Thrillers are not my go-to genre but I do like to read them from time to time. One that I really enjoyed last year was No Exit by Taylor Adams so I was excited to read the author's latest book, Hairpin Bridge.

Lena Nguyen is devastated after her estranged twin sister, Cambry, is found dead at the bottom of Hairpin Bridge. The official report is that she committed suicide, but Lena is suspicious and doesn’t believe it. She decides to meet the officer who found her body, at the place where her sister supposedly jumped to her death.

The pace of Hairpin Bridge is similar to No Exit. I could have easily read this in one sitting if I’d had the time. I sometimes had a hard time following the events; Lena is trying to rewrite Cambry’s story and I was never sure what had really happened and what she was imagining. I also found it a bit repetitive, with too many car chases and shoot-outs for my taste.

I was however really impressed with how the story wrapped up and I liked the ending.

Thank you to @netgalley and @joffebooks for the digital advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

“Please Forgive Me. I couldn’t live with it. Hopefully you can Officer Raycevic”

3 months ago Lena Ngyuen’s twin Cambry drove to an abandoned bridge in Montana and jumped to her death. Or at least so the police say.

Lena doesn’t believe them. Her sister would NEVER do that. Something isn’t right. Now Lena is going to find answers by traveling to the exact bridge her sister “jumped off of” 3 months earlier. The officer who found her sister, Corporal Raymond Raycevic has agreed to meet her there to go over what happened that day. Only his story isn’t make sense. When Lena finds out he pulled her sister over an hour before her death and that she tried to call 911 16x while dealing with him, Lena gets suspicious.

The most horrifying detail of all, he’s mentioned in her short suicide text. Lena will do anything to figure out what happened to her sister and she is prepared to fight for the answers she deserves.

What happened to Cambry that night? What is Corporal Raycevic not telling her? Did Cambry really throw herself off that bridge? Find out in Hairpin Bridge, comes out in June 2021.

AHH this was SO good!! I couldn’t put it down! It had my attention from the beginning.

Lena Nguyen does not believe her twin, Cambry killed herself by jumping off Hairpin Bridge, better known as Suicide Bridge. Several unusual fact about the case lead her confront the police officer that pulled Cambry over one hour before her death, Ray Raycevic. Lena convinces Ray to take her to the scene, then plans to pry out and record his confession. As she listens to the truth, can she handle it? Is it always better to know the truth, even if it hurts those left behind?

Hairpin Bridge is one twisty, freaky, hair-raising, skin tingling, thrill ride I enjoyed and could not put down. Just when you think the whole truth has been revealed, Lena or Ray discloses another curve ball you weren’t expecting. Excellent suspense!

HAIRPIN BRIDGE
Taylor Adams
William Morrow
ISBN-13: 978-0063065444
Hardcover
Thriller

I became a fan for life of Taylor Adams after reading 2019’s NO EXIT. That book had me from the jump. It wasn’t only because I do all my travel by driving, and have seen a lot of strange things at highway rest stops, as does the protagonist in that worthy novel. No. The plotting, the pacing, and the characterizations are what won me over. I accordingly was expecting a lot from Adams and HAIRPIN BRIDGE, his new novel. I got all of it and more.

The present time of HAIRPIN BRIDGE takes place over a very long and very tense few hours sixty miles from Missoula, Montana, by the Hairpin Bridge of the title, near a major fire which is a backdrop for an encounter that is up close and personal. The protagonist is a young woman named Lena Nguyen who has driven several hours to this middle-of-nowhere location to meet Corporal Raymond Raycevic, a Montana Highway patrolman. It was Raycevic who notified Lena and her family of the death of Cambry, Lena’s twin sister, three months before. Raycevic reported Cambry’s death as an apparent suicide as the result of her jumping from Hairpin Bridge. Lena has driven several hours --- in Cambry’s automobile, no less, perfectly preserved in the condition it was in on the day of her death --- to meet with Raycevic. The reason is generally simple and specifically complex. Lena believes that Raycevic is lying to her. It is clear almost before the festivities even begin that Lena is placing herself in terrible danger if she is right and possibly if she is wrong as well. Adams is in no particular hurry to let the reader in on what is going on from either Lena’s point of view or Raycevic’s, but we learn quite a bit about Lena and Cambry, who, it develops, had been estranged for several years, with only minimal communication between them. It is also revealed, as HAIRPIN BRIDGE bounces from the past to the present and back again, that neither Lena nor Cambry were/are wrapped too tight, in very different and very interesting ways. Lena is on a bit of a crusade to posthumously make things right or to at least atone for some things. She might be wrong, however. On the other hand, she may have no idea of how right she is. There is a lot of one-upmanship between Lena and Raycevic, even as Adams ever so skillfully lets the reader know little bits and pieces of what one character knows that the other doesn’t, while not giving us the entire skinny until the end of this wonderful, suspenseful, and violent book that is still throwing secrets and surprises into the binding until the very end.

I read HAIRPIN BRIDGE in one sitting, I didn’t do that because I had to. I did it because I wanted to. Actually, that isn’t right. I read it all at once because I was compelled to do so. I wager that you will be forced to as well by the twists and turns of Adams’s plotting that lob hand grenades into the mix every few pages, and the suspense that will cause you to all but leave finger indentations in the hardcover, or the eReader, or however you take this wonderful, suspenseful summer book for all seasons. And you will, methinks, be a fan for life as well. Very strongly recommended.

Review by Joe Hartlaub
© Copyright 2021, The Book Report, Inc. All rights reserved.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy

I have read No Exit and really enjoyed it and was looking forward to reading Hairpin Bridge. It did not disappoint. Same suspense and edge of your side.

Okay, do not get me wrong, I DID enjoy Hairpin Bridge but No Exit was better. Also, there was quite a few events that occurred that did not seem realistic. Ever watch a movie where you think the main character should have died or been injured 700 times? Yeah, that pretty much happens in this book.

Do not let that deter you from reading this though. Admittedly, I read it in less than 2 days so it is entertaining.

Three months ago Cambry Nguyen jumped off a remote bridge in Montana known as Hairpin Bridge. Cambry’s twin sister, Lena, does believe her sister would have committed suicide. Determined to find the truth she travels to the bridge to meet with a patrolman who was a part of her sister’s case.

Immediately Lena feels like something is not lining up. For starters, Corporal Raymond Raycevic happened to pull her sister over for speeding only an hour before allegedly finding her body. Oh and let’s not forget the SIXTEEN attempted 911 calls from Cambry’s cell phone.

Has Lena walked into a bad situation? Will she be able to find the truth about her sister’s death? You will have to read it to find out!

Thank you @NetGalley, Taylor Adams, and Joffe Books for the free copy!

REVIEW:
I want to be as honest as possible with this one because I don’t want to paint a different picture and mislead other readers. I’ve heard of this author and heard good feedback from the book, No Exit (which I haven’t read). This is the first book I read by this author and suffice to say, it was not for me. I’m sorry to say that I was not at all thrilled nor happy with this book because there were too many fillers in the story. It got too dragged out and heavy to read. The prolonged build-up to the ending, in my opinion, was not at all necessary. It would have been good if it was shortened a bit to get to the climax at the right moment. However, I do appreciate that the author wrote an Asian main character because this is rarely done especially for this genre. You are welcome to read this book, of course, because it might have a different effect on you.

Another 5 star for Taylor Adams. Such a fast paced mystery/thriller with serial killers, a sprinkle of supernatural, and a bad ass heroine. What more do you need to know?!

You know how we all change the channel when an SPCA commercial comes on? They’re too sad and it’s the only emotion they aim to pull from you. This book feels similar, just in a sense of never-ending intensity.

From page 1, you’re dropped in to a story that truly doesn’t slow down until the final page. I love a good adrenaline-pumping thriller, but this was too much. Like real life trauma, eventually your body maxes out on adrenaline and you become numb. For this book, the numbness became boredom which was crazy considering the content of the book.

I think it was too much action, not enough story. I clearly was not the right reader, and that’s okay! If you want all the action without flowery fillers of people’s back stories or relationships, this may be the book for you! I just like being pulled in enough to care before the intensity pops off.

Synopsis: Lena and Cambry Nguyen are twin sisters. Three months ago, Lena and her family were notified that Cambry committed suicide at Hairpin Bridge in Montana but Lena doesn’t believe that Cambry killed herself. Lena arranges to meet up with Corporal Raymond Raycevic who was the highway patrolman who found Cambry’s body in the hopes to discover more information about her death. When Lena first meets Raymond, he seems sympathetic and caring, but as she continues to probe further into what happened to Cambry, his demeanor soon changes and Lena soon finds herself in serious trouble.

My thoughts: In the past few years I have seen so many books marketed as “thrillers” but when I’ve read them, they feel more like a tame ride on the Ferris Wheel at the exhibition. Not so for this book. There were times when I was reading this late at night in bed and I actually had to put it down and pick up a different book because my heart was racing and I was so uncomfortable because it was freaking me out! If you like thrillers that are really like wild rides at the exhibition, then pick this one up. This was the first book by this author that I have read but I’ll definitely be checking out Taylor Adams’ first book, No Exit.

Hairpin Bridge is available now for sale.

Thank you to Netgalley and Joffe Books for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of Hairpin Bridge in exchange for an honest review.

Hairpin Bridge from Taylor Adams was sort of a disappointment to me.. After reading No Exit I was expecting a little more from the author. This book was still enjoyable but didn't live up to the last novel, Thank you Netgalley and (publisher) for my arc

Hairpin Bridge by Taylor Adams was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021. Sadly I was very disappointed in this one.

I found the writing style to be extremely hard to follow along with. It took almost half the book for me to understand it. This took away from my enjoyment of the book tremendously. While I liked the concept of this book, I found a lot of the subject matter to be a little to far fetched and unrealistic.

I did enjoy a few of the twist thrown in throughout the book. I also really liked how the characters were described. Especially the trucker, I found him extremely fascinating.

Overall this book just wasn’t for me. I would still recommend it to you. Just go in knowing it has major trigger warnings for suicide.
2/5 Stars

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me an arc of Hairpin Bridge in exchange for my honest review.

After reading No Exit, I was very eager to read Hairpin Bridge.

After picking up this ebook, it was very hard to put down. It takes a little while to get in, but once you get a few chapters in you become engrossed with Lena’s mission. Did her sister really commit suicide or was it murder?

I was very surprised at the ending of this novel, a dark twist I wasn’t expecting.

I’m giving it 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars because some parts of the book were hard to understand who’s point of view it was and it switched very fast.

Thank you, Joffee Books, NetGalley, and Taylor Adams for this ebook in exchange for my honest opinion.

What can I say about this book? I am giving it two stars because it was so slow at the beginning. I would pick it up, put it down, read a couple of books, pick it up again. By the time I reached 50% it was a toss up if I was going to continue or quit. As I continued, I am glad to say it picked up during the second half.

Lena is, or was, a twin to Cambry. Cambry chose to leave her family and go on an adventure across the United States. A lot of the time, she wasn't very honest about how she accomplished this. And at some point she jumped (or did she?) off the Hairpin Bridge in Montana. Lena is convinced that her sister did not commit suicide, and makes a trip there to talk to the officer that found her body. She documents much of this in recordings and on her blog. Between flashbacks, Lena's ideas of what went on and the officer's story, we get very mixed answers. I would have to call her a very unreliable narrator.

Thanks NetGalley, Joffe books and Taylor Adams for a copy to review.
After reading No Exit before for the same author, you can rely on Taylor Adams to write a fast page turner, placing you on the edge of your seat feeling the desperate hopeless isolation of her characters, where she keeps swinging your opinion through plot twists till the very end.
I absolutely loved it.

This is, I think, my first novel by this author and I’d heard a lot of chatter about it so I was very much looking forward to this one but unfortunately it fell a bit short for me.

When Lena’s twin sister’s death is ruled to be a death by suicide she doesn’t believe this to be the case and so goes to interview the police officer who found her sister’s body.

I was expecting a quick, super fast paced read and although it definitely was a quick read (I read it in a day) it didn’t feel particularly fast paced and I found myself reading on just to find out how it ended. A large part of this book takes part in the one location or in cars which I think might have been part of the problem for me as it made it feel a bit repetitive.

At one point I felt entirely confused as to what was the actual story and what was merely the sisters confabulation.

Despite my misgivings with this book I did enjoy the author’s general writing style so I would be inclined to pick up another book by this author in the future but unfortunately this one just wasn’t for me.

The main character's twin supposedly committed suicide, jumping off a bridge. The surviving twin does not buy this, and sets off to investigate. She interviews the police officer mentioned by name in the deceased's last text to her sister. This book was intense, suspenseful and full of action. I felt that some of the action scenes were a bit gratuitous, but I was certainly willing to suspend belief. I enjoyed the main character, but the reflections and "messages" to her dead sister went on a little long. Nevertheless, the chess match between the characters was entertaining.

I am a very big fan of Taylor Adams, and especially loved No Exit. So I was excited and fully prepared to love this one just as much. Sadly, it was not to be.

I liked the idea and the setup very much. Lena Nguyen is looking for answers to her twin Cambry’s alleged suicide on a bridge, so she goes back to the scene to investigate. She vows to her blogging audience (*though tbh, I’m getting a little tired of these mysteries that focus on blogs — it’s a rare blogger book that can be as compelling as A Simple Favor) that she will find her sister’s killer.

Unfortunately, things never get going from there. I would not call this book fast-paced at all. Most of the action occurs in the same location and between the same two characters for the majority of the book, and it does not progress quickly in the beginning. I never really connected with either Lena or Cambry, and did not find them or their motivations as fully realized as many of Adams’ other female protagonists. Most importantly though, both the “whodunit” and the “whydunit” left me scratching my head. I was not persuaded by the resolution of the book or the motives of the characters, although I liked the twist at the end.

Though I was disappointed by this book, it was my first letdown by Taylor Adams, and I still eagerly anticipate his next book. He’s a very gifted writer — this one just did not work for me.

Many thanks to Joffe Books, the author, and NetGalley for the ARC of this highly anticipated book!

After devouring No Exit, I could not wait to read the next Taylor Adams book and it sure did not disappoint. Just like No Exit before it, Hairpin Bridge is a fast-paced page turner that keeps you guessing. You can't trust anyone or anything and be ready to be thrown for a loop. This is a book you'll for sure want to have a good amount of time blocked off for reading, because you won't be able to put it down!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review. I loved Taylor Adam’s novel No Exit, so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read the latest Hairpin Bridge. I appreciated the strong female protagonist and the multiple points of view. The points of view were so varied that I almost wanted to reread the book after uncovering all the twists. The ending for this one was similar to No Exit in that it was intriguing and satisfying. 3.5 stars for Hairpin Bridge.