Internationally bestselling author Mark Edwards makes his American print debut with THE WASP TRAP, a puzzle-like thriller full of high-concept twists and sneaky characters.

On the night we meet Sebastian Marlowe’s six best employees, the good professor is already dead. His “revolutionaries,” as he called them, have not spoken in the 25 years since they left his company. Now they are gathered together for a celebration of his life. The party is hosted at the stunning Notting Hill home of two of Marlowe’s smartest ex-employees, Theo and Georgina, who have since married and gone on to run their own lucrative tech empire.

Despite the group’s shared beginnings, Theo and Georgina are outliers. They are the only members of Marlowe’s former pool to have gone on to achieve any sort of fame or success. The others --- including our narrator, failed writer Will; struggling tech bro (emphasis on bro), Rohan; the spiritual and romantic Sophie; and Marlowe’s favorite, Lily, who is the most elusive of the group --- are all anxious at the thought of attending the dinner party. They wonder exactly why Theo and Georgina have summoned them now, so long after they were let go.

Alternating timelines, Edwards takes readers back to July 1999, when Theo, Georgina, Will, Rohan, Lily and Sophie are hard at work, desperate to please Marlowe. Originally hired to help the charismatic psychology professor develop, design and publicize a dating website, the six young adults are soon waylaid by a second project: a test to determine whether or not someone is a psychopath. The ties between love and hate, euphoria and madness, are well-trodden territory, and the group is often able to use facts and findings from one developmental test to inform the other, and vice versa.

"Armchair adrenaline junkies will absolutely devour this intriguing mystery. Mark Edwards is an assured and confident writer whose ability to weave in red herrings, twists and psychological gamesmanship is unmatched."

But whereas online dating is starting to gain traction and popularity in 1999, a test to determine someone's potential for psychopathy has far murkier and more controversial undertones. After all, if a person is found to possess all the traits for becoming a psychopath, what treatment or rehabilitation options can be considered before they’ve ever committed a crime? And what is the responsibility of the test giver to report their findings? Fortunately, the group never has to seriously grapple with these queries. Just as they’ve wrapped up their dating site project, Marlowe abruptly pulls all funding, backing and support, telling his celebratory followers that their work is over and it is time to go home. 

So it is that these former coworkers find themselves reunited under a veil of grief, confusion and discomfort. Each had planned their futures on Marlowe’s company and their shared creation of the dating website Butterfly.net, and each has a different perspective on what happened the night that caused Marlowe to throw it all away. Some, like money-hungry Rohan, blame Lily’s hyper-focus on the psychopathy test, the Wasp Trap, for diverting Marlowe’s attention. Others, like Will, are far more interested in resolving other unfinished business, like his will-they-or-won’t-they love affair with Sophie, which was cut off before it ever had a chance to blossom. The dinner party in Notting Hill seems like the inevitable “come to Jesus” moment when they’ll all be forced to discuss what really happened that summer. But the night starts off odd for other reasons.

Upon arriving at the gorgeous townhouse, Will hears cries of pain outside in the garden. Dismissing them as a stray cat or a squatter in the abandoned house next door, he tries to brush off his anxiety. But even when he is catching up with Theo and Georgina, something seems off to him. Rather than brag about their tech company and beautiful family, Theo and Georgina continue to dodge questions about their oldest daughter, who the group learns has gone missing. There’s also surprise guest Finn, who Theo and Georgina claim was Marlowe’s assistant at the time of his death. But he can’t seem to answer a single question about the man and consistently gets details wrong about his life and work. But strangest of all are the cater waiters Theo and Georgina hired for the night, who suddenly take the group captive at gunpoint.

The captors, Callum and Amber, are aware that the guests have a secret from that summer, and in order to leave the house alive, they’ll have to reveal it. However, they give no hints about the secret --- is it about Marlowe, the real reason they were unceremoniously let go, or Theo and Georgina’s fractured family? --- or who holds it. With the clock ticking, Callum and Amber begin a devious game. Every hour, the group will vote on who they believe holds the secret, and then that person will have a chance to confess. If they can’t think of any secrets, they’re dead. If the secret they divulge is not the one that Callum and Amber are after, they’re also dead.

This locked-room mystery plays out in real time. Everyone will have to put their heads together, not only to confront their own secrets from that summer, but to figure out what Callum and Amber are after. But secrets about stolen kisses and hidden crushes are not what the waiters are after. And until they buckle down and get to the heart of their lies, the bodies will pile up.

Armchair adrenaline junkies will absolutely devour this intriguing mystery. Mark Edwards is an assured and confident writer whose ability to weave in red herrings, twists and psychological gamesmanship is unmatched. With its colorful cast of characters, dual timelines and decades-old mystery, the book is truly a high-concept thriller like no other. Just when you think you’ve figured out something, Edwards completely flips the script, ramping up the tension at a breakneck pace until the final shocking reveal.

Perfect for readers of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware, as well as those who enjoyed THE 7½ DEATHS OF EVELYN HARDCASTLE, THE WASP TRAP announces a deviously clever “new to me” voice in psychological suspense and promises much more to come from this fantastic author.