This was a gripping book from the beginning. I enjoyed the thrill it gave while reading. The storyline was well written and characters developed.

The Resort was a little slow to start but all of a sudden you realize you're extremely invested in the story and you won't be able to set it down. It's one of those novels where you don't know who to trust. Everyone is potentially a suspect on this island. They all seem to have found themselves on the island to get away from something shady in their past, especially Cass and Brooke.

This one definitely kept me guessing (and second guessing) right up until the end!

The Resort was definitely a wild ride.

The story is told from two points of view. Cass, a woman who is obviously running from demons that she wants no one to find out about. And Brooke, a woman who is obviously on a mission to uncover secrets that the island holds.

When a woman dies while out on a hike in the early morning, people begin to get suspicious about what might be happening at this small dive resort in Thailand.

If you are a fan of a twists and turns whodonit, The Resort will be right for you. I will say that the novel got a bit wordy at times and kind of went around to get to the conclusion. But, I enjoyed the reveal at the end.

Thank you so much to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved the setting, and the premise, but the execution fell a little flat. The characters were two-dimensional, and I often found myself forgetting who was who, even with the two main characters. I also wasn’t a fan of the author’s writing style or the long chapters- both slowed the story down, and I prefer a faster-paced thriller. But most importantly, I felt like there was so much explaining to “justify” the final twist.

Thank you, NetGalley for an early copy of this ebook, out 02/13/24.

3.5 stars

Everyone has secrets on the island of Koh Sang.

For Cass, those secrets are the story of the day her younger sister and father died in their shared hotel room. Fleeing the states to escape her public persona as the Hudson Massacre Killer, she's found a family and a career on the small Thai island of Koh Sang. But, when letters show up on her doorstep threatening to reveal her past, she begins to spiral.

For Brooke, it's that her life as a glamorous travel influencer is a means to escape her rough upbringing in Kentucky and her crash out of college years prior. Brooke lands on Koh Sang shortly after the death of another traveler and within days of her arrival, another resort guest is dead. With a dream of once being a journalist rising to the surface, she's sure she can track down who was responsible for both deaths.

But with everyone having a secret, everyone also has a motive to keep the quiet resort running and the guests arriving. That drive will put both Cass and Brooke in danger.

Ochs' debut suspense/thriller trades POVs between Cass and Brooke, who are both trying to uncover what happened to the resort guests. The action is fast-paced, and there are enough twists to keep you guessing. Once you think the murders have been solved, another motive, another secret, and another dark past is revealed. The book races towards a conclusion and it feels like the story wraps up quickly and cleanly...until it doesn't.

It's that conclusion, which I won't spoil here, that feels a bit unsatisfying. Ultimately, it dropped my enjoyment of the book down a few notches, but I think readers of Rachel Hawkins and Mary Kubica will enjoy it.

* Thank you to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review. *

The Resort was marketed as We Were Never Here by way of the The Beach, and I think that’s exactly what we got. Perfect for readers of Rachel Hawkins or Lucy Foley, The Resort sets a thrilling murder mystery on a lush remote island in Thailand. A place that looks picture perfect but contains some ex-pats hiding some deep secrets. Multiple deaths, shady pasts, and nothing and no one is as it seems. And some outsiders are determined to crack the inner circle of ex-pats known as The Permanents to get to the bottom of these suspicious deaths. Unreliable narrators further muddy the waters. The writing started off a little on the slow side to set the scene and as the deaths and secrets pile up, the suspense builds. Well-plotted and well-written, this book had me turning pages as quickly as I could to get to the ending. Also, did not see that final reveal coming!

Author Sara Ochs’s debut destination thriller is a slow build two person POV thriller that exposes the dangers of paradise in a taut, entertaining suspense novel. On the Thai party island of Koh Sang, dive instructor Cassie and social media influencer Brooke, are both likable narrators, but both are escaping from something in their past. They tell simultaneous stories about a mysterious accident that has left dive student Lucy drowned. Another young woman also died shortly before Brooke arrived. Cassie is definitely trying to remake herself at the resort after something happened 3 years ago and Brooke has used all her money in order to investigate something. But what?

The narrative starts out steadily, then finally revs up and produces multiple twists. Author Ochs creates well-developed characters and a plot that kept me engrossed until the very end. It’s gripping and action-packed and the perfect beach read for those who aren’t always in the mood for a happily-ever-after romance. 4 stars!

An audiobook usually enhances the experience, but in this case, I felt that the voices of Cassie and Brooke seemed too similar — I had to rewind too often to the chapter beginning to figure out if Brooke or Cassie is speaking. This is a rare case where I’d suggest reading the book over listening to the audiobook.

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO Blue, gray and brown, but no green.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): YES/NO

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark/RB Media and NetGalley for a free advanced ebook and audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

The Resort is one of those novels that is easy to read, thought-provoking, and one that you don't want to put down. I had a great time reading this book and the twist caught me off guard, which is something that I always like in a book. I'd recommend this one to friends and to anyone looking to get into psychological thrillers.

This thriller is set in a resort with diving classes exploring the ocean around the island. There are twists and turns with all the characters that keep you on the edge of your seat the who time - even through the epilogue.

I appreciated the dual point of views, but it was hard to relate to the main characters. When we learn how the one main character is connected to the other main character - it feels like a stretch.

This thriller wasn’t my favorite but if you are looking for a good edge of your seat book this one is for you.

Thanks to @netgalley and @bookmarked for providing the ARC.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC!

THE RESORT is a twisty, toxic thriller debut from Sara Ochs that you won't want to miss! Featuring multiple POVs and a group of highly suspicious expats on Koh Sang Resort, THE RESORT is the sort of thriller that makes you keep cleaning so you can keep listening to your audiobook. Remote island settings, tropical storms, multiple murders, and constantly questioning who to trust make this thriller excellent. This a great rec if you like thrillers with girls trips, vacations, shady friend groups, or island settings, like ONE OF THE GIRLS, SHE STARTED IT, or THE ONLY SURVIVORS. And since this is her debut, I can't wait for more from Sara!

Audio is definitely the way to go for THE RESORT, since it's done in an excellent full cast (Miranda Raison, Dakota Blue Richards, Joe Jameson, Pema Monaghan).

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark for my free ARC of The Resort by Sara Ochs — available Feb 13!

Read this if you:
🌴 are on vacation and need a matching-setting thriller
🤿 want to make your fear of scuba diving even worse
🐢 don't mind a slower pace in your thriller/suspense reads

Cass is in hiding, but she's doing it in style. She's fled to idyllic Koh Sang, a beautiful island in Thailand, where she's taken a dream job as a scuba instructor and managed to find a tight-knit group to call her family. But things are about to take a turn, because someone recognizes who Cass really is and starts sending her threatening messages. When one of her students turns up dead, Cass starts spiraling and doesn't know who she can trust anymore...

This was an easy, twisty thriller set in a beachy paradise, though I did find it a bit slow for my personal tastes (a whole lot of talking to each other and perspective switching). There are several reveals that I wasn't able to predict, but a handful of others that were obvious to me, including the final one, which was kind of a drag. If you enjoy a slow burn and want to feel like you're in a tropical paradise, this is definitely an option for you!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

First off, I love this cover and the setting of a tropical island. This one is highly entertaining and filled with twists and turns that will keep you guessing!

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this ARC.

I liked this read, but I didn’t love it. I found myself invested half way through and slowly losing interest to the end. The end had a good twist, but by then I no longer cared for the characters.

I’d recommend this to fans of thrillers with drama or newbies to the thriller genre.

Sarah Ochs just became an auto-buy author for me! I devoured this thriller in a day! I loved the fast pace and how unpredictable it was. The ending absolutely blew my mind! I highly recommend you read this!!

Once picked up, The Resort is tough to put down. With all of the different relationships at play, I found myself picking the book up at any free moment to try to get to the answers.

While I was sucked in and overall happy with the last twist, I found the middle to be repetitive and predictable. Reiterations if “I have to confess but he will never forgive me” got a little frustrating after a while.

That being said, it was easy to skim past that and get to the good stuff. If you are looking for a twisty whodunit The Resort is for you! I look forward to reading future books from Sara Ochs.

Thank you SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Resort was a fun, thrilling ride! I enjoyed trying to figure out the twist (I didn’t!), this book really made me think about the people you meet on vacation and what secrets they might be hiding!

This thriller has a lot of appealing things - unreliable narrator (xanax and booze, she doesn't remember what happened, really), small resort that depends on its image (locals don't want bad press!). found family (the most overused phrase ever, like okay you made really good friends we get it, stop saying found family), revenge, multiple murders, incompetent cops, and everyone is a suspect. There is a dark backstory around everyone who moves to this remote Thai island permanently, but we don't ask questions about the past (red flag #1). There are six people in Cass' circle of cheesily named Permanents. We aren't welcoming to newcomers (well that's normal), and If someone dies on our island we immediately blame the victim and act like it didn't happen (red flag red flag red flag).

So we are set up for a pretty interesting story. We find a dead body, we learn about a girl who fell off a cliff on a hiking trail a month ago, and we learn that anyone who asked questions gets shut down pretty quickly.

There is a second narrator, Brooke, who is an instagrammer with a hidden agenda. Lots of mixed motives and agenda going on here, and while it was a bit of a slow build, once it got going, it went fast. This was a pretty good read, but there were some things that annoyed me.

1) I hate the small town "Must keep our reputation" vibe. Resorts aren't to blame for psychos being murdered. And why would you pick tourism over justice? Oh, you have something to hide, then let's not make the resistance the whole story.
2) Brooke's revenge plot was misguided, while she admits that later, it was way too late
3) I hate when MCs allude to their mysterious secret for half or more of the book. We get it, you have a dark past, we are waiting and waiting to find out why. We could have found out Cass' secret much sooner. In fact, once I realized what it was, why did she even try to hide it? That didn't make a ton of sense to me.

I was really annoyed with the last chapter and how everything was wrapped up in a pretty bow, until the epilogue. That final twist really helped.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend you read it if you like thrillers and murders and beach resorts. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!.

This just didn't work for me. I thought the way that mental health issues were so frequently used as plot devices to be somewhat insensitive and off-putting, if not just inaccurate in its representation in general. The characters weren't dimensional enough to feel real or be believable, especially in their motivations. Some of their choices and actions just felt ridiculous, like caricatures of person. I didn't find the twists all that surprising. I felt like we knew everything before the characters, which I don't love in a thriller. I thought the atmosphere of the island was lacking in its development, it felt like it could have been taking place anywhere while reading. Some of the major events we didn't get to really experience because of a certain trope with one of the POV characters. I feel like the bare-bones and concepts of a great story were there, but the execution needed more developing and reworking to make the reading experience better. I was really looking forward to this one, but it was rather disappointing to me.

This was a fantastic debut. This was a slow-burn thriller, but the twists kept you hooked. The ending made my jaw drop.

Cass is a dive instructor on a remote island in Thailand. Newly engaged, her life on the island seems to be thriving. But she's keeping a lot of deep secrets about who she really is, and why she fled her old life and ended up on the island. Someone knows her secrets and is threatening to reveal them if she doesn't tell the truth. But when someone is found dead on the island things are bound to come out.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the eARC in exchange for a honest review.

Great beach read! I enjoyed reading The Resort by Sara Ochs, her characters were complex and very intriguing and the mystery kept me page-turning while the bodies were stacking up. The setting was beautiful and you felt like you were on a vacation in Thailand. The twists will keep you guessing until way past your bedtime!