The Weekend Away by Sarah Alderson
Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense, Mystery
Read: 31st December 2021
Published: 23rd July 2021
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
Two friends go on holiday. Only one comes back.
Orla and Kate have been best friends forever. Together they’ve faced it all – be it Orla’s struggles as a new mother or Kate’s messy divorce. And whatever else happens in their lives, they can always look forward to their annual weekend away.
This year, they’re off to Lisbon: the perfect flat, the perfect view, the perfect itinerary. And what better way to kick things off in style than with the perfect night out?
But when Orla wakes up the next morning, Kate is gone. Brushed off by the police and with only a fuzzy memory of the night’s events, Orla is her friend’s only hope. As she frantically retraces their steps, Orla makes a series of shattering discoveries that threaten everything she holds dear. Because while Lisbon holds the secret of what happened that night, the truth may lie closer to home…
MY REVIEW:
I love a good psychological thriller that has you guessing all the way through and Sarah Alderson does just that! And despite having several of her books on my shelves, this is the first one I have read. And despite the slowish start, I was NOT disappointed. THE WEEKEND AWAY is such a different tale that, although seems to be filled with all the usual suspencts and twists, it isn't. Trust me...this one is something a little different.
Orla and Kate have been best friends for over twenty years and every year they took a holiday somewhere different...that is, until Orla and husband Rob began to whole IVF journey in which priorities begin to shift and wanting a family became more important to Orla than jetsetting around Europe or the Mediterranean. But now she has been blessed with her little IVF miracle Marlow, Orla decides it's time to revisit the old habits and she and Kate book a weekend away in Lisbon.
Filled with worries about how Rob will cope on his own with 9 month old baby Marlow, Orla frets for her daughter in this her first time away from her. But they are going to Lisbon! And Kate is sure to liven things up and make her forget all her fears and worries.
And liven things up she does.
On their first night there, when all Orla wants to do is sleep, Kate wants to go out clubbing and maybe get lucky. They go to dinner, enjoy an expensive meal on Kate's ex-husband's credit card, before moving on to a club in a darkened alley where Kate makes a beeline for the two of the hottest guys there. After knocking back a few bevies and wrapping herself around one of the men, Kate then invites them both back to their AirBnB apartment...which Orla is horrified at. All she wants to do is sleep...but suddenly, the world starts moving and Orla feels sick before she crashes out and is tucked into bed.
Upon waking the following morning, Orla remembers very little of the night before and with the sun streaming into the apartment she goes in search of Kate...only to find no sign of her. She seems to recall them bringing two men back with them last night and her feeling groggy and ill...as if she'd been drugged. And she has a horrifying thought that she had been assaulted! She finds evidence of the man having been there, with the hottub still bubbling away and condom wrappers throughout the place, but still no sign of Kate.
She goes to the police to report her missing but they seem indifferent to the fact she is missing and Orla feels that her concerns are not taken seriously. What then ensues is her own quest to find out what happened to Kate and where she is now because the police don't seem to be interested in helping her. But Orla is a foreigner in a city she is unfamiliar with and it is only with the help of a Kosovan Uber driver, Konstandin, that she is able to navigate her way through her investigations.
But the more she uncovers the less she feels there is anyone left she can trust...and being alone in a foreign country is a dangerous place to be.
As the mystery unravels we, the reader, begin to piece the jigsaw together only to find there are some missing. And so we begin to "assume nothing, believe no one and question everything", as we too wonder who there is left to trust. I had my list of suspects and it looked as though I was right until Sarah pulled everything out from under me and changed things up several notches before the final reveal. And what a twist it was! It was cleverly crafted and ingeniously delivered that you could almost feel the panic yourself! I was shocked but not entirely surprised as another of my suspects was pulled out a hat as realisation dawned. With a skilful sleight of hand, Sarah lead us down one path while another was sneaking up behind us to throw us completely off course. Just brilliant. It's not often I'm hoodwinked and although I wasn't entirely so in this story, Sarah still outfoxed me in the end.
Although it began a little slow, THE WEEKEND AWAY picks up pace the moment Orla wakes to find Kate missing and thus the investigation that ensues. And while it was slow to start and as irritating as Orla's moaning about her helium deflated breasts and fifteen stitches in her hoo-haa along with Kate's incessant slapper behaviour, not to mention her complete bitchy disregard to her best friend, it was all imperative to the story that follows. Once the mystery began, I couldn't put it down...and I just had to finish it so I could end the year with this final book for 2021...despite NYE being my birthday (on which I turned 50). lol
To be honest, I didn't like Kate from the moment she opened her mouth. Everything she said was in blatant disregard to Orla and her feelings, seemingly engineering things so she could get laid and even encouraging Orla to do so citing "what goes on in Lisbon stays in Lisbon" and "Rob will never know". I thought she was rude, disrespectful, obnoxious and a complete slapper. I didn't much like Orla to begin with either as I felt after all her IVF rounds and finally having the baby she so wanted, she now complained about the endless tiredness and demands a baby creates. Some people are never happy. But when Kate went missing, Orla got her act together and begins a quest to find her missing friend.
THE WEEKEND AWAY ends up being one long weekend away that no one would like to find themselves on and it's a race to the finish to see how everything pans out...as all is revealed and every secret is exposed. It was definitely not what I was expecting when I started this book but I ended up being pleasantly surprised...as well as enduring a few shocks along the way.
Although THE WEEKEND AWAY is my first by Sarah Alderson, I doubt it will be my last as I endeavour to find time to pick up some of the others on my shelves.
A delicious wicked read that will have you on the edge of your seat and I thoroughly recommend.
I would like to thank #SarahAlderson, #Netgalley and #AvonBooksUK for an ARC of #TheWeekendAway in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Having spent most of her life in London, Sarah quit her job in the non profit sector in 2009 and took off on a round the world trip with her husband and toddler daughter on a mission to find a new place to call home.
She finished her first novel, HUNTING LILA, just before they left the UK, wrote the sequel on the beach in India, and had signed a two book deal with Simon & Schuster by the time they reached Bali. After living there for five years, during which time she wrote another ten books, she and her family made the move to California.
While now writing predominantly for TV and film, Sarah remains a prolific author, writing women's fiction under the name Mila Gray. Her novels in this genre include the #1 bestselling COME BACK TO ME, STAY WITH ME and RUN AWAY WITH ME.
Her first non-fiction book, CAN WE LIVE HERE, based on her family’s travels around the world to find a new home, was published in 2015.
Her first psychological thriller, FRIENDS LIKE THESE, is out in December 2018, published by Mulholland Books.
Her books have appeared in translation in Germany, Mexico, Brazil, France, Italy, Portugal, Russia and Poland.
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