Mystery thriller set in Thailand fails to deliver.

A group of permanent residents on the island of Koh Sang, nestled in the Gulf of Thailand, have become like family over the years. Although they have all run from something in their pasts, they now work and live in this resort community and take care of each other. The recent death of a guest has upset the group dynamics, but the permanents have not seen the worst of it yet. A minor influencer, Brooke, arrives on the island ostensibly to promote tourism to this idyllic but relatively unknown SCUBA paradise, but soon it becomes obvious to all that she has an agenda.

This started out well but quickly deteriorated into lots of melodrama and took forever to get to the point. The motives behind the behaviors of all the characters seemed to ring false and the extent of their reactions was quite overdone. I didn't like any of the characters with all their secrets and lies. Their personal traumas and the reasons for each coming to Koh Sang were revealed much too late. It drug on and the detail I wanted to know was so slowly revealed that I was over it all by the time I got the answers. A last-ditch attempt at a final, crazy twist pushed the conclusion into the incredible.

I both read the e-book ARC and listened to the audio recording of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. I am not recommending.

Wow! That ending!!

Cass wanted to start a new life, far away from the memories that haunted her. So, she packed her bags, moved to Thailand, and ended up working as a scuba instructor. For a while, life was good, and she felt like she had finally left her past behind. But little did she know that one day, her past would catch up with her. The question is, will she be able to face it?

I admit the beginning of the story was a bit slow and confusing with the number of characters being introduced. However, once I got into the plot, I found it engaging and it kept me hooked till the very end. The ending was nothing short of mind-blowing! Overall, if you're looking for a book with an unexpected twist, then this is worth a read.

***Thank you to NetGalley, Sara Ochs, and RB Media for graciously sending me the audiobook to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

I was approved this ARC from NetGalley. The Publication date is February 6th. I’m so happy I was able to read this book early.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I honestly don’t usually enjoy the trope of influencers, I think it’s been overdone lately, but this one was different and refreshing.

I was engaged with the book from beginning to end. I didn’t see any of the plot twists coming. I thought I had it figured out, but was very wrong. The author does a great job at making someone seem guilty.

There wasn’t a single character that was reliable. They all had lies and things they ran away from home because of. They weren’t honest to anyone, including their so called friends. I felt like the lies and deception just made this book even better.

This was my first time reading a book by Sara Ochs, it seems to be her second book. I’m looking forward to reading more from her! I thought this book was a fun thriller that is a quick read!

It was hard for me to believe this was a debut novel. The author did such an incredible job of describing the remote location and what a dive resort is like. As a scuba diver and traveler I couldn't wait to start to read this and I think it helped picture the story. As each dive resort is like it's own family. Cassie is a dive instructor who has run away from her past and reinvented herself here. She is engaged and happy. Someone leaves her a note with her old name on it and she can't figure out how they found her.

She is taking her dive group out when a dead body is discovered. This isn't the first tourist to be killed on vacation but are they all related? Cassie wants to figure out what happened to Lucy.

I listened to the audiobook. The narrator did a fantastic job and just when you think it is all wrapped up in a neat little bow they shock you at the end. Well, done. So many moving parts and wasn't sure how it all connected. I can't wait to see what this author comes up with next.

Book Title: The Resort
Author: Sara Ochs – Debut Author
Narrators: Miranda Raison. Dakota Blue Richards, Joe Jameson, and Pema Monaghan
Publisher: RB Media
Genre: Mystery Thriller
US Audiobook Pub Date: February 13, 2024 Original Pub Date was April 27, 2023 in the UK with the title–“The Dive”
My Rating: 4.5 rounded up
Pages: 432

This story is told from the POV of Cass, a Scuba Diver Instructor and Brooke-an influence.
Story starts when Logan, asks Cass to marry him. They are attending the Full Moon Party/Celebration (Yes the Island has many popular parties.
Cass should be over the moon happy but the thought of the note she just received – “We know what you did” is heavy on her mind.

The night after the party Cass is ready to take her students on their first dive on the beautiful island Koh Sang, Thailand. The students are excited. Cass can see their anticipation which is normal. Lisa one of the students is late (everyone was at the party last night so no surprise someone is late!) While waiting Cass goes over some key things she have been teaching ~
1.- Breathe normally if something goes wrong.
2 - Always dive with someone you trust.
3- Don't panic if your oxygen is running out.
However, when she doesn’t show up they continue with their dive plans.
Lisa does show up - dead on the ocean floor.

This is the second time a death has happened recently on the island. Cass somehow feels responsible and wonders if she should rethink her stay here.

Living in Southern California near the ocean and know many divers -however never been interested as I am claustrophobic.
The story has me curious> The UK title is “The Dive” “The Resort” is a better title for me.
This was great!
When I got to the Big Reveal and thought the story ended. I noticed my status showed 76%
I then could NOT put down this audiobook. I am walking around the house carrying my tablet while during household chores.
We discover that both Cass and Brooke are trying to get away from their past.
There are indeed surprises that I didn't see coming; followed with multiple secrets, mysteries, lies, intrigue, and a unique friendship.
Story truly is a rollercoaster ride.

I rated this 4+Stars but after reading THAT Epilogue I rounding up!!!

Problem with this story is now it is going to be hard to start a new read – as I will still thinking
About these characters!

Want to thank NetGalley and RB Media Recorded Boos. for this great audiobook.
Audiobook Publishing Release Date scheduled for February 13, 2024

A fast paced destination thriller. I devoured this one in 24 hours. This one keeps you guessing until the end. A fantastic debut novel.

I love these types of twisty thrillers. This one didn't disappoint on the twists and turns through the end. All of the characters were unreliable, and you never really knew who was telling the truth at any point. The only part that I didn't like were that there were too many characters. Between switching points of view and the number of characters it was hard to keep track at certain points. I liked this author and will read future works.

This wasn’t a good fit for me. I wasn’t drawn into the story and had a hard time telling the different POV’s apart.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book.

This book had so many twists. Right when I thought I knew where the book was going, I was thrown for another loop. I enjoy thrillers where the characters are all confined in a destination and have to go through all they know about each other to see who did it. I enjoyed the multiple POVs in this story and getting to learn more about Cass and Brooke and how they got to where they are.

“I know who you are and soon everyone else will too”…

Cass is a scuba diving instructor on the beautiful island of Koh Sang, Thailand. She leads her students in their first diving expeditions and on one such expedition, finds that Lucy, one of her students is dead. Shocked by coming face-to-face with death, it’s unfortunately not the first death on this island, as a young woman recently fell from a cliff. Cass is no stranger to death either, and hides a dark secret about her past. Koh Sang has been her refuge and place to start over. But it seems someone knows her secret and will stop at nothing until she reveals it to the whole world.

I absolutely loved the setting of this book! I had never heard of Koh Sang, but the author described the island in Thailand beautifully! The atmosphere - the water, the beach - played a pretty big role too. I love “locked room” type thrillers and an island makes for a pretty prefect creepy setting - especially if there are storms rolling in and a killer on the lose! The added role of scuba diving also added another layer of that whole “locked room” - underwater, what if something goes wrong etc. Without giving any spoilers, I felt like each of the characters was well developed and had their own secrets to hide. It was creative how the author tied them all together and wrapped up their stories. It definitely had a Young Adult vibe to it as well, at least for me. I’m not sure what it was exactly but I just didn’t love the story as a whole. Sara Ochs has a great writing style though and I will definitely be reading her next book!

Thank you to Sara Ochs, Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC and RB Media for the ALC! This review will be shared to my instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly :)

I thought I would enjoy this a bit more than I did. The cover is stunning, and it sure drew me in. It is a dual point of view and is a slow burn thriller. The narration was okay, sometimes it was hard to tell which POV I was listening to.
Thank you to Netgalley, RB Media, and Sara Ochs for as advance listening copy. Good for a debut and will try this author again in the future.
3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, RB Media & Sara Ochs for an audio arc of The Resort in exchange for an honest review.

I've had this on my highly anticipated list for a LONG time, so I was thrilled to received the early audiobook.

Sadly, this book fell a bit flat for me. The cover is absolutely STUNNING & I know it will turns heads in the stores immediately.

In a nutshell - Cass has created a new life for herself on a resort island in Thailand after escaping from a childhood tragedy. She has a great life as a diving instructor and just got engaged to the love of her life. Everything is fabulous...........until bodies start turning up.

There were honestly too many characters to try and keep up with. A name would be thrown out and I thought "who the heck is that?" It was just too many. I would say that Cass and Britt are probably the main characters. Britt is on the island under the guise of a social influencer and becomes besties with Cass, however Britt blames Cass for something that happened to her in the past and has come for revenge.

Unbeknownst to them both, there is a bigger enemy to fear who is equally dangerous to them both.

This just wasn't an edge-of-your-seat thriller. It was entertaining enough to keep listening, but at the end, I just said "Meh." The reasoning behind the killings and the whodunit were a bit far-fetched. And the little twist at the VERY end - I saw it coming from a mile away.

I think this book could have been better if it had eliminated some of the characters that weren't really necessary.

Do not trust ANYONE.

I think I would have enjoyed this a bit more had it not been on audio book. I give it a 3.5 🌟

Suspenseful and moody. Full of plot twists and additions that really got the story moving just over the halfway mark. Just when you think the story has hit its peak another twist was just around the corner.

Vacationing on a remote island in Thailand seems like a dream come true, that is until guests start dropping dead.

This is a very slow unravelling thriller, that takes it’s time getting to the juicy twists, but oh man is there a lot of them. There is simply no way of being able to guess how this novel ends.

While I thought The Resort was fairly decent as far as thrillers go, it was not a favorite of mine. I do think I would have enjoyed this story more if I had read it physically rather than as an audiobook, as I saw someone else mentioned, it gets a little hard distinguishing between the two POV’s. In addition, I didn’t really feel connected with any of the characters.


That being said, it was a very nicely written thriller, especially considering this is Sara Ochs’ debut novel. I’d recommend this to reader’s who enjoy a slow burn of a thriller.

Big thanks to Netgalley, RB Media and the author Sara Ochs for allowing me to listen to an audio-ARC of this novel.

Thank you RB media for the audio copy of the resort. This is one audiobook that didn't quite work for me, I preferred for once the physical book and I am a big fan of thrillers on audiobook. The book/plot itself is engaging once you let it pick up, the start is slow, and the story is fun and escapist for thriller fans if you stick with it.

The narration though didn't work for me, I am not sure if the narrators were the best choice to really develop the style of the author, the pacing, and some of their narration was slow (some of that has to do with the writing though) and the tone/inflection and somewhat flat reading from some performances made listening to this book less fun for me.

DNF
This was very descriptive and dull. I did not find characters people I could connect with... I threw the towel in early. The start was not engaging enough for me to lock in and continue reading.

3.5 stars

This is my second reading of this book. The first read was on an ebook, and I found Brooke and Cass difficult to distinguish at times. Thus, I was excited to listen to the audio version. I suspected this might help me keep them straight, and it did. In fact, I bumped up my original star score just a bit with this version. Here's my original review for the ebook:

Brooke and Cass share perspectives in this mystery/thriller that has an ending to remember. I wish I had been less excited to arrive at the ending and more interested in the journey.

While Brooke and Cass have pretty distinct situations, I found them weirdly indistinguishable at times. Often, I'd have to jump back to the start of the chapter just to be sure I was on track with the correct character. Every character - Brooke and Cass included - has secrets, and at times, the slow burn to figure out what these are is too drawn out and then is followed up by some sort of explosive revelation (and all of these require TWs: grooming, rape, and child abuse). Readers who have experience in locations heavily populated by expats won't be surprised by what they find at this resort, and Ochs does use this trope - pulling a geographic - well. Guess what? It turns out you still can't outrun your troubles, even when you're trying to do it with a tropical backdrop and mai tais (at perhaps the most irritatingly named bar in all of literature. Frangipani? I've been to a lot of tropical bars, and the GREAT branding options are boundless - this one is just criminal).

The ending is pretty solid, and it saved me from real frustration with the novel overall. That noted, I'm going to recommend this one tepidly. It's not terrible, but there are many other recent mysteries and thrillers that are just more compelling. I do think there's promise in this writing, so despite the lackluster vibes on this one, I'll try more from this author.

*Another update for the audiobook: Again, I enjoyed this version more than the ebook. When I recommend this, it'll be with more enthusiasm than I originally suggested.

I read this and I liked it enough. It was okay. It was twisty.
I absolutely love this one as an audiobook! I was enthralled!
The narration is wonderful!.

This book gave me the reckless girls vibe. The audiobook was a great way to read/listen as it was slow at times, especially in the beginning, but the second half was much better. Would give 3.5 ⭐️ and worth a listen.

This book has dual POV it starts off slow but eventually gets better as you read rhe book.

The cover is stunning and will look for more dmfeom the author

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review