The Slumber Party by Shannon Hollinger is the type of psych thriller that you expect to be one thing but instead goes in a totally unexpected direction.
I loved 95% of it! (I’ll get to that 5% in a bit).
I really liked how the author set everything up. We know that there are/were four close friends. And we also know that something happened during their senior year that split them apart.
We also know that the main character, Liz, has been expecting another shoe to drop for a long time – all going back to whatever happened during their senior year.
What follows from the setup is a twisty tale of love, friendship, teenage hormones and angst, and a look at how the evilest people can be the best at hiding it.
(For what it’s worth if you need a trigger warning, there are predatory and grooming themes in this story).
The writing is extremely atmospheric, as the author paints vivid pictures with detail of surroundings and interactions. By the way, mood plays a big part in the story.
This review is a little difficult to write because there are a LOT of twists, and it would be easy to accidentally let something slip if I talk too much about the plot. Suffice it to say that it is a page-turner that kept me intrigued.
I did guess at one big twist fairly early on, but there were still several that the author had hidden, which I appreciate. As I said, I really enjoyed most of it.
The 5% that I didn’t get – Francine. I understand part of her role in everything, but there are a few things that did not seem complete. Maybe it just went by me, but I definitely feel like I missed something.
No matter, though, because The Slumber Party is still an excellent psych thriller that I can highly recommend. And I will look forward to the next book from Shannon Hollinger.
