THE WASP TRAP by Mark Edwards

3.5* Not very believable, unfortunately - you'd think that people who'd lived through what these guys did as young adults, would've had better instincts. Plus the Olivia thing? Ugh, tacked-on and inorganic. I mean, the dodgy Wi-Fi itself was enough not to make this tale believable!!

This is a tale with a backstory that makes you wonder why this bunch of people who've not seen each other since uni, who share an unsavoury past full of lies, deceipt, covering-up, kowtowing, self-serving and blackmail, have bothered getting together at the 'invite' of the couple who've come out of their past seemingly loaded. These two people feel like users who don't mind lording it over their former 'friends', and the others feel like they've come along out of curiosity and for a gander at the posh house, and a free meal and copious booze. 

There was just a bit too much that was off, that was revealed too quickly and without enough subtlety from the author, that I didn't understand why the guests' alarm bells weren't ringing, nor were the male host's. Seriously, in these days of all things tech and Wi-Fi, impatience and irritation should've have featured more, potentially averting the situation these have-nothing-in-common 'guests' found themselves in. I didn't like any of them, didn't connect with them, didn't even feel for the parents of the missing teenager, and please, don't get me started on how not-believable and inorganic that was. The final reveal was just messed-up icing on a dense, not likable cake.

Unfortunately for me, this book required too much suspension of disbelief, coupled with too many characters I didn't like or care about. It was readable, but not believable. 

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Penguin Random House, Penguin Michael Joseph for my reading pleasure.

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