Absolutely outstanding book! Gripping, chaotic, and intense! Could not put it down, highly recommend!!!

This book was instantly captivating. Set in Austrailia with 3 POVs. Katy, who is retracing her sister's trip where she went missing a year ago. Beth who just escaped her life with her abusive, con-artist boyfriend and Wyatt who is a teenage boy stuck at home dealing with being sick and missing his mom who left their family years ago.

The way Anna Downes pulls all three of those stories together was amazing. Each time I had a theory it would be busted. I had no idea where this story was going and stayed up until Midnight last night to finish it. I'm pretty sure kids know when you do something stupid like that because mine woke me up at 6:30AM when none of us needed to be awake. 🤣

Thank you to #netgalley and @stmartinspress for allowing me to read this ARC for my honest opinion. This is a solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read that releases August 26th but you can pre-order it anywhere now!

Red River Road by Anna Downes, set in the Australian Outback, has Katy looking for her missing sister Phoebe, who disappeared on a road trip around the area. While chasing clues written in Phoebe's social media, Katy runs into another woman on the run and the two combine forces. I found the characters hard to keep track of which I guess is the point of the whole story, but it made reading this a bit difficult. Other than that, the twisty story was intriguing.

I so enjoyed this road trip thriller sed in Australia. The misdirection was on point, and the twists were amazing and completely unpredictable. Extremely entertaining and thrilling.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I hope I do justice to Anna Downes with my review...

Red River Road, is fantastic and breaks every point scale we have put forward.

I can not give this book 5 stars because to be quite honest, it would be an insult. Red River Road, will exceed all your expectations and leave your jaw on the floor.

I should have known just looking at the cover how much I would love this book. I mean, look at it, it's stunning.

And don't even get me started on the twist. My insides still feel the gut punch and my chest is tight from my shock.

I can go on and on but I don't want to spoil it for you, all you need to know is you truly will be missing out if you do not pick this one up.


Teaser :


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 DNAevidence, 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.

Really enjoyed this book. It was the perfect sunny day read to sit back and binge in one sitting. I’d recommend this to anyone who loves a fast paced read!

Red River Road, even the title seems filled with foreboding! Anna Downes has written a gripping book with a total surprise ending that kept me unsure what would happen next or who I could believe. This is the sophomore publishing effort by Downes,, and I personally found it more polished and engaging than her first book.

The book had a great menacing atmosphere, and was slightly claustrophobic, with the two main characters, Katy and Beth, traveling together through the west coast of Australia in a van. Katy's sister, Phoebe, disappeared a year ago on a similar trip and Katy is determined to find her, so she is retracing her sister's trips by following her Instagrams.

Although they are not the integral parts of the book, a few interesting points are highlighted. One, how Instagrmmers lives can become public property, and this could be dangerous. Two, how women in general and lone women travelers in particular have to be on guard. Three, I found the references to camp life interesting. It can be good, but also very bad!

Every main character in this story has a lot to hide, and it was interesting to see what their secrets were, one by one.

An entertaining summer read! I give it 4.5 stars, rounding up!

Thank you to NetGalley, Anna Downes, and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars rounded up.

Katy’s sister went on a solo roadtrip in Australia and wasn’t heard from again. So, a year later, she decided to follow her sister’s trail to see if she can find something the cops missed.

While she’s out and about, she meets a girl named Lily. But that‘s not her real name, and she’s got plenty of other secrets too. Is she dangerous? Or is she simply lying to save herself from her ex-boyfriend?

These questions are answered, along with a whole lot more. And if you think you’ve got it completely figured out, you don’t.

This was almost a perfect read. The ‘after’ section was a bit too long, though.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

Katy Sweeney’s sister, Phoebe, has gone missing while traveling through Australia. The police have turned up nothing so Katy decides to follow Phoebe’s path herself, using her posts on Instagram as her road map. She saves fellow traveler, Beth, AKA lily along the way and the two decide to team up to find out what happened to Phoebe. But both are keeping secrets that could put them both at risk. And there seems to be someone following them, leaving notes on the van at night and strange piles of rocks surrounding the vehicle. Will they find out what happened to Phoebe or will they also disappear without a trace?

This book is a fun ride! I couldn’t put it down, and flew right through it! I never was quite able to pin point what had happened to Phoebe, and that’s a definite plus as I can usually guess these types of things pretty early on in a book. There are a number of suspects in Phoebe’s disappearance, and Downes does a great job making you think it could be any of them. The way things unfold are interesting, fun, and makes you want to keep on reading to see what happens next.
There was a bit of confusion with the medical talk at the end of the book, and that bit did go a bit long, but it didn’t take away from the story.
I was very happy how this wrapped up.
Would recommend for thriller readers, and will be putting more Anna Downes books on my TBR.

Loved this book! It was fascinating and kept me engaged the entire time. Solving the mystery was part of what kept me reading, but understanding the characters and their choices was just as much a part of that. I love mysteries where characters are well developed and complex!

Unique and charmingly clever, Red River Road will appeal to readers who enjoy their murder mysteries with a slow burn. Prepare to be fascinated and enthralled by.

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t have anything particularly notable to say about this book. I think the unreliable narrators and general flakiness was interesting to read about, but for some reason found it difficult to get invested in the story as a whole. I think it was the switching of perspectives and instagram posts constantly that made it feel less continuous and more jumpy. Beth and Katy had voices that were a bit too similar in spite of differing motivations and that made it hard sometimes to remember who was speaking.

Overall, I think it’s kind of a 3.75/5 - I could see a lot of people enjoying this but it was on the high 3/low 4 spectrum for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book!

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book.

The premise got me excited and I loved that Australia was the backdrop. It took me over 2 months to read this book, and majority of that time i was stuck under 10%. This book is extremely slow. Painfully slow. I forced myself to read it. The climax was underwhelming and not really well explained until the end. There was so much fluff - it could have been 100 pages shorter. I would not recommend this book.

RED RIVER ROAD by Anna Downes

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press | Minotaur Books for the ARC ebook to read.

This story is told in three narratives: Katy who is grieving her missing free-spirited sister, Phoebe, while on a solo road-trip along WA’s Coral Coast; Beth who is escaping an abusive relationship with Lucas and comes in contact with Katy; and Wyatt, Lucas’s younger brother living with his father after the disappearance of their mother.

This twisted and terrifying fast-paced thriller of a trip through the Coral Coast is frightening right from the start of the book. Not many thrillers scare me when reading alone at night, however this one had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. Katy uses Phoebe’s social media account as a rough map to follow in trying to find her. Things are becoming stranger and more darker than Katy ever expected. Was Phoebe being followed? Did she meet up with danger or get caught up in some nefarious behavior? Or is she just having a good time as all her pics show? The less you know about the book going in, the better.

I’ve never read anything by Anna Downes before, but she will now be a go-to-author for a good thriller.

Katy is living the #vanlife but not for fun, she’s searching for her missing sister, Phoebe, who went missing the previous year while on her own van life expedition in western Australia. During her travels, she is surprised by Beth, who shows up in her van. Katy allows Beth, who was abused by someone, to travel with her and help her look for her sister. Along the way, they experience, unsettlingevents as they try to uncover what happened to Phoebe and face the truth of their unhappy pasts.

I thought “Red River Road” by Anna Downes was interesting and had some good twists in the book. I like the Australian setting and the van life aspect, which was pretty unique.

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this book.

DNF at 13%. Could not get into the story. The writing was decent but I was unfortunately not hooked.

This was such a good book. I felt for the main character in this book, looking for her sister when she vanished on a solo trip. I loved the story line and the characters. I would definitely recommend this book.

Red River Road is a thriller set in Australia. Katy is looking for her sister, Phoebe, who disappeared a year ago after solo traveling the coast in a van. Vanlife is just one of the hashtags she used in her Instagram posts.

The beginning begins a little creepy as Katy is traveling along a road at night. It looks like someone is following her. Turning off the main road she comes upon a woman needing help. But who is this woman? She has a mysterious past of her own, but with her help Katy continues to search for her sister.

This is a pretty unique thriller. It's slower paced and characters driven. There is also an element of creepiness sometimes. I liked the setting, but I wasn't fully able to envision it. I wish the vanlife community had been incorporated more.

Chapters are told from Katy, Beth, and Wyatt's point of view. I enjoyed Wyatt's chapters the most as that is where things seemed to happen the most. Otherwise there is a lot of repetition and things that don't make sense. We get answers later but in the meantime I was annoyed by Katy. Beth is more likeable.

I can't say much about how Katy and Beth go about finding what happened to Phoebe without spoilers. I enjoyed the scenes when some major things happen. There is a twist that I don't think readers will see coming. It makes me appreciate the story more after everything is finished. The journey to get there is long and not always satisfying, but story is one to remember.

3.5/5 stars

WOW. What a read! I thriller that does not rely on overdone tropes and offers a new and unique story.

Around one year ago, Katy's sister, Phoebe, went missing. Phoebe was taking a solo trip, in her camper van, across Australia. She vanished without a trace. Katy is determined to find out what happened to her sister. Katy believes that she is still alive. The police are no longer offering any assistance. So, Katy decides to set out on her own solo van during across Australia, following Phoebe's itinerary. Along the way, Katy meets Beth, a young woman who clearly needs help. Katy decides to take Beth under her wing. The girl clearly needs help.

Beth is on the run from her own struggles. Katy provides her with a sense of security. When Beth asks Katy to join in the search for Phoebe, Katy reluctantly agrees. The two women form a surprising alliance. As they travel across Australia, they are determined to figure out what happened to Phoebe.

I absolutely loved this book! The twist at the end was CRAZY! I will definitely be thinking about this book for some time. One of the things with this book is that you'll never really know who is reliable or what is going on. Everything ties up nicely at the end, but it makes for a crazy ride throughout the book.

The twists and turns in this book were completely unpredictable. I was shocked to find out what happened to Phoebe - I never would have guessed in a million years.

Red River Road is a must read!. Well done Anna Downes! Cannot wait to read more of your books.

Thank you St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

As someone who is very interested in the #VanLife trend, I loved how this story interweaved that phenomena with a thriller. The story follows the sister of a van lifer who has disappeared and her journey to try to find her. The twists kept coming!