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This annoyed me…why did I like it?! I’m glad I stuck it out but struggled with the way it was told.
Energy: Spiteful. Confounded. Secretive.
Scene: 🇹🇭 Set on the (fictional) island of Koh Sang, Thailand
Perspective: We follow two main characters, both in their twenties. One is an American with a negative reputation who moved to Thailand and became a diving instructor. The other is an aspiring American journalist working as a travel influencer on Instagram. Each chapter alternates between their perspectives.
🐕 Howls: The overly detailed writing style that didn’t contribute much to the story. Lack of atmosphere and culture. Ambiguous characters when the author has a specific appearance in mind. MC lying through…inner monologue?
🐩 Tail Wags: The story. The setting (in theory).
🤔 Random Thoughts:
It was too easy to confuse Brooke and Cass. They sounded the same in their text voice; audio saved me once I picked up on the nuance between the audio narrators.
Finding out a character was dishonest for most of the book was puzzling. We mostly get detailed inner monologues, so why would she think and overanalyze so deceitfully?
The setting was unique but underwhelming. It is not a luxury resort but more of a hostel, which I prefer, but it lacked atmosphere and took awhile to figure that out (it could have been any tropical island). I get the main characters were American, but the setting wasn’t. It was so absent of any cultural authenticity of Thailand.
The narrative pace is slow; it sometimes felt like the story unfolded in real-time. I love that, but the present tense narration made all the mundane day-to-day details seem overly dramatic and diluted the suspense because stretching in the morning had the same build-up as discovering a dead body.
The way-too-late dropping of minor but key details like character or setting specifics (appearance or an off-resort bar…) killed my mind-eye imaginings. It was so frustrating that I started ignoring what the author said about the characters’ appearance and setting later in the book.
Was there even a single Thai character in this book? Is that realistic? I have no idea, but it seemed weird.
----
🎬 Tale-Telling: YA style direct and simplistic. Verbose with lots of spoon-feeding and handholding.
🤓 Reader Role: Deep in the MCs’ minds, overhearing all their thoughts, reflections, and vague scheming as they go about their days, but not getting much context.
🗺️ World-Building: Detailed, but it didn’t capture the atmosphere and unique setting.
🔥 Fuel: Why did our main characters choose to stay on this island? What are their secrets? What are the guests’ secrets? How do they all connect? Who is killing staff on the island? Will our main characters survive? Who can they trust?
📖 Cred: Suspended disbelief, plausible-ish
🚙 Journey: Week-long vacay on a tropical island. Starts fun but soon becomes claustrophobic. Looking forward to going home.
Mood Reading Match-Up:
-White sand. Waves rolling in. Sour bar. Ocean salt. Grilled seafood. Suiting up with diving equipment.
-Not-all-is-as-it-seems characters lying and scheming
-Contemporary fiction about ex-pat island life in a hostel-style resort with a of thriller and YA writing style mash-up
Content Heads-Up: Death, dead body. Alcohol, drug use (partying, recreational). Sexual assault. Blood. Rape (on page). Mental illness (bipolar, brief). Drugging. Loss of sibling. Loss of parent. Medical (heart, brief). Adult/minor relationship (off page, mentioned). Gun violence. PTSD. Panic attack. Sexual harassment. False accusations.
Rep: White, somewhat ambiguous British and American. Swedish, Laotian, and Israeli peripheral characters. Heterosexual. Bisexual. Lesbian. Cisgender.
📚 Format: Everand Audio
My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶
Energy: Spiteful. Confounded. Secretive.
Scene: 🇹🇭 Set on the (fictional) island of Koh Sang, Thailand
Perspective: We follow two main characters, both in their twenties. One is an American with a negative reputation who moved to Thailand and became a diving instructor. The other is an aspiring American journalist working as a travel influencer on Instagram. Each chapter alternates between their perspectives.
🐕 Howls: The overly detailed writing style that didn’t contribute much to the story. Lack of atmosphere and culture. Ambiguous characters when the author has a specific appearance in mind. MC lying through…inner monologue?
🐩 Tail Wags: The story. The setting (in theory).
🤔 Random Thoughts:
It was too easy to confuse Brooke and Cass. They sounded the same in their text voice; audio saved me once I picked up on the nuance between the audio narrators.
Finding out a character was dishonest for most of the book was puzzling. We mostly get detailed inner monologues, so why would she think and overanalyze so deceitfully?
The setting was unique but underwhelming. It is not a luxury resort but more of a hostel, which I prefer, but it lacked atmosphere and took awhile to figure that out (it could have been any tropical island). I get the main characters were American, but the setting wasn’t. It was so absent of any cultural authenticity of Thailand.
The narrative pace is slow; it sometimes felt like the story unfolded in real-time. I love that, but the present tense narration made all the mundane day-to-day details seem overly dramatic and diluted the suspense because stretching in the morning had the same build-up as discovering a dead body.
The way-too-late dropping of minor but key details like character or setting specifics (appearance or an off-resort bar…) killed my mind-eye imaginings. It was so frustrating that I started ignoring what the author said about the characters’ appearance and setting later in the book.
Was there even a single Thai character in this book? Is that realistic? I have no idea, but it seemed weird.
----
🎬 Tale-Telling: YA style direct and simplistic. Verbose with lots of spoon-feeding and handholding.
🤓 Reader Role: Deep in the MCs’ minds, overhearing all their thoughts, reflections, and vague scheming as they go about their days, but not getting much context.
🗺️ World-Building: Detailed, but it didn’t capture the atmosphere and unique setting.
🔥 Fuel: Why did our main characters choose to stay on this island? What are their secrets? What are the guests’ secrets? How do they all connect? Who is killing staff on the island? Will our main characters survive? Who can they trust?
📖 Cred: Suspended disbelief, plausible-ish
🚙 Journey: Week-long vacay on a tropical island. Starts fun but soon becomes claustrophobic. Looking forward to going home.
Mood Reading Match-Up:
-White sand. Waves rolling in. Sour bar. Ocean salt. Grilled seafood. Suiting up with diving equipment.
-Not-all-is-as-it-seems characters lying and scheming
-Contemporary fiction about ex-pat island life in a hostel-style resort with a of thriller and YA writing style mash-up
Content Heads-Up: Death, dead body. Alcohol, drug use (partying, recreational). Sexual assault. Blood. Rape (on page). Mental illness (bipolar, brief). Drugging. Loss of sibling. Loss of parent. Medical (heart, brief). Adult/minor relationship (off page, mentioned). Gun violence. PTSD. Panic attack. Sexual harassment. False accusations.
Rep: White, somewhat ambiguous British and American. Swedish, Laotian, and Israeli peripheral characters. Heterosexual. Bisexual. Lesbian. Cisgender.
📚 Format: Everand Audio
My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Alcohol
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Blood, Medical content
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
This would have been a good beach/poolside read. Took me a minute to get into it bc of the back and forth but it was decent. Takes a lot for a thriller to surprise me and this one seemed predictable enough...all stuck on an island and one of them had to be the killer…. There were a few things I didn’t predict so that gets 3.5 stars from me.
Cass wanted nothing more than to forget her past, which is exactly what she did. Moving to a small island in Thailand, Cass found love, friends, and a passion for diving. What she didn’t expect was for someone to start bringing up her past life and possibly ruining her new one. On top of that resort guests are ending up dead and everyone claims they were simply accidents.
Wow! What an awesome debut novel. This book had me hooked from the start. Just when I thought I knew what was going on, I would be wrong over and over again. So many plot layers and secrets revealed. And that epilogue!!!!
Wow! What an awesome debut novel. This book had me hooked from the start. Just when I thought I knew what was going on, I would be wrong over and over again. So many plot layers and secrets revealed. And that epilogue!!!!
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What an ending! Is it too soon to say I hope there is a sequel?
It’s hard to believe this is a debut novel. The pace, plotting, tension, and brazen twists pushed the story to places that were thrilling and unexpected, even in a hot market for psychological thrillers!
One of my favorite aspects of this book was that Ochs was unafraid to write flawed characters. I don’t think there was a character in the book that wasn’t flawed, and that added a layer of reality to the story that made it even more gripping. I’d argue that most of the characters have done something bad, but who is the worst? You’ll have to read to find out…
Narrated in alternating chapters by the two female protagonists, Brooke and Cass—there was an eerie feel to the story at all times because it was clear there were a lot of secrets being kept from the people on the island and from the reader. The hints at some of those secrets are peppered throughout the story, and the reveals are carefully timed for maximum effect.
Brooke is a travel influencer who has arrived at the small, remote island of Koh Sang, Thailand. After talking her way into a better room in exchange for social media coverage (with perhaps a bit of creative manipulation of the resort owner), Brooke is settled in for the next few weeks. On her first day she befriends a dive instructor for the resort named Cass. Not only is Cass a fellow American, she’s also an easy friend for Brooke who is used to the lonely influencer life. Over the past few weeks they have formed a good friendship. Only Cass doesn’t know that Brooke isn’t from the west coast, she’s from Kentucky. And that’s not the only secret Brooke is hiding…
Cass has been working at the resort for a few years now, and she couldn’t be happier with the life she has created. She’s engaged to a man named Logan originally from Scotland who owns a local dive bar on the island. She’s now become the newest member of a small group of people who live and work on the island that refer to themselves as “the Permanents”. They are a close-knit group who have chosen to leave their pasts behind for island life. They don’t talk about their backgrounds, and that suits them just find. Isn’t island life about living in the moment?
But things are not as idyllic as they seem on the surface. Several days before Brooke arrived, a guest at the resort fell off a cliff and died. It seems like it must be an accident, but a newcomer at the resort approaches Brooke and suggests that it wasn’t. Not long after that exchange, the newcomer is found dead at the bottom of the ocean. Cass is the one who finds her while on a dive, and she’s shaken. Cass has been uneasy since she first received an anonymous note suggesting that someone knows who she really is. How is that possible? Cass has worked hard to fully separate from her old identity. When another death occurs not long after, it’s clear that something dark is going on. But on an island where everyone is hiding their past and their secrets, who is responsible?
This is one of those books that it’s best if you go into without more information than provided here (or in the synopsis). I hate saying that, but it will give you the best reading experience. I was instantly sucked into the book—the setting leapt right off the page, and the plot moved almost without me realizing it from serene to so tense it could snap. I was suspicious of basically everyone throughout the entire book. No one (including the two protagonists) should be marked as safe.
Part of the fun in reading The Resort are the slow reveals of the secrets. And when I say everyone on this island has a secret, I mean everyone. Even the ones who seem the most innocent! What the reader needs to figure out is who is just enjoying island life and living in the moment, leaving behind worries or pain from their past, and who is hiding something much darker? We learn early on that both Brooke and Cass are hiding something. They also form a sweet friendship that made it hard to know how their secrets might fit in to everything. Brooke is able to get the reserved, shy Cass to open up, and Cass is able to bring Brooke in to the fold. Brooke even has a crush on another dive instructor! But as with any good psychological thriller, there is a lot more to unfold…
The ending is twist-y and delightful to read. By the epilogue, my jaw was on the floor! Ochs has proven herself to be unafraid of making bold decisions about the fates of her characters, and I applaud that. It made for a great book with a stellar ending. I left it wondering if perhaps there could even be a sequel? There is plenty more to explore after this book ends, that is for sure!
Thank you to Sourcebooks for my copy. Opinions are my own.
It’s hard to believe this is a debut novel. The pace, plotting, tension, and brazen twists pushed the story to places that were thrilling and unexpected, even in a hot market for psychological thrillers!
One of my favorite aspects of this book was that Ochs was unafraid to write flawed characters. I don’t think there was a character in the book that wasn’t flawed, and that added a layer of reality to the story that made it even more gripping. I’d argue that most of the characters have done something bad, but who is the worst? You’ll have to read to find out…
Narrated in alternating chapters by the two female protagonists, Brooke and Cass—there was an eerie feel to the story at all times because it was clear there were a lot of secrets being kept from the people on the island and from the reader. The hints at some of those secrets are peppered throughout the story, and the reveals are carefully timed for maximum effect.
Brooke is a travel influencer who has arrived at the small, remote island of Koh Sang, Thailand. After talking her way into a better room in exchange for social media coverage (with perhaps a bit of creative manipulation of the resort owner), Brooke is settled in for the next few weeks. On her first day she befriends a dive instructor for the resort named Cass. Not only is Cass a fellow American, she’s also an easy friend for Brooke who is used to the lonely influencer life. Over the past few weeks they have formed a good friendship. Only Cass doesn’t know that Brooke isn’t from the west coast, she’s from Kentucky. And that’s not the only secret Brooke is hiding…
Cass has been working at the resort for a few years now, and she couldn’t be happier with the life she has created. She’s engaged to a man named Logan originally from Scotland who owns a local dive bar on the island. She’s now become the newest member of a small group of people who live and work on the island that refer to themselves as “the Permanents”. They are a close-knit group who have chosen to leave their pasts behind for island life. They don’t talk about their backgrounds, and that suits them just find. Isn’t island life about living in the moment?
But things are not as idyllic as they seem on the surface. Several days before Brooke arrived, a guest at the resort fell off a cliff and died. It seems like it must be an accident, but a newcomer at the resort approaches Brooke and suggests that it wasn’t. Not long after that exchange, the newcomer is found dead at the bottom of the ocean. Cass is the one who finds her while on a dive, and she’s shaken. Cass has been uneasy since she first received an anonymous note suggesting that someone knows who she really is. How is that possible? Cass has worked hard to fully separate from her old identity. When another death occurs not long after, it’s clear that something dark is going on. But on an island where everyone is hiding their past and their secrets, who is responsible?
This is one of those books that it’s best if you go into without more information than provided here (or in the synopsis). I hate saying that, but it will give you the best reading experience. I was instantly sucked into the book—the setting leapt right off the page, and the plot moved almost without me realizing it from serene to so tense it could snap. I was suspicious of basically everyone throughout the entire book. No one (including the two protagonists) should be marked as safe.
Part of the fun in reading The Resort are the slow reveals of the secrets. And when I say everyone on this island has a secret, I mean everyone. Even the ones who seem the most innocent! What the reader needs to figure out is who is just enjoying island life and living in the moment, leaving behind worries or pain from their past, and who is hiding something much darker? We learn early on that both Brooke and Cass are hiding something. They also form a sweet friendship that made it hard to know how their secrets might fit in to everything. Brooke is able to get the reserved, shy Cass to open up, and Cass is able to bring Brooke in to the fold. Brooke even has a crush on another dive instructor! But as with any good psychological thriller, there is a lot more to unfold…
The ending is twist-y and delightful to read. By the epilogue, my jaw was on the floor! Ochs has proven herself to be unafraid of making bold decisions about the fates of her characters, and I applaud that. It made for a great book with a stellar ending. I left it wondering if perhaps there could even be a sequel? There is plenty more to explore after this book ends, that is for sure!
Thank you to Sourcebooks for my copy. Opinions are my own.
adventurous
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
medium-paced