The Housewarming

The Housewarming is a suspenseful summer read, full of secrets, lies, and island vibes!

Five women celebrate their friendship yearly with a “girls’” stay on Block Island, enjoying the sunshine and the joy of being together. But everything changed when, one year, five women embarked and only four friends returned.

For five years, the surviving friends—now estranged—have tried to put everything behind them and move on with their lives. But there are members of the community who claim the women were responsible for the disappearance, and the rising popularity of a podcast helmed by a stranger who was there that night has others pointing fingers. After all that, one of the women decides to return to the island where everything changed and convinces her former friends to join her to talk about their missing friend and reconnect. The community, with the podcaster at its center, hasn’t forgotten, however, and it isn’t long before the secrets they kept about that night are out in the open.

Kirstin Offiler’s debut novel, The Housewarming, is a psychological suspense story about female friendships and how far we will go to protect the ones we love. Each woman—Callie, Meg, Tess, and Lindsay—takes her turn narrating the story as the protagonist, now five years removed from the vacation on Block Island when their friend, Zoe, disappeared. All the women have been changed in different ways, and all are keeping secrets. But is any one of them responsible for Zoe’s disappearance? Offiler keeps readers guessing until the final pages, when the truth is revealed in a delicious and unexpected twist.

The Housewarming is a sharp and well-written novel, with realistic and likable characters and a page-turning plot. There are numerous characters in this locked-room-type mystery, which adds to the subject pool, but what actually happened is not easy to guess. The ending completely took me by surprise, but it was also believable and provided closure to the plot’s suspenseful twists and turns.

Patricia, the podcaster who continues to impede on the women’s lives and privacy, is a character readers will dislike right alongside the protagonists. Pushy, judgmental, and suffering from boundary issues, Patricia becomes the thorn in the women’s side—but she is also the reason they reconnect, bonding over their shared dislike of her. Each of the other protagonists has a charming side, and they are distinct enough that readers will find at least one to root for.

With pages full of suspenseful twists and a smooth, flowing plot, Offiler’s debut is well-developed and engaging, and I look forward to what she brings us next.