Title: The Dinner Party
Author: Nina Manning
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Pages: 268
My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐
Just five years into their marriage,
Lily and Stig Leonard find themselves having drifted apart. To mark their fifth
anniversary, Lily books them a dinner reservation at a restaurant owned and run
by celebrity chef, Hector Bolson-Woods. But the differences between them are
too deep to be fixed by a dinner. Stig wants to be a father, but Lily doesn’t
want to start a family until he tells her about his family and his past. Plus
they are both deeply in debt, living on credit.
The evening ends with Hector cooking a
meal especially for the couple. While Lily is pleased, Stig is not. But then
Hector donates 20,000 pounds to the charity that Lily works for and invites
them to dinner at his home.
Before long, Lily is second guessing
herself, completely struck by Hector’s charm and feeling increasingly distanced
from Stig. Will Lily ever learn about Stig’s past?
The story is written in the first person
present tense PoV of Lily and the 3rd person PoV of Stig.
In the early part of the book, the
author kept up a high sense of intrigue. Even though nothing untoward happened,
I got a sense of something about to go terribly wrong. The plot held my
interest until the 46 percent mark, when it began to veer off course.
Thereafter it began to pall.
Suddenly Lily, who wasn’t that likeable
a character to begin with, appeared to be small-minded and petty. None of the
characters were likeable or memorable.
There is mild swearing, which puts me
off.
The back-of-the-book text was
misleading. It says, “And then another dinner invitation from Hector arrives.
This time with a proposal neither Lily or Stig can refuse.” Aside from the
grammatical issue in that sentence, it is also incorrect as Stig declines
immediately after hearing of the proposal.
There were a number of proofing and
factual errors. Stig swallows a banana “without barely chewing”. Ruby is
described as a woman “who just want to party and be liked.” In one chapter we
are told “ten minutes passes”.
Thing One and Thing Two are from Dr
Seuss’ books, not Dr Zeus, as is mentioned in the book.
Lily’s incessant complaints against
Stig’s secrecy were a pain, considering her own secrets which she justified to
herself. Her internal monologue droned on and on.
The antagonist turned out to be a damp
squib. It never seemed as if Lily faced any real danger.
The resolution was forced and
unsatisfactory. There were many unanswered questions. The repeated forewarnings
and ominous remarks issued by some characters to Lily don’t get explained. I
was left equally confused about why Lily felt an odd sense of comfort in the
presence of Jack, Hector’s head of security, when the guy never justifies his
presence in the book.
(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and
NetGalley.)
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