Atria Books | Book Chatter

With Friends Like These
By Alissa Lee
Atria, November 4, 2025, 240pp.

The Short of It:

Old friends, a game, poor choices.

The Rest of It:

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked this up but I found it to be pretty compelling.

Old friends gather to play a special round of The Circus. What’s the Circus? It’s a game where you are given a target, one of the friends playing and you must KILL them with a water gun or be killed. When a “kill” is made, the shooter takes their medallion necklace and the holder of all the medallions wins the game.

Sounds simple enough but there are few rules which means you can break into each other’s homes, show up at their place of employment or chase them down into a train station. Sounds dangerous? It is.

This special round includes high stakes because unbeknownst to them all, one participant has been investing the winnings and the pot is now quite significant.

As the story unfolds, it’s clear that although everyone appears to be quite successful in life, that money could come in handy for each of them and the game suddenly takes center stage.

What happens when the game gets out of hand? Do they come together to figure out a solution? Or are they suddenly pitted against one another? Sounds good, right?

Recommend.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

The Wasp Trap
By Mark Edwards
Atria, September 16, 2025, 336pp.

The Short of It:

A dishy little read about old friends, some enemies and secrets.

The Rest of It:

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. ~the publisher

The Wasp Trap alternates between present day and 25 years in the past. These folks are techies working on a dating app but in doing so, they live together with the company’s owner in a rambling house. There, friendships are forged and relationships are built. But that’s not the only thing going on there.

Fast forward to 25 years later. They’ve been invited to a dinner party and the old gang is reunited but not everyone feels wonderful about the event. Grudges, hurt feelings and the fact that their hosts seem overly successful feels like a bit of show.

Theo and Georgina are married now with two teens. Money is clearly not a problem for them. As each of the guests arrive, they can’t help but notice the extravagance of the place. Theo and Georgina have their own issues though. One of their daughters went missing, and the other is sifting through secrets and trying to put clues together to find her missing sister.

This is a crazy read. I’m all for dinner party drama but the party quickly goes south, even before the food is served. Edwards wastes NO time introducing the threat which takes over the entire party. Someone has a secret and someone needs to spill it in order to survive.

Why? How does the secret play into the story? Who does it affect exactly? How can they get out of this when no one can be trusted? These are the questions that you’ll ask as you read this tightly wound story.

I’ll give you my take. I didn’t care for any of these characters. Some are vapid. Some seem to be accessories like a bangle on your wrist. Others are a bit more complex but we don’t spend enough time with those characters. The missing girl story is interesting but getting to it, the path to that plot thread was a little weak in my opinion.

Parts of the story are too convenient. I did enjoy picking it up to read but often I wondered where it was going. If you need a fast-paced closed door type of read, like for a plane, this would be good.

Otherwise, you might find yourself getting frustrated with the plot and the convenience of how it all wraps up.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

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