The Final Party by A. A. Chaudhuri
SIX FRIENDS.
In a luxury villa set high in the hills above the glamorous town of Sorrento, southern Italy, three couples gather for the perfect 40th birthday celebration.
ONE BODY.
Before the week is out, one of them is dead.
COUNTLESS LIES.
Their perfect reunion quickly becomes the holiday from hell when one of the group starts receiving anonymous messages, threatening to expose a dark secret from their university days.
As old friendships are tested to the limit, it’s clear that what happens in the dark past won’t stay buried…
A heart-racing psychological thriller that will hook you from the very first page, with twist after twist that will make your jaw drop. Fans of B.A. Paris, My Husband's Killer and Lucy Foley won’t be able to put this down. If you were hooked by The White Lotus or The Watcher, you'll love this.
About the author
A. A. Chaudhuri is a former City lawyer. After gaining a degree in History at University College London, she later trained as a solicitor and worked for several major London law firms before leaving law to pursue her passion for writing.
She is the author of The Scribe and The Abduction, books 1 and 2 of her Kramer & Carver legal thriller series featuring the feisty Maddy Kramer, also published in audio.
Her first highly acclaimed psychological thriller with Hera Books, She’s Mine, was published on kindle, paperback and audio in August 2021 and in April 2022 was named the LJ Ross Book Club pick of the month. The Loyal Friend was published on 23rd June 2022 and has received widespread praise. Her third psychological thriller, The Final Party, will be released on 25th May 2023.
Represented by Annette Crossland of A for Authors Literary Agency, she lives in Surrey with her family, and loves films, all things Italian and a good margarita!
Review
‘The Final Party’ was an unpredictable thriller that managed to surprise and shock me! This is the first book of this authors that I have read but I loved it and will be revisiting her past books. This was a well-put-together thriller that when all the parts come together you actually go ‘wtf?!’. It was tense, twisty and packed full of lies and secrets.
Six friends have gathered in Sorrento for one of their 40th birthdays. Friends from university, life has taken them in different ways but they are still in touch, some closer than others. But before the week is out, one of them is dead and the rest reeling from traumatic events. The reunion is marred when one of them starts to receive anonymous text messages which threaten to unearth some dark truths from when they were at University and the truth will not stay buried…
Sometimes I find books that have multiple points of view a bit hard to follow and it's not my favourite form. However, I thoroughly enjoyed it in this case. Each person has a definite and well-formed voice and a strong thread of the narrative. Every character was keeping lies and secrets from the others and it allowed the tension to build up very nicely indeed! Never have a more messed up group of individuals been immortalised. None of them really had many redeeming qualities. Four of them are battling with a secret from one night whilst they were at University which left one of their group attacked and suffering from amnesia. Was one of their friends responsible?
I loved the location and it is clear that the author loves this area of the world! The descriptions were on point and you really were immersed into southern Italy. The juxtaposition of using the light of Italy and the heat to counter the darkness of the narrative was extremely well done.
This was a well-plotted thriller that manages to surprise the reader! Let me know if you pick it up.
