Even though I wasn’t entirely sold on the writing style (just a personal thing), I ended up giving this one 4 stars simply because the thriller aspect of it was so good. Liz, in particular, is determined to get them all out on the hike despite knowing the difficulties they may face. The author makes it so incredibly obvious that this trip is going to turn into a disaster that the only way she could really keep the readers interest is through twists we didn’t see coming.

Magary's second novel (after The Postmortal) features elements reminiscent of Homer's Odyssey, Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series, Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, and the PC game King's Quest. All that said, I enjoyed this book overall and will definitely check out this author’s previous work. Funny enough Joni was my favorite one, definitely not a coke addict fan but she had all the right rockstar vibes.

This book is also available from your local independent bookseller or wherever else you prefer to purchase your reading matter. His writing has appeared in Maxim, New York, The Atlantic, Bon Appetit, The Huffington Post, the Awl, Gawker, Penthouse, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and on Comedy Central, NPR, NBC, Yahoo! THE BLUE, is currently being filmed for a major international TV series for Paramount+ and will be on screens in 2023. Before heading out to his dinner meeting though, he decides to explore around the area with a short hike.

Liz feels stuck in her life and has arranged a girls getaway to Norway for her and her three childhood best friends; Joni, Maggie, and Helena.

I thought the characters were well developed and each had distinct personality traits which made it easy to keep them straight.

The murder has happened well before they arrive, but they find themselves somewhat embroiled in the aftermath while on their hike. I received a gifted advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review as part of the book tour hosted by Insta Book Tours. The narrative is very clever, we know early on that someone is in danger, that someone went missing a year ago, and I don’t want to say anymore as a spoiler other than this was a great twist.As they head into the mountains, morale is high, but as the terrain turns treacherous, cracks in the relationships start to show.