The Search Party

Our Review

The Search Party by Simon Lelic was seductive and compelling and everything you would want from a thriller. I read way it way into the night, much later than I should have done but I found it impossible to resist. The mystery of the disappearance of Sadie and the body in the woods was one I wanted to solve.

The book begins with a frantic emergency call made from an abandoned house in the woods.

16- year-old Sadie has gone missing. The evidence the police have uncovered so far is sketchy at best and doesn’t quite add up but Fleet, the officer in charge isn’t quite sure why.

Sadie’s twin brother Luke and their friends think the police are looking in the wrong place and decide to mount their own search.

When the teens are finally found in the woods days later Fleet is under pressure from his superiors to solve the mystery quickly, but he has his own issues. Fleet has recently separated from his wife and dealing with the complications from that. Also, being back in his hometown is causing issues for the inspector because of the history he has with some of the locals surrounding the death of his sister.

The book is set out as a series of interviews with the children and also chapters from the point of view of Fleet. I thought this style lent itself well to the feeling of suspense built throughout the novel.

Sadie and Luke had been friends with Mason, Abi, Cora and Fash a long time but like any friendship at that age there were a lot of simmering tensions below the surface.

Mason is the number one suspect. Is he a jealous and controlling boyfriend guilty of murder or is he a loving boyfriend worried about Sadie?

Cora had her own motives for killing Sadie because of her history with Mason but that doesn’t mean she did it, right?

The whole group knows Abi’s father is verbally abusive and she was jealous of Sadie because of her loving and supportive family but that doesn’t mean she was involved in her disappearance does it?

Likewise, Sadie’s twin Luke is always second best in his parent’s eyes and always having to parent his little brother because his parents only care about Sadie. Maybe he had enough.

The Search Party threw up a lot of questions. Where is Sadie? Is she dead or has she run away? What are the friend’s hiding?

The Search Party is full of suspense and I just had to know how it ended. A great read.

Our Final Rating...

Sun, 26th July 2020