Ugh Lucy Clarke has done it again! Suspenseful, unputdownable, truly gripping story with characters that are so well developed I'm sad the book is over and I won't know any more about them. 5 stars!

SYNOPSIS:
- Maggie, Joni, Liz, Helena. Four women, who have been friends since high school, go on an annual trip together. This year, they are going to Blafjell Mountain in Norway (a factionalized location).
- At the beginning, a body is found at the bottom of the mountain. Who died? What happened?

MY THOUGHTS
- Unique premise.
- Atmospheric thriller.
- Isolated setting added to building the tension.
- Moderately paced.
- Multiple POV story (told from each of their perspective)
- There are many side characters. I enjoyed the twists & red herrings.
- Clarke does a great job with character development and humanizing them. They are all flawed, but also relatable and likable.


TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Atmospheric thriller about 4 friends on a hike that goes wrong

Thanks to Penguin Group Putnam, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. It will be published on August 29, 2023.

3.5/5⭐️ I didn't dislike this book. I enjoyed a lot of it, but it was also hard to follow at some points. First things positive: I loved the plot with the four friends, the holiday, and the eerie feeling that surrounds the hike. I loved how their lives are all so close together and they've been friends for years. I love that they all have secrets and things going on that is baggage on this hike. <br /><br />on the other hand, I was a little unsure what was going on at points. There were 2 stories going on; one a year ago and one present. the past story was kind of relevant but also not really necessary. The book while also short and quick felt slow and (respectfully) a little pointless. I feel like it ended right back where it started.

From the opening pages of this book, right through till the end I felt myself drawn right into the lives of the characters and the setting of the book. Sprinkle in a little mystery, some sinister details, some shady stuff going on and it winds up being a fabulous ride of a story.

I so enjoyed getting to know Helena, Maddie, Liz and Joni as they embarked on a hike in the mountains of Norway. They each had a great back story that I felt the author had fleshed out well. I was definitely invested in their lives and felt their emotion throughout the book. One of the best parts of the writing for me was the authors ability to place me in the forests and mountains of Norway. When I can see clearly in my mind the crystal water of the sea, the foggy mountain paths, the rocky trail days after I finished the last page, I know I’ve read a book by a very talented author. That was my experience with this one!

I highly recommend this book to lovers of suspense, friendship, and outdoor adventure. This was a really great read.

Thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read an advanced copy of this book.

"The Hike" is a rollercoaster of terrifying twists and turns, leaving you constantly on edge and filled with nervous anticipation. The pacing perfect as we learn more about the 4 best friends on their yearly trip together. Each revelation had me gasping in and turning the page for more and it was awesome to learn more about hiking in Norway which sounds amazing even though this story might have me a bit too afraid to consider such a trip. Overall this was a thriller that will keep you up late into the night. Thank you to Netgalley for providing this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

Talk about unsuccessful girls trip! This was such an amazing thriller suspense read. The storyline was really captivating start to finish. I really enjoyed getting to read and learn about each girl. The ending was a little predictable, but it wouldn’t be the first time where an ending has been. I also was confused at first in the search with Leif, thinking he was searching for the girls, but it was Karin. I enjoyed each perspective of each girl in the chapters. Overall, I will be pointing this out for all my bookish friends to read!

This was a quick and satisfying read: short chapters, multiple points of view, and a a story that kept the reader’s interest with frequent twists and reveals. The setting is northern Norway, where a group of long-time friends who often vacation together come to do a four-day hike up a mountain. The mountain setting adds to the intrigue with danger from weather, fog or falls never far away.

With that said, I admit that, having hiked mountains in my youth, it strained credulity for me that these four thirty-something women with vastly different levels of fitness would even agree to do this hike with little to no knowledge or preparation. A couple of them had never even been camping. The multiple POVs showed us that each of the women was carrying personal demons as well as backpacks, and at least one of them had a health condition that would have led anyone who knew anything about the rigors of the trip to advise against even attempting the hike. This context really prevented me from being able to lose myself in the story.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the advanced reader's copy. In return this is my unbiased review.

Great thriller. From beginning to end this book kept my attention. It was well written with interesting characters that can make an imprint in your head. Although somewhat predictable the author kept the plot exciting to keep the reader involved.

Lucy Clarke's "The Hike" features a group of friends getting together for a hiking vacation in Norway. The mountain they hike on presents many dangers - not only to their physical beings but friendships. This is a cool thriller - and. diverse group of friends with secrets and animosities, Clarke writes well and knows how to maintain the pacing and to spill just enough of the secrets to keep you guessing. It would be a good beach read - if only it didn't come out at the tail end of summer.

Grade B

Publishes on August 29, 2023

Four best friends on vacation, hiking in Norway. Everything seems fine until…someone is following them, an impending storm, a treacherous climb, and a possible killer on the loose. The Hike by Lucy Clarke incorporates those elements to put the reader on a wild trek up the trail to Blafjell.

The Hike is a story of friendships, trust, and survival. Each character must overcome inner conflicts and battle nature and outside forces beyond their control. Deep secrets, dire warnings, climate changes, and broken relationships test the four women who just want to spend time together. Will all meet these unexpected challenges?

I enjoyed the four POVs and plot twists that had me on the edge of my seat. Lucy Clarke creates an entertaining story fit for a blockbuster movie. I thank NetGalley for allowing me to read and review The Hike. #NetGalley #TheHike #thriller

I'm not letting any of y'all talk me out of my opinion, I loved this book! Did we all have a big mountain/Everest phase or was that just me? After reading so many memoirs told from mountaineers, I was super excited to read this book! A dash of thriller set in the wilderness sounds like my scene.

The story is told in alternating POVs from all four women, a group of friends who have been close since their teenage years. Each of them is going through their own life stuff, and their annual trip each year is a chance to come together – what could go wrong? There are enough red herrings to keep it interesting, and there were a few moments where I was genuinely shocked. I felt like the pacing was really good, and there was a lot going on, but never so much that it felt unrealistic. The fact that all of the women in the group are reported to be newbie hikers certainly helps set the scene – at times you're screaming at them like horror movie style because some of the things they do seem so obviously wrong.

Basically a one sitting read for me, rounding up because it was 4.5 stars!

The Hike

Lucy Clarke

This was an interview story about 4 friends who hike up Blafjell in the Norwegian wilderness. They are met with many challenges along their route and learn who they can and can’t trust. Then the unthinkable happens.

I really enjoyed this book. Thank you to Netgally for the ARC copy!

✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ / 5

#bookish #bookstagram #booktok #book #readersofinstagram #readthis #goodreads #goodreadschallenge #bookchallenge #lucyclarke #thehike

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins for the ARC!

This book is a solid thriller. This is my first read of Lucy Clarkes and I was not let down. There was tons of conflicts and twists and turns. I loved reading about the four best friends and how they got to this hiking trip and all the things that unfolded during the trip. There was at least 3 times when I really thought I had it figured out- only for Lucy to throw another curveball in.

•4/5★•

"Is the woman...alive" Mother & daughter look at one another. Cold fear slices across his body. "We do not know. She was not moving."

The Norwegian forest seems like the perfect place to lose yourself – until a body is found lifeless at the bottom of a ravine.

Somewhere out there, someone knows exactly why a woman has died. And in this deep, dark wilderness, there’s a killer on the trail . . .

This book was exactly what it claimed to be, a vacation thriller where the personal histories of each woman played a signifcant role in their future. It was a fun romp through the Norwegian forests and mountains with a fairly diverse cast of characters with an ending that actually surprised me!

Thanks again to netgalley for showing me this ARC so I could find a new author to follow!

Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy!

A group of girlfriends take an annual trip away and this year someone picked a hike in the Norwegian wilderness. When they first get to the small town and hotel for the night, they learn about some of the locals and a death that remained unsolved. Hearing these stories made a few of the ladies concerned but they opted to carry on. During the hike they encounter some of the locals and weird things are left along their path/camp sites. When the weather takes a turn, things really begin to escalate as they uncover drugs and then realize who ever owns those drugs will be looking for them. The story bounces back and forth from the ladies perspective and a town local. Interesting story line and made for a quick read!

The story starts off with a bang, which always hooks me. It kept my attention and was quite entertaining throughout.

A good book about friendship and survival. There were a couple major twists but they didn't come until pretty far into the story. I felt it was a little slow to develop but enjoyed reading about this group of friends and definitely felt the hopelessness and eerie vibes of the hike.

I loved The Hike by Lucy Clarke! So many twists and turns and well timed reveals.
The writing was atmospheric and beautiful while being to the point and pacey. I was transported to Norway and in the company of fascinating, complex women.
Four friends meet in a remote area of Norway to tackle a Hike. Liz, the planner, knows the challenge involved, but doesn’t fully reveal it to her friends, Maggie, Helena, and Joni. Each woman is going through their own personal stuff that despite being ‘best friends’ they haven’t revealed to one another. But the terrain also has secrets that they will have to confront if they want to make it back alive.
Seriously sit back with a glass of wine or a cup of tea and enjoy!

Read if you like:
🥾 Multiple POVs
🥾 Short chapters
🥾 Destination settings
🥾 Hiking and wilderness

I was so excited to read this because I love hiking and escaping to the mountains! It was a slow start to build character development and setting but the tension and mystery was building throughout. I loved how the story shifts through each of their POVs and the exploration of friendship, hardships of life and loss. The suspense and thrill peaks at around 70% and I was flying through the pages to reach the end. Overall, I really enjoyed this story filled with adventure and twists and turns!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for a gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A beautiful, tense read about the messiness of friendship.

I had the best time with this book, and at the core of that was the complicated, visceral friendship between the four girls. You could FEEL it. So many thrillers of this type are hard to get through because the characters are extremely unlikeable and have no redeeming qualities—not so here. I loved each character, for all their flaws and failures, and found something to relate to in each. The highs of their friendship perfectly balanced the lows, and the whole story left a bittersweet taste in my mouth that was perfect. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time.

4.5 stars rounded up. So grateful to netgalley and the publisher for this one!