*The Business Trip* by Jesse Garcia is a gripping psychological thriller that expertly weaves suspense and intrigue. The story introduces Jasmine, a woman haunted by a troubled past, desperately seeking an escape, and Stephanie, a determined and ambitious career woman en route to an important business trip. The two strangers strike up a seemingly casual conversation on the plane, but days later, both women mysteriously vanish. As the story unfolds, readers are left in a constant state of uncertainty, never sure who to trust or suspect, making for a deeply engaging and unpredictable narrative.

The pacing of the novel is taut and skillfully executed, keeping me on edge as I tried to piece together the clues. The plot is clever and original, offering just enough twists to keep me guessing until the final pages.

Overall, *The Business Trip* is a captivating thriller that keeps you hooked from start to finish. It’s a thought-provoking exploration of how our past shapes who we are, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a story that challenges the mind while delivering edge-of-your-seat suspense.

I listened to the audiobook of this one and I really enjoyed the cast of narrators and thought they did a great job bringing the characters to life. This book moved slowly at first, but I liked the way the story unfolded. I liked that the reader gets to see multiple views of the characters because there were so many views. Jasmine has planned out leaving her abusive boyfriend and going off to start a new life. Stephanie is headed to a news conference even if she is tired of the boring work travel she always seems to get stuck with. The two women are about to go on a topsy turvy journey that no one could have predicted. The last third of the book was excellent (although I saw the final curve coming) and it would have been 5 stars if the beginning hadn’t of been so slow. I definitely would be interested in more from this author.

The Business Trip is a great thriller that kept me invested throughout. Jasmine and Stephanie are strangers. They meet on a plane and then both go missing. The only thing they had in common was texts that they sent people back home about meeting a man named Trent McCarthy.

I was invested in both stories, and it’s impossible to talk about a lot of this without some spoilers that happen midway. My only complaint with this book was the number of characters. They were not all integral to the story, but there were still a lot of names thrown at you.

This had an ending I didn’t see coming, and I will be willing to bet that you won’t see it coming either. If you like thrillers, then this is one to check out for sure.

Stephanie and Jasmine end up on the same plane when Stephanie is going on a business trip and Jessica is running away from her abusive relationship. They sit near each other and have conversation, but other than that, they have nothing in common. They both will text their friends a similar message about the same man and share details of their relationship with him. Stephanie and Jasmine both disappear and it leaves their friends freaking out, wondering what happened. Both sets of friends start to look into Trent McCarthy and what he could have done to these women.

There were quite a few characters to keep up with and two main points that made this story a little ridiculous for me. 1. Jasmine was not portrayed as smart in the beginning with having to have a friend help her use uber so hoe did she know how to plan for some of the identity stealing that she tried to do? She went from being so dumb and having to depend on her abusive boyfriend to being really smart and intuitive. 2. It made no sense that they both would have disappeared at the same time and had the same relationship with the same guy if the cops would have talked to both sets of friends. Other than these two points, the twists and turns, and who actually did it kept me intrigued the whole time. The ending was a good twist with another case of switched identity.

The Business Trip is a dark debut that follows two women - Stephanie and Jasmine - and what happens to them after a fateful flight.

This story was wild - broken into different parts, with numerous POV chapters from the entire cast of characters, you never quite know what you're about to read next. The timeline and POV swaps allow for the reader to experience the story in forward motion, then concurrently, then backtracking to reveal what we missed - and it just adds to the overall craziness of what the plot reveals.

Jessie Garcia has done a great job at giving the cast of characters a wide range of attributes and quirks that make you like some, hate others, root for a few, and ultimately never really know what's going on in the head of some. Her character development and depth is what made this novel stand out - I haven't read a thriller in awhile where the cast was so fully fleshed out.

The audiobook has a full cast - which adds such a fun element to this story. Listening to it, you're able to clearly understand all the narrators at a higher listening speed which is important to a lot of readers. The differing voices also allows you to easily keep straight who is talking when - which comes in handy with all the different POV chapters and swapping of timelines, this was a great call on part of the author. Because of the full cast, I'm giving the audiobook a 5 star review - one extra star specifically for the vocal talent.

Without giving away any of the plot, I can honestly say I haven't read a book like this before. The story unfolds over a few short days, and so much happens it kind of makes my head spin. I'll be keeping my eye out for her next novel for sure!

Reading in Between the Wines book review #125/130 for 2024:
Rating: 4 🍷🍷🍷🍷
Book: The Business Trip
Author: Jessie Garcia
RELEASES on January 14, 2025!!!

Sipping thoughts: I listened to the audio version of this book, and I LOVED that each character actually had their own narrator. There were a lot of characters, though, and I had to take notes to keep track of who was who, but that was only for a small part of the book. I love a good thriller and one that just feeds you piece by piece until you have the full picture. The Business Trip was twisty, bits of humor, and full of less than likable characters. I have to say, though. that I found myself rooting for the villain even though I did not want to. I know Garcia recently started writing fiction books, and I hope she continues to give us this level of thrillers.

Cheers and thank you to @Netgalley and @MacmillanAudio for an advanced copy of @TheBusinessTrip.

#TheBusinessTrip #JessieGarcia #MacmillanAudio #NetGalley #ARC #advancedreader #advancedreadercopy #ARC #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThrillers #GeneralFictionAdult

I must admit that I’m a new reader of the thriller genre. There’s characters you love, characters you’ll love to hate, twists, and misdirection; sometimes satisfying, shocking, eye rolling and WTF. The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia audiobook with multicast narration became my latest guilty pleasure. I needed a distraction from reality and finished in two days. The book’s synopsis: “Stephanie and Jasmine have nothing and everything in common. The two women don’t know each other but are on the same plane. Stephanie is on a business trip and Jasmine is fleeing an abusive relationship. After a few days, they text their friends the same exact messages about the same man—the messages becoming stranger and more erratic. And then the two women vanish.” At 40% in, some things were becoming clear to me…but then misdirection. There is one twist that I have to give a well played to. It definitely is a page turner for sure. ALC was provided by Macmillan Audio via NetGalley. I received an advance listening copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Holy cow!! If this is a debut, well… 😮😮😮

Jasmine is a young woman fleeing an abusive relationship. She’s been saving scraps of money for a long time, in order to make her escape.

Stephanie is a business woman. A news anchor. She’s on her way to a conference…another one. Seems like all she does is work, work, work…
She is divorced and estranged from her son…

When the two meet on the airplane, Jasmine feels like it is fate!!

But…they have NOTHING in common. They are from two very different worlds….

And then, the sh*t hits the fan… and the bottom drops out!

This one had twist after twist after twist!

BUT, thanks to good friends, clues are found and followed!!

Amazing storyline. Insane characters. And…picking my jaw up off the floor multiple times! 😮

Thanks to #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio for an ARC of the audiobook.
**** PLEASE NOTE: THIS WILL BE RELEASED ON 1/14/25!! ****
So, look 👀 for it then!!

#TheBusinessTrip by #JessieGarcia and narrated beautifully by a FULL CAST!!

4 1/2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 for me, rounded up to 5!!

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4.5 stars

Well, that was a twisty "trip"! This one kept me guessing the entire way through. I loved the different character POVs and the audio narration was excellent. The characters were all a little sketchy in the best way and this was an overall fast, unputdownable wild ride that I'm not sorry I went on. And everyone thinks traveling for work is boring...

Make sure you put this book on the top of your 2025 TBR. You won't be sorry you did!

I just finished the audio of the Business Trip. I can't say if I liked it or not. It may be that I didn't care for the narrators. I liked some and I didn't like others. The story seemed a bit far fetched and long. I was hoping for a different outcome for Jasmine. Trent was irritating. I am just all over the place. I wish I read it instead of the audio but I did finish it nonetheless. Thank you advanced copy.

Well this had a very promising start. I really enjoyed the first part of the book and was eager to listen to this one unfold. Unfortunately, it turned way too much for me in the last 1/3 of the book. Almost didn’t finish.
Thank you to NetGalley and t publishing for the Advance audio copy in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
2.5 -ish ⭐️⭐️1/2

I loved the narration of this book. I loved the different viewpoints and honestly I did not know where this book was going at all. The ending was perfect! The whole book was super twisty. You will want to read or listen to this book!!!

A superb debut novel and exceptional narration.
I am eagerly anticipating further works by this author. I highly recommend this book to enthusiasts of the mystery and thriller genres.

Envy and vengeance prove to be a deadly combination in this wildly unpredictable thriller. I enjoyed the different POVs and was entertained and surprised by how all the pieces cleverly came together. The plot is intense and intriguing with unexpected twists throughout. This is an impressive debut. I look forward to reading more thrillers by Jessica Garcia in the future. The narration masterfully brought the story to life while adding suspense and intensity. Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my audiobook.

Talk about a wild ride! This book had so many twists, and I loved it.. The twists were something I did not see coming and they continued all the way to the end. I enjoyed all of the different perspectives that this book was told in. This book was brilliantly written and very enjoyable! I listen to the audiobook and it was amazing! Each character had a different narrator, and that really helped me follow along

Started off with a lot of promise, but became unhinged (and not in a good way). The second half felt like reading the first draft of a thriller where the author writes down every single idea and nothing is edited out. Narration was good.

I was given an advanced reader copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This was a fast paced engaging story with lots of twists and turns. Definitely recommend!

This was very much a meh book for me. The story line was a bit guess-able, the ending was abrupt, and portions were unbelievable. The narrators were good though. 3 stars.

I enjoyed this book and was excited to read a debut novel from someone with the same background as me: TV news. I will say I think the writer got a little unnecessarily descriiptive about the details of Stephanie's job as a news director, and at times it felt a bit amateurish. However, I really felt that I got to know the character of Jasmine very well, she was really well developed and truly I was completely surprised by the twist at the end. Well done! Enjoyed the narrators as well!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This audiobook was so bingeable. I started listening while wrapping Christmas gifts and I couldn't stop. I finished it in under 24 hours.
I LOVED the full cast and I really appreciated that the author kind of introduced each person as their chapter started. There are a lot of characters, but this made it easy to keep track of who was who!
This was an awesome cat & mouse thriller that delivered twist after twist and had some morally grey characters along the way. Jasmine is running away from her abusive bf under the guise of a business trip. And Stephanie is a divorcee who is on a business trip to attend a conference for her tv station. These two couldn't be more different, except they both send texts saying they're with this awesome new guy they met, Trent McCarthy?!!!
I was so hooked and needed to know what was going to happen next. What a fantastic debut novel from Jessie Garcia. This releases on 1/14 and you need this on your TBR!
Thank you so much MacMillan Audio for the ALC! Merry Christmas to me!