NetGalley Top Reviewer

NetGalley Top Reviewer
NetGalley Top Reviewer

Thursday, January 4, 2024

The Vacation by John Marrs

 “Sun. Sea. Sex. Murder…”


Strangers find themselves staying at the Venice Beach International Hostel in California. It’s run down and basically a dump, but each visitor has a reason for finding themselves there. All have secrets and are running or hiding — from themselves or from others. 


This is a character driven novel that goes off on tangents as the situations each is in develops further. Information about who they are, why they are traveling, and their drama or trauma is revealed slowly with some surprising twists and turns. And, gotta say it, some really unbelievable coincidences. I can’t say that I related to any of the main eight people nor did I grow really attached to any of them. Their stories were quite bizarre in some instances and quite tragic in others. It was all a bit too contrived for some of the side plots to be believable. I was not surprised to see that this is a re-release of a previously published early work from this author whose other books show a bit more sophistication. I liked it well enough, but it is definitely not my favorite of his novels. 


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-book ARC to read and review.

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

Genre - suspense, thriller, drama


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