The Wasp Trap

By Mark Edwards

Book Overview

"So clever and fresh with a wild and incredibly satisfying twist at the end." --Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author

A dinner party in a beautiful Notting Hill townhouse turns into a sinister game as six old friends are forced to spill their darkest secrets...or else.

Six friends reunite in London to celebrate the life of their recently deceased ex-employer, a professor that brought them together in 1999 to help build a dating website based on psychological testing.

But what is meant to be a night of bittersweet nostalgia soon becomes a twisted and deadly game. The old friends are given an ultimatum: reveal their darkest secrets to the group or pick each other off one-by-one.

It soon becomes clear that their current predicament is related to their shared past. The love questionnaire they helped develop in 1999 for the dating site was also turned into a tool for weeding out psychopaths: The Wasp Trap. This experiment and the other tragic events of that summer long ago may help reveal the truth behind a killer hiding in plain sight.

Alternating between the past and present with a colorful ensemble of characters, The Wasp Trap is a fast-paced and twisty thrill ride that is perfect for fans of Lucy Foley and Alice Feeney.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1668204770
• ISBN13: 9781668204771
• Release Date: September 2025
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Locked room thriller!

This is for fans of locked room thrillers, of which I am one and it caught me up and I went for a wild ride as the tension ramped up (and the body count!). Jumping between one fateful summer during the dotcom era, working on a true love website and a little extra project to find out if it is possible to discover who is a psychopaths, even if they try to hide it and the present, locked in a house with people who want a dark secret revealed. This book was very fast paced, full of twists and it showed how even people who are not psychopaths will turn on one another when lives are on the line. The characters are all nicely flawed but mostly still likeable so it was easy to feel for them, from Will, still in love with Sophie, Lily and Rohan with families and kids, and of course the hosts, Georgina and Theo who also have a missing daughter. Many red herrings and twists that I actually did not guess right which leads to a thrilling climax and conclusion that had my jaw on the floor. I really enjoyed reading this book and am very grateful to have gotten the chance to do so!