“The Wedding Night” is Not a Thriller

The Wedding Night, by Harriet Walker, was not at all what I was expecting, but held some lovely scenes about evolving friendships in different stages of life. This novel was described as a thriller, but it takes a while to get moving, as we jump between different characters and their memories until the story of four college friends emerges. Lizzie has abruptly called off her destination wedding, but the friends decide that they’ve already taken time off work, arranged a babysitter, paid for flights and so forth, and they’ll head to the would-be wedding destination anyway.

Effie, Lizzie, Anna and Charlie friends were uni classmates, but they’re now all different life stages. Anna and her husband Steve are delighted to get a break from toddler parenting. “Our rogue” Charlie might be done with heartbreaking, and is bringing his serious girlfriend to get to know his friends. And Effie has a brand-new maybe-romance with the former best man. This is where the book shines — friends who still love each other, but who are now too busy with work and childcare to comfort a friend through a breakup.

This was described as a suspense novel, so I was expecting something like Lucy Foley’s The Hunting Party or maybe Ruth Ware’s One By One. I’m a huge fan of locked-door mysteries, preferably set in a gorgeous and remote locale, with a storm or a power failure or the only bridge going out instead of a literal locked door.

The Wedding Night isn’t particularly suspenseful, though. The “dramatic” moments felt forced, like there must be a set number of screams per chapter, even if all the characters come running for no real reason. By the time I figured out who was who and what was being kept secret from which characters, it was all coming out anyway. This is 100% gore free because it wasn’t actually a thriller at all.  Instead, it’s more of a meandering story about friendship and loyalty, tested by secrets of the douchebag-ex variety, not the murder variety.

Once I realized that I was reading a friendship story, with occasional forced shrieking, I liked this book a great deal more. I legit believed these friends were actual friends, their secrets were believable while still being heavy enough to keep hidden years later. So, to enjoy this book, you should ignore the blurb description, and settle in for a slower story about old and new friends in an Instagrammable castle, with occasional screams over nothing much.

The Wedding Night is by Harriet Walker and will be released by Ballantine Books on June 1, 2021.