Book Review: The Party Room by M Novak

     When a horrible crime is committed in a trendy bar in England to a young woman the possibilities are staggering...unless it was one of the regulars. The regulars are a rag-tag bunch where damages abound. The person who did it may be obvious or not. 

    I received a physical copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. By the time I started reading this book, as is often the case, I had forgotten what it was about. Just flipping through I have to admit that I was a bit leery. It looked like it was going to be set up similar to a screen-play because it had a characters name followed by a segment and so it continued. I am happy to note that this was not the case. While it would be easy enough to make into a screen-play because of this, the story is basically the characters giving their first-hand accounts. 

    Over the course of the book we learn about each character and the events that led up to the committed crime, which is initially mentioned in the preface. While I always read the preface you have to in this book's case. The author does not go back and reiterate the points in it, as it was already covered. So, without that you would be missing a piece of the puzzle. If you are the type who normally skips the preface I strongly suggest you make an exception in this case. 

    The author, in providing background of the characters, will have you frequently changing your mind on who the culprit was. Derik-the sleezeball. Yes, I'm going with that term. You'll understand why in the book. Couldn't help himself and wasn't his fault my ass. Alex-the controlling pain. Revenge can be a powerful beast. Aaron-the ex-con. Being dumped hurts. Lexi-the Barbie-girl. Getting by on your looks only lasts for so long. Lola-the woman scorned. Someone from the bar was sleeping with her long-time boyfriend. Jed-the cheating prick. Almost a decade squandered because he was bored. Prick. Jen-petty hairdresser. Looking down on those pursuing a college degree can lead to some pent-up anger. Sunny-hardworking bar-man and DJ. With a mother and younger brother at home needing care and his other brother in jail it's on him to take care of his family. Just how far will he go, though? Briony-wild child. 18 year old who thinks others need to loosen up with a dark past. Claudia-sheltered princess. Little self-absorbed at the beginning, but all in all my favorite character in this book for some reason. Not that I had stellar choices. Amelia-the abused. She really didn't want to be there in the first place after everything. Can't say I blame her. Harry-bar owner in his 50s. Overly friendly with the young people in his bar and a bit of a drunk. I didn't actually suspect him, though. Rick-Harry's friend's kid who works at the bar. Bit of a slacker at first, but another I didn't suspect. Finally, Gavin-construction worker with a bad temper. He has hurt people badly in the past, so violence wasn't something he was unfamiliar with. 

    As always I won't give it away and hope that these brief descriptions of the characters have you seeking out who was the victim as well as who was the culprit. I genuinely enjoyed this drug-induced mystery and hope you will too. Can you choose the right person for the crime?

    This book is available on Amazon for $2.99 by clicking here. This book is available on Kindle Unlimited.