In Tara Laskowski’s THE WEEKEND RETREAT, Lauren has accepted an invitation from her boyfriend, Zach Van Ness, to spend the weekend at his family’s lavish and sprawling estate. They will be celebrating the birthdays of Zach’s twin brother and sister, Richard and Harper. Also in attendance will be Richard’s wife, Elle; Harper’s husband, Lucas; and a couple of unrelated guests.

"Relatively short chapters, lively writing and an intriguing premise make for good reading and will keep you anticipating the next shocking occurrence until the very end."

The Van Ness siblings are heirs to a family-owned winery. As such, they have held many extravagant soirees at the estate over the years. The birthday party is a tradition that most of them would rather forget now that their matriarch has died. She was the one who always planned these get-togethers.

But in her honor, Elle has decided to keep this custom alive. She has organized a slew of activities that are meant to be fun and relaxing for everyone, but as you can probably surmise, that turns out not to be the case. Lauren feels particularly uncomfortable being around the Van Ness siblings and their spouses.

Hidden agendas, lies and deception, coupled with a bad storm that threatens to isolate the family at the estate, make for a classic suspense story. When one of the guests turns up missing, the power goes out, and other odd things start to happen, everyone wants to leave. But, of course, the storm prevents them from doing so.

THE WEEKEND RETREAT is told from the points of view of Lauren, Harper, Elle and The Party Guest, whose identity is not revealed until the last part of the book. Relatively short chapters, lively writing and an intriguing premise make for good reading and will keep you anticipating the next shocking occurrence until the very end.