This book gripped me from the start, was pretty fast paced and the twist near the end! The story follows Will, who in 1999, joins 5 other graduates to work for a psychology professor to create a new online dating website. Fast forward 25 years and the 6 former friends/colleagues are reunited for a dinner party. There’s an unexpected guest, strange noises and Will can sense something is off….also..,one of them is hiding a secret, but who and what is it? This was such an interesting story! I loved the dual timelines, going back to 1999 added to the mystery that was unfolding. Really cleverly written and I will definitely be looking out for more from this author! Thank you to Michael J Books and Netgalley for the advance copy to read. Opinions expressed here are my own.

THE WASP TRAP – MARK EDWARDS**** Mark Edwards is usually reliable as an author of fast-paced stories and this book has done nothing to change my opinion. It’s one of those ‘friends meet years after a crucial event’ (of which they supposedly know nothing) and are kept captive in the massive country house of a professor they all worked for on a top-secret programme many years before. They get invited for a weekend to remember by the current owners and all hell breaks loose. This is enjoyable hokum, of course, the basic premise being that one of the friends has a deadly secret and one by one they will be bumped off if the guilty party doesn’t confess. Doors are locked, keys are lost, and their phones are taken away, and there are mad killers on the loose. Into this mix is a family member hidden in the attic (more or less!), strange knockings in the walls, and secret passages. And, along with many twists and turns, the wasp trap does have something to do with it!

This book is amazing and I want to give it more than five stars! It’s twisty and really pulls you right in and as for the ending, that I just didn’t expect at all. Set between the present day and 1999 when a group of graduates are hired by Sebastian, and brought to his country house to develop a cutting edge dating app. They are a small group of six, who along with Sebastian and his nephew Dominic are the only ones living there engrossed in the project. Eve arrives daily to cook and clean. Whilst building the app, Lily starts on her own project to impress Sebastian, who was a psychology professor, an app to identify psychopaths The Wasp Trap, so called as the dating app is Butterfly Net. The app is finished and they have a party to celebrate, the next morning Sebastian closes everything down and send them all home. 25 years later Georgina and Theo invite the others to a memorial dinner for Sebastian. It is a dinner they won’t forget. An amazing book I couldn’t put down, my thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc.

Mark Edwards Strikes Again! Once more, Mark Edwards proves he's the undisputed king of psychological thrillers. This latest novel had me gripped from the first chapter to the very last page. Just when I thought I’d pieced it all together, he hit me with twist after delicious twist—none of which I saw coming. The pacing was relentless, the atmosphere tense, and the characters unsettlingly real. Edwards has a gift for turning the ordinary into the deeply ominous, and he does it with surgical precision. Absolutely loved it. In 1999 Sebastian gathered an amazing team of people at his mansion to create a computer program that would revolutionise computer dating. Each had their part to play in making it a success – that is aside from Sebastian’s obnoxious nephew Dominic. There is also some matchmaking taking place between the members of the team – Theo and Georgina bond over a wasp’s nest, and Will loves Sophie but is too scared of rejection to make a move. The programme seems to be going well until Sebastian suddenly shuts down the project and sends everyone home. Moving on 25 years and Sebastian dies. Theo and Georgina, now married with children, invite the others for a dinner party at their home to celebrate Sebastian’s life and discuss old time. In classic Mark Edwards style, buried secrets bubble up, allegiances shift, and the evening takes a sinister turn. Nothing is what it seems—and that’s precisely what makes this story impossible to put down. If you haven’t dipped into the world of Mark Edwards yet, now’s the time—and trust me, you’re in for an absolute treat. This isn’t just a book, it’s a full-throttle roller coaster: thrilling twists, jaw-dropping reveals, and suspense that grips you tight. So, hold on to your hat, cancel your plans, and settle in for a wild ride you won’t want to end.

This is for fans of locked room thrillers, of which I am one and it caught me up and I went for a wild ride as the tension ramped up (and the body count!). Jumping between one fateful summer during the dotcom era, working on a true love website and a little extra project to find out if it is possible to discover who is a psychopaths, even if they try to hide it and the present, locked in a house with people who want a dark secret revealed. This book was very fast paced, full of twists and it showed how even people who are not psychopaths will turn on one another when lives are on the line. The characters are all nicely flawed but mostly still likeable so it was easy to feel for them, from Will, still in love with Sophie, Lily and Rohan with families and kids, and of course the hosts, Georgina and Theo who also have a missing daughter. Many red herrings and twists that I actually did not guess right which leads to a thrilling climax and conclusion that had my jaw on the floor. I really enjoyed reading this book and am very grateful to have gotten the chance to do so!