The Invitation by Diane Hoh

Cass throws the hottest party of the year and only the hottest kids in towns are invited. This year her parents are out of town, she has a brand new sauna, and an awesome band is going to be playing. But to make sure it's a party that no one forgets, she also has something special planned...something different. Sarah and her four friends were surprised to receive invitations; they aren't in Cass's group of friends at all. Sarah doesn't really want to attend, but her friends convince her to go. It will be a night that none of them ever forget.

(Some spoilers below.)

The Invitation starts off a bit slowly as it introduces characters and sets up the plot, but once the story got going I didn't want to put it down. Some elements were predictable (of course Sarah and her friends weren't invited because Cass was trying to be friendly), but trying to figure out who was behind the creepy turn of events made for a nice suspenseful mystery. Who was the real target? Several of the guests had people from their past who might have been the culprit. I didn't know that this was an older book until I was finished reading it (it looks like it was originally published in 1991), but that accounts for some of the questions/observations that I had while reading the book (for example, why don't these kids call each other on cell phones? And I think something that is described as a huge source of shame in the book is something that, while still illegal, would be less of a big deal now). Still, even with those time differences, this is a creepy, suspenseful mystery for kids who like to read books that might scare them just a little bit.

(The eBook file that I was reading had a number of spelling/typographical errors, but it was also clearly marked as an uncorrected proof, so I do hope that that gets addressed before it's released.)

I read a review copy from NetGalley courtesy of Open Road Media.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
The Silent Scream by Diane Hoh
Virus by Diane Hoh
The Accident by Diane Hoh