A Book A Week

There's nothing better than a summer vacation. Okay, hold on. If I'm being honest, the season matters a lot less than the fact that you're taking a vacation in the first place. I'm probably more accurate in saying there's nothing better than a vacation, period. But for the sake of this review, just roll with me.

Summer vacations come with ample opportunity to relax and read, which is exactly what I did this weekend. Well...if I'm being technical, I actually spent most of it walking what felt like a marathon around Disneyland celebrating the park's 71st anniversary. Still, the flights there and back gave me plenty of uninterrupted reading time, and I happily spent them with Ally Condie's latest thriller, The Girls Trip. If you're going to take a vacation inside the pages of a thriller, though, you'd better expect a little drama. Ally Condie delivers plenty of it.

Two years ago, Hope, Ash, and Caro were complete strangers. They met during an online book club that didn't exactly go as planned. While everyone else logged off, the three stayed behind, struck up a conversation, and discovered an unexpected friendship. They still meet regularly for book club, though these days the books are often secondary to simply catching up.

Despite talking for years, they've never actually met in person.

Now, all three women find themselves in need of a getaway. Hope, a Hollywood actress, can't escape the spotlight. Caro, a doctor, is reeling after the death of a patient has left her questioning her career. And Ash, who runs a successful business with her husband, isn't so sure their marriage is as strong as it once was.

A few days together at the secluded Sonnet Resort in Eden National Park seems like exactly what they all need. But each woman has arrived carrying secrets of her own, and as their long-awaited vacation unfolds, it becomes clear that someone isn't telling the truth.

The Girls Trip is exactly the kind of thriller I want to pack for a vacation. It's fast-paced, effortlessly readable, and easy to lose yourself in whether you're stretched out on the beach or squeezed into an airplane seat. Having enjoyed Ally Condie's previous novel, The Unwedding, I suspected she'd deliver another compulsively readable mystery, and she didn't disappoint. The twists keep coming, and while the plot occasionally veers into the silly and convoluted, it's all part of the fun. Sometimes a vacation read doesn't need to reinvent the genre. It just needs to keep you eagerly turning the pages until you reach your destination. And no matter where your travels take you this summer, The Girls Trip deserves a spot in your carry-on.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2026, 56)

This wasn’t the plan. Sure, Ellery had known the trip was coming up, the date etched in her mind for the past twenty years, a constant reminder of the life she had envisioned. A reminder of promises made and broken. But the deposit was non-refundable. This was a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and Ellery wouldn’t miss out. She couldn’t have planned for Luke to decide he didn’t want to be married anymore. Despite her protests and promises to do whatever it took to move forward together, he was done. It was that simple.

Instead of celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary with this special trip to the secluded, luxurious Resort at Broken Point, Big Sur, she was utterly alone for the first time in her life. She had gone back and forth about coming, but here she was. Alone. 

In a cruel twist of fate, the resort is hosting a wedding this weekend. Isn’t that nice? The young couple is so full of promise, with a bright future ahead. Ellery longs to warn them of the perils of love, but that isn’t her place. She wouldn’t have listened to herself back then, not when the promise of the future was all she could see. The resort is beautiful, just like that young love. But just as love can turn sour, so too will this trip.

The Unwedding marks Ally Condie’s first foray into adult fiction, and she quickly proves she’s more than capable of settling into the genre. From the first pages, we meet Ellery, a character I instantly connected with. She’s navigating the uncertainty of fresh grief while grappling with the scars of hinted past experiences. The resort was supposed to offer her a catharsis, but it quickly turns into a nightmare when she stumbles upon the groom’s body floating in the pool as a storm barrels into the area. By the following day, another body is discovered, and a landslide has trapped the guests in place. This setup has the makings of a classic locked-room mystery, but Condie’s deft handling of the characters elevates it into something more profound. 

The Unwedding is, at times, a page-turning murder mystery and, at others, a deep exploration of life’s uncertainties and how we cope with grief. It culminates in a twisty ending that left me reeling with the revelations while appreciating the rich character development. If this is any indication of the care and skill Condie brings to thriller writing, I eagerly anticipate her next work.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2024, 45)