Some books are interchangeable and can be enjoyed just as well in print as they are in audio format. However, some are better experienced through reading, while others shine when listened to. For this particular book, I highly recommend the audio version. Why, you may ask? The reason is that there are ten different points of view (POVs), each narrated by a separate voice actor. Some of these narrations are shorter than others, but having ten distinct voices enriches the storytelling and adds nuance to each chapter. If I had to mentally navigate these ten various perspectives in print, I would likely get lost.

The story also jumps around a bit, especially when transitioning between different parts labeled "Part 1," "Part 2," etc. This means you'll first get the perspective of one group, then go back to learn about another group. I’ve seen this narrative style quite a bit, as it allows readers to piece together clues from the varying characters’ perspectives.

At the core of the story are two women: Jasmine, a waitress escaping a domestic abuse situation, and Stephanie, a newsroom producer heading to a conference. Both women text their friends about meeting a man named Trent McCarthy, after which they mysteriously disappear. The concept is intriguing—though I wouldn’t say it's unique—but it certainly captures one's interest.

The twists and reveals throughout the book are enjoyable, but the foreshadowing is so pronounced that it leaves little room for surprise. Despite this, I found the tale engaging overall. The distinct narrators lend a more cinematic feel to the story, making it a fun mystery/thriller experience.

Jessie Garcia’s The Business Trip takes us through two women’s lives as they are found dead in a famous newscaster’s backyard. While their family and friends are trying to figure out what happened, we go back to the days and week before the trip to find out what did happen.

Jasmine, fed up with her abusive and controlling boyfriend, has been siphoning off money for quite some time. She manages to escape before he can stop her, but she knows that once he catches on, he’ll be furious. And she was right. However, she’s too far away for him to do anything about it.

Our other primary protagonist is Stephanie, a news director from a modest news outlet. Divorced with a son in college, she’s always the one scheduled for business trips. She’s over it and not dispensable. Now, if she could just convince her bosses of that. Well, worrying about that will be the least of her concerns, as she’s soon to find out.

Stephanie misses companionship in life but has a dependable friend in her neighbor, Robert. Robert is just one of the various minor protagonists who’ll appear in this thrilling story.

Sitting side-by-side on the same flight as Stephanie, Jasmine wishes they could be friends. More than that, wants to be her. So, she quickly forms a plan and begins a series of events that will certainly cost at least one of them their lives.

A strange text thread soon begins. Jasmine is sending texts. Stephanie is sending texts. For everyone on the other side of those numerous texts, everything seems to be fine, if not a little bit odd for each of them. Meanwhile, Jasmine appears to be handling her plan expertly.

There’s a buried introduction to multiple protagonists in this thrilling story. Their roles might be small, but their relevance becomes clearer and clearer. It takes a lot of back-and-forth, but one thing is for sure: something is off. Way off. However, putting a finger on it proves to be an elusive task.

This remarkable debut novel reminds me of a jigsaw puzzle. At first, the pieces may seem disjointed and the design difficult to comprehend, but they all come together marvelously. The Business Trip is a brilliant story that captivated me from the very beginning, even if I had to suspend my disbelief occasionally. Listening to the audiobook made the compelling read even more enjoyable. The ensemble of narrators is sure to delight any fan of psychological thrillers.

Many thanks to St Martin’s Press and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

This book was a trip!! I thought it was fun and it had me guessing the whole time. It’s a little far fetched, but isn’t that what makes books fun?! The main character, Jasmine, was not likable, but that made the twists all the more enjoyable. I really liked the narrators and liked that there was a full cast. Overall, a fun, quick, suspenseful listen!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC of The Business Trip in exchange for an honest review. There was a fair amount of repetition after the 50% mark, which is why I gave it fewer stars. I also felt disconnected from the characters, and not liking them made it harder to enjoy certain parts. This was a fun debut thriller, and I look forward to others from the author in the future.

Phew this was a wild ride!

I loved how this story was laid out! We meet Jasmine and Stephanie right away and then are left to wonder what happened to them and why they are missing! I loved that even as the reader we were left guessing until the second half. Now you do have to suspend some belief on this one but overall it was just a fun popcorn thriller. I will definitely read more by Jessie Garcia! Such a great book to start the year with.

The audiobook was fantastic! I loved the narrators. They really brought the story to life.

The Business Trip was quite a thrill ride and audio was the perfect format for it. Told from several perspectives, it was really smart for the producers to use all of the different voices. The surprises kept coming and I could not have guessed the conclusion. It did get a bit repetitive and a couple of the characters were comically awful, it still provided a very entertaining read.

Clever and twisty and ridiculously good! Stephanie and Jasmine end up on the same plane. Stephanie for a work conference and Jasmine is trying to escape an abusive relationship. After the plane ride, both women start texting friends about meeting and falling for the same man. The texts get more erratic and then go silent. Both women seemed to have disappeared.
This is told in multiple POVs. It's suspenseful and will definitely keep you guessing until the very end.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this digital audio e=arc.*

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

Story: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Narration: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Overall: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Business Trip is a twisty mystery about two women that could not be more different yet are connected in mysterious ways.

This is a must on the audio format. I loved the full cast and it kept me entertained throughout. I couldn’t figure out where this story was going and I really enjoyed it.

ALC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a great twisty thriller. We have 2 main FMC, Jasmine and Stephanie who are connected by being on the same plane and both of them vanish. The story is told in multiple POV which added an interesting perspective. I love you really didn't know what was going on.

There is a cast of narrators (Andrew Eiden; Dylan Fitzpatrick; Fred Berman; Gail Shalan; Hillary Huber; Jennifer Pickens; John Pirhalla; Kimberly M. Wetherell; Kirby Heyborne; Tim Campbell) and made for a full immersive experience.

Thank you @stmartinspress @macmillan.audio @netgalley for a copy of this book.

I loved The Business Trip so much. The plot was incredible and gripping, and the characters were very relatable. The narrator was great.

Two women, Stephanie and Jasmine, have practically nothing in common, except they’re both on the same plane. Stephanie is on a business trip and Jasmine is leaving an abusive partner to start a new life. But something isn’t right. After they text their friends increasingly strange messages after several days about a mysterious man, red flags emerge. Worried, their friends desperately try to piece things together.

I loved the premise of this book. I expected lots of twists and turns and I was certainly not let down. I was kept guessing for a long time and each reveal felt like a gut punch. That being said, I felt that it sometimes took too long to get to these punches. There were times when the pacing felt very slow, and other times, especially toward the end, when the pacing felt too quick and overwhelming. The end in general disappointed me a bit. Without any spoilers, there were reveals and moments that felt a bit too unbelievable and far-fetched. I know that fiction isn’t supposed to be 100% realistic, but it did take me out of the story. There were also times when I felt that I was being told what happened rather than being shown. I found myself not getting as invested in the characters and story as I might have otherwise been with more description. Overall, this was a worthwhile read that I did genuinely enjoy, but certainly not flawless.

P.S. The audiobook version has a fantastic ensemble of different narrators that help make the book feel more movie-like. I would highly recommend listening to this one!

Thank you Macmillan Audio for providing this audiobook for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This was a great book that kept me on the edge of my seat needing to know what would happen next.
I highly recommend this book.
This is my first time reading this author but it won’t be my last
Huge thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc!

Jasmine trying to escape an abusive marriage and Stephaine a successful new producer meet on a plane to Denver. Next thing family and friends of these two women are being revived that they met a man and were going to get to know each other.

Jasmine world her friend who help her escape is starting to wonder where she is and why she isn’t texting her back and why she is left to deal with the fall out of what she did.

Stephaine friends start to worry about her when she didn’t return from a work trip and would abandon her life like she did.

I didn’t see the twist t the end but I really enjoyed this story. I love how the different point of views of each person helped create this amazing end

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!!

Wow, this one kept me on my toes. So many twists and turns, I flew through this audiobook. A great book to start the new year with. I really enjoyed the multiple POVs bringing this story to life.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for a copy of this audiobook!

I was so very pleasantly surprised by The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia. It was truly a treat! I am excited to see what the author comes up with next since it's their debut novel. I really didn't know where the story was going. It is a quite unique story. The narration was superb.

My issue with this one wasn't so much the content, but the way it was told. There were a TEN POVs, all told in the first person. I just don't understand that narrative choice. Though I'm glad the audio had ten different narrators to help with that. Even still, it was confusing a little hard to follow. I never connected with any one person because there were simply too many. Maybe if it had been in third person and we were reminded of the character's name more often it would have been easier to stay grounded in their POV. But with every single one saying "I" instead, I found it hard to keep track of who was speaking. Many of the POVs felt unnecessary and redundant. It was a little too much whiplash for me to get invested or stay engaged.

In Madison, Wisconsin, waitress Jasmine has been secretly plotting an escape from her abusive boyfriend, and has finally saved up enough money to buy a plane ticket to Denver. In the same city, Stephanie is the news director at a local TV station being sent on yet another work trip to a conference in San Diego, with a layover in Denver. As fate would have it, they end up sitting next to each other and talking during their flight, but what happens when they land?

Well, if you’ve heard the saying “fate is a fickle thing” … that sums up the rest of the book pretty perfectly!

I know this is all very vague and intentionally so, because this really is best gone into as blind as possible. I’ll only say that this book will make you rethink ever talking to the stranger next to you!

I loved the full-cast narration for the audiobook, which I listened to while reading on my Kindle. All ten narrators did an excellent job, and I particularly enjoyed the voicing for Jasmine, Stephanie and toxic, “bro” culture a-hole Trent, who I wanted to throat punch pretty much every time he spoke.

If you enjoy mystery, intrigue, and suspense with twists and turns that reads like a true crime Dateline episode, this might be fun for you! My only minor ding was a bit too much of an exposition dump at the end on how the perpetrator was caught which I thought could’ve been handled a little better and a kinda ‘meh’ epilogue, but honestly I thought Garcia did a fantastic job and I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next!

3.5 / 5 stars. This book was interesting right from the beginning and had some good twists. I enjoyed the writing and the narrators of the audiobook really brought it to life. A solid mystery thriller for the new year!

Jasmine and Stephanie were not related in any way -- until they both go missing and seem to be connected. This book has such a fun twist on top of a twist! I'm not going to spoil it but it was clever and I'm always happy when thriller writers come up with new things. I'm going to keep an eye on this author for new thrills!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review.