The Beach Party

Nikki Smith

It is 1989 and six university friends arrive in Mallorca for a post-graduation summer holiday.

The group is made up of pretty, intelligent, and confident, Nina. The type of person who got handed too many gifts at birth. Claire, who loves a party and popping pills. The thoughtful Zoe who is concerned about leaving her mother with carers. Will, who used to go out with Zoe, which presents plenty of awkward tension. Seb, who has a close platonic relationship with Nina, having known her from school. And then the buff Aiden, who Claire has a crush on, but whose attention seems to be focused elsewhere. This group of six are intertwined in their relationships past and present, and they have plenty of baggage between them. Some of it shared, and some of it picked up through their own life experiences.

They are staying in a luxury villa belonging to Nina’s family. Vodka, pool parties, dancing and fun are on the agenda for the two weeks, and sure enough, the first few days, go that way. But then they are invited to a beach party and something happens. One night which changes all their lives.

The story is told over a split narrative. 1989 and the present. As the narrative gradually unfolds in the present, it soon becomes clear what happened in 1989 has stayed in 1989, that is until an anonymous email lands in their inboxes. Someone knows the truth and they what justice.

Clearly, I can’t say too much about the plot with everything hanging on this one night at the beach party. This is a device which is the backbone to many a good thriller – that one incident which ripples with consequences. The reader knows it is coming, and it keeps you on the edge of your seat. You keep turning the page in anticipation, and in ‘The Beach Party’ – well when it happens, it is quite something.

Nikki Smith has written a fantastically twisty thriller which I pretty much tore through in a couple of days. The story is told through the point of view of all six characters, and Nikki Smith handles this ensemble group very confidently. This is a troubled group of people whose past experiences impact the way they deal with this one night, and some narcissistic traits of epic proportions are demonstrated. At points I wanted to scream at the page ‘no, don’t do it’, but like watching an episode of ‘Made in Chelsea’, no matter how much some of the characters’ actions infuriated me, I couldn’t look away.

It has been a while since I have read a book where the suspense has really kept me hanging – at points in the narrative, it was like being held at the top of a rollercoaster looking down at the plunging track below. At times, I was tempted to flick a few pages forward to get some relief from the ‘will they, won’t they’ tension. I stopped myself, but it was close.

There are some plot threads which left me a little dissatisfied. Not so much plot holes but questions that I wanted answered. I wanted more detail about the roads the characters took to get to the places they found themselves in the future. But with six characters, I appreciate you are restricted by the word count. All the same, I would have happily taken a few more pages, and a less edited narrative.

You don’t have to remember 1989 to enjoy this book – but if you do, there is some wonderful scene setting to take you back to this period. For me it threw up so much nostalgia, that I downloaded the Communards (35 Year Anniversary Edition) album, and the track ‘Don’t leave me this way’ has been playing in my head on and off for several days.

‘The Beach Party’ is a great pacey thriller with plenty of plot twists. Like making my way through an 80’s sweet jar full of fruit salads, flying saucers, love hearts, and fizz wiz, I chomped my way through to the end.

And for those of you who want a little trip back to the 80’s, here’s a bit of vintage Jimmy Sommerville.