My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“There is still no cure for the common birthday.”
----John Glenn
Sue Fortin, an English author, has penned an atmospheric and compelling thriller called, The Birthday Girl that revolves around a mother, of a teenage son, who has recently lost her husband, receiving the best birthday surprise that she cannot ever imagine in her lifetime from someone really close to her heart, even though she has three best friends and one of her friends has already planned out a surprise weekend getaway somewhere away from the regular noises of the city, and in there unfolds a deathly mystery when the host of the holiday, reveals the secrets of each women through a creepy guessing game, finally turning fatal.
Synopsis:
Dear Carys, Zoe and Andrea
Come and join me for my fortieth birthday adventure weekend, full of mysteries and surprises the like of which you can’t imagine.
When Joanne’s friends reluctantly accept an invitation to her birthday party, it quickly becomes clear that there is more to this weekend than they are expecting.
One of them is hiding a secret.
And Joanne is planning to reveal it…
A weekend away in a cottage in the woods sounds like fun – until no one can hear your cries for help.
Four friends.
A party to die for.
Who will survive?
Carys never knew that her birthday would turn out to be so devastating that she would lose everything she holds dear to in her life in one single sweep, when she agrees to a weekend getaway at a remote location hosted by one of her best friend's named, Joanne. So along with Zoe and Andrea, her other two best friends, Carys join in Joanne's surprise birthday weekend trip where Joanne has already pre-planned everything in advance to shock the hell out of her best friends. Starting with a creepy guessing game and then moving on to adventure sports, Joanne is hell bound to reveal her friends' ugly secrets. Not until, Joanne herself becomes a victim of her own game and Carys could never imagine or believe the person who would eventually present her with the best birthday gift of her life. But sadly Carys and her friends are staying at a country houses somewhere so isolated that no one can come to their rescue if they need any help.
From now on, Sue Fortin will be my "go-to" author whenever her books come out. Fortin's story got into my skin and scared the hell out of me. No matter how much I kept guessing and anticipating the climax or certain turn of events, I could not even once could rightly surmise the climax. Trust me, its epic and it did blew my mind off. Felt a bit unrealistic to me in the beginning, but later I realized that either grief can make you an evil or can make you depressed. Her story is the perfect example of how grief can affect one human being in the most twisted way that they can be blindsided by that grief turned into rage.
The author's writing style is quite articulate and her story telling is really captivating enough and it is going to keep the readers glued to the pages of her book till the very end. The dialogues are engaging enough to peak the readers' interest as per the swift pace of the story line. The prose is lucid yet it is underlay with lots of edgy tension to make the plot extremely gripping enough for her readers. The voices of the characters are extremely realistic and the whole setting or rather say the backdrop is in perfect sync with the mystery unfolding before it.
The mystery is really well concocted by the author. She has laced her plot with unpredictable twists and turns, and not only that, the mood of the story line has been set to something filled with deep, dark, moody suspense and thrilling enough to give the readers that bone-chilling feel all through out. The characters are really well depicted and portrayed through their flaws and honesty and realism.
And yes, no doubt, they are layered with so much depth that by the end of the book, the readers might feel like they already know the characters by the back of their hands.
Also all through out the story line, each and every character is bound to keep a firm psychological grip on the minds of the readers. The author has developed them brilliantly, they are the cherry on the top of this book. And because of those flawed and complex characters, the story itself becomes a riveting one that a reader cannot afford to miss it.
In a nutshell, this story is a must read and if you love reading chilly and creepy thrillers, then this book is the perfect fit for you!
PS: A spooky book penned vividly by the author, so its better that you don't read it on your birthday!
Verdict: Absolutely eerie and gripping thriller that is a must read!
Courtesy: Thanks to the publishers from Harper Collins India for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book.
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Author Info:
I am a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, having come through their New Writers’ Scheme, and a part of the online writing group The Romaniacs who all met through the NWS. I am also a member of the Crime Writers’ Association.
Lover of cake, Dragonflies and France. Hater of calories, maths and snakes. I was born in Hertfordshire but had a nomadic childhood, moving often with my family, before eventually settling in West Sussex.
I am married with four children, all of whom patiently give me time to write but, when not behind the keyboard, I like to spend time with them, enjoying both the coast and the South Downs between which we are nestled.
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