The Resort by Sara Ochs ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

Welcome to paradise. We hope you survive your stay...

Amazon affiliiate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

February 2024; Sourcebooks Landmark; 978-1728279558
audio, ebook, print (384 pages); suspense

The Resort would make a great beach read for those who prefer suspense to romance in their vacation reading. I loved just about everything about this novel.

The story unfolds through Cass and Brooke in alternating chapters. It is told in first person point of view but I didn't have trouble remember who was the narrator of each chapter.

Cass is a "permanent" (an expat) who works at the resort as a dive master. Brooke is an Instagram travel influencer who has recently arrived at the resort. The main cast is made up of 4 other resort visitors and 4 other permenants who work at the resort. While it isn't unusual to go on vacation to get away from regular life, these characters are all hiding deeper secrets.

The only characters we really get to know are the two narrators as we only know the other characters through Brooke and Cass. This made figuring out the culprit(s) difficult - it was easier to rule out who wasn't involved.

Thailand was a good place to set the story. Corruption and illegal activities lurk just below the beautiful setting. This setting made the plot more believable. The island is small and heavily reliant on tourism. While there are a few other businesses on the island, the resort is the major employer. The permanents know that if tourism dried up or the resort went under the lives they have carefully crafted on the island would come to an end. With their secrets that's enough of a motive to cover up anything that might harm tourism or the resort. 

I had trouble putting down the book. It was perfectly paced as clues are doled out just enough to keep the reader engaged but to allow time to shift what the reader believes to be true. 

As I mentioned we don't get to know the other characters as well as Brooke and Cass as we only get to see them through the lenses of Brooke and Cass. So one of the things I didn't like was the epilogue. It felt a little forced as there were no indications or clues in the rest of the novel to what was revealed. Unless of course, it is meant to serve as a jumping-off point for a sequel.

Up to that point, I was loving the book and definitely recommend reading it. 

If you think this plot sounds familiar but not the title, The Resort is the U.S. title. It was released last summer in the U.K. under the title The Dive. 

Buy The Resort at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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