After the Party

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A prominent pop music icon Xavier is found dead at the afterparty of a high school reunion in Marin County. Against the advice of her superior, Detective Danner takes on the case. She first questions Aniq, an escape room designer who tells his story in the style of a romantic comedy. He was in pursuit of his high school crush Zoë at the reunion, but he faced competition from both Xavier and Brett, her ex-husband. Office party gone wrong; a classic who-dunnit with serious mystery vibes. The characters were really well presented, but I personally didn't relate to any of them. The storyline was well thought out with a good plot. More mystery than thriller. I honestly didn't see the ending playing out like it did. The story is skillfully written, but at the same time the events leading to her imprisonment are slowly progressing and are overpowered by the trivial events, mostly parties. Thus, making you feel unsettle, wanting more from the story. I can’t say I liked any of the characters that much if I’m honest – but they were highly intriguing and the themes explored were extremely thought provoking. The writing is beautiful and descriptively evocative as we follow Phyllis, reconnecting with her sisters, getting intricately involved with a community and, ultimately, failing on a very human level and ending up incarcerated.

Hailu, Selome; Shanfeld, Ethan (February 18, 2022). "Throwing The Afterparty: How Chris Miller and Phil Lord Crafted the Animated and Musical Episodes". Variety . Retrieved February 19, 2022. At 60% into the book, yes I was reading on a kindle, I couldn't put it down, so keen to know where the missing character was and why still no murder. The story raced along but with no clear clues or motive it kept me gripped for hours whilst I tried to find out more. This ambiguity is what the whole show pivots around. Penny can’t let it go, the community just wants to move on. Phil’s return dredges all this unresolved tension to seethe at the surface. Penny’s possessed by this knowledge, breaching friendships and boundaries and the law. You see the way this terrible knowledge eats her alive, burning through whatever vestigial relationships have survived her obsession to this point. Peter Mullan as Phil and Robyn Malcolm as Penny in After the Party (Image: Supplied)In Robyn Malcolm’s gritty new drama After the Party, she wanted to create a story where the central character is a woman in her 50s who is natural.

Zoë asks her parents, Feng and Vivian, why they don't want to be questioned. Next to be interrogated is Ulysses, Feng's half-brother and the self-described "funcle" of Grace and Zoë. His retelling of the weekend is told as an epic romance when he reveals that he had a torrid love affair with his own sister-in-law, Vivian, before Grace was born. Feng eventually discovered their secret, prompting Ulysses to travel the world in an attempt to move on with his life. Ulysses stayed distant from Feng and his family until he got a personal visit from Edgar, who wanted Ulysses to attend the wedding. When Edgar suggested that Ulysses could be Grace's biological father, Ulysses chose to attend the ceremony with the intention of confirming Grace's parentage, much to Feng's fury. Despite his personal suspicions, Ulysses ultimately chose to leave the past behind him. After Zoë attempts to force a confession out of Hannah, she realizes that the wedding videographer, Kyler, should have plenty of footage from the previous night that could help pinpoint the killer.Mყ 𝐒ყɴ𝐨ρѕιѕ: Lizzie has just gotten a promotion as a project manager at small company, and she's absolutely in love with her co-worker, Dean, for the past three years. She starts to feel that maybe he has feelings for her too until at a Christmas party, he admits he has feelings for her colleague, Rebecca. A heartbroken Lizzie is more determined to take a job offer in London when police show up and say Rebecca has disappeared. What could have possibly happened and does it have anything to do with the Christmas party days earlier? The first season takes place at a high school reunion after-party with each episode "a different character's perspective" of what happened that night. [6] Critic Olivia Rutigliano noted that it is an example of "the millennial whodunnit," a new subgenre of murder mystery in which the investigation is a vehicle for characters to find second chances, personal fulfillment, and a departure from boring or oppressive daily life (through the feeling that their life has become a new genre). [7] Neither is remotely present in After the Party, a six-part drama that explores the lingering, crazymaking aftermath of a boozy party, featuring characters all on a spectrum between fallible and broken. It’s so tightly wound it barely takes a moment to blink, much less wink. I’ve seen the first three episodes and have no idea where they’re heading with this thing — it’s gritty, wrenching and highly confronting. Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK l, One More Chapter and Georgina Lees for letting me read “After the Party”in exchange for an honest review. After the Party is another mesmerising thriller of secrets and lies from the author of The Girl Upstairs.Praise for The Girl Upstairs:

Schneider, Michael (July 7, 2022). " Severance, Ted Lasso Lead Streaming Nominees for 2nd Annual HCA TV Awards". Variety. Archived from the original on July 8, 2022 . Retrieved September 11, 2022.

Rutigliano, Olivia (January 28, 2022). "On The Afterparty and the Rise of the 'Millennial Whodunnit' ". Literary Hub . Retrieved January 28, 2022. This is the second thriller I’ve read by Georgina Lees, and I would say it ranks second too. I was in the minority of readers who enjoyed The Girl Upstairs. Lees excels at the psychological aspect of her thrillers. Plot-wise, nothing much happens, but the author really makes the reader feel everything the main character does: dread, anxiety, gloominess. Weintraub, Steve (January 29, 2022). "Chris Miller and Phil Lord on The Afterparty and Having Every Episode Tell the Story Using a Different Visual Format and Genre". Collider. After the Party has an intriguing premise - your crush confesses their love for someone else and that person ends up missing. Unfortunately that's where the positivity ends. The novel was filled with detail after detail about what the main character, Lizzie, was doing, how she felt, what other people were doing. I was so bored. It also didn't help that everyone was awful! I hated Lizzie who couldn't make a decision and had to rely on others to think for her. It was a mystery that she was so invested in finding out what had happened with Rebecca, since their interactions showed that they didn't have a friendship or even really liked each other. Then there was Dean (Lizzie's crush). No idea why Lizzie had a crush on him. He had no redeeming qualities at all.

Difficult to say more without revealing too much. I can say that I became totally immersed in After The Party. It’s different and beautifully written, almost hypnotic. A piece of social and political history that benefits from the revelations in this remarkable book. There are places where Connolly could be more incisive: there's much to-do about minor things (the 'event' at the party, for example, just doesn't have the significance that the blurb promises) but I like that she doesn't overstate. For example, she resists introducing either Mosley himself directly into the story or Diana and Mitfordiana - and the book is better for that restraint. Neither is remotely present in After the Party, a six-part drama debuting on TVNZ that explores the lingering, crazy-making aftermath of a boozy party, featuring characters all on a spectrum between fallible and broken. It’s so tightly wound it barely takes a moment to blink, much less wink. I’ve seen the first three episodes and have no idea where they’re heading with this thing – it’s gritty, wrenching and highly confronting. The author is a skilful writer; I especially liked the imaginative descriptions and quirky similes. A few of my favourites: Phyllis Forrester and her husband, Hugh, return to England, after some years abroad, with their children, Julia, Frances and Edwin. Phyllis is keen to find a house near her sisters, Patricia and Nina. Indeed, while house hunting, the family stay with Patricia, her husband, Greville and their daughter, Antonia. Her other sister, Nina, and husband, Eric, also live nearby. While there, she hears about Nina’s ‘camps,’ which are talked about as a bit of fun and a good way to socialise. There is also much socialising with Patricia; although her taste runs to the more conventional dinner parties.One event, at a party will change Phyllis’ life for ever as she recounts in a personal record following her lengthy incarceration. The reason for her time in prison becomes clear as her personal account unwinds. Lizzie has been in love with her colleague Dean for three years but he’s never given her a second glance. When a job offer in London promises to launch her art career she finally feels ready to upend her life in pursuit of her dream … until the night of the office Christmas party when Dean confesses his love for someone else – Rebecca, one of Lizzie’s closest friends. A version of this review ran in The Spinoff’s weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In November 2020, the cast was announced, including Tiffany Haddish, Sam Richardson, Ben Schwartz, Ike Barinholtz, Ilana Glazer and Dave Franco. [38] After the first season finale aired, Schwartz revealed that he was told he would be the murderer upon being cast, and that he kept it secret from the rest of the cast until the table read for the episode. [39] I will say that the party does not actually take place until a good chunk of the way through the book. The ending was a huge letdown, but I can appreciate what the author was trying to do. This was a solid four-star read until that disappointing ending.