No question about it. I read a lot of thrillers. So many that you think I'd spot the plot lines a mile away, and yet I still get caught off guard. This one does that for sure. Yet this is only 4 stars for me instead of 5 simply because I personally did not love the reveal of what was actually going on. But that's me, not the story!! It's a real adrenaline read as you try to figure things out and I was wide eyed and glued to the pages late into the evening until I finished it.

This was the first I've read of this author and I've got to say, I could not put this book down. It was the perfect thriller to get lost in over a weekend as the reader gets to travel through Australia with the protagonist in search for her missing sister. There were various twists that I did not see coming and it's definitely made me interested in anything else by this author.

This is a cleverly written road trip thriller set in the Australian outback. A woman takes a road trip by herself searching for her missing sister. She met up with a woman who was running from her own troubles. There were quite a few twists that I didn't see coming in this well written thriller. It was a fast-paced read from start to finish. Thank you, NetGalley, and the publisher for the ARC.

I have been provided with a review copy of this title from NetGalley for an impartial review. I just absolutely had so much fun getting to go along on these characters journey. I was just swept away and I just absolutely can’t get enough of this series or its wonderful characters. This author just has a way of drawing you in with her wonderful stories and you just can’t get enough of them. I can’t wait to see what’s next from this author.

In Red River Road, we meet Katy Sweeney, a young Australian woman on a road trip in the Australian outback. This isn't just a fun adventure--she's retracing the steps of her sister, who disappeared while on a road trip of her own. Along the way, Katy meets Beth, who is on the run. While initially wary of each other, the two team up in an effort to solve the mystery of Phoebe's disappearance.

The author paints a vivid picture of the Australian outback, while also managing to keep the reader guessing about what's really going on with Katy and Beth. Lots of twists and turns along the way, with an ending I did not see coming. A very enjoyable read!

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

This definitely kept my attention from beginning to end! But when I’m reading a thriller I tend to like to be on the edge of my seat and really feeling the suspense and I didn’t get that so much with this one. I definitely didn’t guess what was going to happen though and I was shocked at the twist. The pacing felt a little bit off in the middle but overall this was a decent read!

Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the eARC of Red River Road by @anna_downes_writer in exchange for an honest review!

📖📖 Book Review 📖📖 A year after her sister Phoebe disappears on a camping trip, Katy is still holding onto hope of finding her. Meanwhile, Beth is fleeing from danger and the two women pairing up may just be what they both need. As women, we are constantly aware of the precautions we should take to stay safe and both Phoebe’s social media accounts and Katy and Beth’s narrative highlight this in an all too true and too relatable fashion. Told from multiple perspectives and in a wonderful format, Red River Road is a gripping read that absolutely captivates the reader! Anna Downes creates a suspenseful and powerfully written book that is rich with layers and so many questions that leave you furiously turning the pages!

4.5/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review is posted on Goodreads and will be on Instagram ahead of the publication date.

Thank you to St. Martins press and NetGalley for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

um wow? This book was such a twisty ride I have no words. Each chapter left you second guessing yourself and definitely have you that eerie feeling that something was definitely wrong. The plot twists??? I DIDNT see them coming at all!! I was major shocked how it all went down!! The characters each went through their own versions of trauma but ended up dealing with them very well if you ask me. I DIDNT expect to love this book as much as I did but I was wrong! Very twisty, and leaves you second guessing yourself every chapter!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Minotaur Books for this fantastic ARC of Red River Road
by Anna Downes.

Wow, what an amazing story!
This book is about an RV-travel search by our main character Katy for missing Australian Vanlife Influencer Pheobe, and Beth, a woman on the run from danger who joins her.
Both women have secrets!

Also featured is sweet and sickly Wyatt, kid brother to the villain character of Lucas. Their mother also went missing from her Vanlife adventure after leaving them and their father.

This book has many exciting features: of course, fascinating (and sometimes evidently scary!) #Vanlife, the gorgeous Australian coast, suspense, social media warnings, mystery, monsters real and imagined, secrets, with a foreboding and increasingly dangerous vibe.

Katy’s chapters are written in first-person POV while Beth’s and Wyatt’s are told in third-person POV. This initially caused me to relate to Katy more than to the others but as the story progresses and Katy becomes our unreliable narrator, they all became central to my mind.

There are a few twists to the story but wow! The main one toward the end of the story made me want to start the entire book over!

There are some triggers in this book including violence, domestic abuse, and mental illness. None of these detracted me from the entertaining plot.

For me a five-star read is one that I would re-read, and this one qualifies! It offered increasing suspense and kept me page-turning toward its highly-satisfying conclusion.
Red River Road is a truly propulsive and thrilling read.

Author Anna Downs is a renewed favorite author and I have already downloaded an earlier book of hers.

What a thrilling read! I was left in suspense the entire novel and constantly guessing. Usually I can predict twists and plots, but couldn’t with this novel!

Oooh this book is so creepy and suspenseful! I know it’s early in the year, but I’m predicting this will be in my top five of 2024.

Phoebe Sweeney is a young lady who gets some wanderlust and decides to get into #vanlife. She starts an Instagram account, “PheebsInWonderland”, and is documenting her solo journey through The Big Lap - a giant loop around Australia, starting and ending in Perth. We follow her Instagram posts/comments as the book goes on, and one commenter in particular posts some pretty creepy things…

After a few weeks, her posts stop and her family can’t reach her. Phoebe often goes off grid, but they’ve never gone this long without contact. The police get involved, but they come up with nothing - no traces of Phoebe, no sightings of her van, and no witnesses. It’s considered a cold case - just another woman gone missing in the massive state of Western Australia.

Her sister Katy, despite being someone who is scared of this kind of travel, decides to get a van and follow her sister’s social media posts, trying to find any clues or people who may know something. She begins her journey, but as she’s taking a break at the side of the road, someone sneaks into her van.

Beth (who calls herself Lily) is soon found hiding in the van, and after the initial screaming and shock wears off, Katy listens to her story- well, at least Beth’s version of her story. She says her name is Lily, and she’s an American who was also traveling around Australia, but she was attacked and all of her belongings were taken. She’s injured, she has no ID, no money, not even any clothes. Katy relents and lets “Lily” join her on her quest to find her sister.

The book is written from the perspective of three people: Katy, Beth and Wyatt, a 15-year-old boy with a troubled home life. His mother is also a #vanlifer who’s gone missing, and his big brother has been traveling trying to find her, leaving him alone with his angry father. All three of these characters are fantastic, and as the ending approaches, everything about them begins to fall into place.

The ending did get a little crazy, and that’s my only complaint about the book. It’s almost like every twist possible was packed in, and it used a trope that isn’t used often, but is pretty unbelievable. Other than that, this book is flawless. It’s pretty ignorant for anyone traveling (especially a female on their own) to do live updates on social media, and this is a cautionary tale…you never know who’s watching. Packed with breathtaking scenery and a thrilling plot, I loved this book! 4.5 stars, rounded up.

(Thank you to Minotaur Books, Anna Downes and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on August 27, 2024.)

Red River Road was a very well written thriller with an Australian setting that had you feeling like you were there. I really enjoyed the twists and turns in this one, but it is on the slower side, I usually enjoy my thrillers to be faster paced.

I found this to be a page turner - completed in a few short sittings.
The lead is an unreliable narrator, and you glimpse part of the way through that the mysterious hitchhiker may be IN danger versus being the source of danger.
Also, it appears trouble is following the two girls around as multiple missing women cases weave together. There is loads of suspense which builds to a worthy - if not very far fetched - ending. Thanks NetGalley!

Thanks to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this ARC of 'Red River Road' by Anna Downes.

I hadn't heard of this writer but I enjoy Australia-set fiction and the setup sounded different and intriguing.

A mystery within a mystery or two set, secret after secret, in the cliched world of the vanlifers in Australia - people who travel around Australia (in this case the long coastal loop) living in their vehicles and with many of them trying to make a living as influencers as a sideline.

People go missing and this is the story of one troubled woman looking for her sister and encountering violence, more mystery, lies, friendship, and frustration.

This novel covers plenty of important topics: family violence - domestic, partner - the pressure of social media, the way that tourism is affecting the natural and build environment, mental illness, Aboriginal rights but wrapped up in a really clever and interesting narrative so it doesn't feel like you're being thumped over the head with them. It's very organic.

I like the way the ending was satisfying but was left ambiguous in many ways, although there was resolution not everything was tied up with a nice neat bow, reflecting the real world and real people.

I really enjoyed this.

Reading 2024
Book 83: Red River Road by Anna Downes

Another book I picked up on the special Read Now weekend on NetGalley. The pub date for this book is August 27, 2024

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

Review: Well, not sure this one was for me. It was slow, slow, slow. Thriller plots need to move along at a good clip for me. This was not that book. The characters were not likeable, which is not a deal breaker, but it adds to my meh feeling about this book. There was a creepy icky feeling about this book also and not in a good way. Love the cover though. My rating 3⭐️.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: Aug. 27, 2024
Anna Downes, author of “The Safe Place”, returns with her new missing person thriller, “Red River Road”.
Katy Sweeney’s sister, Phoebe, disappeared a year ago while on a solo road trip through the Australian outback. Even though no one has heard from her, and there has been no forensic evidence, Katy will stop at nothing to find out what happened to Phoebe. Desperate, Katy embarks on her own solo quest, following Phoebe’s exact itinerary, hoping that she will be able to collect her own clues. When Katy crosses paths with a young woman named Beth, who claims to be fleeing from danger, Katy takes pity and brings Beth along for the ride. Beth agrees to help Katy find Phoebe in exchange for the ride, but what both women discover about Phoebe, themselves and each other, is something neither of them expected.
“Road” is narrated by several characters; Katy, Beth, Phoebe and Wyatt (who we find out has a connection to the other characters, but not until later on in the story). The multi-protagonist format helps to build suspense, as the reader slowly learns more and more about our key players, including how they are all connected. There are a lot of plot lines that Downes manages to connect flawlessly, and by the end of the novel she has tied up all of the loose ends answered any lingering questions.
Downes manages to touch on some pretty wrenching topics in this novel, including intimate partner violence, sexual assault and mental health challenges, so for those who appreciate trigger warnings, well, just be prepared for some pretty heavy subject matter. That being said, Downes manages to cover these topics in a human and honest way, while still making the novel entertaining and unputdownable.
The twists and turns in this one are beyond unpredictable, and although I made a few educated guesses that came close, the truth to what happened to Phoebe was something I never saw coming. Although I have earmarked Downes’ novels for my TBR list, they seem to be ones that I never quite get to. So, though “Red River Road” was my first Downes’ novel, I sincerely hope it won’t be my last.

This was such an exciting read! I did not expect the twists and turns this book had in store. The book centers around Katy trying to find her sister who went missing traveling in a van across Australia. The perspectives of Beth (who has her own secrets that unravel in the book) and Wyatt (who has his own family drama that is uncovered) help build the unraveling mystery. Also, the book ended on a cliffhanger that surprised me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Katy is worried about her sister. She's been missing for a while and no one has found her. This book grabbed my attention from the start.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It kept me guessing until the end. I will definitely read more from this author in the future. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I think my students will like this one and in particular the girls, will relate to the two main characters. Violence against women is a big theme as well as mental health issues and identity issues Lots to discuss and think about for adults as well as students. This book is going to stay with me