The Vacation was surprisingly good. It's the story of several people who stayed at the Venice Beach International Hostel. First, there's Tommy, who showed up from England after his two brothers were killed in an automobile accident. And then there's Stuart/Jake, who was a washed up member of a boy band in England. His name was Stuart in the band, but when he left England he changed his name to Jake. He also changed his appearance, as he didn't want to be recognized. He had his own huge secret. Nicole and Eric were best friends from England. Nicole had been a nurse and had inherited a substantial sum from one of her patients, Mrs. Baker. Eric was Mrs. Baker's son and he hated her. As a result, he killed her. Nicole knew nothing about this until Eric finally confessed it to her. Savannah was the daughter of an extremely wealthy televangelist who was also a racist pig. She had a Black boyfriend, Michael, that she was keeping secret but her father found out about him. He was studying to become a surgeon. Her father found him, brought him to his house and smashed his hands and forehead with a sledgehammer. Her father made Savannah promise never to see him again and locked her in her bedroom. She escaped from her home in Alabama and arrived in Venice. She was raped by Ron, who owned the hostel, and she ended up pregnant. Jane became Savannah's roommate and befriended her. She rented a house so that she and Savannah could live there and raise the baby. Matty and Declan were from Australia. Before they left, they robbed a post office and the postman died. Matty had a heart condition and he was dying. And finally, there was Peyk, who was the handyman at the hostel.

The author did a fabulous job weaving their stories together to make a compelling tale. The way the author did it was brilliant. One after thought: Savannah's father had PIs and investigators searching for her. There was a $250,000 bounty on her head, and two of them found her. Michael showed up to rescue her, but Savannah had other ideas. He tripped himself up when he lied to her. She had him pull over and get out of the car. She pulled a gun on him and stole his car.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and couldn't stop reading it. I gave it five stars.

Main Characters:
-- Tommy – originally from England, works the front reception desk at the Venice Beach International Hostel in exchange for a room
-- Eric & Nicole – best friends, were nurses at a hospital in England, Nicole befriended a terminally ill patient who told Nicole stories about when she and her husband traveled Route 66, Nicole and Eric believe that they are in search of some sort of treasure while on a great American adventure
-- Savannah – lives at the hostel, works as an exotic dancer, escaped an abusive and bigoted evangelist father, good friends with Peyk
-- Ruth – originally from Australia, obsessed with A-list actor Zak Stanley, ridiculed by her mother and brother for being unattractive and overweight, came to Venice Beach after winning a contest to meet Zak
-- Matty & Declan – originally from Ireland, best friends, on a backpacking journey across America
-- Jake – originally from England, has spent the past two years backpacking around the world, tattooing coordinates on his body of important places he’s been
-- Peyk – handyman at the hostel
-- Ron – owner of the hostel

This “new” release by John Marrs is actually a re-release and rename of a previous self-published title from 2015, "Welcome to Wherever You Are." It appears that the audiobook was released under the new title "The Vacation" in 2018. The author’s acknowledgements indicate that the book has been re-edited for the new release, but I feel like this was just a way to capitalize on Marrs’ current success. Frankly, he should have left it in 2015.

The fact that this was a re-release wouldn’t have mattered to me if I had known. I have read two previous titles by Marrs and loved them. I previously reviewed "Her Last Move" and suggested that Marrs needed a movie deal because the screenplays would write themselves. I also said "The Good Samaritan" reads like a multi-week run of a "Criminal Minds" episode. I was excited to read this. I wanted to read this. I am a fan.

But not this time.

The short chapters start in the present day, alternating between points of view for all the main “hostelers,” with flashbacks to relevant times in their past that explain how they got where they are. I’m sure the intent is to keep the reader on the edge of their seat and turning pages, but I started to roll my eyes after a while. The number of times the author ends a chapter indicating that the character didn’t notice someone watching or following or listening got a little ridiculous.

These are supposed to be people who are constantly looking over their shoulders because of the bad situations they have escaped. I find it hard to believe they would trust virtual strangers the way they do and be so oblivious to their surroundings in their most vulnerable moments.

I don’t mind books with a lot of characters if they are well-developed. These are not. We uncover each backstory over the course of the book, but their relationships are surface-level. Dialog doesn’t ring true. Everyone has a horrible secret in their past, and the number of dead bodies surrounding these eight people who all happened to end up in the same place…. Let's just say I had trouble suspending disbelief.

And if this is a re-edit, then we shouldn’t be seeing things like “Three days after making headline news, Stuart’s phone him. Three days after making headline news, Stuart’s phone foot East Sussex cliffs.” I know I have an advance copy, but I assume the re-edit started with the original text. I’d hate to see how that read in the first release.

Presented as a thriller, "The Vacation" doesn’t seem to have a plot at all, let alone a thrilling one. Marrs mentions in his notes that the hostel is fictional but based on a hostel he stayed at when he backpacked through America. “Adventure stories,” which is what this seems to be more than a thriller, do not seem to be his forte. This book didn’t need a re-edit. It needed a complete overhaul with the seasoned writing skill Marrs has developed over his career.

I recommend passing on this one and picking up one of the author’s more recent titles.

I am a fan of John Marrs, I have read a number of his books. They are entertaining and a good read. This book however just didn't do it for me. The characters are vapid and shallow. There were too many characters and I wasn't interested enough to keep track of them all. Short chapters which makes for a quick read, which was good as I couldn't wait for it to finish. There was a split timeline which is hard to pull off and I found it confusing and irritating. Lots of twists and turns a few surprises but not enough to really engage me.

The Vacation by John Marrs is a highly recommended psychological thriller. This is the third re-release of The Vacation. It was originally titled Welcome to Wherever You Are.

At a beach-front hostel in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, eight strangers all have secrets and are running away from something. Tommy was traveling with a friend and ended up at the hostel. He works at the reception desk. Savannah is a pole dancer who is always looking over her shoulder. Nicole and Eric are friends and work colleagues from the UK who have traveled all of Route 66 and are looking to find something. Matty and Declan are two best friends from Ireland who appear to be just looking for a good time. Ruth is a quiet Australian woman who has come to Los Angeles to meet her favorite movie star. Jake is an adventurer who has been traveling the world. Seemingly always around, Peyk, is a handyman at the hostel who may be the only one who sees people and events as they really are.

The writing is excellent and Marrs keeps the pace moving quickly with short chapters. The backgrounds and secrets in the stories of the characters are carefully and slowly revealed in the narrative, and they are not predictable. The cast of characters may be large, but they are clearly portrayed as individuals with unique personalities, interests, and secrets, so it is easy to keep track of who is who. The characters are interesting and all very different. Some portrayals are over-the-top caricatures, especially Savannah's father, as are some of the big twists, but everything works together for an entertaining novel.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Hanover Square Press via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Edelweiss, X, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing & NetGalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was an interesting thriller about a hostel in Los Angeles and all the people who were bunking there. Each chapter was super short and focused on a character at the hostel. The chapter often shared a current timeline, but then had a backstory on something that had happened with the character. I know this seems like it could be confusing with multiple character story lines, and also dual timelines; but it really was executed perfectly by the author. This book had it all; sex, drugs, murder, lying, and religion.

I had a hard time putting this book down because I desperately wanted to see how everyone in the hostel ended their story. My emotions were also all over the place this entire read on who I liked and who I trusted in the hostel, but by the end of the story my list of whom I liked completely changed!! (Also, I really enjoyed the epilogue).

Honestly this was a riveting thriller that drew me right in. If you’re looking for an unputdownable book that is extremely unique, this is the one!

Fast paced, fascinating tale of eight strangers staying at a run down backpacking hostel. Everyone staying at the hostel is either running from their past or hoping for a fresh start. Told from different perspectives, by the end of the book you feel as though these people are friends. Impossible to put down, not to be missed.

This was my second book by this author. It was hard for me to follow all the different characters and flashbacks in this one, and it also seemed like nothing much was going on through the book. The other book I read of his left me jaw dropped while this one did not. This is a new version of one of his older works, so maybe his style has changed over the years. I’ll try more from him even though this one wasn’t my favorite.

Thanks to Harlequin Trade & NetGalley. I didn’t realize that this was a rerelease of a book from 2022. When I started reading, I had realized I had read it already. I always enjoy John Marrs, even if this isn’t a favorite of mine!!

Delighted to include this title in the December edition of Novel Encounters, my column highlighting the month’s most anticipated fiction for the Books section of Zoomer, Canada’s national culture magazine. (see column and mini-review at link)

My favorite John Marrs book yet. This book follows eight main characters all staying in a run down hostel on Venice Beach in California. Although there were so many main characters, and switching timelines - it was easy to keep track of who was who and to remember each story.

I literally could not stop reading, and finished within 24 hours. Each storyline was well laid out, with enough missing to make you want to keep reading. I loved each characters story and the turns and twists to the plot as they weave together in a great conclusion to the book.

I loved this book and highly recommend!!

Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
This book is exactly why I have never stayed in a hostel when traveling 🤣 A hostel located in Venice Beach, California…people from all over the world come and go from this tiny, run down hostel, and all of them has their own story, secrets, and past which have brought them here.
There are eight main characters that this book centers around, and at times that got a bit confusing and hard to keep straight, especially with the alternating time lines weaving from past and present. If you can stick through that, the wait is well worth it. I loved the characters, Marrs did a fantastic job with character development, depth to each character, and their stories. I loved the amount of twists that Marrs threw at us with this one, and the short chapters. However, I will say that at times the story did drag on, but I imagine that is because there were so many characters and backstories to be told, that it tended to bog the story down at times. The stories of each character all come together neatly at the end, but almost too neatly? Overall, this was a fun, bingeable read that quickly reminded me why Marrs is a brilliant author, as I absolutely loved THE ONE!

𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞?
If you enjoyed the author’s previous book THE ONE, you should definitely check this one out!

𝐌𝐲 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️4/5

The Vacation by John Marrs
Pub date: December 19, 2023

The Vacation is definitely a slow burn and with a large cast of characters, was a little harder for me to get into then the rest of his books that I know and love.

While I loved the intricacy of the plot and all its twists, I did have to keep going back the first 75 pages or so to see who was who. That’s a me problem, but still, it did take away from the story for me.

On to the good stuff! The meat of the story is wholly unique and once I caught on the characters, I found myself invested in the plot. It’s a web of intrigue and twists and I’m happy I kept at it!

The ending wasn’t exactly a disappointment but I was hoping for a bit more. All in all, very enjoyable but not my favorite story by one of my favorite writers!

My thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing/Hanover Square Press for this gifted copy!

First time I've read this author and I can see why a lot of people like his work , there's just something about that pulls you into his story and once that happens your hooked , so much so that you don't want to put it down , you have to see what happens next . its not just a story it's a puzzle, as will as a maze of twists and turns that will test your comprehension and intrigue you to the point that you have no idea who or what to believe .

The Vacation is full of characters from dark places trying to find their way back into the light. Marrs knows how to intertwine multiple characters paths in ways you weren’t expecting. For me it did start off a little slow but picked up pace halfway through up until the end. John Marrs will be on my radar after this book. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

John Marrs can do no wrong! The king of thrillers. I loved the vacation. Probably my fave by this author so far!

This was my first John Marrs book! I went in completely blind and started reading.

First, if you don't care for multiple POV and a variable timeline, then this book is not for you. I happen to enjoy that so this book was super fun for me. I absolutely loved all the distinct characters and how their lives intersected. The story feels tied together, connected, etc.

I was pleasantly surprised with John Marrs' writing style. I'd compare him to Karin slaughter and Pat Cornwell rather than Freida McFadden and Daniel Hurst, Marrs is a bit more descriptive and wordy in his books and i am drawn to that over the latter.

Overall 4/5 ⭐️ for me!

When I requested this book I didn't realize it had actually been published years ago. It looks like it's been edited and republished.

A group of diverse people find their way to a hotel in Venice Beach. All of them are keeping secrets. There is a lot of good character development in this book, although there are quite a few characters to keep track of. The plot is very creative and well done.

I always enjoy John Marrs and this is no different. If you like psychological thrillers check this one out.

Thank you netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for giving me an advanced review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up

I'm not going to lie I started this book like 6 months ago but only got through about 4% before moving to another book. It felt like possibly one of the longest most drawn out books ever, and I've read the unabridged version of the stand.

That being said I hit my quota for the year and decided to pick up the few dnf books I had. I picked this one up and as I went to work as a substitute teacher, I read, and I read and I read, and I kept reading. I was only like 25% through and couldn't understand why. It felt like I've been reading for hours but really nothing had happened. There were so many characters and so many little things happening it was confused and kind of over it.

The next day I got called to sub again so I took the same book and I was bound to finish it no matter what. that being said about 3 hours into my day it clicked. Bam, things you weren't expecting. People you weren't thinking were linked together. They were linked together in the most atrocious, sad, magnificent ways possible. It really made me go back and think about the little bits that I had been complaining about for the last 2 days.

If you have time and you can make it through about half the book before deciding to keep going, DO IT. This book was really really good in the end, even though it took a decent chunk to get through the tiny details before it all starts to make sense.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. John Marrs is forever a favorite of mine. And this thriller was fantastic. A hostile on the Venice boardwalk that gets travelers from all across the world. What could possibly go wrong?

NEW FAVORITE @johnmarrs.author BOOK!

The One has always been a favorite of mine, and The Vacation was in that same writing style - you have all these different characters and I loved how all their stories came together.

This book was insanely bingeable, it was about 500 pages, but I could not put it down until I finished it. SO GOOD!!!!

This book will be releasing on the 19th, so make sure you add it to those Christmas lists 😉

Thank you @netgally and @hanoversquarepress for the arc in exchange for my honest review.