This book was so delightfully bizarre.

The vanlife setting in Western Australia made for the perfect backdrop to this story, and certainly sparked some wanderlust for me.

I liked both protagonists--Katy, who was searching for her sister Phoebe, and Beth, who was on the run from an abusive ex. Although I wasn't sure who I could trust, I found both of their perspectives compelling.

The reveal was one I didn't see coming, and the conclusion was very satisfying. This has been my favorite Anna Downes book so far, and it is definitely one I will recommend.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A woman living the van life is desperately searching for her missing sister. She encounters another young woman who is on the run from a bad situation. Neither woman is quite who she claims to be.

The setting and atmosphere in this book were wonderful. Plus, this book has an eerie and creepy vibe to it. It is unsettling in many ways. As Katy experienced many things along her search, she meets many people. Things get intense at times and having the POV of Katy, Wyatt, and Beth made the book interesting. I had an inkling around the 60% of the book about one aspect and was right; however, that did not affect my enjoyment of the book at all.

#RedRiverRoad #NetGalley
Mind blowing. 5 ⭐
Red River Road is a gripping and emotionally charged thriller that follows Katy Sweeney in her relentless search for her missing sister, Phoebe. A year earlier, Phoebe disappeared without a trace on the remote and stunning coastal highway of Western Australia during a solo vanlife trip. With no witnesses, no leads, and no DNA evidence, the case has gone cold, leaving the authorities at a standstill. However, Katy refuses to let her sister be forgotten.Determined to find answers, Katy retraces Phoebe’s steps using her sister’s social media accounts as a guide. As she dives deeper into Phoebe’s journey, she begins to uncover unsettling questions. Was Phoebe being followed? Who had she encountered during her travels, and were they dangerous? The beautiful but perilous landscape of Western Australia becomes a character in itself, as Katy’s search leads her into increasingly treacherous territory.Katy’s quest takes a surprising turn when she crosses paths with Beth, a woman on the run from her own troubled past. Recognizing that Beth might hold crucial information, Katy forms an uneasy alliance with her. Together, they embark on a twist-filled journey to uncover the truth about Phoebe’s disappearance, a journey that tests their limits and forces them to confront their own fears and secrets.
I loved it. I think everyone should read this one.
Thanks to NetGalley and Storm. Martin's Press Minotaur Books for giving me an advance copy.

In this traveling thriller, Katy is traveling around Australia to find her lost sister. Though no one seems to know what's happened, Katy picks up a new friend, Beth, that starts helping her with her investigation. It took me a bit to get into this one, but this did turn out to be an entertaining read. While the secrets start tumbling out through alternating points of view, you will have no idea who to trust or what is helping in the big scheme of things. This one was an ok read for me but I did enjoy the twist and turns along the way. A big thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced e-copy.

Since I really enjoyed the author's previous novel, I was excited to start reading her latest work. But what started out as a nail biter, soon devolved into a somewhat dull read.

The story unfolds through multiple points of view. And while I do enjoy this style of writing, I just couldn't connect with any of the characters. They all seemed so similar to each other. It got confusing and a little difficult to keep track of who's who.

So, at 26% I gave up trying. I may try to re-read this novel at a later date since after skipping and skimming several chapters, the pacing and the suspense appeared to gain steam after the 50% point. But for now it's a one star DNF.

So good!! I loved this book! By chapter 3, I was sure I knew who did it, but Downes masterful writing kept me in suspense until the end and I was so wrong about everything! Downes left plenty of bread crumbs to figure it out, but it was never blatantly obvious. I really appreciated seeing the story unfold from 3 different points of view.

"Anna Downes's extraordinary next thriller Red River Road follows a woman desperate to discover what happened to her sister on a solo road trip through the Australian outback.

Katy Sweeney is looking for her sister. A year earlier, just three weeks into a solo vanlife trip, her free-spirited younger sister, Phoebe, vanished without a trace on the remote, achingly beautiful coastal highway in Western Australia. With no witnesses, no leads, and no DNA evidence, the case has gone cold. But Katy refuses to give up on her.

Using Phoebe's social media accounts as a map, Katy retraces her sister's steps, searching for any clues the police may have missed. Was Phoebe being followed? Who had she met along the way, and how dangerous were they?

And then Katy's path collides with that of Beth, who is on the run from her own dark past. Katy realizes that Beth might be her best - and only - chance of finding the truth, and the two women form an uneasy alliance to find out what really happened to Phoebe in this wild, beautiful, and perilous place.

Anna Downes takes us on a twist-filled journey into the dark side of solo female travel, in this gripping novel that explores what drives us to keep searching for those we have lost, the family bonds that can make or break us, and the deception of memory."

One, I'm Australia obsessed, and two, solo female travel could be it's own subgenre of crime.

This story is told from three POVs, though two are more prominent than the third. I liked all POVs and what they added to the story, but I did have a bit of an issue. Two of them are women, and one of the women goes by multiple names and her chapters include flashbacks. I had a bit of a hard time with keeping track of who was who at the beginning, but that may just be a “me” issue (still bad with names). That being said, the characters were written well, and I was drawn into their stories completely. There are also blog posts interspersed throughout the chapters from Phoebe’s travel blog and some comments included, which add to the rising tension of the story.

Something the author does really well was incorporating the setting. From descriptions to hazards the characters had to face, the setting was included in meaningful and vivid ways that kept me immersed in the story. The story is a little convoluted and it does take a bit to become situated in the plot and draw some connections, but it was certainly worth it by the end of the book and the author did a great job with building tension throughout the read.

If you’re looking for a mystery/suspense set in Australia with an emphasis on solo travelling, then you’ll probably enjoy this one. My thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for allowing me to read this work, which will be published August 27, 2024. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Australian crime fiction, road trip novel about a young woman on a solo vanlife trip who meets up with another young woman who is in trouble. One is searching for her missing sister, the other escaping from an abusive relationship, but they are both hiding something. The descriptions of the settings were lovely and really added to the story, but there were some plot threads that got lost - there was a lot going on. I normally don't mind multiple points of view, especially in thriller novels, but something was off with the tense in this book that kept throwing me off and made some of the story hard to follow.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher St. Martin's Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for a complimentary copy of this novel!
This is another awesome thriller to be released by Anna Downes. I’ve enjoyed two of her previously released novels, so when I saw she has a new one coming out, I was thrilled...no pun intended... 😉 to have a chance at reviewing it!!!

Katy Sweeney’s sister, Phoebe, goes missing a year earlier while she is on a solo van life Instagram trip in Australia. Now it is up to Katy to try and find her. But with absolutely no trace of Phoebe or her van, it is proving a bit difficult. So, using Phoebe’s Instagram posts, Katy uses them as a map to hopefully be able to find out what happened to her sister. However, all is not as it seems in this novel! Along the way, Katy meets people who may or may not be friendly. One such person is Beth. She’s trying to escape her sordid past. As Beth and Katy travel together, Beth begins to realize things are not quite adding up. With strange messages and possible stalkers popping up near where they stop to rest, the journey begins to get nerve-racking and frightening!! Will Beth’s past catch up to her? Will Katy get the answers she is looking for regarding her sister?
Look for this edge-of-your seat thriller AVAILABLE August 27, 2024!

The way I started out thinking this was going to be a 5 star read, but this story slowly lost its mystique as the events unfolded. While I do respect a good plot twist, and applaud the use of unreliable narrators, I just can't get over how disappointed I was by the end of this book. I felt that there were just too many elements thrown at the reader that caused the end to feel like a letdown rather than a "wow that was insane" moment.

Another lovely, twisty Anna Downes read. It took me a little bit to get into this gem of a thriller, but once I started to weave pieces together, I was hooked. I really like how the story, as the parts unfold, is told from 3 different characters. I honestly did not see the twists coming and found myself frequently wondering where she was going with each tiny detail that popped up. I don't want to share too much, other than simply read this book. It was a solid quick read and definitely recommend.

last year it was all about the podcasts, this year it will all be about van life and solo female travelers. this is the 3rd book i have read with this theme in the past 2 months. they are starting to blend together honestly.
thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Katy is trying to find her missing sister who disappeared during a van trip around the coast of Australia. She is using Phoebe's Instagram postings to visit each site on her sister's journey. She meets Beth, who has many personas, trying to escape a bad situation. The two team up but the trip is anything but smooth. There are many twists and turns in this book. You will at times wonder what is going on with these two women. There is also Wyatt, a young boy, who had been leaving DM's for Phoebe. How is he connected to everything?

This book will make you wonder how safe it is to travel alone. Who can you trust in any camping situation and who are your friends? I was caught up in the story and was trying to figure out what is going on? The police do not seem interested in the disappearance so Katy feels she has to do it on her own. In this book Katy is an unreliable character and Beth is also not to be trusted. What an interesting and thrilling read. This is the kind of thriller that I enjoy reading.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #AnnaDownes, and #MinotaurBooks for a copy of this book.
#RedRiverRoad

Thank you to netgalley for the chance to review!
This story explores the Australian coast through three narrators: Katy, a woman searching for her missing sister in the outback, Beth, a woman on the run who happens upon Katy and decides to team up with her, and Wyatt, a young man with a troubled childhood and strange happenings in his home. It's unclear right away how these three stories overlap (although they do eventually quite flawlessly), and the story is filled with creepy encounters and some really stunning twists. Downes manages to keep the reader questioning what's happening while not completely abandoning believability. As someone who HATES an unreliable narrator this did a really good job of duping the reader without having the narrator straight up lie to you.
I loved that we got snippets of Katy's missing sister Phoebe through her instagram: I love epistolary elements and this really made you dig in and try to 'catch' the twists that were being left as breadcrumbs.
This also had a great deal of difficult subjects blended quite seamlessly with the thrill factor: sexual assault, mental health, domestic abuse, abandonment issues: you name it, this covered it.
Some of the final twists I saw coming while most left me completely blindsided which is really exceptional. I never felt like I was cheated in the story and I thought the propulsion of the drama at the end was really well done. The beginning lagged a bit (this is really long) but I think its worth it to stick it through to the end!

Katy is desperate to find the sister who went missing on a solo road trip around Australia's outer loop. She's following in her footsteps in hopes of finding clues missed by the police. She ends up traveling with another woman who is hiding plenty from Katy. Revelations occur at ever-increasing speed, and I was kept guessing right up to the end. Fans of psychological suspense will devour this.

The story was uninteresting and confusing, especially at the beginning. The different character narratives made it difficult to truly connect with a character. It just seemed to muddle the story even more. The unexpected twist and creepy atmosphere wasn’t enough to save this book.

My review is voluntary and all comments and opinions expressed are
my own.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing me with an advance e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Look for it in your local and online bookstores and libraries on August 27, 2024.

Synopsis: A woman is on a camper van adventure through Australia to find her missing sister when a stow away joins her on the trek. Nothing is quite as it seems as the journey unfolds.
Pros and cons: I’ll be honest, the beginning of this story didn’t quite grab me and I was a bit confused by the multiple perspectives and what was going on. But I can say that there are a lot of twists and turns in this book, and I didn’t see a single damn one coming! If you enjoy a twisty mystery you should definitely check this out when it’s released next month!