A man is caring for two children of the woman he loved. He is trying to keep them safe from their father.
The father finds them and what follows is a chase thru the mountains and lots of danger. Along the way , family secrets are resolved and alliances are formed, if only temporarily.
Quite a bit of action and an ending that resolves things nicely. Good novel .
I recommend. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me this ARC.

Thank you to the publisher, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.

North of Nowhere was a propulsive and strong thriller from author Allison Brennan. I will start with my only negative, which was that there were A LOT of characters to keep straight. I am glad I read the print rather than audio of this, I may have had trouble keeping track of everyone otherwise.

I felt inspired by the trek of so many individuals to protect Kristin and Ryan. I also loved the snowy, treacherous setting and how the characters had to all push themselves in different ways to develop as people throughout the novel. This was not a predictable book, and that made it fun to read.

You may either love or hate the McIntyre family and their knack for violence, so, if you don't normally enjoy novels with violence, I would carefully consider choosing this book. Other than that, this was addicting and easy to read, especially once I got about halfway through the book- the pages were essentially turning themselves.

Again, thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel as an eGalley and share my thoughts.

North of Nowhere is my favorite kind of book! Wilderness, mystery, and making me hold my breath!! Kristen and her deaf brother Ryan have been hiding out in Montana from their mob-involved father, Boyd. When they discover that he has found out where they are, they escape on a plane but end up crashing into the deep wilderness Montana is known for. Then of course a huge storm is approaching, and now their Aunt Ruby, the father with a tracker and a local rancher are all searching for them. As if that’s not bad enough, a greater threat is also coming! This book kept me up late in the night, knowing that whatever/whoever finds them first will determine their fate! Thank you to author Allison Brennan, NetGalley, and the publisher for my copy of this riveting book!

Tony kidnapped Kristen and her brother, five years ago. After working for their father, Boyd, for many years, he fell in love with their mother and they were planning to run away together and save the kids from their crime boss grandma and dad. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned and when their mother was killed, Tony vowed to take care of her children. Always diligent, Tony senses something not right as Boyd finally finds them on a ranch in Montana. Escaping into the frigid winter cold in the throes of a winter storm, no one is safe from the elements or from those out for revenge. This book felt like a sequel, to me. It took a long time to figure out just exactly what everyone’s backstory was and parts of the plot were on the cheesy side. Not my favorite book by Brennan as there were just too many unsavory characters. The voice on the audio was good and in the end it was OK, but not her best. Thank you to Minotaur, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an ARC and ALC of this book

Thanks St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. I haven’t read anything by Allison Brennan before. I’m really glad that North of Nowhere was my introduction to her. This is a good book. Kristen and Ryan need to flee their rustic cabin with their “dad” Tony. Turns out that Tony isn’t their dad and that they have been running from their crime syndicate family for 5 years. Kristen saw her father kill a man in cold blood when she was only 11 and they have been running since. Tony is the one person she trusts and when he tells her and her 10 year old brother, Ryan, who is deaf, to run, they run. What follows is a cat and mouse chase through the Montana wilderness. The book might seem a little predictable but it’s a good read. Take it to the beach

Thank you Netgalley for this advanced copy of North of Nowhere by Allison Brennan.

You ever have a friend launch into a story and the entire time you're asking them to back up asking "who are we talking about? what were they doing? and why are they doing it?" That was me pretty much the whole time. This a cat and mouse book, a giant dangerous manhunt through a frozen portion of Montana that shoots first and asks questions later. And even though the book eventually catches you up, I began the story already feeling frustrated. I needed way more context and build up in order to ever invest myself into the story, and I never actually got that. Mostly I got a lot of whiplash.

There is a lot going on in this novel in regards to characters, their backstories and suspicious activities, some of which are not revealed until the end, making it feel like apart of a series opposed to a stand alone. The novel is full of action, fast paced, and does have a, somewhat predictable, plot twist. Great book for novice suspense readers.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC of #NorthofNowhere

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: August 8, 2023
Kristen, her brother Ryan and Tony, the man they both call Dad, have been in the run for five years, since the death of Kristen and Ryan's mother. Tony is desperate to keep the kids safe from their terrifyingly influential, and downright evil, paternal grandmother but she has friends in very high places. When the plane they are in crashes, the three find themselves stranded in the Montana wilderness. After Tony is killed the children are alone- cold, scared and running from people they can't see. In the ultimate battle of survival, can the kids survive long enough to be rescued, and can they outrun the dangerous men on their tails?
North of Nowhere by Alison Brennan is written like it could be a series of books, and North is one of the books somewhere in the middle. The plot development left something to be desired, as I felt a lot of the characters' stories started right in the middle, talking about incidents that happened before the reader joined the story (and rather important things it seems!)
The eerie winter setting with its very spooky survival theme is chilling (in more ways than one) and I loved spunky, brave Kristen and her brother, Ryan, who struggles with hearing loss. Right off the bat, I cheered for them and their perseverance, determined to survive with the odds against them.
The story is narrated by many characters in the novel, including Kristen, Ruby (the aunt) and Boyd (the biological father) as well as some others. This helps provide an array of viewpoints, although there are a few characters among the many that are similar and take some concentration to differentiate.
Brennan's novel ends satisfyingly, after chapters of ice-cold action and drama, and overall, North is an entertaining read. I wanted more of the backstory, which was glossed over to get to the wintery survival plot, but Brennan provided enough taut suspense that I wanted to keep reading!

This is a truly suspenseful page turner! It definitely reminded me of Sandra Brown without the romantic aspects. It’s a proper binge read- reminiscent of the time I read TJ Newman’s Falling in one flight, because I couldn’t put it down.
I felt like all the family drama, organized crime, reasons to escape were explained well and in an order that kept me on my toes. The descriptions of the freezing mountain chase and the tracking felt so real.
I’d definitely recommend this one to anyone looking for a quick, outdoorsy thriller. Their twists and villains and emotional roller coaster were spot on.

North of Nowhere by Allison Brennan is a standalone book. I have read a couple of her series which I enjoyed. Tony and his kids are hiding from the kid’s mafia family. After 5 years they are discovered.
Tony borrows a plane, and they crash in the forest. Now everyone is looking for them.
The story gets busy with all the characters introduced so quickly. It took a bit to get them straight.
But once they were fleshed out it was okay.
There is lots of action and high drama as the kids run and the bad and good guys chase them.
I did enjoy the writing – Ms. Brennan writes well. I did enjoy the story and was glad I read it. I recommend it.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for the copy of North Of Nowhere by Allison Brennan. I loved the premise of this book but I’m not sure why I couldn't connect to the writing. It felt like a book in a series I hadn’t read because of the snippets we got about each of the characters. At first I was confused because there were so many characters and the men were either called by their first or last names depending on who was talking to them, so a list of characters would have helped!
It took a little while, but I got so entranced by the book I had to finish it. If you like fast-paced, exciting books check out this one!

Allison Brennan is the queen of suspense. "North of Nowhere" is a great book that keeps you guessing until the end. She truly knows how to hook a reader and take them for a ride.
In "North of Nowhere" Tony is protecting kids that he thinks of as his. When the bad guys come after him, he has to do what is best for the kids to keep them safe. He has trained Kristen and Ryan so that they knew what do to when the time comes. The family gets stuck in the woods during a snowstorm with multiple people chasing them. Who can they trust and who is after them? There are many twists and turns that keep you guessing. In a family where family means everything who can they trust?
This story has you rooting for the characters. You will be hooked from the first page to the very last page. Highly recommend.

For some reason, I was surprised to discover that this is the first book that I've read from Allison Brennan. When I went to go check, I found that I have many, many books in my TBR library from her, so I guess I just assumed that I had already read some of them. I hadn't. This was a really nice entry for me.

This is a stand alone book that starts fairly quickly with drama and action and does not stop until the very last page. The story begins with Tony and his two "children" - Kristen and Ryan - being discovered after running and hiding in Montana for the last five years. Apparently, Tony took the kids five years ago to save them. They are the children of Boyd MacIntyre (the father) who is one of the heads of a major crime family. They are also the grandchildren of the actual head of the family. Their mother was killed during the escape and Tony is a wanted fugitive accused of murder and kidnapping.

Things are not very clear in the beginning regarding "who" is good versus who is bad. Is it Boyd, who just wants his kids back? Is it Tony, for taking the kids and hiding them away? Things unravel very slowly as we begin to get the back story.

As they run to try to escape their pursuers, things go very wrong and the kids end up in the wilderness in the middle of a blizzard trying to get to safety. What makes this book so interesting is that we are introduced to several characters who find themselves in the middle of this drama. Again, who is the bad guy? And who is trying to kill whom?

There are a couple of twists in the story- one, I figured out fairly quickly and the other was a complete surprise. I did like the fact that the story held the build up and suspense for the entirety of the book. I also liked the secondary characters of Ruby, Nick, and Jason and felt like their character development was done in a way that got the reader to definitely root for them.

I alternated between listening to this on audio and reading the eBook version and found that I enjoyed the narration of Eliza Foss. I think she was also a first time narrator for me. So, all in all I consider this a win for my first book by Ms. Brennan. I think it might be time to go and see what else I have from her in my library.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read/listen to and review this ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone.

Wow what a wild ride North of Nowhere was!!! So much action, intrigue, and the definition of a fast paced thriller! Loved the setting, Montana is one of my favorite places. So beautiful and yet so primitive and dangerous up in the mountains. Although there are quite a few characters in this story, loved how you get to really know the main ones so well. It can be tricky trying to get the family dynamic right in a story and Allison Brennan did a great job, showing both the good and bad in familial relationships. I was glued to the pages! Highly recommend.

North of Nowhere by Allison Brennan. It's been awhile since I read any books by this author. But having just read this book It reminded me how much I enjoyed this author's writing. North of Nowhere kept me intrigued. The perfect storyline for my mood at the time.

Thank you netgalley for giving me the chance to read this one. I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the action and mystery of all the characters. Siblings who are on the run and not sure who all is after them or why had me invested. I couldn't wait to find out all the things and what happened.

North of Nowhere is Allison Brennan's latest novel. This book started off pretty good and I found myself totally engrossed in it but then somewhere along the line, all these new characters started popping up and I found myself getting confused. It was a good thriller for the most part.

This was my first book by Allison Brennan and it was a wild ride! The story takes place in Montana, mostly in the wilderness near Big Sky. It features a man on the run with two children: a 16-year-old girl and a 10-year old boy who is deaf. Why are they on the run? Apparently, the man kidnapped them for their own good, five years before and their father has finally located their whereabouts. They’ve been living in Montana and they love Tony and call him “dad.” Their actual father and grandmother are the leaders of an organized crime family. The action basically doesn’t stop! There’s a long cat-and-mouse sequence in a snowstorm that was a page-turner. In addition to the children’s father, it seems other people are also after them, which complicates things significantly. There’s even a moose encounter along the way.

We meet some great characters, including Boyd, the father, who is not a cookie-cutter bad guy. There are lots of shades of grey in this story! We also meet their aunt, Ruby, who has disassociated herself from the crime family and also from the children, for their own safety. She’s a multi-faceted character with lots of skills from having served in the army for several years. One person without any shades of grey is the grandmother, though. She’s a piece of work!

I bounced between the audiobook and the ebook for this title, which was very convenient. However, the audiobook’s narrator was WAY too slow, so I had to speed it up quite a bit to be able to listen. (Since this was an advance copy, maybe this problem has been taken care of, for the final version.)

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book and to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

NORTH OF NOWHERE was a fast-paced and action-packed thriller. When he learns that Boyd McIntyre has located him, Tony takes the two kids he has been sheltering for five years and tries to escape.

However, gunfire which wounds Tony and causes the plane to crash in the wilderness leaves sixteen-year-old Kristen and her deaf ten-year-old brother Ryan to survive a coming blizzard and get away from the father who wants to take them back to California to be part of a crime family.

Boyd and his henchmen aren't the only ones one the kids' trail, Ruby McIntyre is also looking for her niece and nephew. She managed to escape the clutches of her family by joining the Army but her fiancé was murdered when he tried to bring evidence against the family. She cut all ties with her niece and nephew to keep them safe. Now she has to find them.

Nick Lorenzo is also looking for the kids. Tony had worked for him the five years they were in Montana and Nick has grown close to the kids. He's an experienced outdoorsman and a native to the area. His son is good friends with Kristen and Ryan.

Finally, there is a third person searching. Lance Jackson is a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. He's been searching for Tony and has a warrant for his arrest. Tony, supposedly, murdered the kids' mother and kidnapped the kids.

The story had lots of twists and turns and very realistic characters. Fans of fast-paced thrillers with intriguing characters will enjoy this one.

[arc review]
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Minotaur Books for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
North of Nowhere releases August 8, 2023

2.5/5

- multi-pov
- remote outdoor setting
- quick timeline (24-48 hours)
- snow storm
- survival
- criminal enterprise
- fugitive + kidnapper

Tony, adopted into the McIntyre family, has been in hiding for five years after he kidnapped his best friend’s two children. But what happened to lead up to that? And did he have a hand in the death of the kid’s mother, whom he also had an affair with?

It’s always interesting for me reading the acknowledgments, particularly in this instance, where it’s mentioned that the first version of this story did not work and had many issues with pacing, which is something I found I struggled with while reading this, even though it was apparently entirely reworked.
Yes, it’s fast paced and action packed, but I also think that you need to build some backstory in the beginning, regardless if everything is revealed in the end. There were way too many characters introduced in such a short amount of time — some I don’t think were all that necessary, like the background residents of the town or secondary/third members to the criminal enterprise outside of the immediate players like Boyd and the cousin Theo etc.
Just as you would get comfortable with one character’s pov, it would switch again, and one of the most reliable sources was completely eliminated from the story just 20% in!
Despite the quick timeline, where most of the story takes place in one day, it somehow felt like it was dragging for more than a week.
There were also a few typos and discrepancies still with things like Nick telling Kristen to sleep because it was after midnight, and then a scene later where she abruptly wakes up and states that it’s quarter past midnight, but that she slept for 30 minutes…

Somewhere along the way, the plot starts to lose all sense. Every single character is aware that there’s a blizzard on the way, and that there’s likely no chance that they’d be able to reach their original cabin destination either by foot, or by ATV, yet so much time is spent wasted going in circles in this forest where everyone eventually is lead back to the lake. It just doesn’t allow for much progression at all.

The “plot twist” of the extra house guest was so painfully obvious to me, and I figured it out the second I read the name, given how similar it was to the real identity, which took away the suspense for me.
I found that Kristen’s motivations and feelings towards Boyd shifted too easily at the end, and maybe the forgiveness was just for a better conscious, but still came out of left field.

Not a standout read for me, but I’d still recommend it if you want something atmospheric with complex family dynamics, and where the teenager is the star of the show.

cw: mentions past animal death, past child abuse, drugging, death, gun violence
rep: deaf character + inclusion of sign language