The Launch Party by Lauren Forry

 

376 pages

Publisher: Zaffre

Publishing Date: June 22, 2023

NetGalley

Blurb

THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME. YOU'D DIE TO BE THERE.

Ten lucky people have won a place at the most exclusive launch event of the century: the grand opening of the Hotel Artemis, the first hotel on the moon. It's an invitation to die for. As their transport departs for its return to Earth and the doors seal shut behind them, the guests take the next leap for mankind.

However, they soon discover that all is not as it seems. The champagne may be flowing, but there is no one to pour it. Room service is available, but there is no one to deliver it. Besides the ten of them, they are completely alone.

When one of the guests is found murdered, fear spreads through the group. But that death is only the beginning. Being three days' journey from home and with no way to contact the outside, can any of the guests survive their stay?

 

Review

A mystery set in the first hotel to open its doors on the moon. When I saw the blurb, I knew I had to read the story. I adore intriguing blurbs almost as much as I love mysteries, so diving into The Launching Party as soon as I could get my hands on it was a no-brainer. And I’m really glad I did.

In many ways—apart from the setting—this is a classic closed-circle murder mystery. We are introduced to a group of ten people who don’t know each other but find themselves in a situation where they have to spend time together in a location they can’t leave. When they discover that they are literally the only people in the vast hotel they are surprised and upset. Their feelings transform into fear when one of them is discovered dead in a scene that was obviously created to disturb and scare. Who can be trusted? Who is hiding what and why? Because even before the murder takes place it is clear that all of them have some sort of issue that may or may not be relevant to what happens next.

I’m not going to list and describe each of the ten guests here. One of them, Penelope Strand, is a police officer and as such automatically falls into the role of trying to find out what happened, although she struggles with some issues of her own.

I loved how the story developed. How the atmosphere changed after the first murder and became even more fraught after a second victim is discovered worked really well. As did the changing loyalties between these people. The mystery captured me early on and held me in its grip right until the final pages.

Having said that, the setup of this story raised one or two questions as well.

For starters, I have to wonder about the logistics involved in getting the people who were at the centre of this mystery all in this location. I’m also not sure the scenario where the group of ten ended up in the hotel on their own, without any staff available, made complete sense. Given the scope of the venture and the amount of money involved, I would expect a stunt like this to be (next to) impossible to pull off.

Do I mind? Did it upset me while I was reading the conclusion?

The short answer is no. While I was reading it didn’t even occur to me that there might be a plausibility issue; that thought only came to me after I finished the book. And even when the thought did cross my mind, it was quickly followed by the realisation that I’d just read a mystery set in the first hotel on the moon and I decided that if I could accept the setting without question, maybe I should show the solution the same generosity. 😊

I feel I should also mention that this story is told from multiple points of view and that it wasn’t always immediately clear when the point of view changed. This may or may not be because I read an ARC rather than the final e-book version, though.

When push comes to shove, what we have here is a closed circle mystery, much in keeping with the genre’s tradition. I’m not sure if the reader is given all the clues they need to solve the mystery before the investigator does, but I wasn’t left with any unanswered question when the story ended. What’s more, I thoroughly enjoyed my reading journey while the investigation was going on. It seems to me that the author allowed for the possibility of more mysteries set in Hotel Artemis and if she writes those, I will definitely read them.