I cannot sing the praises of this book enough. The Murder Game had me hooked from the start and I managed to finish it within three days, by far the quickest I have read any book! When I had to fly between Edinburgh and Dublin for work, there and back again within the same day, I wanted a book that I could get lost in whilst on the plane and this was exactly that!
The Murder Game is mainly told from the narrative of Jemma, the wife of Matt. Matt and Jemma are attending the wedding of Lucas, Matts best friend. This is the first time Jemma has met most of her husbands friends, and something feels off with their friendship which Jemma can’t quite place or ever understand. Unfortunately before the glamorous wedding takes place, a sudden death occurs and everything is thrown off by this. Quickly fast forward a year, Lucas invites everyone back to his home where the wedding was due to take place, and of course the place the death happened, to play a little murder game. Lucas’ hope is to get the answers to all his questions but mainly, who amongst them is a murderer?
This book has been sat on my bookshelf for a while now, and with the help of an online randomiser, it was finally time to read it. From quite early on I got Lucy Foley and Lisa Jewell vibes by the way in which Abbott has written this book. The story is told over two different times in history, one year ago and one year later, as well as being told from slightly different narratives with the point of view changing between a few characters. Overall, I love Abbotts writing style and the way she wrote this book. There were so many mysteries and secrets all happening at once, I almost couldn’t keep up! But I loved this, I was constantly thinking the murderer would be one person and then two chapters later I was convinced it was someone else. There were just so many perfectly timed twists and reveals it kept me on my toes. Even the way Abbott made her characters come across was amazing. By around the half way mark I had a genuine hatred for Lucas and could vividly picture his smug face when he said or done certain things. I have met so many people with his exact attitude, and the way his character was written embraced that persona so perfectly.
I even got to a whole new level of obsession with this book where I started to dream about it. Don’t get me wrong, it was a great dream! I was smack bang in the middle of the hustle and bustle trying to figure out what was going on, living through all the different outcomes I had thought of whilst reading. However, I did wake up slightly concerned that I was maybe too invested in this book, but that was soon forgotten.
I must say I was slightly underwhelmed by the actual solution of the crime. I feel in the grand scheme of things the reveal was rushed, not explained enough and quickly forgotten. But I can quickly forgive that as I believe the big twist and murder reveal wasn’t the main ending for the book. The ending was something different entirely and just as shocking, but you’re gonna have to read it to find out what that is.
Abbott has wrote The Murder Game so beautifully, it is insanely captivating and sucks you right in. If you are looking for a book that is full of secrets, betrayal and of course death then this is the one for you. I don’t think I’ve ever used the words ‘perfect’ or ‘love’ more in a review. You will not regret adding this to your book shelf and to be read list!
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