Part Real Housewives guilty pleasure and part unravelling mystery, Melissa de la Cruz’s The Birthday Girl is (probably) the first book I have ever categorised as “a fun thriller”. Maybe that isn’t really a genre, or even a sub-genre, but it is a great way to accurately describe this thoroughly enjoyable, but still suspenseful and twisted tale.
The novel is told through two separate timelines in alternating chapters. The present timeline is the 40th birthday party of Ellie de Florent-Stinson, and this story is intercut with chapters from twenty-four years earlier. Sharp contrasts are drawn immediately between Ellie’s life at sixteen, where she lived in a trailer park, came from a broken home, and had no money, as compared to her ultra-lavish lifestyle in present-day where she has bought a mansion on a whim, planned a 40th birthday party for herself that includes two after-parties, and has pointedly invited “at least 3” of her billionaire friends to the party.
From the very beginning, however, we get a sense that while Ellie lives for the luxurious life of excess, she still seems to be able to see through it – and mock it. It makes the character endearing and provides a lot of the fun as well. We can laugh and smile at some of her outlandish expectations because she seems to be in on it with us. Very similar to the guilty pleasure some of us may feel with Real Housewives or other reality television, this is what puts the fun in “a fun thriller.”
The present-day timeline plays out like a stage production. The reader can picture this party and has the advantage of knowing a lot about the different conversations going on, that other characters are not privy to. There are miscommunications and misunderstandings galore, and this creates levity, frustration, and concern during different parts of the evening.
The chapters from the past are where more of the thriller elements are found. Two teenage girls, celebrating a 16th birthday, take the reader through many of the highs and lows involved with being a teenager, and how quickly the highs turn low, and vice versa. This timeline gets darker as the evening continues, and the silliness of the earliest chapters, which focused on the excessive party arrangements, are soon forgotten.
Events from the two timelines ultimately meet up (in a sense), and the story finally brings some of the thriller elements into the present-day timeline, though not as successfully as they were weaved into the past events. The mystery that very successfully unravels in the timeline from twenty-four years ago, did not flow quite as easily into the present-day storyline. There are some very good twists, however, that might have been ruined if the mystery was woven into the two timelines equally.
The story wraps up in a way that felt natural, and true to the characters we had come to know at the party, throughout the evening. It may take an extra minute for the two timelines to match up once the reader has gotten through all the twists and turns, but all the questions do get answered.
This book is a perfect on-the-beach or by-the-pool read, where a “fun thriller” is preferred over something more complex or intricate. or those readers, like me, who enjoy The Birthday Girl, Melissa de la Cruz has an extensive backlist (this is her 50th book) so there are many more titles to add to your TBR!
The Birthday Girl is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Alex & Eliza comes a return to adult fiction, centered around a mysterious woman’s birthday celebration—and what it reveals about her past.
Ellie de Florent-Stinson is celebrating her fortieth birthday with a grand celebration in her fabulous house in Palm Springs.
At forty, it appears Ellie has everything she ever wanted: a handsome husband; an accomplished, college-age stepdaughter; a beautiful ten-year-old girl; two adorable and rambunctious six-year-old twin boys; lush, well-appointed homes in Los Angeles, Park City, and Palm Springs; a thriving career as a well-known fashion designer of casual women’s wear; and a glamorous circle of friends.
Except everything is not quite as perfect as it looks on the outside—Ellie is keeping many secrets. This isn’t the first of her birthday parties that hasn’t gone as planned. Something happened on the night of her sweet sixteenth. Something she’s tried hard to forget.
But hiding the skeletons of her past comes at a cost, and all of Ellie’s secrets come to light on the night of her fabulous birthday party in the desert—where everyone who matters in her life shows up, invited or not. Old and new, friends and frenemies, stepdaughters and business partners, ex-wives and ex-husbands congregate, and the glittering facade of her life crumbles in one eventful night.
Beautifully paced and full of surprises, The Birthday Girl is an enthralling tale of a life lived in shadow, and its unavoidable consequences.
I’m reading this one now. Your reviews never disappoint!