The Six Guests

by Diana Wilkinson

Could your online activity lead to your real-life death? Can a screenshot frame you for murder?

During Lockdown, six friends meet on-screen every Friday night to take part in a quiz.

But when it is Barton Hinton’s turn to host the event, he introduces a set of personal questions that clearly aren’t random and which set off a fatal chain of events.

When the police start to ask questions, the friends agree to hide the truth.

Is it possible that one of the six guests killed a fellow member?

Everyone has their secrets. Some are worth dying for. Some are worth killing for…

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Psychological Thriller

372 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2021

About the author

Diana Wilkinson graduated from Durham University with a degree in geography, then after a short spell in teaching, spent most of her working life in the business of tennis development.
A former Irish international player, Diana finally stepped off the tennis court to become a full-time writer.
The inspiration for much of her work has come from the ladies she coached over the years and from confidences share over coffee.
4 Riverside Close is Diana's first crime novel, published by Bloodhound Books on 30th March 2020.
You Are Mine, her second thriller, is due for release on 1st June 202.
Born and bred in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during the height of the civil unrest, she now lives in Hertfordshire, England, with her husband son.

Reviews

[Linda Strong · Rating 3 out of 5]

A group of six people meet online every Friday night to play a trivia quiz. Each one takes a turn at hosting and coming up with the questions.

When one of the members show up to host for his turn, he has some interesting trivia questions with different rules. He introduces a set of personal questions that, if you pay close attention, aren't entirely random. Everyone has secrets .. and some aren't for sharing.

But then ... someone dies. Could your online activity lead to your real-life death? Can a screenshot frame you for murder? Is it possible that one of the six guests killed a fellow member? And why did they all agree to hide the truth from the police?

There is a story line behind each of the friends .. that was the interesting part for me. There are some twists, but it was a slow starter. The characters left me cold ... none were what I would call likeable. And there's the issue of credibility. These quizzes were held online because everyone was on lock down because of the pandemic. So why were they supposedly visiting bars wearing masks and social distancing on other nights? This one was just not my cup of tea.

Many thanks to the author and Bloodhound Books for the digital copy of this psychological suspense. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

[Julie Lacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great mystery thriller.
What starts off as a weekly online quiz, ends up with one of the group being murdered.
Barton has disappeared from the quiz one week following a set of very personal questions being sent to the group by him.
Weeks pass and then his body his found leaving the group shocked by his death.
Kristi starts to investigate and is surprised by what she finds.
This is a great murder mystery, and I admit to getting it completely wrong!
Thanks to Bloodhound Books for the opportunity to read this book.

[Gillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set during the pandemic, six people meet via Zoom for a Friday night quiz. As the story develops we discover that they have loose links to each other but one knows more and sets a series of questions which stir the deepest, darkest secrets of each group member - deep enough for them to murder!
I found this slow to get going but was wrapped up in the story by a third of the way through and then read to finish very quickly. The twists and turns keep the reader guessing right till the end as everyone has something to hide. An excellent read.

[Lesley Palmer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf
Expectations was a locked in (during lockdown) crime thriller - reality was disjointed book where characters don’t keep my attention and nothing happens. Synopsis says the questions set by Declan are linked to a murder, but at 20% there has been no mention of murder and people are just finding out the answers to questions ie name of someone’s first pet.

[Charlotte Dodd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick and easy read and really enjoyed the concept. Also liked how we jumped around the characters, but think this could maybe have been done a little more as we mostly focused on one.
Characters were a bit generic, but it was clearly more of a plot driven book.

[Brian Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG couldn’t put it down

I spent a sleepless night reading this book because I needed to know who the murderer was. The twists and turns, little nuggets of information thrown in casually keep you needing the answers.
Brilliant absolutely recommend

[Claire Birkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy this as I didn't really want to read about the pandemic after living it for all these months but diana Wilkinson has done a fabulous job creating a brilliant story set in these strange times. We have all done the zoom quizzes and get togethers to try and combat the loneliness and boredom lockdown forced upon us. Luckily in the real world none of them were filled with the sinister goings on in this story. An intriguing cast of characters I had a lot of fun trying to figure out who was responsible along with our main character. Ingenious plot idea from the author. Brilliant job!!

[Vina]

I found ‘The Six Guests’ very slow and bland for the first third. There was way too much stumbling around over parentheses. The next third was fairly interesting, while the last third continued the fairish pace. The ending, I found underwhelming. There was simply no surprise.

2.5 Stars

[Kerry Murtagh Ramsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two and a half.

Starts off slowly and only picks up a little bit. Absolutely no likable characters. Two short scenes of animal abuse. Generally unpleasant. I’m glad I didn’t pay for this one.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you Bloodhound Books for a copy of this great read! Review is all my own!

What happens when a group of friends holds a recurring trivia night via online Zoom and one of the members tries to spice it up with a questionnaire about the other members and their secrets of secrets? How far would you go to keep your secret safe? I liked the twists and I liked the story line behind each character and how the author tied it all up. What I didn’t like was the way the men treated women and how they were OK with it. Like one man was married and dating one of the girls and the girl was OK with it and being lied to, even when she caught him she made excuses for it. There was no big sudden surprise at the end but it did wrap up nicely.

This book was good but had a couple of confusing points to me, not that it stopped my enjoyment and quite frankly I might have missed the reasoning but I was confused on why they were having Zoom Game nights when it was stressed the pandemic kept everything locked down (reason for the Zoom games) But the next chapter they would be going to bars with masks and social distancing so not sure why they couldn’t do that with book club. BUT again I may have missed something!

Good solid 3 stars I would recommend it and maybe dip into more works by this author.

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn’t sure how a book written during the recent pandemic would resonate with me but I have to say this is an excellent read. I really enjoyed it. Well written and well planned it was different to anything else I’ve read which is great when you read as much as I do. The characterisations are spot on. Like, loathe, dislike, feel sorry for, don’t trust; there were emotions a plenty firing round in my head.

Briefly, 6 people who met at a wedding in Italy have kept in contact and during lockdown meet on Zoom every Friday night for a quiz. But when investigative reporter, Barton Hinton, has his turn at hosting things get personal. At the end of the quiz the final round is questions about each of the ‘guests’ and answers are to be given the following week. But one of the guests isn’t there the following week. One of them is dead. The main protagonist in the book Kristi works with Barton and she is determined to find out the answers to his question and the identity of the murderer. But at what cost?

I think most people reading this will be able to relate to the need for contact during the pandemic be it online or not and that’s how I felt. I was sure I had sussed out the guilty party, and then I wasn’t, then I was…plenty of misdirected thought going on here. I really think this is a worthy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read.

[Sandra Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story of Six people during lockdown because of the pandemic. They are online, and have a zoom meeting of a question or quiz game. The hostess is Annabel of the zoom meeting, and she married to Clifton. The six characters are Annabel, Kristi, Joel, Rihanna, Declan, and Barton. Now, Barton Hinton the quizmaster made six question of six people dirty secret, the secret that they keep. But Barton had question dealing with Joel, Annabel, Kristi, Barton ex lover, and co worker from London Echo with Barton Hinton. Rihanna, Declan, and Barton ask a question about himself on the six the last question. Barton pulled a old friend into the game name Alex Allard. Barton made a lot of enemies with the games he play, because of looking into people past to getting the dirt on them. And this is a fantastic to novel, it question the people connection on social media from the pandemic , they are work from home, have no one and is alone at home, being online just that socialize with one another before the lockdown due to covid19 . Wonder if they are friends or foes. That what this story answer who are your friends? Who going to get murder and why? What are the six people hiding from one another? And where is Barton Hinton? Whose is the killer? Who was blackmail someone? (The Six Guests: a nail biting psychological suspense by Diana Wilkinson is coming out July 1, 2021)

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, where do I start with this?!

This is a fantastically told story from the perspective of Kristi Dexter. A single, young columnist maneuvering her way through the pandemic lockdown. Desperate to experience some sort of socialization and normalcy, Kristi and 5 friends decide to start a virtual Friday night quiz session. Each person is given the opportunity to be the coveted quiz master, testing the group through various topics. Innocent enough, until it’s Barton Hinton’s turn. Nothing Barton does is without intent or innocent. Sure, he likes to stir the pot but are his closing line of questions too personal, bordering on crossing the line? With secrets on the verge of being exposed how far will someone go to silence them?

I love the dynamic of the group and how each of them brings their own unique personalities to the storyline. We all know someone who closely resembles at least one of the characters. This story is a great example of how friendships start and at times fail. Diana built up believable characters that we love and love to hate. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The whodunnit factor of this story is what kept me speed reading through this entire book. I couldn’t put it down…I NEEDED to know how it ended, like immediately!

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very chilling, gripping and very current for the time.

We can all relate to the feeling of complete frustration, the feelings of loneliness and the separation from our family and friends through this time of the pandemic that we have found ourselves in.

So if it was an option as a lot of us did, took to meeting up online.

When a group of friends make it a “Friday thing” to get together all seems to be going well.
Every week they “get together”, each taking a turn to set the quiz. That is until one of them sets some questions, that are of a more personal nature; and because of this he gives them the full week to come up with their answers.
Obviously some of them have things that they don’t actually want to come out into the open, so it comes as no surprise that the quizmaster ends up dead, with each of them becoming a suspect.

How can this be though, when they were all online at the time and not even in the vicinity of where he died.
There is obviously more to this than meets the eye!
Another great book from this author.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is coming out July 1, 2021. This is story about 6 main characters. Their name are Barton Hinton the quizmaster, Annabel, Kristi, Joel, Rihanna, Declan. Also a character Annabel's husband Clifton, and also Barton school childhood friend Alex Allard. They are people whom know one another before lockdown of the pandemic. Barton who like to have everyone secrets asked dirty hidden secrets as questions, six question about the others on the zoom meeting . They had to find out the secret answers before they meet again on Friday at 8 O' clock the next week. This were you find out a lot about the six people. This is a great story to share feels of how the lockdown made you wonder, about people are they friends, or foes. Even before the pandemic, are they the people you can trust in your life. I enjoyed the suspense of all that happens in the novel. There relationships to leave ,or stay for keep. This is a wonderful story to read for the summertime reading, real anytime. I enjoyed it from the 1st page to the last.

[Marnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise for The Six Guests by Diana Wilkinson had me hooked right upon reading the blurb, so I couldn’t wait to get stuck in. At the time I was reading this, my hometown was also in another lockdown so its timing was very fitting.

For six friends, a weekly video catchup for a game of trivia whist in lockdown is the perfect escape from it all for one night. Each person take turns in hosting the event, but when it is Barton’s turn, he decides to up the ante and presents a set of personal questions that starts a chain of events that become deadly…

The characters are well crafted and with each having something to hide makes it all the more fun in trying to guess who is keeping the biggest secret and will do anything to ensure it isn’t exposed. I loved how I was kept in the dark right up until it was time for the reveal.

The Six Guests is a great read and although I did find the pacing to be slow to begin with, it certainly ramps up making for a more exciting and thrilling second act. It is twisty, engrossing and all up a very entertaining story to get caught up in.

[Sheila Samuelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: 5 Stars!! (Wish i could rate it 10 Stars!!)
Review:
This was my first time reading a book by this author so i was sure what to expect since it was set during COVID19 Pandemic Lockdown 2020 even tho i did enjoy this one so much!!

It reminded me alot of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, True or Dare Movie with Lucy Hale meets It's Always the Husband by Michele Campbell with lots of twists, turns and shocking moments especially the ending!! If you enjoyed the above books and movie i listed then i know you'll LOVE this book as well.

The Characters were so interesting to read about and made the story more intriguing learning about their backgrounds and personalities.

The Setting was beautifully described which made it easy to picture the area that it was set in.

Overall, a very good Mystery Thriller Suspense Novel!! Can't wait to read more by Diana in the future!!

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A chilling modern day murder mystery with a dark side. The pandemic has thrown most of us into using the internet for socialising, keeping in touch with loved ones, family and friends. The six characters in this book are no exception. A Friday quiz night brings them together. One host plus five of her friends, each taking turns to set the quiz. All rather innocent isn't it? Until Barton has his turn to set the questions....personal questions included. Because of the personal nature he gives them a week to complete their answers. They all want to win of course but at what cost? But what secrets would they rather keep safe? The consequence of their answers could be deadly. Time is ticking towards Friday....and no-one has heard from Barton.
Very intriguing. Zoom fanatics out there will love this. Pay close attention to what you see on your screen.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

A word of warning, the dreaded Zoom meetings & Covid feature in this novel. BUT, do not let that put you off, they are a necessary evil to enable the story to take flight & really amount to background characters - always there, but not getting in the way.
A group, who met at a wedding in Italy, have a weekly online quiz but one week a square is blank. Then an acquaintance of the missing square appears as his replacement. Some weeks later his body is found & another member of the group, Kristi, takes it upon herself to investigate as she worked with him.
Was his death triggered by his extremely personal quiz questions the previous week? Who is his last minute replacement? Is someone within the group responsible?
A great read. A cross between a psychological thriller & a murder mystery. I really enjoyed this & recommend.

[Roz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first novel that I have read which identifies so closely with the recent times and I was initially not sure how I would feel about a thriller based during the pandemic. However I was really intrigued to read on as the story introduces the reader to a random group of acquaintances who, as many of us did, form a Friday night zoom quiz.

The story is a good modern twist of a murder mystery and when one of the quizzers is found shot dead, away from home and looking like a professional hit. But could one of the others be linked to the crime? Before he died he gave the others a list of very personal questions to investigate about the others, which would certainly be seen as a possible motive for murder…..

Good characters and twists all the way through. Well paced and keeps the reader intrigued throughout.

[Marta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starting to come across more and more “Covid-times” novels, and while it’s been a drag to live through these times, it’s fascinating to me to see them woven into a plot (seeing how lockdowns and restrictions impact different characters).

Six friends meet up weekly for a quiz night via Zoom, a way to break up lockdown and the monotony of Covid restrictions. But when the questions get personal, and someone is killed… this becomes a who-done it.

The characters were a little two dimensional, and I had a hard time getting invested in them. The plot moved a little slow for my liking. Overall, a decent read about a group of 30somethings battling infidelity, financial stressors, addictions, jealousy and social pressures.

[Sarahlovesbooks76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Six acquaintances meet up virtually every Friday during the first lockdown of 2020, for a quiz over zoom. One week, the quizmaster gives them bonus questions - what will they find out about the other quizzers? Will the questions drive someone to murder?

A book set very definitely in our pandemic times. The reader can clearly picture the lock down setting, and the author draws on this well. I found it quite slow to get going, and I struggled to relate to the main character (Kristi), which at times made me want to give up. I did however stick with it and found the last half of the book faster paced and more interesting. Not my favourite by this author, but worth a read.

[Bobbi Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this suspenseful thriller. This is a newer author for me which i enjoyed being pulled in from the beginning. I found this book to be engaging, fast paced and full of action. The twists and turns kept me turning pages to the end. This is a well written story about six people who meet online on Fridays during the lockdown. Each of the members host one of the Friday nights but now its about to take a deadly turn. Is it possible that one of the six members is a killer? I enjoyed the characters and how connectable they are. They made the story feel realistic and made the story for me. I highly recommend this book.

[Kerry Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping read!!

6 people connected via an online quiz nights held weekly via zoom meetings whilst living in isolation due to a pandemic. Quirky, accurate and quite scary how simple the ability to give yourself an alibi when all you’ve got to work with is a background. Main characters are likeable, even when everyone is a suspect. It’s a really gripping read. Chapters are about the right length for me personally as it helps to be able to put down and pick up as and when I please. Highly recommend this to anyone needing a bit of a light relief thriller

[Karen Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

This tells the story of a group of friends and acquaintances who meet every Friday in lockdown for a quiz night.

One night the quizmaster sets a round of questions about the participants who all have secrets that they may not want others to know from their past or present. Well one person obviously has more to hide as the quizmaster turns up dead and they all become suspects but surely they were all at home on the zoom quiz and nowhere near where he died, or are things not as they seem?

Thank you to the author for my advance copy of this book

[Liz T · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book that I have read by Diana Wilkinson and I found it an interesting concept around which to set a murder mystery. The first part of the book gives an insight into the characters, not all of them particularly likeable. Once the death occurs the pace hotted up and left the reader trying to solve the identity of the killer, not an easy task when each of the Six Guests had every reason for wanting to silence the victim!
Many thanks to the author and Bloodhound Books for an ARC of The Six Guests.

[Ruth Matheson · Rating 4 out of 5]

When 6 acquaintances decide to hold a monthly quiz meeting via zoom, no-one could have foretold the outcome!! Each of them have secrets and untruths which they would rather keep hidden, however when one of them asks very loaded personal questions at the end of one week, then it is not surprising that he turns up dead. Set during the pandemic, this story is so very apt and real for people in a time when 'zoom' rules many lives. I really enjoyed it a didn't work out which one did it!
Thanks to the author for the ARC to review.

[Francesca Rosado · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was a slow burner. It took me a while to get into it, but when I got to the end I looked back and realised it had been pretty good after all! I really liked the premise of it all, this is the first novel I've read that's actually written like covid is a thing, I've written a few blatantly set in 2020/21 as if the world didn't stop at all! But I feel like I didn't know the lead character enough considering she's the hero, her character development felt very much like a last minute addition. The baddies were wonderfully bad though, I hated them!

[Beth White · Rating 1 out of 5]

Strong DNF at 20%. I was still waiting for any mention of a murder or death or anything exciting after several pages of mundane talk about answers to personal questions that frankly amounted to names of pets and answers they could find out about each other on a google search. The most drama so far has been one friend being engaged years ago to another friends husband but the way they found this out was by using GOOGLE To find out the answer to who was x’s first fiancé. Ridiculous frankly. Sorry but no, 1 star and DNF.

[Karen Seekins · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a while to get into this book, definitely a slow starter and I didn’t particularly warm to any of the characters, although it was interesting to learn more about each of their back stories as the plot unfolded. A few twists and turns, and towards the end I became more invested to find out ‘who dunnnit’. I did find it quite annoying that each time the author described something, it was then backed up with a sentence starting with “Think ….” to almost justify why what had been written had indeed been written. Maybe that’s just me though 🤪.