Wow! What a fabulous opening! I’d say it’s one of the best I’ve read and certainly one that pulled me instantly into the story!

The majority of the book, set over three hours with only four characters, this is a unique storyline that I haven’t read before. That is something hard to find in a thriller especially with the amount I’ve read. Generally there’s always something familiar about the thriller you’re currently reading, whether it be a similar prose, an affair turned nasty. The only familiarity is a family hiding lies as no thriller would be a thriller without it! Personality I feel there is always something you’ve read before but this is a new idea! And I loved it!

With it being set on a train, my automatic thought was Girl on a Train by Paula Hawkins or Close Your Eyes by Darren O’Sullivan, both unique in their own right and this was another. The only similarity to other books is a train.

The characters are complex, they’re not what you think, they hide their own secrets but with a thriller like this you wouldn’t want to know any of them. But evoking those intense feelings about characters shows a good writer right?

A gripping and intense thriller that will quite literally have you sitting on the edge of your seat!

A good read. Difficult to leave a more detailed review as I read it a while back and forgot to review it instantly. Must get into the habit of reviewing straight away!

The Passenger by Daniel Hurst is an exciting psychological thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat. Amanda is a single, hard working mom to her teenage daughter, Louise. Her regular mundane schedule is about to change on her daily commute home on the train. Will she provide the stranger with the information he is requesting in time to save her daughter?

I had trouble staying interested in this one, it just dragged on. I did stick through it to the end, but I didn't care about the characters at all.

Amanda is a single mother who lives with her daughter Louise and does a regular 9 to 5 job. But her only dream is to become a writer. She quits her job which is the only source of her income and decides to take up writing seriously hoping the little savings she has kept will help her survive this period.

But what she is not aware of is that a stranger is keeping track of her daily activities and has every detail about her life including her savings and wants to take it away from her. This stranger meets her on her way home on the train and blackmails her into telling the code for her secret locker using her daughter as bait.

What follows is a series of confrontations between Amanda and the Stranger. If she doesn't agree to his terms her daughter will lose her life but in case she agrees it means a part of her past will be exposed in front of the world which will have a huge impact on her and her daughter's life. What would be her decision? Will she save her daughter while keeping her past from getting exposed? What secrets are Amanda worried about?

The writing style of the author is really good and language is simple and lucid and the narration and pace of the story are good. After few chapters, I couldn't put the book down and was way more eager to know about Amanda's secrets and whether or not she agrees with the stranger.

I did like the twists in the story but at some point, the plot becomes quite predictable. Amanda's strong-minded nature even in a situation like this was really impressive. This was my first book by the author and I enjoyed it. Looking forward to reading more from the author.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Content Warning: age difference (17 & 22), mild gore, manipulation, stalking, mentions of drugs, hostage situation, murder, violence, attempted rape


Thank you NetGalley and Inkubator Books for the review copy!

*Honestly, I only liked the last 20% it was fast-paced and exciting, but it didn't make up for the rest of the book.

*The characters were unbelievably frustrating.
-You're supposed to see James and Stranger as these threatening villains, but they weren't. A lot of the lines that were supposed to make them sound intimidating were just cheesy. They try to make you believe that they're going to do something, but then nothing happens. They made James overly oblivious to everything that's happening to the point it's not very believable.
-Amanda was infuriating the entire book. Everything that has happened to her she blames on everybody else. If anyone tries to hold her accountable for it, she gets defensive and feels attacked. Amanda blames Louise for their relationship being the way it is despite her being the parent. Throughout the entire book, it felt like she wasn't taking the threat against Louise's life seriously. Her character was extremely inconsistent throughout the entire book.
-Louise ended up being the most bearable character despite me still not liking her. While there were scenes where I didn't like her attitude, I felt like her reactions were justified.

*While I found the opening scene enjoyable, it gave away an important plot point later in the story. I'm assuming that part was included to build suspense, but in my opinion, it just took away from it.

*The writing took away from the suspense, causing the story to fall flat. There wasn't room for anything to build up and leave you guessing it was just directly told to you. The lack of build-up causes the in-between scenes to feel dull and makes the plot predictable. Multiple chapters felt like drug-out filler content that was just included to make the book longer. Some scenes could've been removed, and it wouldn't change the story.

*I was getting increasingly frustrated as the book went on. I know it's a thriller where something crazy is happening to a normal person, but it lacked believability. Multiple scenes pulled me out of the book because I didn't get how certain things were happening without anyone noticing or caring. Also, the relationship between Amanda and Louise was just fixed, after everything that happened without them even having a proper conversation.

*I was uncomfortable with the comments made about prostitution. Multiple times throughout the book, it was used to justify Amanda's actions, but it wasn't necessary.

With a dramatic prologue involving a gruesome death, you’re flung straight into the action in this tense and gripping book, and I couldn’t wait to discover what on earth was happening!

Amanda Abbott is 37 years old and a single mum to 17-year-old daughter, Louise. They live in a small two-bedroom flat in Brighton. Amanda is bored of her life and the routine of her daily hour-long commute into London and back. Every day is the same and she has no love life or social life. She’s saved a good amount of money and decides to quit her job as a purchasing administrator and follow her dreams and become a writer. She hands in her notice and is just seeing out the last few days of work before her new life as an author begins.

What Amanda doesn’t realise is that she’s being watched and has been targeted by a handsome stranger, who knows that her money is kept in a safe at her flat, rather than being deposited at the bank. One evening, when her train home is delayed, the man decides to make his move and put his plan into action and threaten Louise (and her daughter) to get his hands on her savings.

Amanda is hard working whereas her daughter is rather lazy and refuses to get a job and expects her mum to provide for her. They’re both hiding secrets from each other and, from the beginning, there are intriguing hints that there’s more to the story and there are some surprises ahead for all concerned!

The story is told from the viewpoints of Amanda, Louise and the stranger and this works well as we switch between them and the tension rises as the deadline nears and the train approaches Brighton!

Overall, I really enjoyed this well-plotted and tense thriller. There were lots of twists and turns and just when I thought I’d sussed things out, there’d be another revelation and then another one! The story is fast paced and gripping and I sped through it in a couple of sittings, desperate to find out if Amanda and Louise would survive.

As ever, I’m keen to see what Daniel Hurst writes next. He’s a very speedy writer and I’m still working my way through the 20 Minute series and have a couple of his other thrillers to read too!

3 for neutral. Unfortunately, this book was not for me, or at least it isn’t at the time since I’m a very moody reader. Tried on a few occasions to get into it, but was not able. Will update, if able to finish at a later date.

A fast paced read - written in the point of view of 4 characters - Amanda, Louise, Stranger and James.

Amanda has saved up to stop working in her office job and complete writing her book, she is followed by the Stranger to know her daily schedule because he knows about Amanda's money which is locked up in her safe. The Stranger meets Amanda one day and demands that she give the code for the safe, if she doesn't then her daughter's life is in danger!
Does Amanda give up the code? She is already having a very strained relationship with her daughter Louise, who refuses to find a job but instead she is demanding that Amanda should give up her savings so that she can travel.
Throughout the book it is also hinted that there's more than the money Amanda has saved up - what is that and why would she be willing to risk everything?
The end was good, everything ties up in this book.

Thanks to netgalley for the e-ARC

This was a short and very quick read and I really enjoyed it. Honestly, I wasn't a fan of any of the characters (we got four POVs) but the story was exciting enough for me to still give four stars to. I kind of want to check out more of this author's work now!

I was lured into this story. It was interesting and I enjoyed following along with the story and characters. Enjoyable read! Thank you Net Galley for the advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review!

This book is great! I needed a book that I could get into to
take me away from everything happening around me and this
one did the trick. It starts out interesting from the beginning.It's
good.


Thank you so much, NetGalley, the writer, and publisher for
giving me the chance to read and review this amazing book!

Thank you for the chance to read and review this book. All views given are my own. I really enjoyed this book and I think it is one that needs to be celebrated more! I hope that people will be tempted by the blurb and reviews to give it a chance. Currently available on Kindle.

Entretenida novela, sin más pretensiones.
LA TRAMA: Amanda es una treintaytantera mujer, madre soltera y con ínfulas de escritora, que ha decidido dejar su trabajo para dedicarse en cuerpo y alma a escribir, que es lo que realmente le gusta, y con lo que piensa que va a poder cambiar de vida. Debido a una mala experiencia en un banco, guarda el dinero que ha conseguido ahorrar en una caja fuerte en casa. Un día, como otr cualquiera, vuelve a casa en tren. Frente a ella se sienta un apuesto caballero. Lo que inicialmente parecía una agradable conversación con vistas a un eventual flirteo, se convierte en una pesadilla que hará aflorar los secretos más oscuros de Amanda.
LO MEJOR: la historia tiene un puntito de originalidad. Más allá de lo trillado de las cosas que pasan en un tren entre dos personas extrañas, trata la situación desde una perspectiva distinta.
LO PEOR: trola y más trola. Vamos, que de lo que pasa te crees la mitad. Ya sé que es una novela, pero hombre, un poquito de realismo, que te puedas identificar con el personaje y pensar que te podría pasar a ti.
Perfectamente prescindible, en definitiva.

This book is one where the blurb really tells the story. Almost all of the action - with the exception of a couple of flashbacks - takes place over a single three-hour period, starting on a commuter train between Amanda's workplace in London and her home in Brighton. Inside her home is a safe containing a large amount of cash, on which she hopes to be able to retire from her day job and become a full-time author.

The stranger who starts talking to her on the train thinks that she - or, more specifically, her money - is an easy target. But what he doesn't know is that there is something else in that safe that Amanda wants desperately to keep a secret. Can she use her wits to avoid giving away the access code to the safe without her teenage daughter, Louise, being harmed?

Unfortunately, there really isn't much more to the book than that, and it means that I don't have a great deal else to say. I read the book easily, and enjoyed it. But for me, the best psychological thrillers are ones that take all my emotions and simply chew them up. The ones that make me laugh, cry, gasp and leave me breathless. Most of all though, I need to form some sort of bond with the main characters. So much so that, no matter what they do or have done, or what they go through, I still want to support them, or at least feel something for them.

I really wished that this would happen here, particularly as the number of characters that feature is so small. But I'm sorry to say that it didn't. And it meant that when one of those characters was revealed as having, quite literally, got away with murder on more than one occasion, it actually left a bad taste in my mouth.

I can quite easily sum this book up by saying that it's an easily and pleasantly read piece of fiction. However, that's what it is and it's all it is.

My thanks to the author and Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

This is a pretty average book overall. The characters were interesting and the plot had promise. The pace was good but I found some of the twists predictable and others were completely unbelievable. It’s an easy read but nothing memorable.

Strangers on a Train meets Red Eye in this twisty thriller. Amanda travels back and forth on a train every day from her boring job, in her boring life. She dreams of more and has finally decided to quit. That is until she meets a handsome stranger who changes her boring day into her worst nightmare. Give me your life savings or your daughter dies.

This was so much more than I was expecting. I'd read a lot of reviews that were unfavorable to say the least. Mostly is was 'good story, dumb ending'. I thought the story was great and the ending was fine, if slightly unrealistic. The four core characters were all well developed, and I loved the back and forth between them. A one hour train ride could have been a very short story but there was a lot of ground to cover. I was only bored once during the slightly exaggerated date scene. Otherwise, a highly enjoyable 'catch me if you can' thrill ride.

**Thanks to Netgalley and Inkubator Books for a review copy.

A gripping thriller with lots of twists and turns. It was an interesting and realistic premise with lots of twists and turns. I enjoyed the book but did not like the characters and found the ending a little far fetched but extremely exciting!

Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was an intense thriller that starts with a regular women heading home from work to discover that her dream of being a writer was going to be a lot harder to achieve. I wasn't crazy about James and the guy on the train, they seemed too benevolent for two criminals just out of prison. I will say that Amanda's determination not too allow the two men to determine her fate surprised me as well as her secrets. I kept thinking she can't catch a break but I still do not think it justified the end. A decent thriller worth the read.

A quick paced thriller that takes off from the beginning. A single mom rides the train home predictably every day from work. She is targeted by criminal and the suspense builds as her teenage daughter is introduced. Plenty of surprises and switchbacks keep the pages turning.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley