Review: After the Party by C.L. Swatman

     

Print Length: 320 pages

Publisher: Boldwood Books (September 13, 2025)

From Goodreads.com: 

Summer, 2005: Five students attend an end of year party. As dawn breaks the next day, four of the friends are preparing to leave when they realise one of the girls is missing. That's when the screaming starts.

2025: Amy is at home when there’s a knock at her door. The woman on her doorstep introduces herself as Hannah Hastings, a well-known true-crime podcaster. She’s investigating the drowning of a young woman at a party twenty years earlier. Amy slams the door, but the damage is done. And a few days later, she receives a threatening note, telling her not to speak to Hannah… or she’ll regret it.

Now, the night Amy has spent two decades trying to forget is coming back to haunt her. But this time, she’s the one in danger.

                                                         *******************

My Rating: 1 star out of 5

I really need to start just DNF'ing books that I don't vibe with instead of forcing myself to keep going no matter how long it takes me to finish (in this case days) because it seems I am inevitably, always irritated at the time I wasted once I've finished.  And sadly, this one was no different. The premise was good, the lead up was interesting, but the devil is in the details and this Scooby gang just couldn't cut it. 

You know, I take that back. I feel like likening Amy, Olivia, Henry and Michael to the Scooby gang is very insulting; to the Scooby gang. Because these characters had absolutely no characteristics that made them stand out or be memorable other than Olivia had a child, Amy had a dog (that she took absolutely everywhere including into a storm even after the threat had been identified), one of the guys was a teacher of some sort I think, and the other was a former playboy. And isn't it sad I can't even remember which was which even though I just finished the story? That is how little detail was given to them throughout. 

And while the plot should have been able to hold my interest, for me it was just tedious. Every other chapter has Amy's "pulse thrumming" as she loses sight of her dog. Or we have to read about how she's "clipped Benny's lead" or "unclipped his lead". There are notes sent to our cast of characters that are meant to be threatening, but instead of involving the actual authorities they decide to investigate the threats themselves (even though they get nowhere fast and the threats escalate). 

Then when we go into the events of the past, not only is it hard to sympathize with Summer as it would be obvious to a blind man that she is a bad influence (although Amy needed to grow a damn backbone), but the entirety of the night she was murdered gets lost in the "tipped the bottle back", "tipped the liquid down my throat" boozefest that would have landed these kids in the hospital with alcohol poisoning (if not worse for the ones mixing the booze with drugs), yet somehow they are all okay? 

What sealed the deal for me and dropped this down to a 1 star from a potential 2 star was the absurdity of the climax of events. And I don't just mean having the "bad guy" be someone who while wasn't a key player still seemed kind of obvious, but the fact that Amy who hadn't swum competitively in years, and even said she had never swam in those kinds of conditions before, still managed to do what she did. It went beyond the realm of disbelief. 

Then again, considering the ending itself? Which made absolutely no sense whatsoever considering everything else? Yeah..... I don't think this author is for me. 

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.