“Because it scares me.”
One of our favourite film franchises of all time is Jurassic Park. Aside from the dinosaurs (which are still criminally underrepresented in movies and television), we love it because all the entries raise a fascinating question about our obsession with pushing entertainment to new heights. We bring up this tangent because it was a theme we picked up on time and time again during Lauren Forry’s 2023 mystery-thriller, The Launch Party. We had seen the book mentioned as one of the most anticipated fiction books of the year, and the wonderfully absurd premise of Agatha Christie in space was something we had to check out for ourselves. So, how did the book hold up? Join us at What We Reading as we put this moon-based murder mystery into orbit with our The Launch Party book review!
Date Published: 2023
Author: Lauren Forry
Genre: Mystery, Crime
Pages: 376
Goodreads Rating: 3.45/5
Premise
Hotel Artemis is the first hotel to be built on the moon. Ten lucky individuals have won a place attending the grand opening of the building on an all-expenses-paid trip of luxury as humanity makes its next great leap forward.
But, almost as soon as they touch down on the moon’s surface, they quickly discover all is not as it seems. Aside from the ten of them, the building is completely deserted. And when one of the group is found murdered, fear, paranoia and suspicion begin to take hold of all of them. Secrets are brought to light. Lies are exposed. With no means of contacting planet Earth, and a three-day journey home how many of the guests will survive their stay?
What Worked
So, first off, the premise. It’s so much fun. A luxury hotel on the moon is one of those dystopian settings that feels absurd, but also extremely close to reality. We can easily imagine it being something the rich and famous of the world wind up on during our lifetimes. Everything in the Hotel Artemis was easy to visualise and it has all of the eeriness needed for a location akin to an And Then There Were None murder mystery.
The pacing of The Launch Party was really good; Lauren Forry wastes very little time getting us to the hotel and in the grips of the mystery, which we were grateful for as it was undoubtedly what we signed up for. The book captures that addictive page-turning feel a good mystery-thriller needs to hit, it always felt as though every page was on the cusp of revealing something new, which meant devouring the story was a breeze.
What Didn’t
The biggest gripe we had with The Launch Party throughout reading it was with the characters. First up is Penelope, our protagonist. Penelope is a detective back on Earth and suffers from that classic main character trope where she is constantly the moral compass, constantly doing the right thing, and constantly the most boring character as a result.
The remaining characters are all fairly bland and archetypal. Forry either makes them so overtly unlikeable or so underdeveloped they all begin to blend into each other; there were more than a few instances where we forgot which one was which. It’s clear The Launch Party wants to make everyone a suspect, but all that happens is most of them losing their authenticity as a result.
We said the pacing was good on the whole, but the final 20% of the book or so did end up feeling rather rushed. Things only just started being wrapped up and we realised there were only a handful of pages remaining which did set off alarm bells. Some character arcs attempted to be made at this point which mostly fell by the wayside, and the final reveal felt also felt totally underwhelming and unfulfilling as a result.
Verdict
The Launch Party is a fun read whose unique setting makes it a good go-to if you’re looking for your next quirky murder mystery. With that being said, it’s probably not a premise that totally capitalises on its potential; the book follows the majority of the same formulas most readers of locked-room mysteries will recognise.
The characters are all made out to be shifty and suspicious, which does succeed in making them all suspects, but unfortunately has the side effect of making them all bland and archetypal with very little development and very few arcs present. The pacing itself for the investigation is good, however, the final third of the book feels exceptionally rushed which leaves the final reveals feeling more than a little bit underwhelming compared to other thrillers we’ve read recently.
Overall, probably not a mystery book that is going to go down as one giant leap for the literary world, but a solid amount of fun for the most part if you’re looking for an easy read to escape with.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
