#BookReview: THE HOLIDAY by T. M. Logan @TMLoganAuthor @ZaffreBooks

Publication: 25th July 2019 – Zaffre Books

Seven days. Three families. One killer.

It was supposed to be the perfect holiday, dreamed up by Kate as the ideal way to turn 40: four best friends and their husbands and children in a luxurious villa under the blazing sunshine of Provence. 

But there is trouble in paradise. Kate suspects that her husband is having an affair, and that the other woman is one of her best friends. 

One of these women is willing to sacrifice years of friendship and destroy her family. But which one? As Kate closes in on the truth in the stifling Mediterranean heat, she realises too late that the stakes are far higher than she ever imagined. 

Because someone in the villa is prepared to kill to keep their secret hidden.

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I have been hearing so many good things about THE HOLIDAY that I had to read it and I saw why everyone was raving about it. It’s so suspenseful and addictive… luckily I started reading it during the weekend because I devoured it in one day.

THE HOLIDAY is the story of four friends. Kate, Jennifer, Rowan, and Izzy have been best friends since college and to celebrate their fortieth birthdays they decide to spend a week in a beautiful house in the South of France along with their husbands and children, but things go wrong from the very beginning because Kate suspects her husband Sean is hiding something and her doubts are confirmed when she reads his text and she finds out that he is secretly messaging with one of her friends. Should she confront him? Or should she first find out which one of her friends betrayed her?

THE HOLIDAY is a tale of paranoia and suspicions. Like Kate, I found myself suspecting first Rowan, then Jennifer, and lastly Izzy, and then starting all over again. It wasn’t easy to figure out the truth when each woman is clearly hiding something and they are all found whispering with Sean or hugging him. Oh, and let’s not forget their children and all their drama: a 17-year-old girl clearly hiding something, two teenage boys looking for oblivion and with tendencies that border to obsession, a young boy that would do anything to please his sister and the older boys, and a spoiled 5-year-old girl who sees everything that happens among the adults. How couldn’t I be completely engrossed in this novel? The author did a great job building up the suspense and never revealing too much so that I didn’t know the truth until it was revealed.

The characters are not always likable, but they are vividly drawn and it feels like you are inside their head. Most of the story is told from Kate’s point of view and there were times when I found her annoying and I wanted to shake her and tell her to wake up and do something. Rowan was a bit snob while Jennifer was too smothering, and I seriously worried about the children’s mental health after the tragic ending of the holiday.

THE HOLIDAY is a psychologic thriller with capital letters… dark, gripping, and full of twists, it’s a must-read!

A huge thank you to Zaffre Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the novel.