What Happened That Summer by Laura Pearson

 

Summer 1996 shocked the world when the biggest pop star of the year tragically died at a theme park in the UK. Mystery has surrounded the actual events until, almost twenty years later, a podcast delves back into the mystery.

Author Laura Pearson is one of those writers who I know is going to deliver something special, something different. What Happened That Summer certainly fits that description. The novel is a little different from the author's more recent novels, featuring a mystery rather than a mystical element.

I loved the style, told as a transcript for a podcast. Although the chapters are long, the fact that it is a transcript makes it easy to put down mid-chapter. However, once you start reading, you are completely engrossed by the storyline and unlikely to want to stop.

Podcaster Danny interviews lots of people involved with the events leading to the death of teen pop star AJ Silver. The main characters are the Hunter family, who own the theme park, and the Campbells, AJ's family. It is interesting getting so many different perspectives, particularly when they contradict each other. It is also obvious that, even twenty years later, some people haven't been entirely honest and open.

This is primarily a romance. You can feel the euphoria of Penelope 'Pea' Hunter and Zak Campbell as their young love blossoms. The setting of early summer in a world without smartphones and emails adds to the heady mix. However, things are not without their complications; jealousy isn't far away. The couple also has to contend with AJ being around. AJ is not a likeable character, he displays all the traits you would expect from a diva. There are sympathetic moments, where you realise that he's had to grow up under the glare of spotlights, constantly in the media's attention, when at heart he's still a child, a child who no one is willing to say no to.

As the narrative weaves its way through the build-up to the arrival of AJ and his entourage, his time at the theme park, and then the accident, I found myself looking for subtle clues, frantically turning the pages, desperate to know what was going to happen. The repercussions have a seismic effect on everyone, with the podcast relating the way in which lives were changed forever. I'd grown to care for the characters I'd read about and was upset by the way some of their lives had been impacted. There's also a mystique hanging over everything, and a bombshell revelation that makes you sit up and question what you've read. The conclusion puts to rest some of the uncertainty that has surrounded AJ Silver's death for twenty years, but still leaves the reader needing to know more.

What Happened That Summer by Laura Pearson will be published on 3rd January 2026 in paperback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for a review copy.

Author Details

Laura Pearson is the author of the #1 bestseller The Last List of Mabel Beaumont. She founded The Bookload on Facebook and has had several pieces published in the Guardian and the Telegraph.