I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Weekend Escape by Rakie BennettPublished by HarperCollins UK on October 8, 2021
ISBN: 9780008486952
Genres: Fiction, Thrillers, Psychological, Noir, Domestic, Small Town & Rural, Travel, Special Interest, Adventure, Mystery & Detective, General, Suspense
Pages: 416
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
A deserted island, a vicious storm, a murderer amongst friends...
It was meant to be a fun reunion, a chance for six friends to reconnect and relive the adventures that brought them together in the first place. But from the moment they arrive on their island home for the weekend, Lyndsey, Sonia, Bobbie, Amanda, Juliet, and Val realise that their paradise is filled with peril, and there are consequences when you try to outrun the ghosts of your past.
As everything starts to fall apart, and the friends begin to turn against one another, deep, dark secrets are revealed, and an unimaginable horror is unleashed. They came seeking adventure, but now they’ll be lucky to leave with their lives...
Readers are loving The Weekend Escape:
‘It starts off with a bang and doesn’t stop till the bitter end...I couldn’t put it down and finished it in a few hours’ Sarah
‘Like the Agatha Christie And Then There Were None...a quick read with intriguing characters’ Brenda
‘Wow. I loved this novel...it’s a different novel amongst the others out there’ Manju
‘I loved this story...I consumed it in about two hours’ Lyn
The Weekend Escape is the story of rekindling waning friendships. We all know that as the years of youth and irresponsibility dwindle and life can get in the way of meeting up with friends. We grow up, we get jobs, get involved in new relationships, some get married and have children, it can be difficult to keep in contact with friends we had in school and college. When Lyndsey gets an invitation from her old friend Juliet to go on a weekend break with her and their old friends, Sonia, Bobbie, Amanda, and Val, she is initially hesitant. Money is tight, she has changed a lot and is dealing with a very difficult period in her life. A weekend on a secluded island might just be what the doctor ordered, right? I mean what could go wrong?
The group of six hasn’t met up in around ten years. The last time that happened it wasn’t very successful. Something is alluded to have happened, the protagonist, Lynsey seems to be carrying around a lot of guilt, and her life has hit the rocks on more than one occasion. Currently, she is facing eviction, homelessness, and unemployment if she doesn’t turn her life around. Her actions point towards an ongoing problem with alcoholism too – she packs a bottle a day and a few extra for sharing. She puts this down to being sociable. She is a character that is struggling a lot and this weekend just exacerbates it.
The Weekend Escape was just supposed to be a weekend of rock climbing, abseiling, and orienteering. It wasn’t supposed to end in disaster.
The characters were all extremely hard to like. They all came off as selfish, snippy, and far removed from the original friendship group. Not one of the group seemed to have a strong connection to any of the others. To be quite honest, I don’t know why any one of them agreed to go along. Juliet seemed obsessive about getting them all back together for this reunion even to the point of ignoring the impending storm that is about to hit the island during the weekend. That’s only the beginning – things start to go wrong, and it becomes clear that someone is trying to sabotage their weekend. Is it one of the group or is it the bird warden who lives on the island during the summer months?
One thing that blew me away about this story was the atmospheric edge rumbling under the currents. Although I found the twist to be expected and the characters weren’t exactly to my liking, I loved the atmosphere. The landscape would put a chill into your bones, especially being trapped there and trying to outrun someone that wishes you harm.
