Method of reading: Audiobook

I am torn on The Business Trip. On one hand, the structure and extensive cast reminds me of a tv show. On the other hand, the actual writing is lacking and very base level. No extensive vocabulary, generic stereotypical characters, and just overall dull writing. With Jessie Garcia being in the newscasting business, this actually makes a lot of sense. It makes one wonder if she was writing a tv script and pivoted to novel form when the publisher promised an extensive voice acting cast. The story was decent in the beginning, but once the story shifts to the Trent character it begins to roll downhill and crumble. The voice acting is great and as a presentation the audiobook is 4/5 but the actual book is a 2/5 which averages out to a 3/5.

Review copy provided by the publisher for an honest review.

I loved the start of The Business Trip, it hooked me right away with its gripping and twisty plot. However, as the story progressed, it started to lose its appeal, and the ending felt strange and disappointing. While the unexpected twists kept me guessing about what was going on, the resolution didn’t quite land for me. It had a strong beginning but ultimately fell flat. Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

A plot twist delivery device rather than a fleshed-out narrative, The Business Trip's audiobook has a stacked list of 10 narrators, which seems extravagant considering this is a debut from an untested author—but after finishing the novel, I start to understand the publisher's strategy for such a lavish production; the actors really add the needed personality and emotion, because without their distinct voice and performance, on paper this is some of the most bland, bare-bone writing I've read in quite a while.

The Business Trip's plot only works because it centers around an implausible protagonist who shape-shifts at the author's convenience; the character's initial helpless desperation (she didn't even know how to use Uber) propelled the story, yet within the span of a week she suddenly became cunning and merciless, pulling off elaborate schemes requiring layers of planning. There are also tons of shortcuts throughout its narrative, from red herring characters simply disappeared after they serve the intended purpose, to overuse of stereotypes (gay character is flamboyant and loves musicals, and straight White male character is self-obsessed, cannot cook, and misogynistic).

The Business Trip is catered to readers who enjoy fast-food thrillers from the like of Freida McFadden, where unpredictability eclipses style, logic, and character. There's definitely some easy, immediate gratification to be had, seeing the ridiculousness unravels, but I also couldn't help but feel like I could've better spend my time elsewhere.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It started off strong and very intriguing. I loved the multiple POVs. I was excited for Jasmine to get a fresh start, away from her abuser.

I enjoyed the first half of the story more than the second half. It just became more unbelievable. Without spoilers, it also left me questioning the extremely far-fetched choices Jasmine made to escape an abusive relationship.

I give it 3.5 stars for the narration and suspenseful beginning.

This book had me hooked after the first 1/3 of the book! Once I thought I had the characters figured out and could predict what is coming next, there was another twist around the corner! Kept me reading and interested! Also loved how this author writes her books! Looking forward to reading more by this author!

For those interested in stolen identities and multi-layered stories this would be for you. But a hefty warning.

This story drags a bit in the first half but picks up slightly.

However - the twist/reveal at the end was pretty good. Overall, the payoff was not entirely worth the dragging of the beginning.

Also, I kinda hated Jasmine…like, a lot. She had this sorta victim complex (someone correct me if there’s a better name for it) in that she absolutely hates that there are people in better situations than her and feels justified in doing really not good things to these people just because they’re better off than her. That’s actually a horrible mindset to have.

I cannot confidently say that I would recommend this.

Jasmine has had enough. When she first met Glenn, he seemed nice. He took her on dates and made her feel special. But that was long ago. That was before he hit her and demanded she turn over her paychecks and kept her away from friends and family. And then he started hitting her. Jasmine saved up a little bit of money week after week for over a year in order to make her getaway. But it’s finally time. She is boarding a plane for Colorado and not looking back.

Stephanie is a news director in Madison, Wisconsin, heading for a work conference in San Diego, with a stop in Denver. She didn’t know anyone at the conference, and she was getting tired of being the person from the station who had to travel to all the work things. But as a divorced woman with a cat, Stephanie is the easy person to choose, and she always agrees. Her neighbor and friend Robert will be handling the cat sitting duties, and she will bring him back a kitschy gift. It’s what they do when she has to go on these trips.

These women had nothing in common but a flight, a row of seats where one sat by the window and the other by the aisle. They chatted briefly and went on their separate ways. But aside from a few texts where each woman talked about a new man they were seeing, no one heard from either woman until the police were called to the home of a man named Trent McCarthy and find DNA from both women in his possession.

Trent is a news director also, and he attended the same news conference Stephanie was heading to. They had been assigned the same table for the first day, sharing ideas on running their respective newsrooms. After the conference, he had gone back to Atlanta to return to his life, and everything seemed normal until the day the police came knocking on his door, after a 911 call directed them to his place, a woman begging for help on the line.

As the police and Stephanie’s fellow news reporters started to dig into her disappearance, they found a number of things that didn’t add up. Her texts had been sparse and terse. Stephanie hadn’t answered her phone for anyone, just sent texts and voice memos and posted on social media. What exactly happened to these women between their flight to Denver and Trent McCarthy’s arrest?

The Business Trip is the debut thriller from Jessie Garcia, and it’s filled with questions and twists that suck you into the story and keep the pages turning until the end. Told in multiple perspectives, this story offers up breadcrumbs of truth, letting readers make their own guesses about what is really happening and finally resolving it (for the record, I guessed wrong). But seeing all the puzzle pieces fall into place is such a fun journey that I genuinely enjoyed this trip.

I listened to The Business Trip on audio, which has ten different narrators. It was easy to know whose perspective we were getting, as each character truly had a distinctive voice. The voice actors are Andrew Eiden; Dylan Fitzpatrick; Fred Berman; Gail Shalan; Hillary Huber; Jennifer Pickens; John Pirhalla; Kimberly M. Wetherell; Kirby Heyborne; and Tim Campbell, and they definitely bring all these characters to life through this narration. I thought the audio book was masterfully done, and I think it’s a great way to experience this thriller.

Egalleys for The Business Trip were provided by St. Martin’s Press and an early copy of the audio book was provided by Macmillan Audio, both through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Wow what a mind trap this book is! A totally bingeable page turner told in multiple points of view and just when you think you finally get a grasp of what’s happening bam you are flabbergasted caught off guard by a twist you don’t see coming.

Loved the narrators for this read and the premise of the story. It was fast paced and Garcia did a great job in making a few of her characters extremely unlikeable. I think I was hoping for a different ending as it was a little too predictable. I thought the beginning and the middle of the story were very well written and but the ending was a little too formulaic and predictable which made the ending not so great and a little lazy and rushed.

DNF @ 14%

The silliest reason to DNF a book but having lived in Madison, WI for 3+ years, the descriptions were wildly inaccurate and kept taking me out of the story. Will work for 99% of readers, because it was very engaging otherwise.

✈️ The Business Trip - Jessie Garcia

3.75 ⭐️- This was addictively good! What a fun, twisty psychological thriller debut. I was hooked from the very beginning!

I was addicted to this audio! It’s a full cast so I definitely recommend it. The thrill and mystery started from the very beginning with unlikeable characters, that I enjoyed not liking, twists and turns and multiple skeptical POVs. This was fast paced and easy to binge. There were a couple of storylines I felt were unfinished and I wanted more, but I did enjoy the ending.

Thanks to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, and St. Martin Press for the early ARC and audio. This one’s out now!

Unfortunately not a fan! Way too many POV to keep track of and not a single likable character. My biggest issue was the unrealistic plot twist.

This was a fun and twisty thriller. I enjoyed the alternating points of view. I thought I had figured it all out and then I was proven wrong. Looking forward to reading more of Jessie Garcia's work in the future.


Andrew Eiden; Dylan Fitzpatrick; Fred Berman; Gail Shalan; Hillary Huber; Jennifer Pickens; John Pirhalla; Kimberly M. Wetherell; Kirby Heyborne; and Tim Campbell all did a great job narrating this story.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book had me hooked at the beginning. I had NO idea what was going to happen. The chapters were fast and the book was well paced. I would recommend this mystery to anyone who likes Freida McFadden. The only complaint was that you had to keep track of character names because it alternated between a ton of POV's.

Overall, I highly recommend this read or listen to any mystery lover.

Too many POV for me. The story was good and the narrators were great. If I was reading the ebook I might not have finished, though.

Thank you netgalley for the prerelease audiobook.

This was so fun and twisty! The premise is a little out there, but it's worth suspending your disbelief. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

The Business Trip is told in multiple POVs. It seems like nothing fits or makes sense, but trust me, it all comes together in the end. There's a lot going on and so many moving parts, and the characters are, for the most part, unlikable. It also has a final twist that you won't see coming. Overall, this book is utterly ridiculous and so very entertaining!

I listened to the audiobook version, and it has an ensemble cast of narrators. All of which are excellent in their roles.

Thank you, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley, for this ALC. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thank you @NetGalley and @MacmillanAudio. The Business Trip is about two women who each have a reason to want to skip out on life. Stephanie is tired of life and wants to just relax in the sun and Jasmine wants to flee her abusive boyfriend. Both women take the same flight out of town and sit next to each other on the plane. One of these women will not make it to their destination. I was all in on this story. The twist and turns kept up all night.

Thanks NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for the ALC!

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this book. The plot started off strongly but mid-way through, the twists were desperately brought in & the building of the storyline felt amateurish.

The audiobook is a great production though, with a multi cast of narrators who ensure there is never a dull moment in the book & pack it with the right pacing & full of entertainment.

However, there were just too many characters & POVs to keep track of & that added to the clumsiness. Some were also unnecessary & again were just red herrings for the sake of it.

I couldn't help by roll my eyes towards the end, as we are thrust with try hard surprises which were simply too over the top be realistic.

I prefer thrillers which have a believable plot & even likeable characters.

My best wishes to the debut author though as I am sure other readers would appreciate this book. Will definitely try her next book.

The audiobook of <i>The Business Trip</i> was a fantastic production. I'm not sure if it would have translated quite as good into book form, so I'm glad I got the audiobook experience.
There were multiple reader's representing the many POVs. It was done so well that it wasn't confusing keeping characters straight, which is a huge plus for me. The book is split into parts and divided by day of flight, one day after flight, etc. The listener got to hear perspectives of all the characters due to this format, making it seem as if all of the tiny details were told and no holes were present in the storytelling.
Jasmine, the main character, was written in a way that the reader could almost feel empathetic to her plight and why she was doing the things she was doing. It's easy to get wrapped up in the decisions being made, but then things flop a bit. As I was listening, I remember thinking "Oh! Well dam that just f'ing happened!" This story definitely took me a long for a ride and I enjoyed listening to it.

I really enjoyed this clever and gripping story. A terrific debut!

Jasmine is a 40 something woman who is trying to escape an abusive relationship. In her words she is a "chick in her 40s who has never really done anything in her life". She just wants to be free. Free to experience life on her own terms. Free to explore and have exciting adventures. She's both joyous and fearful of what the future will bring.

Stephanie is a news director on her way to a conference in San Diego. Stephanie is divorced with an adult child. While she doesn't have anything keeping her from travelling frequently, she's getting a little tired of leaving her cat, Fred to attend yet another conference. Thankfully, her friend and neighbor, Robert has no problem taking care of Fred while she's gone.

Jasmine and Stephanie meet when they sit next to each other on the plane. They have no idea how their lives will be forever changed after this meeting.

We hear from plenty of other characters and while it was a little hard keeping them all straight at first, I got there eventually. The audiobook has a full cast of narrators which was very entertaining. At times it was a bit far-fetched but I was still completely absorbed and excited to see what would happen next. I was positive I knew where the story was going, but it ended up being VERY different from what I expected.

This story reminds you to be careful what you wish for.

This really was a great debut novel and I'm looking forward to reading more from Jessie Garcia!