Book review: The Summer Party – Rebecca Heath (Head of Zeus, $36.99)

The Summer Party by Rebecca Heath

Lucy Ross returns to her late grandmother’s home to do the heart-breaking work of clearing out a person’s life.

The cottage by the sea, a couple of hours out from Adelaide, offers a grand view of the Whitlam house, the large and beautiful home of the family for whom Lucy’s grandmother worked. It is the children of the family, Harry, Mae and Annabelle, that Lucy became obsessed with during the summer of 2000.

In the present day, Lucy has been drawn back to the cottage not only by her bereavement but because a body has been found on the beach owned by the Whitlams. It appears to have been buried for years; Lucy is intrigued.

The story is told through flashbacks to the days leading up to the Whitlams’ glamorous summer party, where 16-year-old Lucy is tasting her first champagne. At an assignation with a boy, she overhears an argument, a sound that could denote a struggle. Years later, her memories are hazy.

In 2019, Lucy packs up the cottage and finds a ring that she doesn’t recognise. It becomes clear that it means something to the Whitlam family. Lucy’s hackles rise and she takes steps to protect herself. The local police officer is an old acquaintance of Lucy, and was also at the party that is pivotal to the novel’s plot, but can she trust him? As the investigation into to body on the beach heats up, Lucy’s memories of the past come back to haunt her.

Lucy is something of an unreliable narrator, and easy to judge due to the poor decisions she makes, especially when it comes to the Whitlams who seem to have everything she wants. The sentence structure can be a bit clunky and the characters are all impossibly handsome in their wet T-shirts and tight jeans, but the plot kept me guessing and turning the pages rather quickly.

The Summer Party is a pacy whodunnit and makes a great summer read with its glamour, intrigue and nicely honed biceps.