The Launch Party by Lauren Forry

THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME. YOU'D DIE TO BE THERE.

Ten lucky people have won a place at the most exclusive launch event of the century: the grand opening of the Hotel Artemis, the first hotel on the moon. It's an invitation to die for. As their transport departs for its return to Earth and the doors seal shut behind them, the guests take the next leap for mankind.

However, they soon discover that all is not as it seems. The champagne may be flowing, but there is no one to pour it. Room service is available, but there is no one to deliver it. Besides the ten of them, they are completely alone.

When one of the guests is found murdered, fear spreads through the group. But that death is only the beginning. Being three days' journey from home and with no way to contact the outside, can any of the guests survive their stay?

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I was never much into thrillers growing up...no real reason, I just wasn't. I haven't read the classics, the Christies and Doyles and so on. But I have been trying to stretch myself in more recent years and try some of the more recent works, and I'm enjoying them very much.

This is a very clever twist on a locked room mystery...the characters literally cannot go anywhere without killing themselves, but they have a huge luxury hotel to roam around and enjoy themselves in. Being a sci fi geek, I was a bit distracted by the lack of certain details ... how did they produce gravity on the shuttle or in the hotel, for one? ... but once I made an effort to ignore them, I was absorbed by the story.

There's a touch of Poirot in the idea of a vacationing detective being caught up in a mystery, but then the whole thing is an homage to Christie, mostly to Orient Express. I would have liked to have more time in the other's POV...we were almost always in Penelope's head, and it made it harder to get to know the other characters. But that's a minor thing when the mystery is this clever.

I enjoyed this very much and I'll be looking out for more by Lauren. She fooled me this time, but next time around I'll definitely solve the mystery first! (*I almost certainly won't.)

The Launch Party publishes on the 22nd of June, 2023. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.