This book was easy to read with mostly short chapters. I really had no idea what was going to unfold during Parts One to Three which kept me intrigued. And I didn’t see the plot twist coming. That did add some excitement.

I was pretty into it until Part Four. It was hard for me to get through this section. I think it may have been the writing style. I noticed it at first during the introduction of Glenn. Some of the descriptions and inner monologue felt forced. I found myself pondering, “do people really think like that?” I don't think people are that observant of themselves and their habits. It felt unrealistic and a bit like the author was trying too hard to convince us of Glenn’s character. Instead of feeling who his character was, it felt like his character was trying to convince me of who he was. As I said, it felt forced.

I found it to be more evident in Part Four. I feel the writing is a bit.. amateur? I’m not sure if that’s the word I’m really looking for. But I felt the same way I was feeling with Glenn and Trent’s characters. The author really tried to cover her bases with all the little details. It did make the story feel more complete and didn’t really leave room for any questions. Even the ending dialogue felt a bit satire to me with the “nooo…”’s during pretty shitty situation. The characters didn't feel all that realistic to me.

Overall, I think the storyline has potential. I like how it walks you through the same timeline from different perspectives. But I think there’s definitely room to grow on the writing and how it’s delivered.

*Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC*

Interesting premise and a really solid debut novel. The structure did not work for me, in terms of the timeline and all the different POVs. I felt it was hard to connect to any of them because they kept changing so much. But, it was an interesting plot and I'd read more from this author.

Every time I thought I knew what was happening, something new would arise and I would be back at square one. The Business Trip had me hooked from start to finish!

Our main characters are Stephanie and Jasmine; two females who are complete opposites, and whom meet while on the plane to Denver. Stephanie is heading to San Diego for a work conference and had to take a connecting flight to Denver. While Jasmine is escaping from her abusive boyfriend and not so great life. Once the ladies arrive in Denver and go their separate ways, the readers are hit with seven different character POV’s, which I know might sound overwhelming but it surprisingly worked very well! Some characters are friends, others are coworkers, and one shitty boyfriend, Oh! And we can’t forget good ol’Trent. Every character pov was fun to read (except for Trent iykyk) and added suspense to the story. I was just as confused and out of the loop as some of the characters were lol. Odd and similar texts from Stephanie and Jasmine start arriving to their friends and coworkers and even more weird things start to occur!

Some of the twist really got me and others were a bit underwhelming. The character I was rooting for did not win lol which was unfortunate. The plot at times lacked diversity and relatability but the overall storyline was enjoyable and had me on the edge of my seat!

I want to thank NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This novel takes elements from many other books, but puts them together in an accomplished and wicked fashion. An easy, captivating read that’ll easily hook you. An enjoyable, promising debut.

3/5 stars

This book could have been a real thriller but the ending….gah the ending. It was just the absolute worst. The twist was ridiculous. could perhaps have been more credible with a bit more foreshadowing in the beginning but no. The ending ruined this book completely.

So basically the last few chapters were not great but the other 98% of the book was a fast, easy and entertaining read. Characters to hate and characters you wanted to see succeed. A young woman struggling financially in an abusive relationship meets another woman she would like to swap lives with and does what she needs to do to make it happen.

I liked the planned out scheming that took place that was well thought out.

The Business Trip is a harrowing journey into the ways a certain type of man abuses women, and how the women get back at them. We follow Jasmine, who is being physically and mentally abused by her boyfriend, as she finally escapes from him. Or at least she hopes it's the final time. And then there is Stephanie, the news director, who gets involved in a situation that wasn't what it seemed with a male news director. There are twists and turns galore in this murder mystery/thriller, but be prepared for intense, frightening scenes that show the worst of humankind.

This is a mystery, and a story about switching identities, but I did not really like it. I did not like nor could I identify with the principal characters. If you do like a good puzzle, you might enjoy this one because there are some interesting twists to this story. I was also a bit disappointed in the end. Thanks to Netgally for an arc, and no pressure for a positive review.

Netgalley:
Book review 📖

📜The Business Trip
✍️Jessie Garcia
📠St. Martin’s Press
📚Mystery/Thriller Fiction
🗓️Pub date: January 14, 2025

⭐️⭐️⭐️

✨Thank you @NetGalley and @stmartinspress for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

✨Two women, Jasmine and Stephanie, end up on the same plane, both for very different reasons. Jasmine is fleeing an abusive relationship and Stephanie is on a business trip.

✨After a few days, both women text their friends the same thing—they met a guy, Trent McCarthy, and are going to extend their stays to be with him. The texts get increasingly bizarre until it’s clear the messages aren’t coming from the women at all.

✨When the messagrs stop and both women are declared missing, it begs the question, who is Trent McCarthy, and what has he done?

✨This was only ok for me. I felt there were too many points of view and quickly became confusing.

#netgalley #thebusinesstrip #jessiegarcia #stmartinspress #thrillerfiction #advancedreadercopy #arc #bookreview #bookstagrammer #winterreleases

DNF at 48%. The writing was just so bad. Constant brand name dropping, repetitive mentioning of things we already knew, uninteresting characters.. it was a chore to get this far. I completely DNF’d at Trent’s parts. I understand the concept of an “ unlikable character” but this man was disgusting! The mentions of the “black cops” the “black female” at the conference was so distasteful— I just couldn’t any more.

This book had me in a chokehold! I could not wait to see what happened next!

This was written from several viewpoints, so it did take a little effort to keep track of all the characters and what they meant to the storyline. But it was excellent! I was not expecting any of it!

Thank you to NetGalley, Jessie Garcia, and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC!

Book Title: The Business Trip
Author: Jessie Garcia
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pub Date: January 14, 2025
My Rating: 4.4 Stars
Pages: 352

Story starts with Jasmine sneaking out of the house to get away from her abusive husband.
Stephanie is a news director divorced, and often travels for work and best friends with Robert who is a neighbor and also takes care of her cat while she is away

Stephanie and Jasmine don’t know each other they meet when seated next to each other on the same flight heading to Denver.
A day or so later Robert gets a text from Stephanie saying she has extend her trip one week and mentions a man named Trent McCarthy.
In the meantime, Jasmine’s high school friend Anna gets a text saying she has met a guy named Trent McCarthy and will be staying with him at his house.

Really strange things are going on.
I read a lot of psychological thrillers so knew things just might be what they seem.
The ending had added suspense and I LOVED the jaw dropping- eyes popping ending - which lead me to do a ‘Fist Pump’!

Thank you Ms. Garcia for what turned out to be a great fun ride!

Want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for to this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 14, 2025

take the day off when you buy this as you won't want to put it down

The story is about two Madison, WI women who meet on a flight to Denver. Jasmine grew up poor and unloved. She is escaping an abusive boyfriend. Stephanie is headed for a work convention in San Diego. When Jasmine decides that she deserves to have the life that she assumes Stephanie has, problems arise.

I started this book early one morning and didn't stop until it was finished. The plot is very good. There was one twist at the end that seemed a little unlikely (people do have vacation days), but that is all I will say.

What a great debut novel ! This one really kept me guessing the whole book. It was a different concept than the thriller/suspense books I have read lately. It was easy to get through this book fast and kept me really entertained. I recommend giving this one a read and I look forward to her next book.

Thank you Netgalley and St.Martin's Press for the digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press for the copy of The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia. I took a break from thrillers and this was the perfect way to rediscover this genre. I didn't read the description before I started, so it was full of surprises at first. I was disappointed in Part Four because much of it didn’t feel plausible and it went on too long and I started to get bored. The ending was a shock, but it all happened so quickly and with no hints I was disappointed, even though I can see why some readers will love it! 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 because the book was good except for Part Four.

Wow! If you like domestic thrillers, this is a book for you! Two very different women who look very much alike end up on the same flight seated next to each other. After landing, both women begin acting out-of-character as noted by friends, family and coworkers. Following along as the story is told by multiple characters (even the bad guys!) is intriguing and adds to the suspense leading to the story's culmination. Many twists and turns, and I kept second-guessing who the victim really was.

I've enable notifications and alerts for this author - I look forward to reading more from her!

Full of unexpected twists and turns, some more believable than others. Dark and entertaining. Thanks to netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

[arc review]
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
The Business Trip releases January 14, 2025

<b>*contains spoilers*</b>

Jasmine and Stephanie are both women in their mid-40s living in Madison, and end up boarding the same flight to Denver.
One of them is escaping an abusive relationship, and the other is heading to a conference in San Diego for work.

Two days after their flight, they both text their closest friends to tell them that they’ve met a man named Trent McCarthy.
What happened on that flight for two strangers with different final destinations to end up with the same man?

This was the most nonsensical story I’ve read in a while.

The pacing and structure did not work for me, and the dialogue was extremely stilted and unnatural. I grew frustrated with it being overly detailed in places where it didn’t need to be, and the many character pov’s of everyone other than Jasmine and Stephanie.

There was actually no reason why Jasmine needed to take Stephanie’s identity. She was already free and clear in Denver with an additional $2K in cash and could’ve started a new life for herself… I find it hard to believe that her abusive partner, Glenn, who lives in a trailer and refuses to cook his own meals, would ever exert enough effort and search for her across all 50 states. Jasmine wasn’t even tech savvy enough to know how to order an Uber that same week, so it’s not like her social media presence was extensive enough to track either.

Since Jasmine seems to be such an expert killer, why couldn’t she have come up with a way to kill Glenn in the year that it took her to save up her tip money? I’m sure she could have thought of something that would’ve looked accidental instead of the whole fiasco she drummed up involving Trent, which actually drew more attention to herself.

Wow at first I was not sure what to think as the beginning chapters didn’t hook me right away. However once I got to chapter 3, I couldn’t put this book down. The multiple POVs were at times a lot, but I enjoyed learning more about each character. The twist in the middle, I did not see coming. Trent is a character I had a hard time reading about mostly because of his personality. But it was a great representation by the author and she certainly made the readers not like him and think he did it. The twist at the end floored me!! I enjoyed this fast pace moving plot and can’t wait to read it again. I give it 4”5 out of 5 stars. I will definitely be reading more by this author whenever they publish a new book.

It took me a minute to connect to this book, but once I did, I couldn’t put it down! Stephanie and Jasmine have no idea who each other are, but both text friends about a man they both met who has the same name, Trent. Then they both disappear.

I enjoyed the alternating POV’s in this book and watching it all play out in many pieces that eventually has you on the edge of your seat. This book was fast paced and held a lot of emotions. Can coworkers and friends put together what has happened to both ladies?

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

As someone who travels a lot, I had some issues with this book. It might have been different if I could have fully shut my brain off and just got lost in the absurdity of this book, but it doesn’t always work that way. This book also had way too many points of view, and I really could have done with less. The slimy abusive boyfriend would have been a great one to cut or Trent’s boss (just why?). Because there were so many points of view, towards the second half of the book there was overlap in the book, and it was frustrating. I think the author used so many points of view to keep the reader guessing, but instead it was frustrating and convoluted and I just got angry. I think that this book had potential and I wish I would have enjoyed the ride a bit more.