At first inhad a hard time keeping the characters straight but once I got Into the story I couldn’t put it down. You will ne er meet so many flawed characters & misfits as you’ll find in this book. They are all on “vacation” at a Venice hostel, all worth something to hide or unsolved issues. This book was fantastic!

Book review ⬇️📚

Title: The Vacation
Author: John Marrs
Genre: Mystery
Format: E-book
Pub date: Dec 19th 2023
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thanks to @netgalley and @harlequinbooks for this ARC.

Here is my review ⬇️⬇️⬇️

I was so excited to finally read a John Marrs book! I've seen his books all over Tik Tok and Instagram. When I got accepted for this ARC, I was pumped.

I started reading this book 📚. There were so many characters that I was lost. I couldn't follow the story at all. After 50%, I started to make sense and It started to be more interesting. Before the 50%, I was very disappointed because I really wanted to like a John Marrs book! My rating at that point would have been 3 stars ⭐⭐⭐. But, I kept reading!! Boy, did it switch at the 50% mark. I really enjoyed the second half of the book. The twists kept on coming!! I kept reading because I wanted to know what happened with certain characters. I ended up giving this book a 4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐.

I experienced deja vü and had to figure out how I had already read this new book. Apparently I had previously read this book as "Welcome to Wherever You Are". I did enjoy this book a lot when I originally read it. It is a departure from other Marrs books in that it does not take place in a near-future society but during more current times. Definitely looking forward to a reading a new John Marrs book.

The Vacation
By John Marrs
Pub Date December 19, 2023 previously published April 29, 2015
Macmillan
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Cons- previous title was Welcome to Wherever You Are. It’s terrible for authors to rename books in an effort to sell more books. This loses marks for me.
There are a lot of characters to learn. The dialogue to me was unnatural.
Pros- good twists, compelling read,
This book was not a hit for me.
3 stars

Thank you to #NetGalley and #HarlequinTradePublishing for the ARC of #TheVacation by #JohnMarrs. Another home run for this amazing author. I literally got sucked into all the characters and their journeys. The lies, deceit and the people who weren’t as they seemed to be made it hard to put down.

I am a huge John Marrs fan! I have read all of his books. Somehow, John Marrs always manages to write multiple characters with impressively unique voices. It can be hard to make a large cast of characters unique, but he has done it again! I did not expect all the twists, turns, and connections that led up to the end of the book!

I have read some fantastic books by John Marrs. This was not one of them. The story centers on eight characters all staying at a hostel in Venice Beach, California. We go through the present, far past, and recent past of each of the characters; who they are and what brings them to the hostel. Most are running from something big and trying to sort out their lives. There are a few characters that could have been skipped since their story and actions were so inane.

This was an easy read and John Marrs is a great writer. I was simply bored with the story. I'm not even sure what genre this is. There are some touching moments in the book but I honestly could not tell you much more about the book than this short review. I kept waiting for something to happen, but it didn't. This book was simply not for me, although I will continue to be an avid reader of his.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC. I greatly appreciate it. I do not recommend this book.

Until the very last page this book confounded me. I had absolutely no clue where the author was taking the story or what message he was trying to convey. At first there were so many characters it really took about halfway through for me to get them mostly differentiated in my head. Not to mention almost each chapter also consists of a flashback per character and so the timeline was a tricky thing to pay attention to. This was honestly a page turner because the more you learned you either began to care for a character or loathe them entirely. Even when I thought I had the full picture of someone, the next chapter would come and they'd show their true colors. It all really boils down to this backpacking hostel near Venice beach in California where fate just so happens to bring all these people together, some with a mysterious past or something they’re running away from and then there’s also these connections between a few that will really throw you for a loop. As I was so thrown for a loop throughout the book I wasn’t able to foresee practically anything that happened and in hindsight I really enjoyed that. If there’s one thing this book does well it’s build a thrilling scene. I really enjoyed the book even though I probably looked puzzled or shocked while reading it. I love how taken by surprise I was and for my third read by this author I must say I am really impressed.

The Vacation
By John Marrs
Pub Date 19 Dec 2023
Harlequin Trade Publishing, Hanover Square Press
General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers
Rating: 4.25/5

Despite being a rerelease, I had never read The Vacation by John Marrs, so I was thrilled to review it. As a John Marrs fan, this book checked all the boxes. In comparison to a hotel, I found the Venice Beach hostel to be more intriguing. Each character in the story comes from a different background, so you have to take your time getting to know them all. I was delighted to find out that the plot mentioned Buffalo Springs Lake in Lubbock, Texas. Having grown up in the area, I enjoyed reading about it through the author's perspective.

Stunning twists and surprising connections make the novel an intriguing journey. If you begin to feel confident that you have things figured out, Marrs throws you another red herring. Fast-paced thrillers like this are exciting and entertaining. You'll love this novel if you enjoy mysterious plots where everything is not what it seems on the surface.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the opportunity to review this book! This is another mind-bending thriller by John Marrs!

Today is the day I found out this was a re-release lol

I enjoy John Marrs as a thriller writer, but I do not enjoy John Marrs as a dystopian thriller writer. This one was a miss for me. The story, the writing, the characters just fell flat for me.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

This was a very fast paced book. I found it easy to read, but I did have a bit of trouble keeping all of the characters straight. I thought the ending was a little predictable for my tastes, but that's personal preference.

Thank you so much for a chance to review this one. I was intrigued in the beginning of the book but then got bored. I think I also got lost with how many characters are in this book and the different story lines. I think the author did a great job of going into depth with each character but some of them seem insignificant to the book. IDK, overall it was okay but I had to DNF.

Brilliantly written. I couldn’t put this one down. Such an addictive thriller. Love the way the characters come together….I love when there is such great character development. Love a good twist!

Heads up!

This is a rewrite.

“the Vacation” by John Marrs, is neither new, a thriller, or about a vacation. It’s basically about a group of backpackers’ that come to a hostel at Venice Beach. There are multiple characters, none are well developed, and therefore I wasn’t engaged at all.

Marrs, “The One”, is an incredible Dystopian story. He fully engages the reader and the characters are so well developed, and the word thriller applies.

This novel, was lackluster on all fronts. I had to work and skim to finish it.

Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book was excellent! I loved all the characters, their backstories and how their lives intersected one another’s. A page turner!

This is my first experience with John Marrs and I’m happy to report it was a good one! I will definitely be checking out some of his other books after reading this one. I loved the hostel setting. It gave me the same creepy atmosphere as the Hostel movies did. There are a lot of players in this story and it does take some time to really familiarize yourself with each of them. It’s a very character-driven novel. If you like a thriller where everyone has secrets and no one is who they seem on the outside, then this is the one for you! You will empathize with them no matter how terrible they are at times. It’s a wild ride with shocking twists and deep connections. It will keep you guessing - just when you think you have one of the plot lines figured out, Marrs throws you for another loop. This is one of those exciting, fast-paced, escapist thrillers that I love. Highly recommend it!

Thank you, NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this advanced copy.

This was the first book I've read by John, and I enjoyed it.
I really liked the characters and was excited to see how everything connected but at times I found the amount of characters hard to keep track of. In the end, everything did wrap up nicely.
I thought the dystopian vibes were done well and it was the perfect amount of creepy.

I love the idea of book and using both Venice Beach and a hostel as the setting works so well to create an intricate web. That being said, there are a lot of characters to try to track and while each one seems authentic, none seem fully developed to the point where I am invested. The Vacation is a quick read, but one that could easily be put down.

This book had SO many characters and SO many storylines that I wondered if I would be able to keep them all straight and figure out the connections. What ended up happening is that I wanted to keep reading to know what happened to everyone, and I could not put the book down. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you, NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC.

Unfortunately, The Vacation by John Marrs was... a lot more like work for me. I loved Marss's near-future dystopian The One but could not find a point of entry to this novel. With the exception of a few really lovely moments, the characters felt thin and two-dimensional and the dialogue came off as unreal and overly expository.

The plot, which was peppered with trademark-Marss "last-line cliffhangers" throughout, was interesting enough that I was compelled to finish but, after having reached the end, realized I didn't really care.

I would recommend this book to certain readers but it didn't fully work for me. 2 Stars.