What do you get when you drop members of Sex and the City + Daisy Jones, lifelong friendships, yet a bundle of secrets in the woods? This book!

For a domestic thriller, I rather enjoyed this! A slow burn for about 60% of the book painted the friendships & fictional mountainside so well!! Like, how much was shown not told was very captivating! I was drawn in and happily strapped in for the trip and enjoyed watching the full characters unfold before me.

The twists were well done and had me flying through paragraphs to see how the last 40% would unfold.
The ending was sooo good, too!
It was great to see how the characters developed, too.

The Hike was a good, fast-paced book that feels like a combination of a mystery and novel about female friendships. Four women nearing 40 who have been friends since high school go on a 4 day hike on a across a mountain. They're unprepared for what a hike like this would entail from a knowledge and enduance perspective. A few things give the story an ominous feel: hen they arrive, the locals tell them a woman disappeared on this hike one year prior and hasn't been found; a few locals feel somewhat creepy and have mysterious backstories; one of the women knows a big storm may be coming.

The women head out on the hike and intertwined with those chapters are the chapters of one of the locals working on a rescue/body recovery of an unknown female hiker.

The book kept me reading and I was curious to see what happened next. I lked the pacing though I wish I'd have known a bit more about each of the four hikers. .Their backstories felt a little rushed.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Four childhood best friends set out on a hiking trip where they leave with only the bare minimum and are set to hike up a large mountainside in Norway. Liz, the organizer of this annual girls trip is fit and trained for this event. The other three did not take it seriously, and are struggling to finish the hike..
Lots of craziness on the mountain lies ahead.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

First, I would like to thank Netgalley for the arc of this book. When I first started this book, the prologue sucked me in instantly. I had such high hopes for the book, and it fell a little flat to me until about halfway through. I didn't want to stop reading, just a slower burn than I would normally have with a thriller. With that being said, I gave it 3.5 stars. My first book by Lucy Clarke and I will be checking out more!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I honestly have mixed feelings about this. This claims to be a thriller, but I didn't really find it thrilling. It really reads more like a drama than a thriller. That's not to say I didn't like the book. I enjoyed the writing style; there's a bunch of detail inserted without being an info dump, and the imagery is very vivid through said details. I was interested in each character and their backstory. The plot was engaging enough that I easily kept reading, but it was too slow paced (for me) to be considered a thriller. There were some tense moments yes, but I didn't really get anything from the "suspects" presented in the book. None of them really instilled fear or had a foreboding presence. When the "big reveal" came, it was almost as if the author tried to hard to make it unexpected, but the shocking moment fell flat. And the ending just bummed me out altogether.

This book was a little slow for me. Everything ties together nicely at the end and the book does pick up about half way through. Every year four best friends take turns picking their next vacation journey. This year is Liz's turn to choose. Liz, Helena, and Maggie are all getting ready for their backpacking trip but no one has heard from Joni yet. They finally get to Norway to begin their trip hiking Blafjell Mountain. They are all spending time together in the lodge when Joni shows up! They next morning they begin their journey. There's something about Blafjell Mountain that doesn't feel right but no one can place it, they always feel like they are being watched. Back at the lodge, there is a rescue alert for a woman that fell off a cliff on the same trail Liz, Helena, Maggie, and Joni are hiking. Are the best friends really alone or are they being watched? What will happen to the four women? Will we find out what secrets they've been hiding for each other?

Four best friends - Liz, Joni, Helena, and Maggie - set off on a four day hike through remote Norwegian wilderness. The lifelong group of friends takes a yearly trip and takes turns deciding where to go. This year, Liz, a type-A doctor whose marriage is on the rocks, decides that what she and the girls need is the healing power of walking. She encourages her three best friends - Joni (a rock star with substance use problems), Helena (a city girl who would never be caught ~dead~ without her lipstick), and Maggie (a sweet, single mother) - to ascend a literal mountain with her for this year's trip. The route that Liz selects for them to take is described by the locals as being a "thin place" where the dead are closer to the living. Upon arriving, they learn that Maggie is a ~dead ringer~ (sorry for these puns) for a girl who went missing on the mountain almost a year to the date before. Told from multiple POVs, this thriller winds between the past and the present. Four women started off on the hike - how many will come back?

I enjoyed this one! I read it essentially in one sitting. This atmospheric thriller was a quick, easy read with lots of suspense. I especially enjoyed the focus on female friendships.

Thanks so much to Lucy Clarke and Penguin Group Putnam for this ARC through NetGalley. The Hike will be available for purchase in late August.

🏔️ ℝ𝔼𝕍𝕀𝔼𝕎 🏔️ • 𝙰𝚁𝙲 •
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒊𝒌𝒆
Author: Lucy Clarke
Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕
Format: E-📖

This was a super fast paced pace thriller! It follows the story of four women who have been friends since childhood and vacation together ever year. This year they are spending four day hiking in the mountains of Norway. All the while trying to hit the reset buttons in each of their lives. The the trip plays out they discover that they might not be the only one looking to lose themselves in the wilderness. If they aren’t careful, not all of them will make it home…

Likes:
• The beautiful imagery of the mountain and beach!

• How each of the four women have traumas and conflicts they are trying to overcome while on this trip. And that you are given little snippets of their history together!

• The multi POV. I love when this type of story telling works!

• All of the little towns people from the lodge! They each had their own little quirks and personalities that lend to the mysterious nature of the book!

• The thrills and twists: Yeah sure, they were pretty predictable, but they were still good twists! And the largest point of contention, did not see the resolution of that one coming! But I did predict all of the little hiccups that happened along the way!

• Also the emotions that are drawn out of you! I actually cried during this once or twice! Not sure if it was just because I had finished ACOWAR right before this one or not, but I still got emotional!

Overall, this was your standard thriller and was not life changing like a Karin Slaughter book by any means, but it was still entertaining and had you are the edge of your seat! It was fast paced so it really helped make the suspenseful vibe and increased your need to finish the book! I would definitely recommend this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam Books for granting me the ability to read the ARC! Publication for The Hike is August 29, 2023!

This is my first Lucy Clarke book and it did not disappoint.

Liz and her three best friends go on a girls trip every year. This year Liz has planned a hiking trip through the mountains of Norway.

This book took me to the mountains without having to leave my couch. I was kept on my toes the whole entire book trying to figure out who the killer was.

The book did not go the direction I thought it was going to go by reading the description. I also feel like the ending before the Afterwards kind of rapped up quickly. The afterwards was great and a ending to the book.

Even with that I was entertained the whole entire time. I felt myself picking up this book every second I go a free moment. This is a fast paced survivalist thriller.

I will definitely be reading Lucy’s back catalogue.
Thank you NetGalley and Penguin for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Disclaimer - avid hiker here - note - never get into a fight with Mother Nature you will not win no matter the extenuating circumstances.

First the characters are very vibrant and come off of the pages. 4 women who were best friends since school have an annual retreat and this hiking trip was this years trip. Each character has her place in the group - her strengths and weaknesses and how they tie together.

What threw me off and what is keeping me from giving this a 5 star was the timeline. How on day two is there a search started and for whom ? When you read this you will understand what I am saying.

There was some omg moments to look forward to and some eeek! moments and some slap that girl silly moments.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!!

Four friends plan to hike a dangerous peak in a remote part of Norway…. What could go wrong.? I loved the authors use of the remote wilderness as a character. Told by a different narrator each chapter and it left me wondering what was going to happen next. This is a fast paced thriller that kept me entertained.
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to reading this book in exchange for an honest review.

Friends since their school days, Liz, Maggie, Helena, and Joni take a vacation together every year, most of which have been spent on a beach. This year, they challenge themselves to climb a mountain in Norway, for which none are prepared. They also aren't prepared for murder, but they aren't alone on the trail.

This book is very atmospheric, with the Norwegian scenery crystalline in the prose. While the climax and resolution aren't as tight as the suspenseful leadup--and they rarely are in thrillers--the book is a very enjoyable read. I look forward to checking out more of Lucy Clarke's work.

#TheHike #NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an E-Arc copy of this novel. A edge of your seat novel that will have you rooting for Liz!

This was my first Lucy Clarke book, but won't be my last!
This was a little bit of a slow burn for me, and took a while to introduce the characters at the beginning, but it was a good one. The plot and story line were good, and it was a great thriller! As an outdoors person, I really enjoyed being able to relate well to the story. Great descriptive writing.

Thank you, Netgalley for this ARC! I appreciate being chosen to read this before the release date!

I’ll admit, I’m not an outdoorsy person, at all. I couldn’t relate to a group of women wanting to take a hike up a huge mountain for their holiday/vacation. However, I have read other books by Lucy Clarke, and I knew if I was going to like any book about the subject, it would be written by her. She really brings the scenery to life, and while yes, this isn’t a romance in any way, she made it beautiful. The story itself really reels you in. It has short chapters which I love, multi narratives as well, which I love. I stayed up late a few nights reading this book and finished it in the early morning since I couldn’t finish the last hour or so. I highly recommend this book, it hooks you from the start and keeps you guessing.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice: 🌶️

A couple of pages is all it took for me to be invested in The Hike, there was so much foreboding I was anxious from the get-go.

Four lifelong best friends decide for their yearly vacation that they are going on a four day's long hike in the Norwegian wilderness. Four women who have previously spent their annual trip on a beach or by the pool. Only one of whom had even been somewhat training for their adventure. Yeah, this trip wasn't ever going to go well for them, even without the murder.

Liz, Helena, Maggie, and Joni are in varying degrees of a midlife crisis and use this trip as an excuse to distract them from their own problems. Honestly, I felt like they all were kind of awful, each making mistakes and deliberate choices.

Liz chose and planned the trip, and did not let any reasonable doubt or concern get in the way of going. She was incredibly self-centered and knowingly withheld information, putting her friends at risk several times just so that they would go climb Blafjell with her.

Helena was maybe my favorite of the four friends, though she make just as many bad decisions as they did, both in her life back home and while in Norway. Her character was the most unforgiving and she felt stuck up at times.

Maggie was such a difficult character to feel sorry for because she felt so sorry for herself. She was the stereotypical whiny, wet blanket of the group but also went through the greatest character development, so her character was bearable by the end.

Joni, the wild child, was so free but trapped by her fame. She might have been the most desperate of them to get away from her problems but was unable to run from her demons in the end.

The Hike is written in multiple POVs and it did get tiresome. Though they all had distinct voices, I still found myself forgetting whose head I was in.

Almost everyone in the book is a suspect, and it seems like you can’t even trust your friends. There were so many twists and turns, I never knew what to expect next. I'd recommend The Hike to anyone who enjoys thrillers with a splash of drama and plenty of outdoorsy adventure.



*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Lucy Clarke has done it again! If you haven't picked up one of her titles, you are definitely missing out.

Four childhood best friends set out on a 4 day/4 night "wild camping" hike, where they leave with only the bare minimum and are set to hike up a large mountainside in Norway. Liz, the protagonist and organizer of the event, is fit and trained for this event. The other three did not take it seriously, and have blisters and are physically and emotionally drained after day 1. With another 3 days left, how are they going to make it back to the lodge? When we find out that the close-knit group of friends are hiding secrets from one another, you know we are in for a wild ride of twists and turns!

I read this book in one sitting, and I was sad when it was over! The descriptions of this fictional mountainous side in Norway make we want to book a ticket there YESTERDAY.

I love Lucy Larke and was so excited to be approved for this book. Let me tell you, The Hike did not disappoint! 5 stars for me! Don’t want to spoil the book but believe me when I say you need this one on your shelf!

This was my first Lucy Clarke book and it will not be the last. I loved everything about this book. It was fast passed and kept me guessing until the very end. Thank you so much NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Loved it! This book was filled with twists and turns that has you on the edge of your seat....er....cliff! (You'll get it when you read it!). After reading so many books, it seems only natural to me that I think ahead to what possible outcomes could be. I was doing it the...entire...book. It is totally unpredictable and my guesses were wrong!