The Reunion – M.A. Hunter

Never underestimate how much people can change…

It’s been years since Zoe last saw them – since they graduated, drifted apart, and lost touch.

Years since Zoe ended things with Dan because the memories were too painful to bear.

Years since that night – the night an unexpected death shattered their close-knit group of friends.

Now, Zoe is invited to Scotland for a wedding – a grand affair at a manor house on a remote island. Apprehensive about the reunion, she hopes the long drive with Lily will help ease her nerves.

But things are far from simple. Lily has also agreed to give Dan a lift, and Rod, not wanting to be left out, is joining them as well, along with his fiancée.

And when they come into trouble on a cold, dark, desolated Highland road, it sets off a chain of events which will leave them all shaken to their very core, and questioning everything they thought they knew…

Review

This book was an enjoyable read overall, but I couldn’t help feeling that it lacked some suspense. While it’s common for the stakes in this specific sub genre to be somewhat lower, I found myself searching for a certain something, an extra spark of tension maybe. This something missing though made it harder for me to connect with both the story and the atmosphere.

One of my main issues was the characters. I’m usually a fan of morally ambiguous or even outright “bad” characters. However, this time, I struggled to like—or even tolerate—some of them. Dan, in particular, was a character I most disliked, and since his point of view was one of the two main perspectives alongside Zoe’s, I felt this hindered my overall engagement with the book.

That being said, there were definitely aspects of the book that stood out in a positive way. The cover design is immediately drew me in. The writing itself was solid; the prose was polished, and the pacing and flow were well-done.

Still, the lack of suspense and my inability to connect with the characters left me feeling a little let down.