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The Party by Elizabeth Day
Jul. 30th, 2017 10:27 pmThe Blurb On The Back:
As the train pressed on, I realised that my life was in the process of taking a different direction, plotted according to a new constellation. Because, although I didn’t know it yet, I was about to meet Ben and nothing would ever be the same again.
Martin Gilmour is an outsider. When he wins a scholarship to Burtonbury School, he doesn’t wear the right clothes or speak with the right kind of accent. But then he meets the dazzling, popular and wealthy Ben Fitzmaurice, and gains admission to an exclusive world. Soon Martin is enjoying tennis parties and Easter egg hunts at the Fitzmaurice family’s estate, as Ben becomes the brother he never had.
But Martin has a secret. He knows something about Ben, something he will never tell. It is a secret that will bind the two of them together for the best part of 25 years.
Now, at Ben’s 40th birthday party, the great and the good of British society are gathering to celebrate in a haze of champagne, drugs and glamour. Amid the hundreds of guests – the politicians, the celebrities, the old-money and newly rich – Martin once again feels that disturbing pang of not-quite belonging. His wife, Lucy, has her reservations too. There is disquiet in the air. But Ben wouldn’t do anything to damage their friendship.
Would he?
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Elizabeth Day’s literary thriller is a state of the nation look at power and privilege in modern Britain which marries THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY and BRIDESHEAD REVISITED but while there’s some sharp descriptive writing on show here, the twists are obvious, the rich characters little more than Bullingdon stereotypes, it’s not clear just what makes Ben so special and ultimately Martin comes across as needy and gullible and ultimately unsympathetic.
THE PARTY was released in the United Kingdom on 13th July 2017. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.
Martin Gilmour is an outsider. When he wins a scholarship to Burtonbury School, he doesn’t wear the right clothes or speak with the right kind of accent. But then he meets the dazzling, popular and wealthy Ben Fitzmaurice, and gains admission to an exclusive world. Soon Martin is enjoying tennis parties and Easter egg hunts at the Fitzmaurice family’s estate, as Ben becomes the brother he never had.
But Martin has a secret. He knows something about Ben, something he will never tell. It is a secret that will bind the two of them together for the best part of 25 years.
Now, at Ben’s 40th birthday party, the great and the good of British society are gathering to celebrate in a haze of champagne, drugs and glamour. Amid the hundreds of guests – the politicians, the celebrities, the old-money and newly rich – Martin once again feels that disturbing pang of not-quite belonging. His wife, Lucy, has her reservations too. There is disquiet in the air. But Ben wouldn’t do anything to damage their friendship.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Elizabeth Day’s literary thriller is a state of the nation look at power and privilege in modern Britain which marries THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY and BRIDESHEAD REVISITED but while there’s some sharp descriptive writing on show here, the twists are obvious, the rich characters little more than Bullingdon stereotypes, it’s not clear just what makes Ben so special and ultimately Martin comes across as needy and gullible and ultimately unsympathetic.
THE PARTY was released in the United Kingdom on 13th July 2017. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.
