A Matter of Trust

Whether hot off the presses or on the shelves for years, a good book is worth talking about.

- By Amy Jones

Frontlist

She Started It by Sian Gilbert (William Morrow, Thriller, June 2023)

SYNOPSIS: When Annabel, Chloe, Tanya, and Esther receive invitations to the exclusive private-island bachelorette party of their high school classmate Poppy, whom they haven't seen or talked to in 10 years, they're more than a little confused. But, why turn down an all-expenses-paid trip to the Bahamas?

Because things could-and dogo very, very wrong. Poppy has changed since their time in school. She's more confident, less of a pushover, and much more conniving than they remembered-and now they're trapped on an island with her. As they participate in the games she's created for the party, Poppy turns them against each other, and things turn deadly. Eventually they stop wondering why Poppy lured them there and instead focus on getting out alive.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT IT: Mysteries with a confined setting-any version of a locked room-always capture my attention because they seem so hard to pull off from a writing perspective. The setting must be interesting enough for readers to want to stay there for 300+ pages, not to mention the skill it takes to carefully dole out the clues to readers, essentially hiding them in plain sight.