REVIEW: You May Now Kill The Bride by Kate Weston

Lauren, Saskia, Dominica, Farah and Tansy have been friends since nursery. They wonder if that was the last time they all actually liked each other.

Reunited as bridesmaids at Tansy's spiritual hen party in the woods, it doesn't take long before old grudges begin to surface. Not to mention the secret they've been hiding for twenty years.

But what starts as a weekend of macramé and contraband vodka ends in murder when Tansy chokes to death on a poisoned cacao drink.

As the body count keeps climbing, the friends realise that one of their group must be the killer - and if any of them want to make it down the aisle, they need to watch their sash-covered backs.

If you go out to the woods today, you’re in for a big surprise! A hen party turns deadly in this excitingly dark thriller; mixing the best parts of a locked-room mystery, small town drama and modern contemporary storytelling to make something so much fun despite all the murder and other nasty surprises.

There was a special kind of erratic energy that was masterfully set up in the first few pages with emails and texts about wedding planning and hen do organising that were so intense and highly strung I was waiting for someone to snap right there - and this energy lingered all the way through. And as slowly learn about these women and their busy modern lives, crushing expectations and social facades I’m just not sure who wouldn’t crumble under the pressure.

We jump between the less than relaxing retreat and the aftermath and their younger years, each hen taking the spotlight for a moment in a way that felt a little messy at first but grew on me once I’d settled in, giving us little moments to try and piece together to complicated threads that bind these women, the secrets they keep and hide from each other and the suspicion just kept jumping from one person to the next. It’s a bit of a slow-burn, going through the motions of life after the hen do until everything starts to go wrong again.

It almost reminded me of if Pretty Little Liars was all grown up and with less predatory teachers (barf) - especially as we see the dynamics of the group play out, the leaders, the followers, the ones who have had enough - but which would have more of a reason to kill? If you’re a fan of Celia Laskey or Nina Milns, you’ll love this killer read.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

• YMNKTB will be available from 26th May with Headline. I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for a review.