Reunion Cruise by Maria A. Palace
Genre: Crime, Mystery
Pages: 343
Published By: World Castle Publishing, LLC on 9th December, 2025
Format: Epub
Source: Gifted
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Book Synopsis:
Margarita Kauzlaskas (a/k/a Margot), a beautiful immigrant girl from Lithuania, is determined to have it all, no matter who she has to use to get it. The result is a long list of enemies, including a jealous husband, a revengeful ex-wife, an obsessed girlfriend, and a star-crossed lover. After convincing her four best friends into taking a reunion cruise to Bermuda, on the night of the ship’s return to New York, a body is spotted going overboard. The next morning, Margot is nowhere to be found.
Enter FBI Agent Richard Heller, whose early abandonment issues cause him to become obsessed with finding out what happened to the infamous femme fatale. As the investigation unfolds, an aura of foul play descends upon her friends as well as her enemies. With insufficient evidence to convict, the case grows coldโโuntil he receives an anonymous envelope in the mail. Is it someone’s idea of a joke, or can it help him solve the mystery once and for all?
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Book Review
*I received a gifted copy of this book, but all opinions are entirely my own and honest.
I’d never heard of this author before until they reached out to me regarding reading this upcoming release. I read the blurb and immediately got those mystery vibes and I do love a good mystery book. This book pleasantly surprised me with how much I enjoyed it!
From the first chapter, the story hooked me, and I immediately wanted to find out what had happened. The author made a great choice by starting the book this wayโI was intrigued and eager to keep reading.
The pace of the book was overall okay. The ending is where the pace disappointed me. All the way up until the last couple of chapters was fine. However, the ending felt really rushed considering it was a huge plot twist. I particularly enjoyed the pacing once the FBI agent had shown up and was interviewing different characters.
Up until the 50-60% mark we are learning the backstory of the main character Margot which I enjoy with a mystery book as it allows me to try and piece together bits of information and potential clues. During this part, the story introduced many different characters. I worried I wouldnโt be able to keep track of themโฆ However, I didn’t feel like there were too many and they all had their part to play in the story.
I enjoy dislikeable characters if done well and I feel like Palace did a great job with some of these characters. The side characters had some good depth to them considering they weren’t the main focus of the book. It was great that we got to dive a little deeper into each of them during the FBI interviews.
I enjoyed the plot twist and thought it was clever how the author chose to go in that direction. I also didn’t guess the plot twist which for me is a good sign in a mystery book! That said, the last few chapters after the big reveal disappointed me, and I felt like the story didnโt give me the closure I wanted. This is what brought the rating down for me slightly.
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