The Trip by Phoebe Morgan ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

How well do you know your friends?

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

October 2024; William Morrow; 978-0063416789
audio, ebook, print (336 pages); psychological thriller

Four friends go on vacation in Thailand for a few days of fun and relaxation in the sun but thanks to a person who somehow joins their group and won't go away, their vacation turns into a few days of confusion and murder.  I thought that this was a fast paced thriller and I really enjoyed it.  There were a few things that I didn't like but I'll address them later in the review.

Two couples in their early 30s - Saskia & Theo and Lucas & Holly - plan a holiday trip to Thailand.  Theo has lots of money, while Lucas and Holly are counting every penny.  Since Lucas made the arrangements for the trip, he booked an expensive hotel but when they got to the hotel, there was a mix up and no room was available so they spent the night at a hostel.  That in itself would be scary because there was another person staying in the room with them and they really had no place to hide their passports and money.  Once they got back to the expensive hotel, it looked like their fun would begin but a man that they met at the Buddhist temple, Caleb, attaches himself to their group.  It's apparent that he is trouble but we don't find out until much later on what his back story is and who he knows from the original group.  It turns out that all 5 of the people are hiding secrets - some worse than others.  When things begin to unravel and secrets come to light  - their group of 5 will be reduced by one.  You don't know until almost the end who is murdered and why.  I can't say much more about the plot without possibly giving away a spoiler.  What I will say is that I thought that this was an excellent page-turner of a story.

I really wasn't sure how these two couples stayed friends - along with the differences in the money they had very different goals in life.  I thought that the rich couple was pretentious and enjoyed showing off to the other couple.  One other thing, they either never traveled to a foreign country or they were just plain stupid -- there is no way that a seasoned (or smart) traveler would leave their purse in a crowded tourist attraction.  Despite problems with the characters at different times during the book, I thought that this was a real page-turner and I had trouble putting it down until the end.  Phoebe Morgan is a new author for me and I plan to read some of her earlier books.

Buy The Trip at Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is three hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.   

 

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