Sweet sixteen is a special time for Hannah Sanders. At Hillcrest Academy in a posh San Francisco suburb, good things are happening for Hannah. A very popular and sought after young man, Noah, has set his sights on her. He is part of the "in group" which Hannah is longing to join. Ronni and Lauren, the prettiest, if a little mean, are part of his group and lately are "hanging" with Hannah. When her parents, Kim and Jeff Sanders, decide to host a Sweet Sixteen Party with a sleepover, pizza, and her favorite birthday cake, Hannah is thrilled. She invites her old childhood friends, Marta and Caitlin, along with her two new friends, Ronni and Lauren. Hannah decides she will make it memorable for her two cooler and more sophisticated friends by hiding vodka down in the play room. This will help secure her popularity with them as that is the most important thing for Hannah now. On the party night, Kim greets the guests, immediately establishing the rules: No alcohol. No drugs. No boys. Assured that her perfect daughter, who has been trained to get good grades, play the piano, and have nice friends (aren't they the important things?) will obey. Kim takes half an Ambien, finishes her second glass of wine and retires for the night. Jeff, who wants to be the cool dad, takes a bottle of pink champagne to the girls, telling Hannah, "Enjoy, but don't tell your mother."

Awakened by Hannah at 2 a.m. she is crying and hysterical, her hands bloody. She tells her parents, there has been an accident. They find Ronni, hurt, bleeding, and smelling of alcohol. She is surrounded by broken glass and her face and eyes are injured. A rush to the hospital, surgery, and the beginning of a nightmare, starting with reporting the accident to the police.

Robyn Harding presents a riveting read about every parents worse nightmare. A sweet sixteen party that ends in a tragedy. In the aftermath, nothing will ever be the same. Secrets and lies are revealed. Relationships are tested and broken. A "perfect family" unable to come together in a time of crisis, is ruined forever. Hannah experiences bullying, high school politics, and mean teens spiraling out of control. The question then needs to be asked and answered. Is it okay to break the rules because being popular is more important?

THE PARTY is a frightening story that makes me happy my children are no longer teens. It is a riveting tale, told well, and I found it hard to put down. It is a story you think about long after the last page. What a lovely cover. Robyn Harding is a new author I plan to follow. Thank you.

Book Summary

In this stunning and provocative domestic drama about a sweet sixteen birthday party that goes horribly awry, a wealthy family in San Francisco finds their picture- perfect life unraveling, their darkest secrets revealed, and their friends turned to enemies.

One invitation. A lifetime of regrets.

Sweet sixteen. It’s an exciting coming of age, a milestone, and a rite of passage. Jeff and Kim Sanders plan on throwing a party for their daughter, Hannah—a sweet girl with good grades and nice friends. Rather than an extravagant, indulgent affair, they invite four girls over for pizza, cake, movies, and a sleepover. What could possibly go wrong?

But things do go wrong, horrifically so. After a tragic accident occurs, Jeff and Kim’s flawless life in a wealthy San Francisco suburb suddenly begins to come apart. In the ugly aftermath, friends become enemies, dark secrets are revealed in the Sanders’ marriage, and the truth about their perfect daughter, Hannah, is exposed.

Harkening to Herman Koch’s The Dinner, Christos Tsiolkas’s The Slap, and Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, The Party takes us behind the façade of the picture-perfect family, exposing the lies, betrayals, and moral lapses that neighbors don’t see—and the secrets that children and parents keep from themselves and each other.