Thursday, 10 July 2025

The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards #TheWaspTrap @mredwards @MichaelJBooks #BookReview @markedwardsauthor.bsky.social‬‪ @michaeljbooks.bsky.social‬

 


Summer 1999. Will joins five other idealistic graduates working for an eccentric psychology professor. They’re going to launch a website to change online dating forever.

No-one expects it to end in tragedy.

Twenty-five years later, Will gets an invitation: a dinner party. A chance to see the old gang again.

But as soon as he arrives, something doesn’t seem right.

There’s an unexpected guest. The hosts are clearly keeping a secret. And on the way in, Will is sure he heard crying.

Everyone has something to hide about what really happened that summer.

But only one of them is willing to kill to find the truth…




The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards is published on 31 July 2025 by Michael Joseph. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review. 

It's been a while since I last read Mark Edwards, not sure why! I read this one during my recent holiday in Rhodes. It is the perfect holiday read, sitting in the sun with a long cool drink being totally entertained by a tension filled plot. Perfection! 

I'm a fan of a dual time narrative and the story of The Wasp Trap takes place in 1999, and then twenty five years later.  

Will relates his story as he accepts an invitation from two friends from 1999. There were six of them back then, they worked on a dating website with Professor Sebastian Marlowe. The professor has recently died and it was thought that having a dinner and reuniting the old gang would be a great way to celebrate his life. 

Edwards carefully creates each of his characters. All six of the group are individuals and clearly defined, and then there's Finn - a newbie to the group. He worked alongside the professor in his later years and has been invited to join the group of old friends.  

The dinner party does not go to plan ..... 

The group find themselves imprisoned in the house, at gunpoint. They are told that they must tell their innermost secrets, if they don't they won't survive. 

The author nips back and forth, to 1999 and back to the present day and it's a great structure that keeps up the tension and left me trying to work out just where we were going with this one. It's clever, it takes an unexpected twist every so often, just to keep you on your toes! 

This one is a winner for me and highly recommended. 




Mark Edwards writes psychological thrillers in which scary things happen to ordinary
people.
He has sold 5 million books since his first novel, The Magpies was published in 2013, and has topped the bestseller lists numerous times. 
His other novels include Follow You Home, The Retreat, In Her Shadow, Because She Loves Me, The Hollows and Here to Stay. 
He has also co-authored six books with Louise Voss. 

Originally from Hastings in East Sussex, Mark now lives in Wolverhampton with his wife, their children and two cats.





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