“The Vacation” is about the secrets people keep, ones they keep from family, from friends, and from themselves. These secrets leave a swath of damage that forever follows like a ghost, unseen but always there. Four lifelong friends from university days take a well-earned vacation with their families to mark the year they all turn forty.

Logan tells the story in Kate’s first person account structured almost like her personal like a diary. Kate is a crime analyst, collecting data and tracking patterns for the Metropolitan Police, so she is constantly analyzing events. She talks to herself and second guesses everything and everyone. The narrative is interspersed with accounts from the point of view of other characters. Chapters also note the day of the week.

The vacation is filled with family, fun and comradery. The seaside resort is lovely, but it also has craggy rocks, vast isolated spans of beach, and stark unprotected overlooks. A lot of things can happen. Kate suspects that her husband is having a secret affair, and as she “investigates,” she worries that she is being misled. She is compelled to look harder, and look she does. The pace is cautious and deliberate, and what Kate finds is not what she expects.

“The Vacation” is filled with personal mysteries. Previously hidden secrets are revealed, and no one is the same ever again. I received a review copy of “The Vacation” from T. M. Logan and St. Martin's Press. The book is easy to read and yet compelling as the elaborate game unfolds. It is like a car crash happening in slow motion, you know it will be bad, but you just cannot look away.

I have always wanted to take a vacation with friends, and even several families, but with THE VACATION, T.M. Logan has basically cured me of that dream. Yikes! Four women, friends for over 20 years, used to meet for a long girls’ weekend, but in the past few years life had gotten in the way. With all of them celebrating their 40th birthday, they decide to take a longer vacation to celebrate and bring their families, too. One week in a beautiful villa in France with your best friends and your family… what could go wrong? Full of secrets, guilt, and lies… It also shows that no matter how well you think you know someone, you don’t really know what’s going on in their head, especially when you aren’t with them every day. Questions arise, trust is challenged.
Logan keeps the reader guessing as he throws together a cast of characters that make you wonder why they thought the vacation together was a good idea. Once this one got going, I couldn’t put it down as I was afraid I would miss something. This one kept speeding through the twists to the I didn’t expect.
Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an advanced copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.
#THEVACATION #TMLOGAN #STMARTINSPRESS #THEHOLIDAY

My Thoughts
Full disclosure here… I finished reading this book back in early June and simply never got around to writing the review. Life just kind of got off track for a bit. That said, I remember quite a bit about the story and, considering I’ve read several other books since then, I think that is a compliment to this book. I read a lot of books that aren’t memorable, so I was pleased to realize I recalled so much about this one as I sat down to finally write this review. Here are my pros and cons for The Vacation:

Pros
1. The dynamic between the four women and their families is what made this book great. The individual characterizations were fantastic and everyone seemed like they had something to hide. Actually, they were all hiding something, but as a reader you don’t know what those secrets are or if they are relevant to the overall plot or not. It was an intricate web of secrets, lies, jealousies, fears, schemes, and grudges, all bound up in a lengthy friendship. It was interesting to see how the four women and their friendship were impacted by the events of the story.
2. Even though I thought the characterizations were well done, particularly for the women, the characters aren’t particularly likeable. In fact, I really didn’t like any of these women or their families. To me, that added an interesting element to the story, because as I learned more about the women and their families and what was going on, I found myself actually rooting for particular characters to be the “bad guy”.
3. The women have their children with them and you will dislike the kids as much as the parents. They are misbehaving and disrespectful troublemakers!
4. This book starts out slowly… very slowly. It is so focused on Kate and her husband’s supposed cheating that it kind of drove me nuts (see Con #1 below). However, the plot builds and gets crazy twisted in the second half. Pay attention to details and don’t let the slow start derail you.
5. The ending surprised me – I definitely didn’t see it coming. I feel like the conclusion might have been a tad convenient and perhaps even slightly out of left field, but it was a still a solid wrap up and generally satisfying.

Cons
1. Kate drove me nuts. Ugh! I think I had to read how she suspects her husband of cheating about 3000 times in this story. For me, she came off just a bit too paranoid about everything. This did not sour the entire book for me, but I definitely got tired of her constant suspicions after a while.

Summary
It was kind of weird to read a story where I absolutely disliked every character for some reason or other. I truly didn’t like these people. Both the parents and the children had seemingly limitless issues and problems (and often, if not always, due to their own actions) so it is no wonder bad things were happening to them. Kudos to the author for eliciting such emotion in me regarding these characters! I disliked them so much because they were written so well.

If you like to read thrillers about dysfunctional people, the messes they cause, and the trouble they get themselves into, then this book is definitely for you!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a free electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I so enjoyed this book! I have been reading a lot of thrillers lately and some are too easy to figure out, but this one kept me surprised. I will definitely be reading more from this author.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

Great read! The author draws you in with detail that makes you want to read on. I love when books making you feel like you are part of the story.

The Vacation by T.M. Logan is a solid family drama and a wonderful introduction to the suspense genre. I would recommend this book to those interested in darker stories that aren't quite as intense as most thrillers on the market. With that being said, The Vacation is about four women and their families. Together, they go on vacation together in France, but while there, an affair is discovered and deeply rooted secrets come to life. The imagery used and atmospheric setting was done wonderfully. There is enough drama threaded throughout to make this an unputdownable read, but it is sorely lacking in the thriller department. Those looking for a true thriller will be dissatisfied with the book.

A group of families that are friends set out to enjoy a week together in a villa in the south of France. But Kate's husband is having an affair. This week might be the perfect opportunity to catch him, and she suspects the other woman is one of her two best friends, but which one? for Kate, will the stakes be higher than she imagined?

Imagine a dream vacation, with three of your oldest friends to celebrate your 40th birthdays, complete with all your families, at a villa in France. There are a few glitches, but perhaps they can be overcome. None of your families is really compatible. You discover your husband is having an affair with one of your friends, who is also on the vacation, but you do not know which friend. Throw in a bratty child and some sulky teenagers. Recipe for…disaster? That is how the story reads. Kate spends most of the time trying to figure out who is having the affair with her husband.

The plot of the story drives things throughout. I found it interesting to watch the interplay among the various members of each family. It was also fascinating to watch how Kate moved along trying to figure out which of her friends was having the affair. The vacation that, at first glance, looked like an ideal way to celebrate a 40th birthday actually turned out the opposite, which, I guess, can easily happen. The best laid plans, and all that. However, the story did drag a lot until the ending when things heated up and moved along quickly to the conclusion. I also was not taken in by any of the characters, though they did function well in the story. Now, the South of France? That may be what kept me going, as it definitely appealed to me. Good book if you are looking for some drama. If, however, you are looking for a nice, quiet, relaxing vacation read, this may not be a good choice. Still, it might be. One never knows. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.

Really enjoyed this from start to finish. All the little secrets kept me reading and I thought that the array of characters conveyed through loads of different points of view, with one main character in first person, worked really well.

The setting in a luxurious French villa was fantastic, well-drawn. The interactions between the teenagers was particularly engaging -- this was my favourite part of the story. What started off as a suspicion of an affair gets so much bigger and more complicated. The end didn't disappoint -- plenty of drama!

The Vacation (also released as The Holiday in some markets) by T.M. Logan unfortunately did not live up the the expectations I had set after reading one of his other books, 29 Seconds. This was a slow burn of a mystery that had some twists and turns but I just wasn’t blown away by the revelations in the end. Four women who have been friends since college decide to celebrate their 40th birthdays by taking a vacation to France that includes their families (husbands and children). From the moment they arrive at the villa things start getting tense among them all, which could have been interesting. However I found I didn’t really like any of the characters very much, so I didn’t feel as invested in the book. It seems I am in the minority here so be sure to check out other reviews before making a final decision on this one.

I really liked this one! It took me a bit to get into it but once I was hooked! Thank you for the ARC!

Very enjoyable book! Here's the start of our review:

Almost all of us have taken long-planned vacations that turned out to be much less enjoyable than we had hoped. But THE VACATION takes us on a trip so filled with gloom, anger, profound disappointment, paranoia and near-madness that we might avoid future vacations for fear that they be anything like the one T. M. Logan describes so vividly in this excellent mystery novel.

There are 12 characters in the story, each bearing ugly scars, secrets and deeply hidden problems primarily due to past misdeeds. Four of them are 40-year-old women who have been best friends since college but have rarely communicated in 10 years. They love each other. But they all have hurt each other in the past, and those harms and horrors are slowly and painfully forced back into their memories and revealed to us as the story proceeds. Their husbands and children comprise the rest of the cast, and all of them are similarly troubled. So a lovely vacation at a mansion in a small French town becomes an ugly portrait of suspicion, fear and, yes, loathing.

Read the whole review on Bookreporter.com or PamelaKramer.com. See below.

Wow! This book is like a roller-coaster - a lot of twists and turns. I never saw the end coming.

This book begins with four college girlfriends who had, for ten years after college, gone on a long weekend trip together every summer. After a five-year break, they agree to pick up the tradition again with a trip to the South of France to celebrate their respective 40th birthdays. For the first time, they would take their husbands and children with them.

From the beginning, Kate felt that there was something off. Over the last few weeks, her husband, Sean, seemed defensive and secretive compared to his usual light-hearted self. She tried to shrug it off - they were staying at a beautifully landscaped villa with tall cypress trees lining the driveway and thick, verdant grass, what’s not to enjoy?

The guests included Kate, husband Sean, and children, Lucy and Daniel; Rowan, husband Russ, and daughter Odette; Jennifer, husband Alistair, and children Jake and Ethan; and Izzy, the only single one in the group.

Logan has created an exciting storyline and beautiful descriptions of Southern France, the villa, and all its accouterments. Pandora’s box opens when Kate hears her husband’s Messenger notification go off while she is unpacking. She hesitates, arguing with herself about looking, but ultimately reads his text messages from someone whose username is “CoralGirl.”

CoraGirl: Message me later when you can
CoraGirl: Need to be careful this week like we discussed
CoraGirl: Remember to delete messages as soon as you’ve read
Sean: Can’t stop thinking about what you said
CoraGirl: I meant every word
Sean: Need to talk to you again
CoraGirl: Does K suspect anything
Sean: She has no idea. But I can’t go on like this
CoraGirl: We’ll decide when we’re in France. Figure out what to do.
Sean: I need to tell her. Soon.
CoraGirl: We talked about this. Better a secret.
Sean: I know, but I feel so bad for lying to K.

You will have to read "The Vacation" to find out what all this means! I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and as I mentioned at the top, I never saw the ending coming.

I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.

Great psychological thriller - but I'd be careful what friends to go on vacation with this summer. Good character development and the author kept the reader guessing until the end who all the real "culprits" were. Great beach read.

Wow! TM Logan really knows how to write a thriller. Imagine you go on a lush vacation in the south of France with your best friends and their families. Everything is outstanding until you find a text on your husband's phone revealing an affair he is having with one of your best friends on the trip. Only you don't know which one. This is enough to drive anyone crazy and it's what happens to Kate in The Vacation. Kate is determined to find out who is ruining her marriage. Plenty of secrets are revealed and twists ensue. Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys a good, solid thriller. Be sure to check out The Vacation today!

I was a big fan of 29 Seconds and I loved this one just as much!
To celebrate turning forty, four school friends, along with their husbands and children, go on a dream vacation together in France. They are staying at an opulent Mediterranean villa.
Kate begins to suspect her husband Sean of having an affair. She finds some messages on his phone, from CoralGirl, and they lead to one of the friends they're with.
But she can't figure out which one would betray her.
Izzy, the only single one in the bunch, who was Sean's friend first.
Beautiful Jennifer, the transplanted American, obsessed with being the best mother to her teenage boys.
Or Rowan, the smart career woman, who was able to get the villa for the group through her work connections.
As Kate searches for clues, her suspect keeps changing. And it seems that someone will go to great lengths to keep her from finding out.
This psychological thriller was highly suspenseful and super twisty! With a large cast of not so likable characters to track.
An exciting and riveting story that really kept me guessing.
Thank you St. Martin's Press for the e-ARC via NetGalley.
4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 stars.

Although not a book I would purchase in my professional life, it is one that I will be recommending in my volunteer life!

The Vacation follows four university friends, Kate, Rowan, Jennifer, and Izzy as they reunite with their families at a large villa in France for a week's vacation with their families. This turns out not to be your typical vacation though as the time is filled with lies and deceit once Kate finds three messages from an unknown woman and Sean dodges her questions. This makes her believe that he's having an affair with one of her best friends, but which one? Can she trust any of these women?

This is the main plot line of this story along with a few other mysteries I won't get into as not to spoil the whole plot of the book. I felt like the characters were well rounded, although some a bit annoying, and that the pacing was excellent. The author does a fantastic job of building tension to the point of staying up late to read just one more chapter. There are some plot points where suspension of belief is necessary, but that seems to be the case in most mystery/thrillers, right?

This is my second book by this author after really enjoying 29 seconds and I look forward to reading more of this author's work in the future. My appreciation to St. Martin's Press, author T.M. Logan, and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Vacation by TM Logan is my second book by the author, and I can now say he will be a must-read author for me. I really liked Lies, but I liked The Vacation a bit better. It had location: A gorgeous villa in the south of France. It had a limited cast of characters: Four besties who have been friends since college, their spouses, and children. It had a couple mysteries going on at once, one involving a potential marital betrayal, and the other involving at least one of the teen children of the friends'. There was a bit of soapiness: Each couple had marital issues that were relatable, but there was the possibility that one of the friends husband was cheating with one of her best friend....one of the husbands might be spying inappropriately on the teen girl, one of the friends was being cagey about her new relationship....etc. And lets not forget to mention there is MURDER!!!!
.....Or is it?????

There were a lot of threads happening throughout the book, but because of the limited cast of characters, it was easy and fun to follow each thread.

The entire group is on a traditional trip the four friends have always taken alone together each year until the past few years. This year, they are bringing their families for the first time. There were several different narrators throughout the book, but the main one was Kate, one of the four friends who is now in some law enforcement job, so investigation is natural to her. On day one of the vacation, she finds texts between her husband and another woman who she has deduced from the content of the text is one of the three friends on this trip with them. She sets out to figure out which one. She and her husband, Sean, have brought along their sixteen year old daughter and ten year old son.

Rowan is the friend who organized the trip and secured the villa. She is along with her husband, Russ, and their five year old daughter.

Jennifer and her husband, Alistair brought two teenaged sons.


Izzy is the one friend who is still single with no children after her fiance died years earlier.

The reader learns early on, through Kate, that she feels she has wronged each of her three friends in the past badly enough that they may want to hurt her by going after her husband. What did she do to each of them? Which one was texting Sean? It IS a bit soapy, but oh, so addictive. I spent the entire book looking for red herrings and trying to outsmart the author, but there was so much going on that I was still surprised at some of the twists and turns. The resolution to each mystery presented was completely satisfying.

I am looking forward to more from TM Logan. Thanks so much to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for an advanced ecopy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Read in one sitting and I didn't connect most of the dots until it was spelled out for me in the end. The moral of the story for me is that most parents will do anything to protect their children, whether it's the right the thing to do or not. Just the right amount of character development to lend to the plot and keep you guessing. I enjoyed it!