Javier's Reviews > The Bridesmaids

Victoria Jenkins is back and this time she offers something a little bit different to what I’ve come to expect from her books. I’ve probably said this a thousand times (and will say it a thousand more if needed), but she’s a master at misdirection in the psychological suspense genre (you seriously need to read The Argument). With The Bridesmaids she delivers a story with more of a locked room mystery vibe, but still plenty of secrets and revelations.

Holly is getting married and to celebrate she goes away to a secluded cottage with six friends for her hen weekend. But all of them are hiding some secrets so, what promised to be a weekend of friendships and fun, soon goes awry when a body is found in the pool.

This was a pretty fast paced read. I’m always up for some drama and here’s lots of it! Most of the characters had lights and shadows, which made them much more interesting. The story is told through the alternating voices of Holly, Claire and Suzanne. The different perspectives got a bit confusing at times as their personalities and voices were a bit too similar.

It soon becomes clear their friendship didn’t have foundations as strong as they believed, as they were mainly built on long kept secrets and lies. There were times I thought “are you sure you’re really friends? If you treat and talk to your friends this way, what will you do to your enemies?!” 😅

The story employs the narrative trick mainly used in this type of stories lately in which the reader knows right from the start that someone dies, but won’t find out who it is until the very end. Although there were lots of revelations, they didn’t come as shocking as in some of her previous books, but still made for a pretty enjoyable read. Certainly there were more pieces to this puzzle than I initially thought!

Quick and easy read that you will devour in a matter of hours, full of drama and juicy secrets that will keep on coming until the last page.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.