Device Free Weekend

Get-togethers with college friends can often be bittersweet, although as we age reunions tend to be more mellow. Except in this novel, in which a weekend with your now-middle-aged friends doesn’t just end in acrimony. It leads to unimaginable destruction, and I’m not talking about damage to the wine cellar. Über billionaire Ryan Cloverhill—substitute him with your least favorite tech CEO—has invited his six closest college friends to an all-expenses-paid weekend on his private island in Puget Sound. Although they haven’t been in touch much lately, this group lived together throughout college, dated one another, and roomed together as adults, with the assumption that they would always be there for one another. After Ryan collects all their devices and locks them away—painful!—the weekend kicks off with plenty of wine, glorious food, and a sunset cruise. But the next morning, the six wake up, bleary-eyed, only to discover that Ryan is gone, they’re locked in the mansion, there’s a tablet computer teasing them (“Unlock Me!”), and they need to work together to discover the code. Yes, it’s another locked-on-an-island mystery, but the ingredients are so unusual and the plot so outrageous that this is completely unique. Readers will love the fast pace, the wonderful integration of technology, the mad Ryan—somewhat reminiscent of Dr. No—and the development of the hostages.