A chilling, atmospheric thriller!
Lots of twists and turns as Sarah searches for her sister Gemma- whose story we get as the second point of view.
Whilst there were some unnecessary scenes and a lot of characters that maybe didn’t need to be part of the story, there was a very unique twist towards the end that explained some of it.

Pacing issues aside, the characterisation and general.plot in this book is great. I mostly predicted the twists, as its a good mystery, but still well worth spending some time on.

Gripping and faced paced story. gret twists throughout, Told from the point of view of both the sisterd thid mkes th book a compelling read and well worth adding to your TBR

Overall, The Hiker is a compelling mystery with a mix of well-crafted suspense and occasional far-fetched elements. I recommend for those who enjoy thrillers set in atmospheric locales, despite pacing issues.

Sarah is on the verge of marrying her fiance when she learns that her estranged sister boyfriend has been found murdered and her sister is missing. She feels impelled to travel to the Pennines and follow the path that Gemma was known to have taken but finds the locals reluctant to help.

After digging around, she realises that Gemma is not the first girl to have gone missing and her investigations take her into dangerous territories. Will she find the truth of what Gemma was mixed up in and where she may have ended up.

A great story that flips between the past story of Gemma and the current search by Sarah with a few twists and turns to keep you guessing.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review*

A great thriller - I would recommend it!

Thank you Avon Books and Netgalley.
Well that was all of the below .....
Eerie, creepy, haunting, shocking, thrilling, engrossing .... I was totally hooked!
An excellent thriller which keeps you guessing.
Totally recommend.

Loved this thriller that keeps you on your toes the whole way through the book. Solid storyline and characters to boot.

The author writes the setting so well. It’s so atmospheric. It makes it spooky. The ending was so strange. It just didn’t fit with the rest of the book.

Loved this! I’ve read several MJ Ford books and always really enjoy them. Sarah is a successful lawyer and due to get married in her dream wedding. Gemma is estranged from her sister following an argument at their mother’s funeral and the two women haven’t seen each other in five years.
Following a visit from the police, Sarah decides to try and find out what has happened to Gemma, but in the process both their lives change forever.
A great suspenseful read.

This was really weird. It started off ok, but wasn't the kind of story I was interested in at first so I nearly gave up a few times, but there was something keeping me intrigued.

I'm glad I stuck with it as it really pulled me in and there were so many psychotic twists I got dizzy!

It was all very farfetched as there were way too many things happening, but it was well written and definitely worth the read.

Dark and creepy. A sister sets out to find out what happened to her sister who went missing and is met with a deeply distrusting community of people who may not be as open with the information about her sister as they could or should be. Interesting read.

Gemma Kline is missing after she sets off on a solo hike. Her sister Sarah travels to the town she was last seen and tries to track her steps. But the locals do not want to help her. Sarah has to consider what's really going on in this town and why are the locals trying to hide secrets? Ultimately, what happened to her sister?

A good read, gripping and moves along at a good pace. Really enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading more from the author.

This is my first read by MJ Ford and I really enjoyed this grip lit about two sisters. I do agree with the other reviews though that the contents of the story didn’t quite match the title and cover of the story - I had envisaged a story about a hiker who disappears with lush description about hiking and mountains like Lucy Clarke’s The Hike. That isn’t quite what happens here, nonetheless I did find myself enjoying the story and was captivated as the stakes kept increasing.
This opens with a prologue. We follow sixteen year old Alice who goes out to meet her boyfriend but meets a creature instead. Cut 15 years later and we follow sensible, smart Sarah who is paid a visit by the police. A car has been found in a village burnt with a body inside. It belongs to Mark, Gemma’s boyfriend. Gemma is Sarah’s younger sister who she hasn’t spoken to for five years since their mother’s funeral. The police are investigating what happened to Mark and trying to track down Gemma who has vanished. When Sarah later receives a postcard from Gemma she feels compelled to go down the village to find out what happened to her and starts an investigation of her own.
The story is a dual narrative. We get the present arc via Sarah and via Gemma we find out what happened in the past. Gemma and Mark are struggling to make ends meet and when Mark is beaten up by their landlord’s criminal son they’re desperate for money. Mark finds a scheme. Blackmailing drug dealers who are growing drugs in a village near the Pennies.
It is with nail biting tension that the narratives meet at the end for a thrilling showdown. My jaw was on the floor! The book is such a rollercoaster ride. Unexpected and unpredictable. The first half was slow burning but I found the sisters relatable and engaging that I was hooked through and through. I felt myself going along with them even if I didn’t agree with their actions. I did have a few questions though at the end and do wish some threads had been tied up more neatly. In conclusion this is a riveting, unpredictable read set in a creepy, sinister village but at the core this is about the love of two sisters.

I enjoyed this atmospheric thriller, set in a remote northern village with a history of missing girls and large animal sightings I was intrigued from the start.

This book has dual narratives and a split time period with lots of mystery and drama in both. The ending was not what I was expecting and I didn't see the twist coming.

A real twisty thriller, I really enjoyed this book. It’s unpredictable, with characters that you route for, which keeps the pages turning, would absolutely recommend!

A very good read
It’s the first I’ve read from this author but it won’t be the last
You will definitely not want to put this book down
Thanks NetGalley

This suspense novel follows Sarah as she travels to a small British town to try and find out what has happened to her estranged sister, after police tell her that the sister is missing and her boyfriend found dead in a burnt out car.

I enjoyed this read! The mystery builds slowly and is told over two perspectives - the present day with Sarah, and the past with her sister Gemma. Thus the reader kind of watches in real time as Gemma's fate unfolds, as well as Sarah's mission to uncover what that fate is. This style of storytelling can be hit or miss for me - either the flashback timeline pulls you out of the suspense and feels like a pause, or it adds to the suspense and drives the story forward. I definitely felt like this one was the latter.

I have to say I think this book is pretty different from what I expected from the title and cover material, and I think it's wildly misnamed, given there are no actual hikers in the story and none of it really has anything to do with hiking. I somehow thought it was going to be some kind of "locked room" style story with a group of hikers (yes I suck at reading synopses lol) and it is totally nothing like that.

However, casting expectations aside, I did enjoy it for what it actually was and it gets pretty wild and twisty at the end there after the slower build up. Little disappoints me more than a rushed or lackluster climax after a slow burn suspense, but this one had plenty to it and wasn't over in two seconds, so it really worked for me. Ignore the cover and title and enjoy an interesting, easy suspense story!

I expected this to be more of a fast paced wilderness survival story, but it ended up being a lot more about the past relationship between these two sisters. Maybe it was just because I had different expectations, but it didn't really sustain my attention because of that.