There Should Have Been Eight

Seven friends reunite in New Zealand’s Southern Alps in this dull closed-circle mystery from Singh (Quiet in Her Bones). After 28-year-old Luna learns that a “genetic time bomb” is causing her to slowly lose her sight, she accepts an invitation for a reunion at the dilapidated mountain estate owned by Darcie Shepherd, whom she was friends with as a teenager. The party will include seven members of Luna’s old social circle; the eighth—Darcie’s sister, Bea, with whom Luna was especially close—died nine years earlier in an apparent suicide. While she’s reluctant at first, Luna decides to attend, hoping the reunion will enable her to unlock “the bitter box of questions [she’d] kept stifled” about Bea’s death. The group’s arrival is preceded by ominous events: the Shepherds’ longtime family doctor dies in a freak car accident, then the mansion is vandalized by unknown parties who paint the words “Judas” and “Judgment” on the walls. After the group arrives, a snowstorm strands them at the estate, causing old rivalries and buried secrets—particularly about Bea’s death—to rise to the surface. The characters are strictly one-dimensional, making it difficult to invest in their fates, and most genre veterans will be able to see the climax coming from a mile away. Singh has done much better before. Agent: Nephele Tempest, Knight Agency. (Nov.)