages to capture all the voices. He does, however, excel at pompous men whose speech is still peppered with juvenile public school phrases. It’s not really a murder mystery, although of course it is that; it’s a satirical look at life now, a social commentary for the middle aged. Smart phones, Waitrose, drinking too much, children speaking in faux gangster styles, the economy, hypochondria, internet porn, coffee culture and so on. There are funny lines such as “Simon blames Top Gear for the fact that so many British men now regard conversation as violently belittling banter.” It’s all a bit of a romp, with some brilliantly well observed lines skewering the white, middle classes.