The Birthday Girl by Sue Fortin: Review

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When Joanne invites her three friends - Andrea, Zoe and Carys - to help celebrate her fortieth birthday, she promises “an adventure weekend, full of mysteries and surprises, the like of which you can’t imagine”. She’s not lying.

The three women are whisked away in fairly cloak-and-dagger fashion to a remote croft in the Scottish Highlands, where Joanne has carefully laid plans for a weekend none of them will ever forget. But no one could have predicted how it would eventually turn out...

It’s difficult to say much more without spoilers, which would be unfair as this book is really best approached knowing next to nothing.

This was a really gripping and enjoyable read right from the off, with - at least for a while - a distinct flavour of the Agatha Christie classic And Then There Were None. A group of people, all with something to hide, all brought together for reasons unknown.

But who is the hidden hand orchestrating events? I considered everyone it could possibly be, and constantly changed my mind and my theories, but never had any real conclusive idea regarding who was ultimately responsible - and why. The denouement is both surprising and disturbing. Indeed the whole thing is really quite dark.

The story is narrated by Carys, who gives her account of events, but again it’s never entirely clear how reliable her narrative is - she has her own secrets. I enjoyed the “outdoor adventures” element of the plot which added a refreshingly original dimension to a tale of four women on a birthday weekend.

Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

Sue Fortin is the author of four books. She was born in Hertfordshire but had a nomadic childhood, moving often with her family, before eventually settling in West Sussex. She is married with four children, all of whom patiently give her the time to write, but when not behind her keyboard she likes to spend time with them, enjoying both the coast and the South Downs between which they are nestled. Sue is a member of the Crime Writers’ Association.

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