2.5 stars here. The first half of the book was so good, and then the last half pretty much required me to turn my brain off in order to finish it. There’s enough twists, turns, and deus ex machinas involved that it’s impossible to ignore.

For a debut novel the first half was superb, but I can’t in all honesty recommend more than that.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, all opinions are my own.

I loved it, then I hated it, then I loved it, then I was charmed to death by the ending!

Jessie Garcia's novel starts off with a bang. Jasmine is escaping an extremely abusive relationship with little money and no friends or relatives to turn to. She is flying to Denver, a spot on the map she chooses at random, wanting nothing more than to just get away. On the same flight is Stephanie, a news director who is always the one picked to go to these boring weekend conferences because she is divorced with no kids at home. Their lives intersect and its nonstop action from there until the jaw-dropping finale.

The first quarter of the book I loved; Jasmine's story of escaping her abusing with determination and grit and little else, Stephanie's story of a failed marriage, an adult son who is drifting away, and nothing at home except her cat Fred. The decisions they make at the start of that fateful weekend, set the stage perfectly and kept my interest fixated on their fateful flight.

Then comes the second quarter, chapters narrated by the ladies' friends and co-workers. They didn't seem to make much sense, as if thrown in at the last moment for filler. Viewpoints from Stephanies neighbor, who feeds her cat, and her second in command at the news station, checking in with ho-hum questions about work. Jasmines only contact is with a childhood friend who helped her get the waitressing job at the bar, that she just left. She fills Jasmine in on the explosive reaction her abusive boyfriend has upon discovering her escape.

By the midway point, we get a day-by-day account from Trent, the man at the center of the mystery, who we immediately realize is a womanizing, pompous bore, as unlikeable as they come. Things pick back up and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Loving it again at this point.

By the final quarter of the tale, missing puzzle pieces are starting to fall into place and hoo boy, is the final picture turning out to be a doozy.! I literally couldn't turn the pages fast enough. One of the best endings I've read in a while!

This was a quick read with a lot of twists.

A bit of a warning. There are a lot of points of view early in the book. I want to say 10+ but I didn't count them. It was pretty easy to remember who everyone was and the chapters were short. But if you struggle with multiple points of view, this one isn't for you.

Stephanie and Jasmine were so different from each other even though they looked similar. Stephanie had a successful news career and was heading to a conference in San Diego. Jasmine grew up with nothing except for a mom that hated her. She was living with a guy that was abusing her and she needed to get away. It took her a year to save up some of her bar tips and escape. Both women end up sitting together on the plane. And that's where everything weird starts. Both women end up missing with some clues that lead to another person at the conference. The book has a few twists and the reader will go back to the beginning to hear what really happened.

I gave this book 4 stars. Thank you to Netgalley for my earc.

There are certain people you need to stay away from in life. Jasmine is one of them.

She was an abused 44-year-old wife, living in a trailer with her husband, Glenn. She needed to get out before there was another possible brutal attack. Jasmine could be pleasant yet, this was a woman that had a spiteful and mean-spirited past. She was a person I wouldn’t want to know. In fact, I wouldn’t want to hang out with any of the characters in this book.

It was a quick psychological thriller with short chapters and wild twists. It got my attention as Jasmine made her way from Madison to Denver thanks to a friend that gave her a loan for the airline ticket. I could probably make a list of all the unbelievable occurrences in her plans although it didn't matter too much as it was moving fast. In this case, the James Bond was a woman and my focus was how she would eventually escape. The ending was offbeat and totally unpredictable.

My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of January 14, 2025.

I didn’t care for this novel. I don’t generally like thrillers that try to out-twist every other twisty thriller, and this one just went too far for my taste.

I'm obsessed with this book! It's like, SO twisty and wild, I literally couldn't put it down!! Picture this: two women, totally different vibes, on the SAME plane, and suddenly—poof—they disappear!! Like, what?! You’ll be guessing the whole time about what happened, and trust me, you won’t see the twists coming. I was legit GOBSMACKED by the ending. And don’t even get me started on Trent McCarthy—who even IS this guy?? The tension, the suspense, ugh, chef’s kiss!

Anyway, if you want a thriller that keeps you on your toes and makes you question everything, this one’s IT. I seriously lost sleep over it, but SO worth it.

Huge thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review! 💖

I want to thank St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Ok firstly wow this book was filled with such twists and turns! The first 50% of the book had me hooked so bad! But once I passed that 50% i started guessing exactly what was going down.. until another secret shocked me again! I still found the first half was way better than the second.. it starts to fall flat when you start knowing exactly what will happen.. the ending also kind of threw me off a bit and was a little random.. I feel like it should have really ended with a huge bang with all that was revealed.. still such a twisty read!

The book draws you in quickly and keeps you hooked, the twists and turns keep you reading even when you have other things to do. Very twisted story but good read.

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.