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pandasbookshelf 's review for:
The Weekend Escape
by Rakie Bennett
3.5 stars
The Weekend Escape is the latest standalone novel by Rakie Bennett. This is the first book I've read by this author.
The story follows six childhood friends, Lyndsey, Sonia, Amanda, Val, Juliet and Bobbie as they arrive on Shell Island for a weekend getaway. After one of the friends is injured while climbing, things quickly take a turn into suspicion, paranoia and fear as they realise they are isolated, stranded with a storm incoming. As things turn deadly, they start to question, is there someone else on the island, or is one of them to blame?
The story takes place of a weekend from Friday through Sunday. The story starts out really fast paced. The prologue opens with a statement telling us that something bad has happened and things move quickly from there. The middle of the story slowed down a little but picked up again for the final third.
The atmosphere and tension set up by the setting is the best part of the novel. The island setting is perfect and stirs up paranoia and suspense as we see the characters second guess each other as they come to the conclusion that it must have been one of them.
The characters themselves is my only dislike about the novel. It felt like the fast pace and atmosphere came at the expense of character development. We learn very little about each characters lives or backstory. While each characters personally is different enough that you can tell them apart, id have liked to learn more about them and especially them as teens. I felt the book could have benefited from some flashbacks to their shared past. It felt difficult to grasp how they all connected to each other and their relationships changed over time.
Each of the characters has their own motivations and opportunities and this helps to keep you guessing. I felt the author did a good job of throwing enough red herrings around to keep you guessing. I did guess the ending early on but later dismissed it and got lead down another path by the author.
Overall this was a quick, fun and thrilling mystery whodunit. Id read more by this author.
Thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for a copy of this novel in exchange for a review.
The Weekend Escape is the latest standalone novel by Rakie Bennett. This is the first book I've read by this author.
The story follows six childhood friends, Lyndsey, Sonia, Amanda, Val, Juliet and Bobbie as they arrive on Shell Island for a weekend getaway. After one of the friends is injured while climbing, things quickly take a turn into suspicion, paranoia and fear as they realise they are isolated, stranded with a storm incoming. As things turn deadly, they start to question, is there someone else on the island, or is one of them to blame?
The story takes place of a weekend from Friday through Sunday. The story starts out really fast paced. The prologue opens with a statement telling us that something bad has happened and things move quickly from there. The middle of the story slowed down a little but picked up again for the final third.
The atmosphere and tension set up by the setting is the best part of the novel. The island setting is perfect and stirs up paranoia and suspense as we see the characters second guess each other as they come to the conclusion that it must have been one of them.
The characters themselves is my only dislike about the novel. It felt like the fast pace and atmosphere came at the expense of character development. We learn very little about each characters lives or backstory. While each characters personally is different enough that you can tell them apart, id have liked to learn more about them and especially them as teens. I felt the book could have benefited from some flashbacks to their shared past. It felt difficult to grasp how they all connected to each other and their relationships changed over time.
Each of the characters has their own motivations and opportunities and this helps to keep you guessing. I felt the author did a good job of throwing enough red herrings around to keep you guessing. I did guess the ending early on but later dismissed it and got lead down another path by the author.
Overall this was a quick, fun and thrilling mystery whodunit. Id read more by this author.
Thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for a copy of this novel in exchange for a review.