Member Reviews
With her marriage in jeopardy, Liz and her husband decide on a trial separation. Looking to reset her life, Liz takes the opportunity to use this time to catch up with her closest friends on a hiking trip in Norway. But things quickly go awry, and without cell service and a malignant presence seemingly following them, Liz worries that she'll never get the chance to make it home and set her family life right.
This was a nicely paced thriller with the type of Scandinavian setting I quite enjoy. Once things start going off the rails for Liz and her friends, you're never sure what's about to happen, who the "bad guys" are, or who will survive, and the last quarter of the book flew with heart-stopping action. I really enjoyed it, and look forward to more from this author.
Special thanks to Penguin/Putnam for allowing me to read a copy of this book to review through NetGalley.
This was a good thrilling read! It made me a little nervous to go on a hike but I think that just proves the authors writing style was effective! The story started a bit slow but once it got going, I was hooked. I found myself flying through the pages to see how this hiking trip would unravel! This was my first Lucy Clarke novel, but I now understand the hype and hope to read her backlist!
Round up to 3.5 stars.
Quick, page turner that you are able t breeze through. Although this was not my favorite Clarke book, it still kept my interest even though I had a few f the surprises figured out pretty early on..
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and honestly review this book!
I have to say I enjoyed this book. It kept me on the edge of my seat excited to turn the page.
The beginning of the book is a bit slow while introducing each character’s and their back story but now we know who’s who and their relationship. Once they get onward to Norway 🇳🇴 it picks up and doesn’t slow down.
I really enjoyed how much conflict Lucy writes about between the 4 friends and how she transitions each chapter to their point of view, it’s flows very nicely.
This was my first book by Lucy thanks to NetGalley and I can tell you this won’t be my last.
3.5/5
Page turning thriller with a twist you don’t see coming! I really enjoyed reading this book. There were multiple plot twists I never could have anticipated and once the characters were on the mountain and hiking the story was a fast read and really great. Four friends reunite for their yearly get together. This year it happens to be hiking a mountain in Norway which is much more challenging than any of them expected. Fraught with weather, danger, and plot twists galore this is a great page turner! Five stars. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy!
My initial thoughts in the first half of the book was that it was a slower paced thriller, which I was honestly kind of ok with because it seemed to center around friendship and finding yourself and I loved the way it was depicting that. Then the second half is where the thriller part peaks through and I've read so many this year and have been so disappointed with how predictable they've been and this one was not predictable to me which was so great. I rated it a 4 because it could have had a little more suspense and I did wish it was a little faster paced but outside of that I appreciated how different it was for a thriller. It didn't feel formulaic at all.
The Hike is all my favorite things wrapped up into one book: girls trip, hiking, travel, adventure, camping, mystery, and thriller. I loved Ms. Clarke's last book "One of the Girls" and couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy of this one.
Maggie, Liz, Helena, and Joni have agreed to meet up in the Norwegian mountains for a four day overnight hiking trip. The idea was Liz's and she may have been the only one full prepared.
The book starts out with someone dead and you don't find out until almost the end who it is. There are many twists and turns along the way, most which were unpredictable. I loved everything about this book! The setting, the characters, the friendships, the adventure, the mystery, and the thrill! This one was a fast read for me.
I will say I did do a few eye rolls as these 4 friends with no wilderness experience decide to go somewhat unprepared into the mountains of Norway to complete a 4 day hike. However, the author did do a good job at portraying the struggles of inexperienced hikers.
The characters were well developed and each one with their own conflicts of life they were dealing with. This was very relatable to a group of friends that I have.
Thanks to Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Liz, Helena, Maggie and Joni have been friends since secondary school and take a trip together every year. It’s Liz’s turn to plan the trip, and she convinces the group to spend four nights camping in the mountains of Norway. Each of the friends is desperate for escape and struggling with their current life situations.
As they hike, it becomes clear the wilderness also has its secrets, and the people of the closest town have something to hide as well. If they’re not careful, not all of them will return.
I liked this book and was hooked immediately. Each of the friend’s storylines was well developed and had well established starting points. Some of those evolve more during the hike, and I enjoyed the change of perspective from chapter to chapter.
I wish Joni’s “secret” had been revealed more slowly throughout. While there were some clues, I didn’t feel like she was really struggling with that choice until after it was revealed.
I also wish the people in the town were explored in more detail throughout the book. We’re introduced to them on the women’s first night in the lodge but then largely left to take them at face value. We only get additional perspective from Leif while I would have enjoyed more from Vilhelm, Erik, Karin or even Austin. That perspective would have helped to flesh out the reveal of the plot twists.
There are great twists and some angles I didn’t see coming, which normally make me love a book. However, I didn’t feel like there was enough build up throughout to make those twists really feel like twists. We had so little information from what was / had happened outside the group’s hike that anything would have been a twist.
Overall still a really good book, and I would recommend if you’re looking for a quick mystery read.
Three long-time friends book a 'vacation' to hike a Norwegian mountain. It's all pretty typical until they get to the hotel. Not only do they find out that a young woman who looks just like Maggie disappeared on the exact trail they'll be hiking, but apparently, the mountain is said to be a "thin place." Meaning, the border between the living and the dead is thinner. It's also mentioned that there's something on the mountain . . . The other.
This story had excellent, well-developed characters, A beautiful setting, and an intriguing premise. However, it was so, so slow. Nothing really happens in the first 60% of the book. I skimmed a lot of it, wanting to get to the thriller part of this thriller book. In the end, I was left mostly disappointed. The suspenseful 30% was good but it wasn't worth the agonizingly slow wade.
If you like slow builds, this is for you. It's well written and a good story.
I devoured this book. It was so engrossing that i got barely anything done after I picked it up unless I could do it while reading. This was my first Lucy Clarke book and I will definitely be picking up her other titles. I've been missing out because her writing is beautiful.
This is a well-paced slow burner with short chapters and multiple points of view. The scenery is beautifully described. I could picture the landscape so vividly I felt like I was there. The main characters are very well developed and felt relatable and human. I enjoyed getting to know the four women and cared about their fates. The suspense really kicks up a notch in the second half and I just kept turning pages until well after midnight.
A huge thank you to Lucy Clarke, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Four friends go on a hike that has a dark history. They get lost.. what will happen next… I enjoyed this overall
Four friends decide to go camping in Norway, when they get there they find out a woman has gone missing from the same area.. good story
The Hike by Lucy Clarke is a gripping thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. The story follows Liz, who is burnt out from both her marriage and work, as she sets out on a vacation with her three best friends to go camping in the mountains of Norway. As they venture deeper into the wilderness, it becomes clear that they are not alone and that something sinister is lurking in the shadows.
The author does a fantastic job of creating an eerie and ominous atmosphere throughout the book, making the reader feel as though they are right there in the mountains with Liz and her friends. The characters are well-developed and relatable, and their struggles and relationships are portrayed in a realistic way.
The plot is full of twists and turns, and the pacing is just right, with the tension building steadily until the explosive climax. The Hike is a perfect blend of adventure, suspense, and horror, and it will leave you breathless until the very last page. Highly recommended for fans of thriller and suspense novels.
Thanks so much Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for an advance read in exchange for this review.
Four friends travel to Norway to go on a hike. While there, they learn that a woman recently went missing while on the same hike. Will they face the same fate?
This is a slow moving story with some suspense told from 4 POVs. I wish there was more back story to each woman to make the characters seem like more than just a prop climbing a mountain. I thought too much time was spent leading up to their hike. Once they are on the hike, the story gets so much better. I also wanted more on the epilogue to complete the story. This wasn't my favorite of Clarke's, but the writing still shows her talent.
Pleasantly paced with dynamic characters and strong bonds of friendship in a nature setting. Slightly predictable but satisfying. My biggest issue is the number of times lactic acid is mentioned.
“the hike” is the story of four women reconnecting on a hike in the norwegian mountains; and yes, everything goes wrong. these women all have dark secrets that come to light. without much preparation, these women go on their hike and end up in peril.
while some of the prose here is very gorgeous, especially that of the nature, it fell very flat for me overall. the big reveals and literal cliffhangers were predictable. it’s a slow burn, and a fun read, but i was not impressed with the ending.
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review!
Thank you to NetGalley, Lucy Clarke & Penguin Group Putnam, G.P. Putnam’s Sons for an arc of The Hike in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my own & may not be reproduced.
I absolutely loved One of the Girls last year so was super excited to get an advance copy of The Hike.
Four friends take an adventure trip in the Norwegian wilderness. It’s the perfect vacation until a body is found dead at the bottom of a ravine. Somebody knows what happened and they’re still on the trail. Who is keeping secrets and will the others find out before it’s too late?
As with previous Lucy Clarke novels, the suspense and drama is spot on to the point you won’t want to stop once you’ve started so be sure to settle in for the twisty turning ride Clarke has provided you with. Clarke vividly describes the landscape so much so that you feel you actually in it with the characters. The pacing was perfect that characters were written superbly.
You don’t have to wait long for this novel to release. April 27, 2023 is the date and I highly recommend you snag a copy as well as some over her other novels if you haven’t read them already!
4/5 Stars
This thriller is going to be a must read of the year! It absolutely is one of the best twisted, eerie, unputdownable thriller that I have read! This was such a great fast paced page turner. I loved this, give me more like this!!
I just reviewed The Hike by Lucy Clarke. #TheHike #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]
It's fine. I'm not mad at it. I'm not particularly entranced either though. There were a couple of fun cliffhanger-y moments, but the joy of that experience was wearing thin by midway.
Lucy Clarke's newest novel The Hike is an edge-of-your-seat thriller that delves into a fierce and fractured friendship that is put to the ultimate test. When Liz decides that the destination for her annual girls trip with Helena, Maggie and Joni will be hiking a treacherous mountain in Norway, her friends are surprised and apprehensive. Their doubts are validated when they learn that a hiker disappeared a year before their journey... and there are some suspicious characters at the lodge that may have had something to do with her mysterious disappearance. Will all four friends make it back to the lodge or is Karin's death an omen that the trek is too dangerous to survive?