When her sister Phoebe vanishes without a trace during a solo road trip around Australia, Katy Sweeney sets out to follow the same route determined to find out what happened to her sister. As Katy makes her way through the route, she runs into another van lifer, Beth, and they decide to travel together.... but neither girl is what they seem.

I ended up really liking this one, but I felt like it dragged a little bit in the middle. I kept wishing the author would take advantage of the stunning setting and really painted a picture. This road trip that Katy & Beth are on is once in a lifetime for most of the world and I didn't really feel like I could picture it the way I picture Ragnar Jonasson's Iceland. That being said, the characters were good, plot was good, and the twist was excellent! Would definitely read more from this author!

Katy Sweeney is looking for her sister, Phoebe, who disappeared a year ago, three weeks into a solo trip in a van traveling around the Western Australia coast. Along the way, she meets Beth, and they team up. Beth. with secrets of her own, thinks helping Katy is the best way to hide. But as the twists mount and lies begin to be exposed, both women find they are in danger.

This is an interesting story about the dark side of female solo travel. I listened to the audiobook, which kept me interested throughout. It was very enjoyable.

This is a twisted thriller set in the Australian outback and van life. Katy is looking for her sister, Phoebe, who went missing a year ago as she began a van life adventure of her own. Katy meets up with Beth, another van life traveler who is on the run from her own past. This thriller is told from multiple POV, which is my favorite format for a thriller. The narrator for the audiobook has a great accent and did a wonderful job.

Thank you Macmillan audio and netgalley for the ALC.

Oh my gosh I loved this! How I loved this! I love the clear research that went into it. I love the characters. I love the mystery and the ending! I especially loved the notes from the author at the end and the part with the author and her friend (asl oa famous author) talking about writing. I even cried a little in a few parts because it was so relatable. I used to write in the pickup line at my kids' school.
The narration was perfection as well!

This book didn't thrill me. I do think our hardcore mystery patrons will be interested so the book will circulate. Maybe it just wasn't the book for me.

Red River Road by Anna Downes is one of the wildest rides I've ever been on, and my heart is still racing from the completely unexpected ending. Katy's sister Phoebe went missing when she traveled through Australia alone (#vanlife) and Katy is determined to retrace her steps to find out what really happened. Along the way she meets an array of questionable characters and picks up "Lily", who has just escaped from a dangerous situation. The two form an unlikely friendship but they both have secrets that can jeopardize their lives....

The narrator of this intense thriller was incredible. She brought each character to life and built up the tension in a way that made me listen to this book every possible second that I could.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Anna Downes' newest masterpiece!

I received an audiobook arc of this book from NetGalley and Macmillan Audio.

I gave this book 4 stars.

Katy decides to go search for her missing sister Phoebe, is the Australian Outback. Phoebe is an influencer living the “van life” when Katy decided to look for her, and she hasn’t been heard from in 3 weeks.

While in Australia, Katy meets a few people, one of them being Beth who is running from something. Katy decides to let her tag along, but soon realizes there are many secrets that could be dangerous to her, and could have been the reason for Phoebe’s disappearance.

Welp this book definitely made my jaw drop. I was in no way expecting it to head in the direction it did, but it definitely made me like the book a lot more! The audiobook made it a little more confusing, but overall I enjoyed the narration and felt like it was done well.

This is a great book for people who like mysteries as well as outdoors type books.

3.75 ⭐️

Red River Road is a twisty and propulsive suspense-filled thriller. It kept me on the edge of my seat, guessing and second guessing all the way through. I enjoyed it but also started to get a bit frustrated as it started to feel a bit more improbable, but it was still quite entertaining.

Maddy Withington did an excellent and layered job narrating the audiobook.

Thank you Anna Downes, St Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

What a twisty and wild ride in this mystery thriller about a woman searching to find out what happened to her younger sister who went missing when on a solo van trip through Australia.

Great descriptive storytelling as Katy Sweeney uses her sister, Phoebe’s, old instagram posts to trace her route along the Western Australian coast. Following her social media photos and details into campsites and scenic sites, Katy finds the trail has gone cold. No one knows anything. Katy discovers more questions than answers as she soon realizes that the situation of a woman traveling alone can be very dangerous. What happened to Phoebe and where was she when it did?

Suddenly, the tracking becomes even more convoluted when Katy meets and befriends the stranded Beth. But things are even more strange as they travel together. Someone is following them.

I think it best to go into this without reading too much about it ahead of time. It’s a fabulous narrative with multiple points of view that, initially, is quite confusing. When all is revealed, you will likely shake your head and exclaim at how well the author tied everything together in a shocking climax.

I was able to listen to the audiobook while following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publisher. The narrator did a fabulous job with the different character voices and the Australian accents. The quality of expression and tone by Maddy Withington added immensely to my enjoyment of the story. An excellent production that has the added benefit of hearing the author’s note at the end and a conversation between Anna Downes and Sally Hepworth. Highly recommended.

One year ago, a solo female traveler named Phoebe Green disappeared along with her caravan while traveling through Western Australia. Now, her sister Katie is retracing her route in hopes of shedding new light on the disappearance and ultimately finding her sister alive. Meanwhile, a young woman named Beth finds herself beaten and alone one night and in need of rescue. When she and Katie find each other, it seems like an ideal situation for both of them. Katie will give Beth shelter, and Beth will be another pair of eyes in Katie's search for her missing sister. But both women have secrets, and both might be in more danger than they know.

During the first half of this book, I really wasn't sure how I felt about it. There were parts that were slightly creepier than I normally prefer, and I was worried that I was going to have to leave it unfinished to be able to sleep at night. I'm so glad I decided not too. The second half of the book picks up the pace considerably, and though there is still some weird stuff happening, the need to figure out what's going on with our characters overshadowed that and made me want to continue no matter what. I did not predict the ending at all which is always a great thing in a thriller. The mystery element here was solid, and combined with the sometimes dangerous, current situations our characters found themselves in, this was a fast-paced, well orchestrated read. The fact that we get several points of view including flashbacks from one character and social media posts from another only enhances the storytelling. I would highly recommend to mystery and thriller fans.

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My thoughts- Thank you netgalley and Minotaur book for the advanced copy of Red River Road! This releases 8/27 and was a lot of fun, I typically enjoy Anna Downes book and this was no different. The audiobook is fantastic with the Australian accent, it was so mesmerizing I had a hard time focusing 😂. This was a super quick read and I totally sympathized with both Lily and Katy! The ending of this one got a little bit off the rails and unrealistic but it was definitely a fun enjoyable read!
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QOTD- would you ever travel on your own? In this book Katy’s sister is a solo traveler, I don’t think I could travel in a van on my own. I’m awful in a crisis 😂.

Thank you, SMP and MacMillan Audio, for the review copies—this one turned out to be a delightful surprise! The audiobook deserves special mention for its standout voice acting and stylish production. Listening to parts of it really helped me immerse myself in Downes' writing, capturing the “feel” of the story in a way that enhanced my reading experience.

“Red River Road” is a solid slow-burn thriller that intriguingly explores "van life" and thoughtfully examines the theme of women who go missing. Downes takes on familiar thriller tropes, but with a fresh focus on the reasons why women are in danger, making for a more reflective and compelling narrative. The plot centers on Katy’s search for her missing sister, Phoebe, but it quickly expands into a web of interconnected mysteries, including what’s happening with Katy herself and Beth, who gets entangled in Katy’s journey while grappling with her own secrets. The ending is powerful, tying all the connections together in a WOW moment and offering a complex, satisfying resolution to a well-developed story.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Narration: I listened to the audiobook of this novel and thought it was great. Performance and editing was smooth. The first time I heard Phoebe’s blog post and the photo descriptions I wasn’t entirely sure if I’d like them but I honestly did. I’m a visual reader so hearing the physical details made the story come alive.

Plot: we have four main characters: Katie, Beth, Wyatt and Phoebe. While I genuinely liked how the story twined together with the switching chapters and revisiting settings I think the characters lost a bit of strength to the storyline. It’s hard to get truly in depth with multiple characters and none of them were badly written- I just think I wanted more. I’m a greedy reader when I like a book.
But while I think there were a few times I wanted a scene to just move along - for the most part I was actively engaged in this book and wanted to keep listening so I could find out what happened. Here again though I did feel the book could have ended comfortably in a few spots but continued. It did wrap up completely in the end, but it could have worked if the reader was left hanging.

Overall I did enjoy it even with a couple flaws. I wanted to look up the author to try another book I do recommend.

3.5 stars, rounded up

One of the better thrillers I've read lately. I liked the setup more than the final product, but overall it was a decent story with some really good surprises. Audiobook was incredibly well narrated.

This has a slow setup--you have three main points of view:
Katy Sweeney, whose sister Phoebe started a solo vanlife trip around Western Australia the year before and disappeared without a trace. Katy is following Phoebe's Instagram posts in order to try to find out what happened to her sister.
Beth comes out of the darkness, bruised and bloodied needing to hide. She tells Katy a fake name and Katy agrees to take her in, Beth joins Katy to help search for Phoebe.
Wyatt is a young teen whose mother walked out on the family years before.
Interspersed with all of these are Phoebe's Instagram posts and comments during her trip.

While this isn't a perfect book, this is an intriguing and engaging mystery/thriller and everyone has secrets they are keeping. The reveal of those secrets is shocking at times, but the entire book has a sense of foreboding, of needing to look over your shoulder to make sure someone isn't following you.

There are a lot of heavy themes in this book and yet the author handles them well. The more intense situations occur off-page, which helps the storyline to be more palatable. There's something in this book that I usually hate to see in a thriller, but this author does a spectacular job at making it realistic and believable. I also loved the setting descriptions, the sense of place is beautifully described so that the reader feels the atmosphere with every stop they make, with every creepy thing that happens.

The narration of the novel is fantastic. Maddy Withington keeps the listener engaged and on the edge of the seat waiting to see what happens next. Her accents are spot on with the book and just very well done overall.

While I really liked this book, I thought the reveals were a little clunky and disjointed, sometimes there were just too many things going on and too many characters. I was mostly able to overlook those things and taken as a whole it was a solid, entertaining thriller.

Looking for a book with a missing woman, an exploration of Western Australia, and the feeling of always being watched? Red River Road by Anna Downes has all of the above (and more)!
I’ve never been to Australia, but this book convinced me to put it on my travel list! The book follows Katy, whose younger sister Phoebe was documenting her solo vanlife travels before she disappeared. Using Phoebe’s Instagram posts as her guide, Katy is traveling the coast of Western Australia. When she meets Beth, another woman who’s been involved in van life, they agree to work together to find Phoebe. Unfortunately, both women are running from different demons, and it starts to feel like their pasts are catching up with them.
I was on the edge of my seat for this whole book. The women consistently talk about all the safety steps they’ve taken, but still can’t shake the sense that someone is following them. And as more and more creepy things started happening, I was hooked!
Unfortunately, the last 80% or so undid a lot of the emotional tension that’d been built up. There were so many different options for the ending, and while I really liked the final twists, the way they were handled fell flat for me. But overall this was a solid thriller that kept me hooked until the last pages!
If any of this book's weirdly specific traits caught your eye, you should definitely give it a shot! I’d also recommend it if you have any interest in Australia and its many landmarks!
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the free advanced audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio (#MacAudio2024) for the ALC!

Though a slow burn starting off, “Red River Road” had me on the edge of my seat as Beth and Katy journeyed together. The fear of the unknown was really weaved throughout the story, especially for a woman traveling alone. The Australian backdrop was nice too, as that is one of my favorite places for a book to be set, and it was fun to imagine traveling through that landscape. The book definitely picked up in the second half and the faster pace was refreshing.

Told over dual timelines with dual points of view, I had no idea how Beth and Katy’s stories were going to connect. The huge twist was one I definitely didn't see coming and I loved how the author pulled it off! Her note after the story further expounded on that twist which I appreciated.

”Red River Road” releases August 27, 2024. This review will be shared to my instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly :)

This is a really slow burn travel thriller. It took me a while to fully get into it and to grasp all the storylines. There are a few twists and turns which were just okay for me. The ending went a little too far for me and it just made me roll my eyes. Still a good read but just ok for me.

I had a hard time getting into this book due to it being an audiobook and multiple storylines going on simultaneously. I feel like this would have been a much better experience if I had read the physical book. The first half was a struggle, but by the second half, I figured out who everyone was and which storyline was connected to them, and I finally started to enjoy the book. By the end of the book, I was glad I stuck it out because it ended up being a good story and one that I could even have seen being a movie. The author did a great job tying the multiple storylines together when wrapping up the book.

This is a slow burn story about the lives of online van traveler bloggers. There is a lot to process, and unfortunately with all the different POVs and underdeveloped characters, I found the audio narration rather difficult to connect with and follow. Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an ALC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Overall, I really liked this story. Not to mention the cover is absolutely stunning. The audiobook was just a little confusing because it would hop to the past with no warning. One second Beth would be talking to Katy and the next would be some time in the past where she and Lucas were together.

That was a huge reason for my lower than normal rating. I'm not sure if in the printed novel it will have some sort of mention that it is going back in time, but yeah. It was odd.

Other than that, I also saw some reviews before I started reading that the narrator was unreliable so I did have the twist figured out ahead of time. Had I not read those reviews, the shock factor to the twist may have been crazier.

All that being said, I really appreciate being given the opportunity to check out this novel before it releases to the public ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!! thriller girlies must check this out.