the last supper
If you could know how old you were when you were going to die, would you want to?
Seven people were invited to dinner, seven strangers. They don’t know who invited them. They just show up to a mysterious address and sit at a table together. They drink some lovely wine, they make small talk. They eat a delicious gourmet meal, course by course. The wait staff do not speak to them, just bring the courses when it’s time. Everyone is a little unsettled, but they are enjoying the food and the wine. And then, with dessert, they find the envelopes.
The small black envelopes each say how old the person holding the card will die. Each person at the table—Vivienne, a fashion magazine editor; Tristan, computer programmer; Matthew, finance bro; Melvin, a police officer; Janet, manager of a lingerie company; Stella, influencer; and Gordon, television doctor—have been given notice of when they will die. Some of those are rather soon, some are not for years. Everyone is immediately upset. But they also understand that there is no way anyone really knows when they will all die. It must be some sick joke.
But then, weeks later, Stella is involved in a subway accident. She falls onto the tracks. Melvin contacts those from the dinner party and let them know what happened, and that it appeared to be an accident. But when Matthew follows months after, falling from the roof of the downtown building where he worked, those who are left question what was happening. They both died as predicted, so the rest of the guests all ask themselves what is really happening. Is it a coincidence, or is something sinister at play? Those who are left start to investigate, as if there is someone out there murdering them one by one, but they only have so much time before all those predictions come true.
Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests is a modern Agatha Christie with long-buried secrets and story twists that build into an incredible ending. Learning more about each character raised the stakes, drawing me in more and more until I had to know what was really going on. I so enjoyed this ride!
I listened to the audio book, narrated beautifully by Jacqueline King. She did a great job differentiating the characters, which is needed with an audio book with seven main characters. Each dinner guest had their own voice, so as the danger increased, it was easy to keep track of what was going on with which character, so as the story spun to its eventual end, I could not stop listening. Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests is entertaining and suspenseful, with lots of secrets and surprises throughout.
Egalleys for Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests were provided by Sourcebooks Landmark, and a copy of the audio book was provided by Recorded Books, both through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.
