It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with.’ He tried to sound casual, though he surely knew it was pointless.

In theory a hen party should be the chance for the bride to celebrate with all the people she loves around her, but the reality can be different. “Once I put them all in a room together I began to get to know how they would behave. Parts are quite chilling especially about who is controlling the narrative although I do guess correctly I also enjoy how all the secrets come leaking out as water through a sieve deepening the plot and the mystery of who the ultimate target is. The isolated-place murder mystery is one I’ve always enjoyed, and I’ve liked quite a few of Brookmyre’s books in the past, so I thought it would be fun to give this one a try. Our isolated place is a small Scottish island with a luxury manor house that is rented out for retreats and small gatherings. This time it’s a weekend-long hen party before Jen’s wedding to her fiancé Zaki. Instead of a close circle of friends, she’s invited women from various stages of her life, from her childhood to her young adulthood, and including her sister-in-law-to-be, Samira, and her sister-in-law from her first marriage, Beattie. Some of these women already know each other and some don’t. Two, in particular, know each other and have bad blood between them from when one, Michelle, dumped her bandmates, including Helena, to become a solo act, going on to fortune and celebrity. It also turns out that Beattie is hostile to Jen, thinking that she wrongfully accused her first husband and Beattie’s brother, Jason, of being mixed up in criminal activity before he disappeared 10 years earlier.

Seven women. Seven sins. One night of judgment. Jen Dunne is forty-two and getting married for the second time, but that doesn’t mean she can’t go all out for her bachelorette weekend. She’s taking her closest friends to the kind of place that has a years-long waiting list for a three days of super-exclusive luxury accommodation on a remote Scottish island. So excited by the complicated means of transport required to get to the island, no one gives much thought to the implications for getting off again, especially if the weather should turn. But why would they? They’re in for a time they will never forget. Just not for the reasons they imagine.

Dark, heartfelt, stylish and thrilling, the kind of wonderfully original tale I just adore. Chris Brookmyre is a storytelling mastermind' This was the first book I have read from this author and I'm not sure after this if I want to read any of his others. Multi-award-winning Scottish author Chris Brookmyre has earned his bragging rights. Thriller tsar Stephen King opened last year’s Bloody Scotland crime writing festival brandishing a copy of Brookmyre’s Want You Gone and declaring it: “Fantastic!” When one of the party mysteriously goes missing on the first night, Jennifer realizes she has made a terrible mistake: she has assembled this disparate bunch of women and the only thing they have in common is her . . . As a fan of Christopher Brookmyre's books I was expecting great things from this, and was not disappointed.If it’s nothing, why did you delete it? Yes, I looked. You emptied the trash too. That’s a lot of steps for nothing.’ I recommend The Cut SO HIGHLY! A fast-paced thriller, lovely characters, [and] it kept me guessing’ The extent to which you might enjoy this convoluted and twisty tale will very much depend on your willingness to suspend disbelief. The initial set up is a little far fetched however at around the halfway point it stretches the bounds of credulity to beyond breaking point, and by the conclusion it's just plain ludicrous. Some of the group helicopter into Clachan Geal, while Jen’s oldest friend, Michelle, comes over by powerboat. She’s a big-name pop star these days and has been in ‘retreat’ on a nearby island and she and another woman in the party have history. This is a disparate group; some are friends of Jen’s because they play tennis together, while Beattie is the sister of Jen’s late first husband. And then there is Samira, who nobody knows. She’s Zaki’s sister, a new mum in need of a break, and she was foisted upon Jen by her fiancé.

He spoke to Nora McElhone about his latest novel The Cliff House ahead of his appearance at The East Neuk Literary Festival on November 8. Jen is soon to be married to the handsome Zaki. He seems like the perfect husband-to-be but Jen has been bitten before and still doesn’t completely trust him. In fact, as this story unfolds, we realise that Jen doesn’t actually trust anyone. What happened in her past has been affecting her life ever since. I still enjoyed it, but I have read better executions of a similar story, like Guest List, for example. As we talk on the phone, he is preparing for an event in Edinburgh with his appearance at Conversations on the Coast coming up next week. There will be others that’ll lap this one up but I was frankly glad to survive it and battle my way through to the end. There are some clever twists and interesting moments but overall I’m afraid it didn’t really work for me: just too complicated, too contrived and way too unlikely.There are dozens of novels based on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, but Christopher Brookmyre's ingenious take is by far the best I have read. He makes you feel for and fear each character. He keeps you guessing until the very end—after an avalanche of revelations and twists. " - The Times (Book of the Month) When this book started I found it to be intriguing, atmospheric and it had a lot a tension. I was enjoying it and found the characters to be well defined and was never confused as to who was who (as I find that can happen when there are a lot of characters in a story) It was the moment she should have said she did trust him, even if they both knew it was just lip service. But it hit her that they were past the point of pretending, and Zaki had nailed why. He stared at the ceiling, like he was asking for strength, and when he looked at her again there was frustration in his eyes. ‘I’d like to say I can’t marry someone who doesn’t trust me, but the sad fact is I’d marry you anyway. But you shouldn’t marry someone you don’t trust. And you’ve never trusted me.’ She finally said something conciliatory. ‘We should take the weekend to talk this through. I’ll cancel the trip.’ There are some good red herrings as the pace builds, some intriguing cons and counter cons as it builds to an ending it does require some disbelief suspenders though I do still enjoy the entertaining denouement!