The Invite

By: Irina Shapiro

Narrated by: Elise Roth, Greg Lockett

Three years ago, Lexie destroyed their friendship group with a single, unforgivable act. Now she’s bringing them all back together. And someone’s going to pay…

On a cold October night, a group of old college friends arrive at a fog-shrouded lakehouse, summoned by a curious email that reads more like a threat than an invitation. From the woman no one has spoken to for three years.

There’s the cynical best friend, the anguished fiancé, the careless player, the lost follower, the quiet survivor. Each with a secret they’d kill to protect.

But as soon as they gather, old resentments start to bubble up, and tensions are running high by the time the friends finally stumble to bed.

And the next morning, there is a body floating in the dark water…

A dark, deadly story that will consume you until the final perfect twist. Fans of Lucy Foley, Ruth Ware and Alice Feeney will be hooked.

©2026 Irina Shapiro (P)2026 Storm Publishing

Suspenseful & clever

Eight friends from college were to spend an all-paid weekend at a fancy lakeside house in upstate NY. Lexi, organized the event as a get-together catch-up since she’s been traveling the world for the past three years.

Most are well off professionally and they all have very different careers; a nurse, a lawyer, a photographer, a school teacher and so forth. Two are married to each other.

Lexi texts that she’s caught in traffic and to start dinner without her. It wouldn’t be a party of a bunch of mid-twenty year olds without an over abundance of alcohol & recreational drugs.

The next morning Lexi still has not arrived and one of the seven in attendance on an early morning walk discovers a body floating in the lake. Who is it? Was it an accident or murder? If the latter, was the person killed by an intruder or is there a killer among them?

As the local police with help of the FBI investigate the murder the dark past of the eight friends starts to emerge. But is it enough to justify murder and aren’t they all friends?

Overall entertaining that had me guessing wrong due to well thought out twist-and-turns. A surprising & fitting ending based on NY’s judicial system.

A re-listenable for sure!

I enjoyed this book so much, that I bought the audio version and listened to it on vacation. I'm a big fan of Irina Shapiro, so it's not surprising that this pacey, taut thriller pulled me in from the time all the characters converged at the house on the lake. A modern retelling of 10 Little Indians, this book is full of emotional twists and turns. It kept me on my toes until the end. Highly recommend!

“A Surprising Miss From This Author"

If her name weren’t plastered on the cover, I’d assume someone else wrote this — and not in a fun ghostwriter‑mystery kind of way. The characters are flat and act like they’re stuck in permanent freshman year. The plot feels like it wandered in from a middle‑school creative writing class.

Do yourself a favor and save your credit for something that doesn’t make you question your life choices.

Could not finish

My husband and I were just bored. It was too slow and I couldn’t see the next 6 hours getting any better.