Book Review by Pat Allchorne: The Cliff House by Chris Brookmyre

Jen is getting married, and instead of a hen night has booked three nights at The Cliff House on Clachan Geal, a Scottish island, with six of her friends and family.

Helena is a long-term friend from school days.

Kennedy is younger than the others, who are in their thirties, forties, and fifties, and Jen has only known her for about seven months. She wears a supporting boot for an injury she sustained playing tennis.

Nicolette we don't know too much about, but it is revealed that her husband is having an affair.

Michelle is a singing star; Helena used to sing with her in their teens, but Michelle went solo and, as the story progresses, we see that Helena has held a grudge all those years. Michelle is now worth a great deal of money.

Samira is Zaki's sister; Zaki is Jen's fiancé. Jen has never met her before, as Samira has six-month-old twins and is permanently exhausted.

Beattie is Jen's sister-in-law from her first marriage, to Jason. They are not close, but Jen has asked her along hoping that she would give her blessing to the marriage.

Lauren owns The Cliff House and is there on site, but plans to stay out of the way.

All the women have known each other for years, except Kennedy. As each chapter concentrates on a different woman, we begin to learn a little more about them, and it transpires that all is not as it seems.

The house has a pool, the bedrooms are lovely, and the chef, when he appears, has film-star looks. Music plays throughout — a playlist that nobody admits to having chosen — on a continuous loop. After waiting quite some time for food while the chef has disappeared into the kitchen, Michelle goes looking for him, and the next thing heard is a scream from the kitchen. Everyone rushes in, only to find the chef lying in a pool of blood. Kennedy confirms that he has no pulse.

There is no mobile signal, the phone line has been cut, and there is no way off the island until someone comes to fetch them at the appointed time. Then they discover that Samira, who had gone outside for some fresh air, is missing. Their phones suddenly ring, and everyone receives the same message: a picture of Samira tied to a chair, sitting on a block of ice that is slowly melting, with a noose around her neck. The message has come from someone called The Reaper, who then sends word to say that one of the group is not what she appears to be, and has committed a sin that has gone unpunished. That person must confess before the block of ice melts and Samira is hanged.

Every single one of the group is convinced that she is the one who must confess, including Lauren; they all have secrets unknown to the others, and as they frantically try to work out how to extricate themselves from the situation and find Samira, those secrets begin to emerge. To be in a position where your only hope is to trust people you believe to be untrustworthy is not an easy place to be.

The book is a mixture of thriller and exploration of relationships, emphasising how little we can truly know of people we think we know well. As each chapter concentrates on one person, we see how each of them begins to realise that some bonds are stronger than resentment and long-held grudges.

Seven women. Seven sins. One night of judgment. Jen Dunne is forty-two and getting married for the second time, but that doesn’t mean she can’t go all out for her bachelorette weekend. She’s taking her closest friends to the kind of place that has a years-long waiting list for a three days of super-exclusive luxury accommodation on a remote Scottish island. So excited by the complicated means of transport required to get to the island, no one gives much thought to the implications for getting off again, especially if the weather should turn. But why would they? They’re in for a time they will never forget. Just not for the reasons they imagine.