You All Die Tonight by Simon Kernick

This adrenaline thriller ramps the genre up to another level. Complex and twisted, it features a cast of nasty liars in a race against death—who, judging by the title, might not make it out alive.

Four years ago, four people were killed at Black Lake Manor: an investment banker George, his wife, their teen son, and a friend whose husband, George's business partner, was knocked out but survived.

DCI Hemming headed Essex Police's incident team along with DS Prosser. George's brother Adam had the most to inherit, but someone at the investment firm was stealing money—not a good idea when they were laundering cash for Russian gangster Yuri Karnov. The case was handled inefficiently, and the wrong man was convicted, ending their careers.

Today, the seven people closest to the case awake in a disheveled manor house after being drugged and kidnapped. No phones or wallets. The windows and doors locked. Through a security system of cameras, a disembodied voice tells them they have been injected with a slow-acting poison, the antidote to excruciating death only given when one of them admits to the Black Lake Murders.

We alternate between the past and present where the key players are warned not to turn on each other, which is the first thing they do. They all claim innocence, even the Russian gangster. One of them was stealing money, one was an adulterer, one planted false evidence, one faced a bitter divorce, one was a police informant, one has terminal cancer, one is already dead in the basement, and one was the Black Lake Killer. They search for the antidote, gradually grow sicker, and a few are murdered. They have mere hours to live.

"Any one of us could be lying. We probably all are."

Each is a deceitful villain revealing a surprise twist - including original investigator DCI Hemming, bitter after this career-ending case, although he was a corrupt, blackmailed adulterer at the time. This grips from the first page and does not let up. Kernick knows how to raise the tension and ramp the pace. My only criticism: someone gets free to discover more about the poisoning. Let them stay locked in that house to die. A fiendishly clever ride for thrill seekers.

2024 / Hardcover / 384 pages

My other reviews for Simon Kernick:

Stay Alive

Final Minute