Party of Liars

Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox
7/1/25; 336 pages
St. Martin's Press

Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox is a very highly recommended character-driven psychological thriller full of twists. This one is unpredictable. You will try to piece all the clues together but you won't be able to guess where the plot is going. Well played Kelsey Cox, this is a superb debut.

Sophie Matthews is being thrown a Texas-sized Sweet Sixteen party at the luxurious restored Victorian mansion where her father Ethan and his second wife Dani live in the small Texas town of Bulverde. The party is going to be a huge event and everyone attending is excited to see the inside of the renovated mansion, especially because it is rumored to be haunted. We know from the opening that someone falls to their death from a balcony the night of the party. But who was it?

The characters are important in this psychological thriller. Four characters, Dani, Orlaith, Mikayla, and Kim are narrators in alternating chapters.
Dani is Ethan's 27-year-old second wife and mother to 5-month-old Charlotte. Her dream is to open a bakery. She has struggled with paranoia and then postpartum depression. Someone is watching and threatening her.
Orlaith is the Irish nanny in her sixties. She has many dark, depressing stories to share and is superstitious. Her trustworthiness is suspect.
Mikayla has been Sophie's best friend since they were very young. As the story continues it becomes clear that she has secrets of her own.
Kim is the mother of Sophie and Ethan's first wife. She is the one who worked on renovations of the mansion. Now she's an alcoholic, anger, bitter, and holding a grudge. 

Other notable characters included in the narrative include: Ethan, a psychiatrist, father to Sophie, husband to Dani, ex-husband to Kim, and the host of the party. Spohie is the birthday girl. She is a cheerleader and her ex-boyfriend is Mason. Curtis is Ethan's partner and Dani's psychiatrist. Gemma is the wife of Curtis. There are numerous other characters, townspeople, and teens, mentioned too.

The writing is pitch-perfect, the twists and surprising revelations abound, and Party of Liars held my complete attention throughout. The plot unfolds in three parts, Before the Party, The Night of the Party (the longest section), and After the Party. As you closely follow the four narrators relating their experiences and thoughts, suspicions bound and the tension rises. The plot is set up as a locked-room whodunnit, but on a Texas sized scale with a gothic ghost story influence. Even though most of the action is during one night, the pace moved quickly because so much was going on and so many clues were dropped.

All of the characters are fully realized, complex individuals who are realistically portrayed with both strengths and weaknesses. They are so well-written and portrayed that you'll swear you know some of these people or met them before. While reading you will alternately sympathize with them, question their sanity, be suspicious, actively dislike them, and care deeply. They all seem to be lying about something. The ending completely surprised me.

Party of Liars is an excellent choice if you enjoy complex character-driven psychological thrillers. Thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.