"A missing girl. Five friends. Not everyone will make it home alive."
This mystery centers around Sadie Saunders, a popular teenager who has gone missing. Everyone in town believes she has to be dead after being gone for more than a few days. As the cops are searching the nearby woods and using dive teams to explore the bottom of the powerful river that winds around the sleepy town hidden in the middle of nowhere, everyone knows it's a body they're really searching for. Enter Fleet, the typical damaged detective with a heart of gold. This is the first time he's returned to his hometown since he lost someone he loved here a long time ago. The locals aren't shy about voicing their doubts about Fleet's ability as an investigator. They put pressure on the police force to solve the mystery of Sadie's disappearance and Fleet's boss is ready to lock someone up just to appease them, justice be damned. Obviously our detective's moral compass cannot allow this and so Fleet sets out to uncover the truth and apprehend the real party or parties responsible for Sadie's disappearance.
Meanwhile, rumors swirl around the town and seem to settle around Sadie's closest friends. There's Abi and Cora, who are constantly competing to be Sadie's BFF. Mason has been the subject of most of the rumors as he's Sadie's boyfriend and is known to have quite a bad temper. There's also Fash, a kind kid from a strict household, and Luke, Sadie's twin brother. These five teens take it upon themselves to conduct their own search party in the woods after coming to the conclusion that the cops are planning to have Mason take the fall. Poorly prepared, they set out into the wilderness to find their missing friend and quickly realize that they all have their own motives for wanting Sadie gone. Their distrust of one another erupts into violence and one member doesn't make it back from the search party alive.
The tagline for Simon Lelic's The Search Party immediately grabbed my attention. It was oozing with suspense, so I decided to give it a try. I'd previously read another of Lelic's works earlier this year, The New Neighbors, and while I liked it, it didn't blow me away. So I thought it only fair to give the author another shot. There were plenty of good things about this book. Mysteries involving crimes among a close-knit group of friends are a dime-a-dozen it seems, but Lelic's smooth writing and genuine characters made the familiar premise feel fresh and exciting. Each of the teens was presented authentically with his or her own realistically flawed personality. The dialogue seemed natural and kept the story moving quickly. On the other hand, Fleet's character was far too stereotypical to capture my interest. Throw him in the mix with a bunch of other mystery novel detectives and you'd never be able to pick him out. Besides the characters, the overall narrative was just one note for me. The climax never reached the level of intensity I was hoping for, partially because the final "twist" wasn't as unexpected as I think the author intended it to be. The Search Party was entertaining enough, but it's not a book that is going to stay with you long after you've put it down.
My Rating: ★★★☆☆
*Thanks to the author, Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!
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