The Summer Party

By: Rebecca Heath

Narrated by: Casey Withoos

An atmospheric psychological thriller about a glamorous family living on the coast of southern Australia. 2023's most addictive beach book.

A perfect family. A devastating secret.

Summer, 2000. In the tranquil town of Queen's Point in southern Australia, the Whitlam family marks the end of every season with a lavish party in their clifftop mansion. Here, clutching her first glass of real champagne, the summer breeze intoxicating on her skin, sixteen-year-old Lucy Ross is kissed for the very first time. And then, in the shadows of the rose garden, she sees something she shouldn't.

Winter, 2019. After two decades of silence, Lucy is back in Queen's Point. She hasn't planned on staying long. But when human remains wash up on the freezing beach, the police close the town. Unable to leave, Lucy is forced to rekindle old friendships–and examine old truths–she has long ago tried to forget.

As long-buried secrets start to surface, Lucy must decide. Will she confront the past and tell the truth? Or will she still do anything to protect the people she loves?

©2023 Rebecca Heath (P)2023 Head of Zeus

Lots of twists and turns

Kept me intrigued. I was always wondering “who done it”. Story line was a “bit” implausible but it added to the storyline of what wealth could buy.

Really great listen!

Very enjoyable, I couldn’t stop listening! Lots of twists! Was surprised by the plot twist at the end!

Eh

Story was ok, but it took forever to get to the end. I never got too attached to the characters.

Love for Lucy

Loved Lucy’s character. Nice flow to the story even though you’re going from present day to past throughout. Great narration.

Did not expect to like it so much!

Kept me hooked and really enjoyed the story. I couldn’t put it down and kept trying to find time to listen to it. Great book

Intrigued the whole time

Great storyline, characters, and narration. The twists and turns were exciting. Loved that it was a mix of present day and early aughts.

The lovely accents, the details at the beginning coming to play at the end.

So many moving parts I was a little confused at times but love the circle of events coming around.

The suspense

I love the suspense, the storyline going back-and-forth between the decades. The families. I could just imagine the two houses. Well told enjoyed.

Did not keep my attention

Unlike the other reviews, it did not keep my attention. I thought it was boring and felt it dragged. The narrator was great. Loved the Australian accent!

Narrator was great, but story was so much longer than necessary.

The narrator was great and did multiple voices without being annoying. The ending was fairly abrupt considering this is a very long book otherwise. It had repetitive jumps from past to present, and many of the “back to present” segments became redundant. If the story would have been told with longer flashbacks, much of the repetitiveness could have been eliminated and the overall length could have been shortened greatly.