The Bachelorette Party

A bachelorette party on a secluded, bleak Swedish island where a group of women disappeared years prior and a podcaster on the hunt for a good story? What could go wrong?! 

I love a good, locked room, tense and twisty story. I do! But (unpopular opinion incoming ...) despite the setting and sinister past of the island, The Bachelorette Party failed to deliver a gripping, edge of your seat read for me.

With the constant switches between the two time frames, its very slow burn tension (nothing happening until past the 50% mark) and its large cast of very similar characters, it was just too convoluted. The characters needed more fleshing out and clear motivations because they blended into each other and I struggled to remember which friend was in which timeline or even who was speaking at the beginning of each chapter. 

It was simply a complicated and disjointed way to tell the story. 

I'm in the minority with this book so if you love a creepy, desolate setting with a slow burn story, then give this book a try.  

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Minotaur Books for the complimentary digital copy of this book that was given in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 2.5 stars

Author: Camilla Sten

Genre: Suspense

Type and Source: ebook from publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Minotaur Books

First Published: June 10, 2025

Read: June 4-9, 2025

Book Description from GoodReads: Scream meets The Guest List in this wickedly compelling and compulsively page-turning thriller of friendship and murder from the author of The Lost Village, Camilla Sten.

On a remote island nestled off the coast of Sweden, four friends—Tilly, Anna, Linnea and Evelina—meet every year. Best friends since childhood, the idea is to drink beer, dance by the water, and shake off the weight of life's expectations. The location of the island is a secret to everyone but them. One night of reckless fun and secret-sharing, and then they return to their normal lives.

Ten Years Later. Ever since she was a teenager, Tessa Nilsson has been consumed by the story of four friends who disappeared. As her true crime fervor turned into a wildly popular podcast, Tessa covered Sweden’s most gruesome cases, but could never find the answers behind what happened to these women who disappeared. Now Tessa’s podcast has crashed and burned, any chance she had at uncovering the truth vanishing with it.

Anneliese is Tessa’s best friend, and before she walks down the aisle, she wants to have a bachelorette party. The Baltic Vinyasa, a sleek, sophisticated yoga retreat on a small island off the coast—one with such similar characteristics to the tragedy years ago that it raises the hair on Tessa’s neck. The idea is to drink gallons of cava, do sunrise yoga, and get in their last chance to bond with the bride. Tessa will not pass this up. It’s her last chance to find out what happened to the four women, once and for all.

And it’s someone else’s last chance to get revenge.