The Party: A Novel by Robyn HardingPublication Date: June 6, 2017
Pages: 352
Add on: Goodreads
Buy the Book: Amazon
Rating: ★★★
Source: From the Publisher
Genre: Fiction / Thrillers / Psychological
Publisher: Gallery / Scout Press / Simon & Schuster
Robyn Harding’s domestic drama, hailed as “tense and riveting” by Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls, explores the aftermath of a sweet sixteen birthday party that goes horribly awry, as the members of a wealthy family in San Francisco find their picture-perfect life unraveling, their darkest secrets revealed, and their friends turned to enemies.
One invitation. A lifetime of regrets.
Sweet sixteen. It’s an exciting coming-of-age, a milestone, and a rite of passage. Jeff and Kim Sanders plan on throwing a party for their daughter, Hannah—a sweet girl with good grades and nice friends. Rather than an extravagant, indulgent affair, they invite four girls over for pizza, cake, movies, and a sleepover. What could possibly go wrong?
But things do go wrong, horrifically so, and Jeff and Kim’s flawless life in a wealthy San Francisco suburb suddenly begins to come apart. In the ugly aftermath, friends become enemies, dark secrets are revealed in the Sanders’ marriage, and the truth about their perfect daughter is exposed.
Perfect for fans of Big Little Lies, this is a white-knuckled and “riveting tale that is impossible to put down” (Bill Clegg, New York Times bestselling author of Did You Ever Have a Family).
REVIEW
Robyn Harding’s The Party drops readers into the manicured suburbs of San Francisco, where a sweet sixteen goes disastrously off-script. Kim and Jeff Sanders aim to host a safe birthday sleepover for their daughter, Hannah, but a terrible accident flips their world upside down. What follows is a tense unravelling of secrets, blame, and the fragile masks families wear to fit in.
Harding propels the story through several perspectives: the Sanders family, Hannah’s circle, and the parents of the injured girl, shifting the focus from the accident itself to its emotional aftershocks. Guilt, social standing, and the desperate urge to protect loved ones ripple through every chapter.
The characters are sharply drawn: Kim, obsessed with reputation; Jeff, torn between loyalty and honesty; Hannah, stuck between friends and family. Around them, the supporting cast reveals their own jealousies and ambitions as the fallout spreads.
Themes of parental responsibility, peer pressure, and the perils of social media pulse through the narrative. Harding nails the tension of modern parenting and the anxieties of raising teens in a world obsessed with appearances, never shying away from the darker edges of adolescence and adulthood.
Her writing is lean and propulsive, with short chapters that keep the tension high and the pages turning. The book’s biggest strengths lie in its sharp examination of how quickly trust can collapse and how easily reputations can be shattered. Some critics found the suburban drama a bit familiar and the characters occasionally unsympathetic, but the novel’s emotional punch is hard to deny.
If you like your suspense with a dose of domestic drama and aren’t afraid to see how quickly ordinary lives can fall apart, The Party is a fast, gripping read.
