Seven people find themselves locked in a house and monitored by cameras. A disembodied voice tells them that unless one of them confesses to murder they will all die within twelve hours.
Author Simon Kernick writes pacey thrillers that hook you from the very start and are full of twists. I still remember picking up my first novel by the author, Relentless, and being unable to put it down. You Will All Die Tonight continues in the same vein.
From the very beginning, I felt as if I was in something from the Saw franchise as Colton Lightfoot wakes from a drugged state to find himself locked inside a large house and no knowledge of how he got there. He quickly learns he's not alone as six more people surface, all waking from being drugged. Colton quickly realises that the people around him are not strangers, they are all people who were linked to the Black Lake massacre, an unsolved murder that happened four years earlier.
Black Lake House was the home of George Barratt and his family. Barratt looked after the investments of wealthy clients. Four years previously intruders had broken into the house murdering Barratt, along with his wife and son. Barratt's business partner, Gary Querell, along with his wife Claire, were also staying over. Claire was also murdered and Querell was left for dead.
Alongside Colton and Querell, others trapped in the house are Querell's girlfriend, Barratt's brother and sister-in-law, a Russian gangster that Barratt was laundering money for and the detective who was investigating the murders.
The animosity between the various characters is obvious from the beginning, with each accusing the others of being responsible for their current predicament. The situation quickly takes a turn for the worse when a disembodied voice explains that they've all been injected with an unidentifiable poison that will kill them within twelve hours unless the person responsible for the murders confesses. This causes the tension to rise rapidly, with open hostility visible as they accuse each other. Each of them continues to deny they had anything to do with the murders.
As the storyline switches between the present and the police investigation four years ago we learn that virtually everyone had a motive and the alibi's offered were spurious. Simon Kernick delivers one shocking twist after another as lies and secrets are uncovered. It is impossible to guess who is guilty and as the deadline approaches it looks as if the murderer is prepared for everyone to die in order to keep their crime hidden.
You All Die Tonight by Simon Kernick will be published on 7th November 2024 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Headline Publishing for a review copy.
Author Details
Simon Kernick is a number one bestseller and one of the UK’s most popular thriller writers, with huge hits including KILL A STRANGER, GOOD COP BAD COP, RELENTLESS, THE LAST 10 SECONDS, SIEGE and the BONE FIELD series.
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