As always, thank you netgalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC of this book. The name, cover, and a fellow bookstagramners review drew me in. I didn't read the synopsis because I wanted to be completely clueless as I read. I didn't love the writing style, and I feel like I solved the mystery a little early on. The characters had zero redeeming qualities to me, and I found myself just wanting to finish it to see if my suspicions were correct. 2.5 stars for me.

I am so thankful to the publisher, NetGalley, and the Author for granting me advanced access to this one before June 11, 2024. This one wasn't for me, but I am still really thankful for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

4.5/5

I really enjoyed this thriller and it helped get me out of my thriller slump! Bad Tourists honestly hooked me straight from the prologue. Three friends go on a girls trip to the Maldives after one of them gets divorced and once there, secrets start to unravel among the three, another tourist is found dead, and there’s some characters with shady backstories that you meet in the story as well. It’s told in multiple POV’s which definitely kept me guessing, especially when you’re not sure who to trust. I thought the story was really well thought out and I didn’t guess the ending. It was twisty and suspenseful—the makings of a great thriller! It’s also a good one to read over the summer given the setting.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This thrilling getaway has some dark secrets. The character development is spot on as each woman grapples with her own demons. There were definitely some unexpected twists in this plot.
Many thanks to Avid Reader Press and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a pretty juicy read. Another good fit for summer - with the Maldives as a backdrop, it's perfect for a beach read. I'll admit I guessed the twist pretty early on, but it didn't detract form my reading. I was just curious as to how the author would get there. Will be recommending to thriller lovers this summer.

T R A P P E D on a T U E S D A Y review 🏝️ featuring “Bad Tourists” by Caro Carver!

BOOK REVIEW: 🖤🖤🖤🖤/5

Three bestfriends embark on an extravagant girls getaway to the Maldives to celebrate Darcy’s divorce … and an anniversary.

These women are bound together for life by the Spinnaker Guesthouse massacre that took place 22 years prior. Darcy and Camilla lost someone close to them, while Kate was the only survivor 🔪!

The Maldives is the perfect escape to unwind and relax … but soon they find that they aren’t the only ones with dark secrets on the island. A body washes up on the beach and a bouquet of roses gets delivered on the day of the massacre anniversary. The three ladies are on edge because it is possible that they could be sharing the island with a killer …

OK CJ COOKE, I see you 👏! I completely devoured this book and once I found out Caro Carver was a pen name for her, I wasn’t surprised why I loved it so much! I have enjoyed all of CJ Cooke’s paranormal thrillers and I am LIVIN’ for this transition into a TWISTY locked room thriller! The shock factor and roller coaster ride of events is WILD and totally threw me for a loop! Well done 👏!!

Thank you kindly to @carverofbooks @avidreaderpress @simonschusterca @netgalley for my advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review. This book releases on July 9, 2024!

I want to start with saying how much I like the cover of this book.

The story is set in the beautiful country of Maldives, where three friends travel to to celebrate one’s divorce but they are also still grieving after a tragedy that happened 20 years back. They are not convinced that a true killer was actually captured and their paradise vacation goes wrong.
This was an interesting and engaging story that was told in different POVs. I was drawn to it since the first page and read it almost in one sitting. Great pacing and twists.

Thank you NetGalley, Simon & Schuster and the author for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

BAD TOURISTS
Caro Carver

The Maldives sounds like an incredible place to visit this time of year. Instead of spending hard-earned cash on long flights to wait in even longer lines, I traveled there with the help of Caro Carver’s new thriller BAD TOURISTS. Out next week.

Three women on a celebratory divorce vacation collide worlds with a desperate woman on her honeymoon with a man she had doubts about marrying. Camilla, Darcy, and Kate are traveling to the Maldives after Darcy finalizes her divorce. Looking for rejuvenation and relaxation in the summer sun, the women arrive with thoughts of fruity drinks and resort massages.

Jade has just given her vows to abide and worship forever when she starts to think she’s made the worst decision in her life. After running into one of the women she starts to think the women are there to serve a higher purpose and help her in some way.

A few days into their vacation a body washes ashore and puts an end to their luxurious vacation. What does the body have to do with the three women and most importantly, what does Jade have to do with solving the mystery?

Although Caro Carver has published before this is my first time reading one of her books. I thought BAD TOURSITS was good, but not great. The story was fairly straightforward. Maybe overly so.

The mystery wasn’t that mysterious and picking out the bad guy from the handful of characters wasn’t that hard. I felt like the book could’ve been set anywhere and instead of the location and setting being a feature it was simply a backdrop.

I would check out Carver in the future and perhaps with a different story and set of characters I might have a better experience. As it is I gave BAD TOURISTS three stars.

Thanks to Netgalley, and Avid Reader Press | Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster for the advanced copy!

BAD TOURISTS…⭐⭐⭐

Thank you Avid Reader Press for making this book available as an eARC on NetGalley!

Well, I can confirm that Caro Carver knows how to take a reader on a wild ride! The book follows a friend group of three middle-aged women from the UK (Darcy, Kate, and Camilla) on their trip to the Maldives. The official reason for the trip is to celebrate Darcy’s divorce, but the secrets that unite these women naturally boil to the surface and soon tropical paradise is spoiled by violence and mayhem.

I am going to try to discuss my thoughts on Bad Tourists without spoilers, which is difficult since so many of my feelings for it are dictated by the twists. I was certainly gripped by the story and had points where I had to see what was coming next. On the other hand, when thrillers have more than 3 POVs as this book does, it sometimes felt unwieldy.

The main thing I need to make clear is that no one should pick up this book without knowing how dark and violent it actually is. I picked it up thinking it would be of the more fun and frothy kind of murder mystery, so I was shocked at how gritty this story turned out to be. I used to read more of these kinds of books, but it is not to my taste anymore.

That said, this book I believe has been optioned to be made into a film, and I think this will be a more effective story to tell on the screen. I give this book 3 stars but I will look out for Caro Carver’s future books since I now know she can be trusted for when I’m in the mood for something dark and twisty.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Bad Tourists by Caro Carver follows 3 women who are connected through a tragic event. Darcy, a recentlly divorced mother of 3 boys has planned a holidy trip with her new frieds Kate and Cameilla, whom they meet through a Facebook page for the familys that has lost a loved one that were murdered in a guesthouse over 20 years ago, Kate was the only person who stayed in the guest house and was unharmed that fateful night. Camillia lost her twin brother Camron who at the time of his murder was on the phone with her. Darcy's true love was also murdered and she never really gotten over that. With the help of a Private Investigator the 3 women are going to find the other person who was involved in the murders. This book was a fast read that held my attention from the first chapter. I have read other books by Caro Carver under the pen name CJ Cooke and absolutley loved those books. If you are a fan of Ruth Ware, Michael Robtoham, Claire Douglas, Sally Hempworth then you will love this book! Thank you to both NetGalley and Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster for letting me read an advanced copy of this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for an advanced digital copy!

Bad Tourists by Caro Carver demonstrates significant potential, but it ultimately fell short for me. The opening chapter is exceptional, generating a powerful sense of suspense that immediately captured my interest. However, subsequent chapters failed to maintain this momentum, resulting in a pace that became sluggish and difficult to endure. While the underlying mystery is compelling and effectively entices readers to seek answers, the narrative unfolds at a pace that is overly protracted, diminishing the initial excitement and making it challenging to remain engaged."

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

This was the first book I read from this author and it won’t be the last.
Three middle aged women decide to celebrate the divorce of one of them with a once in a lifetime trip to the Maldives.
Everything would be perfect if not for the newlywed couple next door who doesn’t look that happy, the lies and secrets beneath the friendship or the murder that happened in this dreamy but very remote location….

A really fast page turner with a lot of twists.

Thank you Netgalley

An exotic setting, plenty of twists, and sympathetic characters...a little more blood, violence, and profanity than I prefer, but who am I kidding? I will read Carver's next book!

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

Darcy is getting a divorce. She and her two best friends head to The Maldives to celebrate. They meet a female guest on her honeymoon and murder and mayhem ensue. If you're like me, you have probably read a lot of books like this one. And again, if you are like me, some stand out a bit more than others. This is one of those. The thing that binds these three women is a bloody massacre that happened 22 years ago. The women have basically never stopped trying to process what happened there. Got your attention now, right? I was hooked from the get-go and the descriptions of the island setting made me feel like I was taking a vacation also. This is a fun, quick read. Perfect for the beach. Or pool. Or living room. Wherever you feel like taking an escape! I look forward to more from this author!

Thank you to #NetGalley, Caro Carver @carverofbooks and Avid Reader Press | Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I will post my review to Amazon, Facebook and other retail and social media sites upon publication.

Three best friends head to the Maldives for a trip to celebrate a divorce. While they are there, they meet a newlywed who is staying in the villa next to theirs. A body shows up on the beach. There are a lot of secrets held by the tourists...including the friends.

This was an interesting read. There are definitely some goods twists and turns to keep you interested.

*Trigger Warning - domestic abuse*

This this is such a great read, assuming tropical vacations, murder, trauma and twists are your thing, too!

Darcy, Kate, and Camilla share perspectives in this twisty novel and readers spend the bulk of the text in the Maldives with them. After all, where better for these pals to celebrate Darcy's divorce? This may sound like the basis for How Darcy Got Her Groove Back, but this could not be further from the reality of this book.

Carver leads readers through time, trauma, twists, and perspectives to reveal what unifies these characters. Kate's story is easiest to jump into at first because Carver reveals her immediate experience as a survivor of a mass killing over 20 years earlier. As the sole survivor, Kate is, of course, indelibly marked and riddled with guilt. She's terrorized by more than just memories. Fortunately, she has these two excellent pals to help her continue processing her past, though, admittedly, they do this in pretty unconventional ways.

In addition to these three, there are a number of other compelling and questionable characters, including but not limited to a very troubled newlywed couple, Darcy's ex and their children, an investigator, a love interest, and several very attentive hotel staffers. Oh, and some hardcore criminals.

This is the kind of thriller that I tore through and when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. Though the end was a little disappointing for me, it's not a bust, and the journey was well worth it.

This was a quick read; a story about three women brought together through tragedy, who vacation in the Maldives. Each one is running from something.

I thought this was a fast paced thriller with a couple decent twists. I enjoyed the characters and the little tidbits dropped to help the reader solve the mystery at the heart of the story.

Thank you Simon and Schuster for the arc. The cover drew me in to BAD TOURISTS and I thought it could be a fun beach read, but it fell flat for me.

The characters were annoying imo and didn’t have many redeeming qualities. I was bored for most of the story. It did pick up towards the end with a lot of action and gore but unfortunately that wasn’t enough for me. I wanted more twists, but found it to be too predictable and not unique.

This was a very engaging read that I finished in one day. The setting was amazing and made me want to go on a luxury vacation in the Maldives, or some other beautiful, remote locale. The plot had plenty of twists and turns, and while the ultimate twist was something I did pick up on ahead of time, it was subtle enough that I didn't feel like the mystery was ruined.

The characters in the book truly live up to the title. I did not envy the resort manager her job of managing all the drama, accusations, special requests, violent outbursts, and of course, dead bodies.

The only thing that I found distracting was the author's choice of writing most of the book in 3rd person, except for the chapters from Jade's perspective, which were written in 1st person. What was the intent behind that? I couldn't find an obvious rationale for it.

Three friends go to the Maldives to celebrate the divorce of one of them. Their friendship is built on grief from a horrible massacre though, and they are convinced the true culprit was never caught. As events unfolds, they start to question who they can trust.

Overall, I thought this was a good read! I will say it is not super suspenseful in my opinion. The synopsis makes it seem like the body shows up early-ish in the book, but it is really much later. So it is less of a we are trapped on an island with a killer vibes and more of a “let’s try to solve this mystery and maybe get revenge in the process.” Still enjoyable but it definitely wasn’t what I was expecting based on the synopsis.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.