The Trip by Audrey Cole Book Review

About the Book:

A luxury sailing trip is the perfect escape from Palmer’s shattered marriage. Until the Pacific Coast cruise―a chance for old friends to mend old wounds―descends into a harrowing fight for their lives.

Twenty years ago, the five of them were inseparable. But after a rafting accident their senior year, only four of them returned. Volleyball captain Courtney’s body was never found. And their lives were never the same.

Now Palmer, her ride-or-die Beth, and home renovator Emma are on an all-expenses-paid trip with mega-influencer Gigi. But a mysterious note and a violent storm soon push them dangerously off course. The radio’s down, the captain’s missing, and the first officer’s woefully inexperienced. And in a chilling echo of the past, Gigi gets swept away. Perhaps on purpose.

Someone doesn’t want them to make it back. Palmer’s not sure who to trust, but she knows the truth lies in the murky depths of what really happened that day on the river.

My Review:

I liked this entertaining mystery that is a combination of locked room and revenge plot. The current adventure has its roots in one twenty years ago. We get an immediate sense there are secrets around the disaster long ago. The narrative alternates, revealing facts from that historical event and then following the current action of the remaining women on a sailboat cruise. People start dying on the boat. Secrets are revealed.

This is an entertaining locked room type of mystery with the added layer of the past death influencing the current events. We can narrow down the murderer to those remaining alive but there was a twist at the end I did not anticipate. The focus of the mystery includes a study in the personalities of the teens then, women now. Ones appearing loyal might be devious. Acts that appeared to be of kindness turn out to be back stabbing. In that sense, the book is more about relationships than a mystery.

Cole plots suspenseful novels and this is another good one. A sailboat, a storm and a murderer make for an exciting novel.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

About the Author:

Audrey J. Cole is a USA Today bestselling thriller author whose work has been translated into multiple languages. Before she began writing full time, Cole worked as a neonatal intensive care nurse for eleven years. She resides in the Pacific Northwest with her two children. You can find out more at www.audreyjcole.com. 

Thomas & Mercer, 303 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)