Red River Road is a wild ride! With three alternating POVs and different storylines, it starts slow but picks up as the pieces come together. The last 25% is packed with twists and turns, leading to a completely unexpected, over-the-top ending that will leave your heart racing.

Get ready for a captivating, shocking, and intense read that will make you think twice about traveling on your own!

🚐Mini Review🚐
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Rating- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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My thoughts- Thank you netgalley and Minotaur book for the advanced copy of Red River Road! This releases 8/27 and was a lot of fun, I typically enjoy Anna Downes book and this was no different. The audiobook is fantastic with the Australian accent, it was so mesmerizing I had a hard time focusing 😂. This was a super quick read and I totally sympathized with both Lily and Katy! The ending of this one got a little bit off the rails and unrealistic but it was definitely a fun enjoyable read!
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QOTD- would you ever travel on your own? In this book Katy’s sister is a solo traveler, I don’t think I could travel in a van on my own. I’m awful in a crisis 😂.

Creepy and suspenseful, Red River Road will have you wanting to visit Australia but seconding guessing doing it in a van, alone.

This was such an interesting read, I had no idea what was going to happen and was shocked at the end!! Any good psychological thriller will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat, and that’s exactly what Anna has so well.

The ending was a little crazy but overall I really enjoyed it!

Thank you, SMP and MacMillan Audio, for the review copies—this one turned out to be a delightful surprise! The audiobook deserves special mention for its standout voice acting and stylish production. Listening to parts of it really helped me immerse myself in Downes' writing, capturing the “feel” of the story in a way that enhanced my reading experience.

“Red River Road” is a solid slow-burn thriller that intriguingly explores "van life" and thoughtfully examines the theme of women who go missing. Downes takes on familiar thriller tropes, but with a fresh focus on the reasons why women are in danger, making for a more reflective and compelling narrative. The plot centers on Katy’s search for her missing sister, Phoebe, but it quickly expands into a web of interconnected mysteries, including what’s happening with Katy herself and Beth, who gets entangled in Katy’s journey while grappling with her own secrets. The ending is powerful, tying all the connections together in a WOW moment and offering a complex, satisfying resolution to a well-developed story.

"Red River Road" by Anna Downes is an intense thriller which takes readers on a road trip through Australia in search of a missing solo female traveller. Readers who love unexpected twists and turns, multiple potential suspects, and a love for Australia must be on the lookout for this story!

When Phoebe disappears on a remote, coastal highway in Western Australia during a solo vanlife trip, her older sister Katy is determined to find her. Even though there are no witnesses, leads, or DNA evidence found and the police have essentially deemed it a case gone cold, Katy believes they must have missed something. Using Phoebe's social media account as a map, Katy traces her sister's path to find any clues the police may have missed that will tell her what happened and where Phoebe is now.

As Katy follows Phoebe's trail, she runs into Beth, who is running from her dark past. While Katy hesitates to trust Beth, she quickly realizes Beth may be the best chance she has at finding out what happened to her sister. As the two embark on this dangerous journey, they learn that it's not uncommon for solo female travellers to go missing and that no one can be trusted, not even each other.

"Red River Road" is a tense, tightly wound thriller with many unexpected twists that make it impossible to figure out who can be trusted and who is putting on a farce. While clues are given throughout the book, there are so many people with hidden agendas that there is no chance of predicting who is the guiltiest before reaching the last page. Downes is a master at keeping readers hooked on the tension and mystery of the story without giving all the answers away.

The characters are interesting to follow because they have these deep, dark secrets they keep hidden within themselves, not even bearing them to the reader. Not only is there an investment to find out what happened to Phoebe who is free-spirited and has a deep love for travelling and being out in nature, but there is also a deep-seated interest in learning about these characters who have so much to hide. No one is entirely innocent which makes this book hard to put down.

This was a 3.5 read rounded to 4. While I loved so many aspects of this book from the detailed and luscious images of Western Australia's landscape and the unending twists and turns that threw a wrench in my list of prime suspects, there were other parts of the story that I struggled with. For one, I couldn't connect with the character Wyatt and had difficulty getting through his chapters. By the end of the story, I questioned if his perspective was as integral to the overall story as it was intended to be. Phoebe also made a lot of choices as a solo female traveller which struck me as a little too naive. While the book works well to warn young women against the dangers of travelling solo, the characters are put into situations that most people know better to avoid. However, it is possible these are situations that still occur regardless when travelling solo and it is something I haven't read up on enough.

Overall, this was a highly intense and tightly wound thriller that will leave readers guessing until the very end. Be on the lookout for Downes' upcoming release "Red River Road" on its expected publication date of August 27, 2024.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press (Minotaur Books) for providing me with a copy of thie ebook and the opportunity to share my honest opinion in this review!

Anna Downes does exotic locations WELL. I love a book that can mentally transport me to a different place. Red River Road was unique and engaging, and kept me guessing until the end!

A slow-burn thriller told from three perspectives about female solo traveling in Western Australian. I liked the fact that I didn’t in know which character to believe and also liked the inclusion of Instagram posts and letters. There was a good stalker vibe throughout the book. There was also a good unexpected twist near the end.

I did find the pacing slow well until the 50% mark and while I understand it was to build backstory, it did make the story too slow for me at times. I also didn’t quite understand the last paragraph of the epilogue.

Overall, recommend for lovers of slow-burn thrillers.

Thanks to the publisher for this complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Anna downes is one of my favorites. A Safe Place set a high bar, and I’m happy to report Red River Road delivered!!

This was a first story about a Pheebs, a vanlifer, touring around the Australian coast. She went missing, and her sister Katy is retracing her journey, to find what happened to her sister.

When she teams up with “Lily” aka Beth, an unlikely friendship forms. Can they team up to find Katy’s missing sister? Or are the secrets they’re hiding going to catch up with them??

What a wild ride! Just when I thought I had things figured out, Downes threw me for a complete loop! I loved every minute of it, and couldn’t read this fast enough!!

A year ago, Katy’s sister Phoebe vanished without a trace on a rural coastal highway in western Australia. With no witnesses or leads, Katy decides to attempt to retrace her sister’s steps by following her social media. When a stranger named Beth randomly crosses her path, Katy begins to believe this chance encounter may be the best option she has at finally uncovering the truth of what happened to her sister.

This book is the epitome of an atmospheric, slow burn psychological thriller. I really enjoyed the use of mixed media throughout the story. The social media posts provided an interesting variety to the narrative. Despite having never been to Australia, the author’s vivid writing was so immersive that I felt like I was there. I was definitely taken aback by the big reveal. It was completely unexpected!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this digital ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

A search for a lost van lifer puts Katy in the path of another lost soul. When Beth joins her, they become a united front to solve the mystery of the missing girl, Phoebe. This was an interesting story during parts of the book, but there were also several sections I found myself skimming over. Overall, though, it was a good story.

This book was SO addicting. I started reading last night and then finished it today, which is pretty fast for me, especially during my work week.

We start out with Katy driving down the highway and being spooked by another car driving wildly. She pulls into an abandoned rest area to avoid them, and suddenly, she's not alone. Beth is looking desperately for help and climbs in the back of Katy's van without her initially realizing it. Katy takes pity on Beth, who is beaten and bruised, and allows her to continue on the trip with her. Beth is so cagey and used to hiding herself that she initially tells Katy that her name is Lily.

Both women are skeptical of the other, but with no one else to trust, they have no choice but to lean on each other. Katy explains what happened to Phoebe and Beth starts helping her sort through the clues of Phoebe's mysterious disappearance.

The author does a nice job of keeping the reader tense throughout. You can't help but be unnerved by thinking of being alone in Australia, on a pitch-black night, and no one else around. We also see Phoebe's social media posts and some of the kind, and also creepy, comments that are left for her. This story excellently highlights the point that people can glean A LOT of information from our social media posts, especially if we aren't mindful of how and when we share things.

I enjoyed the plotline of this story. The social media aspect and stalking are unique plotlines that were explored well. I also loved the tie-in to #VanLife as that is fairly popular right now and again, I haven't seen other books in the same vein.

There were a couple of things I didn't enjoy. The first was some of the dumb moves the girls made. Both were apparently very safety conscious, and somewhat paranoid, yet they would keep stopping in the middle of nowhere instead of staying in a place with more people and lighting and just general traffic. Then they would both keep running off on each other and then they'd have to go looking for each other. It got a little annoying for me.

The Wyatt angle felt unnecessary overall. There are allusions to the kid having an illness, but it's never really expanded on, and so it felt pointless. The ending with him and his family also just didn't tie into the story well enough, especially when a previous connection was made and could have been easily maintained without Wyatt's perspective.

This is my first book from this author, but I enjoyed it. The unique plotline, along with the intensity of the story kept my attention from start to finish.

Mystery about an influencer who disappears while touring Western Australia; this book is one of several on the new trend of "van life" which is traveling in a van and then taking pictures for followers. Phoebe had an Instagram account called "Phoebe in Wonderland" and went missing while touring Australia. Her sister Katy has purchased a van herself and is determined to find Phoebe by following all of the places she posted about. One day Katy pulls off the road after a car is following too close to her van and when she gets out to investigate, she finds a woman has crawled into the back of her van. The woman says her name is Lily and she appears filthy and covered in bruises. Lily says all of her belongings and ID were stolen and she has no where to go so Katy takes her in. The two women's story is alternated with the story of Wyatt, a young teenager that is constantly ill and also hears strange sounds coming from his house.

The book started out with a bang but then became muddled with Katy and Lily making a lot of stops but never really doing any work to find Phoebe. The parts with Wyatt were confusing because we never find out why he is sick or what is going on with him. As Katy and Lily continue their journey we find out Lily is being pursued by a dangerous man and both women have secrets they are keeping with each other. I did like the focus on the safety of women travelers but often found Lily's psychological lectures annoying as it appeared she took only an entry level class before dropping out of college. The ending does tie together the various characters with a couple of twists but I thought the main one was obvious. I like the author's writing style but found some of the plot didn't quite come together. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC for review.

🌅🚐Good suspense and crazy twists!😲

4-4.5🌟 stars
It took several chapters for me to get accustomed to the author's writing style and the constant change of POV, but Red River Road ended up really catching and holding my interest with bated breath. I was confused (just as the author intended) and fascinated by this cautionary tale of living life totally exposed on social media as a single young woman travels through Western Australia. I loved the twists and surprises as Kate joins up with thief/con artist Beth to follow the last known movements of missing vanlifer Phoebe.

Near the end the story did get a bit pedantic and I did not think the lesson in psychology added anything to the plot. But, overwhelmingly, Red River Road was an exciting adventure, propelled by some memorable characters, and a great read.

Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

Red River Road by Anna Downes is an edge-of-your-seat thriller that had me gasping, trying to read faster and propping my eyes open so that I could read well past bedtime to see what happens next. A wild ride with twists and turns that kept me guessing from start to finish.

The story follows Katy whose sister Phoebe disappeared while she was on a solo trip around Western Australia. Katy is retracing her sister's path to see if she can figure out what happened after the case goes cold. Along the way she meets Beth and they team up to figure out what could have happened to Phoebe. But Beth is running away from her own murky past and when it starts catching up to them, they start to think they might end up just like Phoebe.

I absolutely loved this thriller! It was tense, twisty, and had an air of creepiness about it that kept me completely hooked. It's told from three perspectives which really worked. There's a slow buildup as we meet each of the narrators, get glimpses into their backstory and start to try and put the puzzle together. Then there's a definitive shift in the pace and you're racing towards an incredible finish.

I highly recommend this book for anyone that loves a twisty thriller with somewhat unreliable narrators. It also has fantastic detail and descriptions about the "vanlife" lifestyle and being a solo female traveler. Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the advanced digital copy via NetGalley!

loved this mystery and keeping secrets and the different point of views. Also loved trying to figure out who did it . I enjoyed the mystery behind it.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley, for the free E-book for review.

A van lifer documenting her travels on social media might seem like a picturesque wanderlust adventure, but when things take a dark turn, the dream quickly unravels.

Red River Road introduces us to three compelling characters, each offering a unique perspective. First, we meet Katy, who embarks on a journey to find her missing sister, Phoebe, a fellow van lifer and influencer. Katy is perpetually on high alert, always scanning for danger, yet she carries an intriguing sense of mystery that keeps me wanting to learn more about her as the story unfolds.

Next, we encounter Beth, a younger woman who crosses paths with Katy. Seriously injured and in a precarious situation, she raises immediate questions about her circumstances—what happened, and why is she in trouble?

Finally, there's Wyatt, a sickly teenager confined to his home, who immerses himself in horror movies. Like Katy and Beth, Wyatt’s character is shrouded in mystery, adding depth to the narrative and keeping readers engaged.

I always seek to understand how these characters are interconnected in multiple POV narratives, and Anna Downes does not disappoint. She skillfully weaves their stories together, dropping twists and delivering a powerful final revelation that captivated me.

However, I found that some parts toward the end felt a bit heavy on dialogue, with an overload of information that slowed the pacing. Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed Red River Road, rich with mystery, shocking twists, and a satisfying conclusion. I also appreciated how the novel delves into the dangers of van life, particularly for women, adding a layer of social commentary that resonates deeply.

A gripping thriller that takes the reader on a suspenseful journey through the Australian outback. The tension builds layer by layer throughout the narrative. The story explores family bonds, the deception of memory, and the resilience of the human spirit. I was kept guessing until the end.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really like this author but I didn't struggle in the beginning to get intro the story. I did however, like her notes at the end of book. Thank you so much for my gifted copy.

Did Not Finish--25 percent.

I tried to engage with this one several times but at the 25 percent mark just gave up. I thought the synopsis was interesting, but I just could not get into this at all. I thought this was beyond boring, didn't make any sense, and I just did not feel like forcing myself to read to the very end to figure out what was going on. I think the multiple points of view just hurt this one for me and I just got tired of trying to figure out what was going on. I just ended around chapter 17 and that should let you know how this book goes flow wise if at 25 percent I was already on the 17th chapter.

"Red River Road" follows a woman (Katy) who is trying to trace the whereabouts of her sister (Phoebe) that has been missing for about a year.

There's a lot of character point of views you get in this one, it starts off with Katy and then switches to a woman named Beth, then a man named Wyatt, then we shift over to Phoebe's Instagram posts or TikToks (I can't recall), then Katy again and Beth, Katy, Beth, etc. You get the idea. I just didn't engage very much.

The posts by Phoebe were written in different fonts/text and I honestly don't think the book added anything keeping them in.

After her sister Phoebe sets out to see Australia by van but goes missing, her sister Katy decides to recreate Phoebe’s trip to see if she can discover exactly what happened — and hopefully to find Phoebe alive. Told from multiple POVs, the storyline is an interesting one that keeps the reader flipping pages. Nonetheless, although I generally enjoy a story told from multiple POVs, they gave the storyline here too much of a choppy feel. Additionally, it is a pretty slow burn, although it definitely picks up during the last portion of the novel. All in all, though, this was a good and interesting mystery, and I look forward to reading more from Anna Downes.