The Reunion is a sizzling, scandalous and secretly sensitive YA thriller that marries the glamour of elite life with the dirty secrets lying within its foundations.
I went into The Reunion with very, very high expectations. Kit Frick for me is an under-celebrated force to be reckoned with within YA mysteries and thrillers. I Killed Zoe Spanos still rings through my head to this day. Therefore, The Reunion was a book I keenly had my eye on—which was heightened hearing the marketing comparing it to The White Lotus. To me, this meant allowing for a cutting examination of wealth, privilege, and the same stench of secrets coming from those positions in a beautiful and glamorous location, full of three-dimensional, complex characters. I think Frick pulls all of this off and more.
It rips straight from the headlines in its salacious twists and turns, all of which belie the dark side of this life of luxury and privilege. There is dirt beneath everyone’s nails and secrets buried deep in the ground. Frick blends this so well with some scathing social commentary. They are literally within their own bubble of this holiday resort, but it is definitely a gilded cage. There are plenty of underlying tensions and a keen sense of control and power at the heart of every interaction. No one here is truly what they seem or completely free, with other forces always interfering. This, of course, heightens the tension even more. As the sun keeps beating down, the heat rises and becomes unbearable for our characters.
This is the definition of compulsive reading. As Frick moves from narrator to narrator, you start to uncover some of the pieces of this elaborate and impeccably plotted jigsaw puzzle. However, it is always hard to completely trust what you are reading. The use of so many voices can make differentiating them slightly difficult at times, but their individuality always shines through. I always snapped back after a sentence or two, recognising their distinctive voice. What an intriguing cast of characters as well. All of them fit into these archetypes but, as all good thriller characters should, they bust out of their respective boxes to reveal hidden depths and surprising twists to them. Some do this proudly and some only reveal in their quieter, introspective moments to only themselves and by proxy, the reader.
Also, the narrative keeps bouncing between timelines, giving you that past and present structure I have become accustomed to in thrillers. This builds suspense, particularly when details between the two start to merge, clash and surprise in perfectly unexpected ways. I always love when a book does this, as it just allows for so much more immersion into these two twisting timelines. You get to play detective even more and on a different level, trying to work it out before Frick reveals all. The pacing is excellent in this as well, keeping things moving along snappily and those pages flying by. However, Frick always ensures to allow time for character progression and development. In fact, the majority of these twists only pay off so well because you have had that time to invest yourself in these people and see beneath the façade they present to the world. All of them are acting all the time and only through their interior narrative do they truly let themselves free, or do they?
The Reunion is a scorching YA mystery, perfect to read by the pool or to allow yourself to be transported to warmer climates. Like the Mayweather lifestyle, its glittering exterior hides a dark and twisted heart.
The Reunion is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of August 29th.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
From the author of I Killed Zoe Spanos comes a YA thriller in the vein of The White Lotus and Karen M. McManus’s The Cousins following a doomed family reunion at a posh Caribbean resort, where old grudges and dangerous secrets culminate in murder.
Eleven Mayweathers went on vacation. Ten came home.
It’s been years since the fragmented Mayweather clan was all in one place, but the engagement of Addison and Mason’s mom to the dad of their future stepbrother, Theo, brings the whole family to sunny Cancún, Mexico, for winter break. Add cousin Natalia to the mix, and it doesn’t take long for tempers to fray and tensions to rise. A week of forced family “fun” reveals that everyone has something to hide, and as secrets bubble to the surface, no one is safe from the fallout. By the end of the week, one member of the reunion party will be dead—and everyone’s a
The Addison needs a better hiding place.
The Theo just wants to mend fences.
The Natalia doesn’t want to talk about the past.
The Mason needs to keep his temper under control.
It started as a week in paradise meant to bring them together. But the Mayweathers are about to learn the hard way that family bonding can be deadly.
