The Party House by Lin Anderson

Devastated by a recent pandemic brought in by outsiders, the villagers of Blackrig in the Scottish Highlands are outraged when they find that the nearby estate plans to reopen its luxury ‘party house’ to tourists.

As animosity sparks amongst the locals, part of the property is damaged and, in the ensuing chaos, the body of a young girl is found in the wreck. Seventeen-year-old Ailsa Cummings went missing five years ago, never to be seen again – until now.

The excavation of Ailsa’s remains ignites old suspicions cast on the men of this small community, including Greg, the estate’s gamekeeper. At the beginning of a burgeoning relationship with a new lover, Joanne, Greg is loath to discuss old wounds. Frightened by Greg’s reaction to the missing girl’s discovery, Joanne begins to doubt how well she knows this new man in her life. Then again, he’s not the only one with secrets in their volatile relationship . . .

About the author

Lin Anderson is best known as the creator of the forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod series of crime thriller novels, and for her part in founding the annual 'Bloody Scotland' crime writing festival.

Review

‘The Party House’ is the first standalone from the author of the acclaimed Dr MacLeod series, of which I am a huge fan! This is a psychological thriller set in the Highlands of Scotland just after a wide sweeping pandemic. It was captivating from the start and I devoured it in one sitting! It was extremely well written with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing right up until the end.

The village of Blackrig has been devastated by the recent pandemic and the locals are outraged when the large estate house announces it is once again open for business. This stirs up a lot of tension in the locals as they blame the owners of the house for the six deaths that the village suffered from. As the anger builds some of the locals ended up willfully damaging party of the property but whilst doing so they uncover the body of 17-year-old Ailsa Cummings who went missing five years ago. Old tensions boil to the surface and questions are asked of all the males in the village, including Greg the head game keeper who has just embarked on a new relationship with Joanna. Greg refuses to talk to Joanne about Ailsa and as his anger increases Joanna starts to think there is more to his denials than he is saying... But then Joanna has secrets of her own!

This was an engrossing and entertaining read which has me gripped from start to finish. Although I guessed some parts of the story it was a well-crafted and solid narrative that built upon the intrigue from the get-go. Lin’s description of the Highlands was sublime and made me want to return up to Aviemore even though I was only there last year. Also if this house was based on a real-life example please let me know as it sounds like a slice of heaven! Lin managed to capture the essence of the landscape, the close-knit communities and the battle between locals owning the land instead of large corporations. Was it just me or was Colin based on Duncan from Monarch of the Glen?! I quite liked Greg as a character even though we all knew there were grey areas in his history. The narrative managed to layer on lies and omissions, ulterior motives and red herrings till you started to question everything you were reading. This was a page-turner for sure!

Let me know if you read this one!