Review by New York Times Review
ELIZABETH DAY'S sly fourth novel is an enticing mix of social climbing, barely hidden lust and possible crimes. The story rests on two central questions: Why is Martin Gilmour, a minor success as an art critic, being interrogated at a police station in the Cotswolds? What happened at the lavish 40 th-birthday party of his aristocratic best friend, Ben Fitzmaurice, to make Martin squirm under the detectives' glare? The novel's underpinnings are much richer. Building on generations of fiction dissecting the British class system, Day carries that theme into the 21st century, adding the swift pace of a psychological thriller. Martin is the novel's main narrator, giving us his account from the police station. He weaves in flashbacks to the party several weeks before, attended by celebrity chefs, supermodels, even the prime minister. And he recalls his long friendship with Ben, from school days through Cambridge and beyond, with Martin the scholarship boy who idolizes Ben and becomes almost a member of the Fitzmaurice family. Details that at first seem too obvious are soon exposed as symptoms of just how unreliable a narrator Martin is. He doesn't take offense at his nickname, LS, as in Ben's "little shadow." He says that his meek wife, Lucy, "would never understand ... the bond between two men," but she catches on soon enough that "he was in love with his best friend." Only Martin believes that his love is a closeted secret. Interspersed with his narrative are sections from a diary written by Lucy in the weeks after the party. As in her previous novels (including "Paradise City"), Day puts fragmented chronology and alternating points of view to good use, drawing readers in and prodding us to piece together the mosaic. Lucy's eyewitness account of the party often gives way to memories of her life with Martin. The couple are a perfect match of insecurities. His make him self-deluded; hers make her a needy caregiver. We glean that the glorified Ben is more of a cipher than Martin can bear to admit. Mysteries are teased and gradually, gracefully resolved. Lucy notices that Martin's bookish glasses aren't prescription, but doesn't let on. He recalls that his own mother once said, "You've always been a wrong 'un." Is he dangerous or just pretentious? "The Party" knowingly nods toward "Brideshead Revisited" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley." But Day refreshes their themes for an age in which the upper echelons retain their allure and their grasp on power while posing as common folk. The fictional prime minister is an old family friend named Edward. As he rose in politics, he "started asking everyone to call him Ed in the vain hope that everyone would forget about his Etonian background." Martin is enamored of the Fitzmaurices, yet as a guest in their grand house notices a cheapness he associates with old money, including small bottles of shampoo pilfered from hotels. Such droll observations seem to reflect on Day, a former feature writer for newspapers, more than on her characters. It is the author who has given Ben's sister the witheringly perfect posh name Fliss. But Day's shrewd eye and authorial tone also provide a gleeful, edgy wit. The novel is eventually overloaded with literary allusions. Among them, Lucy evokes "The Great Gatsby," complaining that the Fitzmaurices (halfway to Fitzgerald, after all) were "wealthy, privileged, beautiful" people, "careless with the rest of us." The echoes of other novels become so plentiful that "The Party" isn't as original or ambitious as it might have been. That doesn't diminish the fun of reading this smart, irresistible romp. CARYN JAMES is a film critic for BBC Culture and the author of the novels "Glorie" and "What Caroline Knew."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [September 10, 2017]
Review by Booklist Review
Day's (Paradise City, 2015) latest is a character-driven study of a friendship and a marriage framed by a criminal investigation. The book opens with Martin being questioned by the police about an incident at a party weeks earlier. The party was thrown by Martin's best friend, Ben, and his elegant wife, Serena, and included friends, celebrities, and even an appearance by the prime minister. Flashbacks, to that night and to Martin and Ben's days at an elite boarding school, create a picture of their friendship and of Martin's strained and codependent marriage to Lucy, whose perspective is written through journal entries. Escaping his life of poverty by first winning a scholarship and then by ingratiating himself into Ben's wealthy family, Martin maintains the relationship through manipulation and deceit. Day's characters are complex and dark, and her exploration of the intersection of money, privilege, and power is timely without being preachy. Reading this effective mash-up of suspense and prep-school novel with deliberate and tantalizing reveals is like watching a train wreck in slow motion.--Sexton, Kathy Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Fans of Herman Koch's The Dinner will be tempted to check out Day's fourth novel-both follow two couples with simmering emotional histories as they spend an upscale evening together, during which old resentments are revealed and something tragic occurs-but in this novel, the plot plays out predictably and is beset by obvious foreshadowing. Ben Fitzmaurice and Martin Gilmour, Londoners on the cusp of middle age, have been best friends since they met at public school in 1989, despite the fact that the former comes from a wealthy, titled background and the latter a hand-me-down existence. Ben and his beautiful wife, Serena, hold a party to celebrate their new home, Tipworth Priory, a former monastery. Martin and his more modest partner, Lucy, are invited. Now a successful art critic, Martin has never gotten over the meanness of his youth and rubs shoulders uneasily at the party with Ben's posh guests, including the new prime minister. At the end of the evening, Ben and Serena ask to speak to Martin and Lucy in private, and that's when things get out of hand. Ultimately, this is a hollow diatribe against the rich and entitled. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Tempers flare and loyalties fray when old friends gather for a lavish bash in the English countryside.A police interrogation provides the frame for this literary suspense novel from British author Day (Paradise City, 2015, etc.). Three weeks prior to Martin Gilmour's summons by the Tipworth PD, Britain's best and brightest gathered at charismatic power couple Ben and Serena Fitzmaurice's new vacation homea former monasteryto celebrate Ben's 40th birthday. Also in attendance were misanthropic journalist Martin and his dowdy wife, Lucy, as Martin and Ben have been practically inseparable since boarding school. The question of what happened that night to attract the attention of the authorities is the skeleton on which Day's plot hangs, but the book's true mystery concerns the bond that links these two seemingly incompatible men. Martin is a spellbinding storyteller who doles out details like they're a controlled substance. He pauses frequently to reflect upon his complicated history with Ben and the unhappy childhood that preceded it, and his narration is littered with keen yet cutting observations about people, their relationships, and society at large. Excerpts from Lucy's journal fill the gaps and provide additional insight regarding her husband, their marriage, and the Fitzmaurices. Vividly sketched characters and evocative prose further distinguish the story, which ends on a note that both shocks and gratifies. Day's latest is a dark, haunting, and elegantly crafted tale of obsession, desperation, devastation, and rebirth. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
