I feel like this book is a bit of a hidden gem. I haven’t heard much about it at all, and I had it tucked away on my Kindle for quite some time. Anyway, I finally decided to read it and really enjoyed it.

There were a lot of moving pieces in this thriller, and I thought it was clever. It kept everything at a good pace and kept me guessing until the end. There were some twists that I wasn’t really shocked by, but there were some that I didn’t see coming at all.

The ending was a bit open-ended, but in a very satisfying way. I felt it kept with the ominous vibe of the book, and I think it would’ve been a bit anti-climactic to actually reveal everything that was going to happen at the end.

It wasn’t the most jaw-dropping thriller, but it was entertaining and well written. If you’re a thriller enthusiast, I recommend you check this one out.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books for my gifted copy!

Unfortunately I was unable to download this book before the archive date, so I'm not able to leave a review. I look forward to reading and reviewing books by this author in the future.

A few summers ago, all of America was obsessed with the Gabby Petito case. It was all you heard about on the news for weeks, and this book has not so subtle undertones of that (even directly referencing it). A YouTube influencer who goes missing in the Bahamas, with all signs pointing to her boyfriend.

This book checked all my boxes: a fast pace, unlikeable characters, multiple points of view, more than one twist, an open ending . . . what's not to love?

One reviewer called it a popcorn thriller and I couldn't agree more. Really enjoyed the writing style (I didn't realize that a) it was a debut novel; and b) it was written by two people under the pen name Rachel McGuire. I will be on the lookout for more books by this (these?) author(s).

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of On The Surface by Rachel McGuire!

A fun, light thriller that is a bit thin on quality of plot, but an enjoyable ride nonetheless.

This was a good premise for a thriller and I loved that there was nothing either icky or tragic about the plot. It’s meant as an escapist read and in that respect it delivers.

The whole cruiser community is the most interesting part of this, and I would have liked a lot more about living full time on a boat and about surviving at sea when the plot eventually calls for it, rather than quite so much endless side-eying (both literal and figurative) of all the characters amongst each other.

It’s sort of predictable what happens in this if you’ve read Gone Girl, which I think is ok as long as you’re not married to the idea of a twist that will surprise you. The plot has some holes, and I’m not sure why the author went with a bit of a vague ending since this would have been easy enough to sew up firmly without changing anything about the trajectory of the story.

'On the Surface' by Rachel McGuire is a fun modern psychological thriller. A YouTubing couple are sailing the world until one of them goes missing. The investigation exposes secrets an unknown motivations.. The story is intriguing and the writing gets the job done. Don't look to deeply and just enjoy the story.

"On the Surface" by Rachel McGuire is a slow-burn thriller that revolves around a YouTube cruising couple anchored in the Bahamas - it's the kind of story that podcasts and TikTok deep dives are made of!

The book begins with the death of a young woman, before moving to the present. We're introduced to Sawyer Stone III and Dani Fox, a young couple in love and living the high life, with Dani documenting their life on their YouTube channel 'Sailing with the Foxes' as they attempt to make a living from it

It sadly reads true to life, with the Gabby Pepito case springing to mind when doubts around their relationship and Sawyer's involvement start to take shape

Sadly however, the wheels fall off. The ending left rushed as the pacing was quite slow until what felt like a sudden "OMG, we have to finish the book" ending

It started off as 4 stars and ended as 3

Devious and twisty. loved it! Thank you netgalley and publisher for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

I requested this book because i loved the cover and i love a good thriller! In this book, a YouTubing couple is sailing the world when one of them goes missing after a boat party! There are initially concerns that she drowned, but a darker side of her realationship is quickly revealed.

I loved this thriller and cannot wait for more of this author. Thanks for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

This book is a captivating, fast-paced thriller that blends the carefree sailing life with dark twists. Sawyer and Dani’s idyllic world unravels when Dani vanishes, and the prescheduled video posts reveal cracks in their seemingly perfect relationship. The tension builds with each twist, and Inspector Veronique Knowles’ investigation adds a grounded, compelling layer to the mystery.

The Bahamas setting is vivid and atmospheric, heightening the sense of unease. Just when you think you have it figured out, another twist hits. Fans of Something in the Water or Saint X will love this gripping, sun-soaked psychological thriller. Highly recommend!

Dani and Sawyer have a YouTube channel chronicling their adventures sailing around the world. One morning, Sawyer wakes up to discover Dani is missing, and he has no memory of what happened. Soon, a prerecorded video of Dani is posted, and Sawyer is the prime suspect in her disappearance.

On the Surface is told through multiple points of view. The characters are complex and mostly unlikable. The setting is unique and atmospheric. The writing flows well and makes for an enjoyable read.

An intriguing and twisted thriller. On the Surface is good for fans of domestic and psychological thrillers.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Holy Yowza! Rachel McGuire delivers one heck of a book with On the Surface, a story as twisted as they come. This dark and unflinching tale follows Dani, a shallow travel influencer dripping with conceit, and her equally self-indulgent partner, Sawyer Stone, a privileged rich guy. Rarely do I find myself disliking both main characters so strongly, but that’s precisely the intention here—and McGuire pulls it off brilliantly.

Dani and Sawyer are calculating and exploitative, using each other and their audience in ways that make them utterly detestable. Yet, despite my deep dislike for them, I couldn’t stop turning the pages. The plot is so gripping, and the storytelling so masterful, that I had to see how their tangled, toxic web would unravel.

The characters are incredibly well-written, even if you’re rooting for their downfall rather than their success. I kept hoping for some form of redemption by the end, but McGuire doesn’t give us the closure we might crave. While I knocked off a star for the lack of resolution, I can’t deny that this was a terrific, edge-of-your-seat read.

On the Surface isn’t for the faint of heart, but if you’re looking for a dark, twisted story with deeply flawed characters and a plot that keeps you hooked, this one is worth diving into.

Thank you Netgalley, Crooked Lane Books & Rachel McGuire for the arc!

3.5 stars, really.

Sawyer and Dani are “cruisers,” people who live on boats and sail around living life on their own terms. But tensions have been high, as the couple head to a birthday party aboard a fellow cruiser’s boat. The next morning, Dani, a YouTube influencer, is nowhere to be found. Sawyer becomes the number 1 suspect in her disappearance and with him unable to remember anything about the night in question, he’s in the fight of his life, for his life.

This book alternates between multiple POVs: including Dani and Sawyer’s, as well as the investigator on the case and other side characters.

I won’t give anything away, but this story has a lot of great tension and suspense, but when the twists are revealed, some of them are fairly obvious. Some, on the other hand, are pretty good. And I certainly kept turning pages, which overall, I take as a win for the book. I’ve said it before, I don’t mind if I can guess the outcome of a book, it’s whether or not the author can set up a situation that keeps me reading and intrigued.

Really, the main “thing” about the book is that neither Dani or Sawyer is likable at all. They’re both pretty vile people. Which kind of makes you hope both of them disappear, if that’s possible, lol. But short of that, you have to go with what happens in the book. In fact, there’s almost no likable characters at all in the book, which means, you’re not too invested in what happens to anyone.

So, I did like this book, but you just have to be aware of its limitations going into it.

I saw another review that basically said this was a gone girl fanfic and tbh I can see that. Saying that I did enjoy the book which is weird because I did not enjoy gone girl at all 😅

It has the perfect amount of twists for me and I am a SUCKER for dual/multiple POV so this book was already off to a great start. What knocked it down for me (other than GG) was the fact I wasn't really sure whether to believe the narrators. Maybe I'm just sceptical maybe I'm just not you'd have to read this to find out...

💭 ᴍʏ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛꜱ:
This was an incredible quick read. I was hooked from start to finish. The short chapters and multiple POVs kept the pace up! You’re easily sucked into playing the internet detective during this book. It’s such an interesting spin on what would happen in this day and age with social media all around us. I did guess part of the twists but it didn’t make it less enjoyable. I loved the cruiser element, really gives it an extra layer.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🤓 ʀᴇᴀᴅ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ:
Quick read
Short chapters
Multiple POCs
Detective stories
Boatlife

ꜱʏɴᴏᴘꜱɪꜱ:
𝘚𝘢𝘸𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘐𝘐𝘐 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘢𝘯𝘪 𝘍𝘰𝘹, 𝘢 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘯𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 42' 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘛𝘶𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭 𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘹𝘦𝘴, 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘌𝘹𝘶𝘮𝘢, 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘴.

𝘖𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘋𝘢𝘯𝘪 𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘢𝘸𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘋𝘢𝘯𝘪 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘶𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘮𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘋𝘢𝘯𝘪'𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦-𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴, 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘚𝘢𝘸𝘺𝘦𝘳.

𝘔𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦, 𝘙𝘰𝘺𝘢𝘭 𝘉𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘴 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦 𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘚𝘢𝘸𝘺𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵. 𝘚𝘢𝘸𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘳?

This was SUCH an engaging and suspenseful book! I was literally shook by some of the twists and turns—it was so gripping. I could not stop reading this book once I started.

Things aren't what they appear to be on the surface: a twisty thriller that would no doubt delight fans of Little Monsters (Kara Thomas), Lock Every Door (Riley Sager) and Everyone Here is Lying.

A book set around social influencers from different views. I mean that premise on its own is enough to pick this up! It’s going to keep you guessing as you try to work out who did what. Loved the interactions with the characters who you may love or you may love to hate. Absolutely gold. Strong 5/5.

I really enjoyed this story: fast-paced and full of utterly despicable characters. I could see this making a great movie - very 'Gone Girl'ish.
That ending, though....

On the Surface by Rachel McGuire is a suspenseful thriller novel. The story in On the Surface is one that does change the point of view between multiple characters in the story giving all sides and told in the current timeline.

Sawyer Stone and Dani Fox have been trying to live their best lives together while sailing around in their sailboat. The idea was once to sail the world but with some bad investments by Sawyer it’s now on Dani’s YouTube channel, Sailing with the Foxes, to fund their adventures as they spend time in Exuma, in the Bahamas.

Living the life out on the water Sawyer and Dani often find themselves surrounded by fellow cruisers while anchored at the islands. One night everyone decides to throw a party with their boats anchored together but when Sawyer wakes up alone the next morning having drank a bit too much he has no idea where Dani is and ends up with all eyes on him when she doesn’t return.

I’ve said before that I love cruising but I also just like being out on the water in any old boat I can be too so seeing On the Surface by Rachel McGuire and knowing it was set in the Bahamas I couldn’t pass it by. The story was a little slow moving overall but honestly I was still hooked into finding out what would happen all the while it was unfolding. What really got me to rate this one at three and a half stars though was I wasn’t overly fond of how it all ended but I’d give the author/s a try again sometime.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.