This was a thrilling, fast-paced read that perfectly captured the drama, humor, and tension of navigating relationships at work. Set during a high-stakes corporate retreat, the story follows a group of colleagues whose lives intertwine in unexpected ways. The characters feel real - flawed, funny, and sometimes frustrating and that makes their struggles and triumphs hit even harder. Just when you think you know where it’s going, a twist is thrown in that keeps you hooked. It’s the kind of book you’ll want to binge in one sitting. Perfect for fans of character-driven stories with plenty of heart... and a little chaos.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the Advanced Reader Copy!

The twists in this book were insane. Just when everything makes sense….. WHAT!?!?! Add this to your TBR, you won’t regret it!!

I'm a fairly prolific thriller reader, and it's rare that I get completely surprised by a twist, but Jessie Garcia's The Business Trip has a reveal at the end that got me. It's an OMG kind of moment, and the ride to get there is incredibly entertaining. None of the characters are particularly likable, with the exception of Robert the cat sitter, but that was part of the fun. The Business Trip is a strong debut, and it's easy to see that Jessie Garcia is an author to watch.

I unfortunately am not the right audience for this book and should have read more of the summary before requesting it. I do not like to read anything about domestic abuse/cheating/leaving or escaping, etc. Due to this I only got briefly in to the book. This is definitely an it’s me not you as I know so many who loves this book.

Buckle Up! Get ready for a wild roller coaster ride! THE BUSINESS TRIP is a highly entertaining, impressive, twisty debut by Jessie Garcia (TV News director)—an author to watch!

When two women's (strangers) lives collide on an airplane (connecting flight) and later go missing—there is an ongoing mystery as to how the two women and one man, who seems to be the common link between them, connect in this riveting domestic page-turner.

Audiobook...

The audiobook is a must-listen performed by a stellar full-cast of 10 favorites— Andrew Eiden, Dylan Fitzpatrick, Fred Berman, Gail Shalan, Hillary Huber, Jennifer Pickens, John Pirhalla, Kimberly M. Wetherell, Kirby Heyborne, and Tim Campbell— making the characters come alive for an engaging, lively listening experience with distinct voices for the characters. I highly recommend the audio.

About...

Jasmine, a young woman from a poor background, thought she found a way out with Glen, but he turned out to be a dead-end-controlling, abusive loser living in a trailer park. He has been a constant threat in her life, making her feel trapped and helpless.

She finally finds a way out with the help of her friend Anna and fearlessly decides to take a flight to Denver for a new start, hoping Glen does not track her down and kill her. She is more resourceful than she may know.

Stephanie is a highly successful news director who has recently divorced and estranged from her son. She is also a workaholic. She is best friends with her gay neighbor, Robert, who keeps her cat while traveling. She is on a business trip- a conference for work in San Diego.

The two women randomly connect on a plane, and impulsive and desperate decisions are made that will forever change the trajectory of their lives.

Mysteriously, Robert receives a text from Stephanie saying she is extending her trip to spend time with a new guy, Trent, whom she met. This is not the norm.

At the same time, Anna, Jasmine's high school friend, receives the same message about a guy named Trent in Atlanta. Who is Trent, and what is his connection to Stephanie and Jasmine?

Then, the two women go missing, and Trent is charged. Is there something more sinister involved? Where is Stephanie and Jasmine?

My thoughts...

Garcia's storytelling keeps you on the edge of your seat in THE BUSINESS TRIP. With clever suspense-building and jaw-dropping twists, she weaves an intricate web of deceit, secrets, manipulation, revenge, and lies mixed with dark humor. The unpredictable, witty game of cat and mouse will keep you guessing. Despite everything, you may find yourself possibly sympathizing with Jasmine (possibly).

Multi-layered, told from POVs: Jasmine, Stephanie, Anna, Glenn, Robert, Bruce, Dave, Lucy, Trent and Bill in four parts. (perfect with the audio version). We follow the story from airports, planes, hotels, and bars in Wisconsin, Atlanta, Georgia, California, and Mexico. The story reminds me of the TV/Book series Good Behavior by Blake Crouch. (which I loved).

THE BUSINESS TRIP has set the bar high for a debut, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

Recs...

THE BUSINESS TRIP is for fans of fun and twisty domestic thrillers and those who enjoy works by Hank Phillippi Ryan, Emma Rosenblum, Freida McFadden, Kaira Rouda, Victoria Helen Stone, and Jenova Rose.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and #MacAudio2024 for an ALC and ARC via NetGalley and Google Play in exchange for an honest review.

Blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: Jan 14, 2025
My Rating: 5 Stars
Jan 2025 Must-Read Books
Jan Newsletter

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

This book was CRAZY with a Capital C! This was another novel that I was approved to read in the Summer of 2024, even though the book is not set to be published until January 2025. Despite that I had months before the pub date to read this book, I ended up reading the first couple of pages and had to read more. This seems to be a recurring pattern for books due to be published in 2025, so BookTok and Bookstagram, trust me you are going to have some addicting reads you will need to get your hands on in 2025!

With that being said, I feel that this is a good book to go into blind. While I could tell you somewhat about the plot, I think you will be happier knowing little about this book. With that being said, be prepared to stay up all night reading, and when you think you have figured out the twist, I can almost guarantee you will be wrong! (I was stunned)

This is a fabulous debut novel by Jessie Garcia and I can almost guarantee that she will be an author to watch in 2025! I hope she writes many more books as addictive as this one!

I also had the pleasure of listening to the audiobook which was Narrated by a full cast including Andrew Eiden; Dylan Fitzpatrick; Fred Berman; Gail Shalan; Hillary Huber; Jennifer Pickens; John Pirhalla; Kimberly M. Wetherell; Kirby Heyborne; Tim Campbell. This was a stellar cast of narrators and everyone was perfect!


—


Many Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

********

The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia
Thriller, mystery.
Stephanie gets on a plane for a business trip. Jasmine escapes an abusive relationship, borrows some cash, and gets on a plane hoping to hide.
Stephanie and Jasmine are on the same plane. Both women text with someone back home for a couple of days and talk about meeting a man. Both women stop answering after a few days. Deliberate or something sinister?

🎧 I listened to an audiobook of this story. It is a full cast recording by the following narrators: Andrew Eiden, Dylan Fitzpatrick, Fred Berman, Gail Shalan, Hillary Huber, Jennifer Pickens, John Pirhalia, Kimberly M Wetherell, Kirby Heyborne, and Tim Campbell. Each performed their specific POV. They all did a great job with emotions and intensity. It was easy to tell when they switched to different person, first by the voice, but also by Chapter headings of each specific POV. Good thing. There are at least ten characters to follow in the story. Fortunately a couple are small and don’t come in until later in the book but it was a lot. I did increase the playback speed to 1.5 to match a conversational speed in the Midwest US.

This story started in one direction, pivoted to something else, and then twisted again as we got further in.
I had to listen closely and by the third person, had to start the audiobook over so I could take notes of the people until I knew what was going on. Or what I thought at that point. It’s rare that I need to do that, but there was a lot of changes in the beginning and I felt I needed the name and who they were to follow along. After 15%, I didn’t need to track it anymore to know who’s head we were in.

Unexpected and thought-provoking. How much do we know of any news story? Is it the full truth? I enjoyed this thriller. Darker than I expected and I had to pay close attention for the first third of the book. The story grabs you and holds on through the end.
Well done.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and publisher Macmillan Audio.

What an awesome audiobook. Great characters, great story line and truly kept my interest going. When you thought you had it all figured out, another twist. This was my first audiobook by Jessie Garcia I'm certain not the last I'll listen to. I am having difficulty posting links so I'll post on Amazon under my name of Elle. Thank you.

The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia
Format: ebook/audio hybrid (thank you for the advanced reader copies @netgalley)
Pub Date: 1/14/25
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book had me hooked from the jump and I was expecting a fast pace popcorn thriller! You do, in some ways, get that. But the back half of this book sort of really went off the rails for me.

I think this book had a very fun premise and definitely had me intrigued from the jump. I really enjoyed both female main characters’ POV and there are things that had me wondering what the heck was going on from like 5% in. It certainly had me flying through and turning pages!

First half has these super fast chapters (like 3-5s each) from so many different POVs. It took a second to get used to, but I wasn’t against it. But then you get into the second half and we’re switching to these like 30 page chapters that kind of threw a wrench in the pacing.

I also just think the end of this book is bananas and also a little bit confusing. I found myself texting @marishareadsalot like help did I miss something? (I did not). A lot of the characters whose POV we get in the beginning never end up tied in at the end either which left it kind of unfinished feeling.

All in all this is not a bad book and I think the narrators did a good job, but it would not be a top recommended thriller for me!

This was a fun and twisty book. Some of the characters were a bit simplistic and the twists were bit unbelievable but it was still a fun read. My only other comment to the author is that there were too many POV. The characters were different enough to keep track of but it was hard to follow at times on the audio of who was who. I would still recommend it though if you are looking for a light read.

Thank you NetGalley and McMillan audio for an early copy.

Thank you @jessiegarcia_author & @stmartinspress for the ebook and @macmillan.audio for the gifted ALC! #MacAudio2024

A great debut from this author. Awesome audio as well, narrated by a full cast. I was intrigued right away with the narrative and ready to see what this woman was up to as she ran away from her abusive ex.

Parts were predictable, but flowed well with the storyline. However there was a twist I absolutely didn't see coming that I loved. Overall a great entertaining read that I binged quickly.

Thank you Netgalley for this arc audio. It was really good and my first book from this author. It was everything I was looking for in a suspenseful thriller. I would recommend it and rated it 5 stars.

I was really intrigued by the concept of this story, but I felt at times it was hard to follow. I struggle with multiple POV’s, and the big twists near the middle felt a bit of a stretch. It was definitely shocking, and I did not predict the ending.

I really enjoyed The Business Trip. It had me hooked from the very beginning. The narration was great. The ending just seemed a little too far out there for me and maybe just a little rushed. Seeing this is a debut and I enjoyed it, I’m looking forward to reading more books from this author.

3.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

For a while, I wasn’t sure where I stood on this book. The first part of the book has SO many different POV’s. Yes it builds some suspense and helps with some character development, it was kind of irritating. Especially since some of the characters were minor characters. Their POV chapters led me to believe they would have bigger rolls and they just didn’t. Then, the second part was all the perspective of Jasmine, one of the main characters and while I did prefer that, I thought it went super fast from creating the mystery to “how I did it”.

While I did not really care for the writing style, I really enjoyed the plot itself and I did really like the development of the main character, Jasmine. She’s a piece of work but I felt like she was written and developed really really well.

After all is said and done, while I did not like the style of writing, the plot was good and the character development was very well done, so I’m giving it a 4.

Quick and easy thriller read. But the further in I got, the more unbelievable the plot twists became.

Thank you for the advance audiobook copy.

I really enjoyed this book. Finished it in one day. The audiobook was excellent with multiple narrators.

Stephanie works in tv and is on a business trip to a seminar. Jessie is on the run after ditching her abusive boyfriend.
The two are on the same plane, just seats away. Jessie steals Stephanie’s wallet and tries to take her identity. But, when Stephanie’s friends start texting and Jessie tries to attend the seminar as Stephanie, Jessie realizes that she needs to disappear in to Mexico.
I loved the story line, but honestly when I do an audiobook it’s because I’m doing chores. In the beginning it seemed the POV was from various people and I could not tell that it was a new character from the narrators voice.

I did read this in less than 24 hours. RECOMMEND – but try the physical book version.

Thank you #NetGalley for the complimentary copy of #TheBusinessTrip in exchange for an honest review.

Jasmine is finally getting away from her abusive and controlling boyfriend. She has been secretly hiding money and has a flight booked to go stay with her sister where he can't find her. Stephanie is a TV executive and is flying to a business conference that she is less than enthusiastic about. The two women have nothing in common and end up sitting next to each other on the flight. A few days after the flight they both sent mysterious texts about starting a relationship with the same man and not coming back. The messages seem especially out of character for Stephanie and her neighbor and coworkers report her missing. Both women have not remained in contact reliably and their safety is questioned.

This was such a psychological thriller. I was trying to figure it out right along with the other characters. I could not tell what was real and what wasn't. It was such an original concept too. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and would recommend it to all thriller lovers.

4.25 stars
This was a nice surprise! Great thriller full of twists and turns I did not see coming! I could not stop listening to this audiobook. It was done so well!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this book.