The Hunted by Roz Nay immediately drew me in with the promise of a perilous journey set on the alluring and exotic continent of Africa. This was my first read from this author, but it will certainly not be my last.

Stevie is mourning the death of her grandmother when her boyfriend Jacob is offered the opportunity of a lifetime, to run a dive school on a secluded island off the coast of Tanzania. As the pair begin their adventure, they meet up with backpacking couple Leo and Tamsin, and the dream trip very quickly devolves into a nightmare of obsession and fear.

This is a dark and chilling tale that had me on the edge of my seat until the very end. You will want to add this one to your TBR immediately.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an ARC of this title.

Stevie and her boyfriend Jacob decide to escape from their stressful and anxious life in Maine and backpack through Africa while on their way to Jacob's new job as a diving instructor. While visiting hostels, weird things begin to happen and Stevie feels as though she is being followed. In comes Leo and Tamsin.
The four of them 'conveniently' end up at the same dive camp. Mysterious and weird things begin to happen that are very coincidental and Stevie soon realizes that one of her new friends knows way too much about her secret past. Will Stevie be able to put together the pieces or will she be hunted down before then?

I really enjoyed this book and didn't expect the ending. I like that each chapter was either Stevie or Leo's character perspective and the story seamlessly continued. I did find it a little confusing when the characters would day dream about a past scenario and then snap back to the present time. This book had an unexpected ending that was action packed and full of suspense. I definitely recommend this one to anyone who enjoys a thriller. This was my first from Roz Nay and it definitely won't be my last.
Overall I would rate this 🤿🤿🤿🤿. The plot was good, the action was there but the characters were a little unlikable.
Thank you to Simon Schuster Canada, Roz Nay and Netgalley for this advanced copy. This one hits the shelves in July!

I have enjoyed Roz Nay's writing in the past, so I was really excited to see her releasing a new thriller. The Hunted will suck you in from the very first riveting page until the last - really enjoyed how this book started with the ending and had you guessing all along the way how it would get there.

The Hunted really transported me to foreign destinations - descriptive train rides, busy city streets and secluded beaches - and I really love when a book can carry be to faraway places.

Typical of Nay, there are lots of twists and turns. You'll think you have this one figured out but I promise you, you won't! This is a fun, fast-paced thriller that fans of this genre will gobble up. Already looking forward to whatever Nay cooks up next.

Addictive, pulse-pounding, thrilling, and chilling - four fantastic words that describe this novel! So many OMG moments that had me gasping and flipping through the pages to see what was going to happen next.

Stevie has recently lost her grandmother and decides to go with her boyfriend Jacob on a recent job on Rafiki island. She thinks it would be a welcome distraction to her recent heartache and loss of her beloved grandma. However, what should be a joyful and carefree journey turns out to be eerie, creepy and chilling. Strange things are happening, Stevie often gets the feeling that she is being watched and followed, and scary, weird, unexplainable things begin happen on their journey as they make their way to Rafiki. 

When they meet the beautiful couple Leo and Tamsin while on their journey, this is a welcome relief. They begin to make friends and have some companionship while on their journey to Rafiki. But strange, eerie things continue happening and it makes you question what the heck is going on. Is everyone who they appear to be? Does someone have something to hide? Is someone following them and watching them?

What unfolds will rock you to your core. You will be hooked as you read chapter after chilling chapter to uncover just what is going on. I loved the suspense and the mystery surrounding the whole novel and trying to figure out who was behind everything and trying to figure out why they were doing these things, what they wanted, and why they targeted who they did. 

A fabulous book that I highly recommend!

This book promised a thrilling plot from the backpacking trail, but it mostly fell flat for me.

The twists didn't really stand out or even . make a lot of sense sometimes. Very little about the setting added to the story - there was too much generalization of Africa, rather than bringing culture and unique location details speak.

I liked the idea but not the execution.

Roz takes us on a thrilling ride to Africa.
-Traumatic pasts woven into to the present.
-Characters that keep you on your toes wondering if they are actually who they say they are.
-Partners who think they know each others secrets but do they?
-A twist and turn at every corner. You won't want to miss this.

Book is out July 5th!

💫 Book Review 💫
The Hunted by Roz Nay

Did I read this in one day? Umm yep
Did I ignore my children? Also yep

“Hello darkness my old friend”... you slipped into me and left me gasping. The road that seemed to be going as I expected lied to me. The curve that this book took left me wondering what fork i missed along the way... the darker it got.. the creepier that feeling got. The hairs on my neck stood up and I needed to see how this would end. Where we would end. Where a creepy person somehow makes me protective of them?!

Dang it Roz. You did it again. Screwed with me and left me wanting to read it again to see if I could pick up on any clues!

Oh and I loved the location. It made me think of my cousin who is a forever traveller and hoping she never runs into another couple with a hidden past.

Thank you to @roznay and @simonandschuster for the gifted copy in return for an honest review.

✨Book Review✨
The Hunted by Roz Nay is really starting to look like the thriller of the year! And I've read some darn good thrillers already so it has had some fierce competition.
❤️
I mean, really, I didn't expect anything less than amazing for this read, so I can't say I'm surprised. @roznay knows what she's doing and she does it well.
💜
This novel is about a backpacking couple, who meets another backpacking couple, and then the real fun begins. I simultaneously wish I could backpacking right now, but also will never go backpacking again 😬 My intense fear of hostels often contradicts my extreme desire to travel on the cheap.
💚
I was hooked from page 1 and needed to know what would happen time and time again. If you're in a reading slump or haven't read a good thriller in a while, you're welcome in advance.
💛
Thank you SO MUCH for this Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Stevie has experienced some traumatic experiences, first, she lost her best friend in a car accident and then her grandmother passed away. Needing a life reset she decides to leave her home town with her boyfriend, Jacob, to visit Africa to do some volunteer work.

Upon arriving in Africa Stevie has some strange feelings and is scared about her decision to embark upon this adventure. At a hostel her and Jacob meet Leo and Tamsin. There is an instant attraction between the couples but things quickly take a turn for the worst.

I thoroughly enjoy this story and finished it in less than a day. This was my first novel by the author although I do own her other one, Hurry Home. I was instantly hooked from page 1 and found the writing was incredible. The writing is so suspending that it keeps you holding your breath the whole time. The chapter interchange between Stevie and Leo and is told from their perspectives. I really enjoyed Leo’s character and found the telling of his story to be fascinating. I definitely recommend reading this one.

Book Review
The Hunted by Roz Nay

Thank you to @netgalley @roznay and @simonschusterca for my gifted copy in return for an honest review

Tamsin- sexually ambiguous, free spirit, fun, flirty, world traveller

Jacob- not the best boyfriend, seems kinda immature, likes to have a plan

Stevie - PTSD, shy, anxious, vulnerable, alone, troubled past that overshadows her present

Leo- cool, calm, collected, the obvious hunter sociopath type, family history shrouded in mystery, cocky, rakish

This book! I thought I knew what I was getting into. I was a puppy, faithfully eating from the hand that is Roz. She generously handed out breadcrumbs leading me along, and like a good girl I willingly followed.
I took what I was given, I enjoyed every word, every page, each morsel of information about Leo guiding to me to what I thought was the inevitable conclusion. I thought I could trust Roz....I was wrong

Okay, okay I still trust Roz! Her latest offering is a huge mindfu*k though.
I was wrong.... and right. The conclusion was expected but not in that way. I loved the characters while simultaneously loathing them. Give me a break here people- I am trying not to spoil it for you! You are going to want to read this!!! Definitely recommend- if you like sociopaths, the beach, tropical fish and travel .......or if you generally enjoy deeply embedded feelings of mistrust- this book is for you.

Rating: 5/5 stars.

“The Hunted” is a heart-stopping thriller from author Roz Nay. While I had not personally read any of this author’s previous novels, I had heard good things about them, and was excited to read this book, especially as the summary sounded right up my alley. “The Woman in Cabin 10” meets “The Beach?” I just HAD to read it, and I was not disappointed.

The first chapter of the novel is super intense and immediately hooked me in. The author’s descriptions of the atmosphere and the setting are so well done, I could practically taste the salt in the air and feel the bugs on my skin as I read the novel. The book switches between two points of view, allowing further introspection, and really lets the reader deep into the psyches of the characters. This also allows the characters to be fully fleshed out, with layer upon layer of personality and idiosyncrasies. The climax and the ensuing big reveal are masterfully executed, and I had to remember to breathe as I read the end of the novel.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book. It is definitely up there in my list of favourite thrillers. I would recommend it for fans of Mary Kubica and Ruth Ware. I cannot wait to check out more books from this author.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book on NetGalley and have provided an honest review.*

A spine-tingling, edge of your seat gripping, page turner that will grab you by the throat from the very first pages!
Well-written and captivating - loved the location and the spooky characters that had me guessing right through til the end.

A must-read for thrill seekers!

This was my first @roznay book and it will not be my last.

Stevie and her boyfriend Jacob head to Africa for a job/volunteer work and are hoping for a fresh start. Before getting to site, they meet Leo and Tamsin, another backpacking couple and hit it off. Their friendship quickly develops into various obsessions. From there things begin to evolve into a dangerous game of cat and mouse, but where the mouse does not know they are playing because they are too busy eating the cheese offered by the predator.

This was a bizarre little tale that gave me goosebumps. I do not typically love books that focus on stalking and obsession, but this book was so much more than that. @roznay has honed the ability to have you follow a trail of breadcrumbs only to later realize you were totally headed down the wrong path.

This is a calculated read that thriller readers would be remiss not to give a try.

Publication date: July 6, 2021 (pre-order now! But don’t you worry, I will remind you on pub day!)

I have read both of Roz Noy’s previous novels and very much enjoyed them, so I was very excited to receive this novel a couple months before release!
The Hunted was like taking an intense and fast-paced journey backpacking and hopping from hostel to hostel, all while ironically being the furthest from it- quarantined at home! If you’ve ever travelled internationally, you know the anxiety-ridden and perhaps questionable situations you can find yourself in and the “characters” you may meet along the way.. and boy, Roz Nay has completely captured this sort of travel nightmare to the extreme!

Since travel is currently not an option (especially international travel) The Hunted will be an excellent read that provides you with a sense of escape and fill your need for a quick and intense thriller filled with strangers, hidden pasts and deadly games.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the chance to read and review this ARC!
3.5/5

I have not read a book with as many twists as The Hunted. Roz Nay will take you on an exotic yet terrifying vacation to a dive camp in Africa with a couple by the names of Stevie and Jamie. They thought this would the perfect job in a continent away from their current problems. However, little do they know they will meet Leo and Tamsin and their quiet vacation in Africa takes a drastic turn.

Roz Nay does a wonderful job writing their stories. Their stories contain secrets, lies and deceptions. The ending of the book completely takes a turn I did not imagine!

This is one book you need to add to your TBR list! It is the perfect thriller!

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for this electronic advanced readers copy for my honest review.

The Hunted a fast paced misadventure that unfolds in Africa. Roz Nay’s descriptive style of writing and injections of travel trivia grabbed my interest from the first chapter. You will not bet rushing to stay in a hostel or cultivating travel friendships anytime soon after finishing this book. The characters all carry their own “baggage” that is slowly unpacked and leads to unexpected twists in the storyline.
Many Thanks to Roz Nay, Simon & Schuster Canada, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Where do I start? With a tile like “the Hunted”, this book is everything you’d expect it to be - and more.

Creepy, claustrophobic, obsessive - the atmosphere in this book is so thick and cloying that it can’t help but stick with you, hours after you put the book down. The author brilliantly applies devices like the ‘Hitchcockian’ train with no other passengers and the incredibly vivid strangeness of the remotest reaches of Africa, wild with animals screeching in the “oil-deep blackness”, to islands accessible only by creaky rustic boats, captained by taciturn strangers.

It all adds up to one of the most darkly delicious and compelling settings for a book that I have read in some time.

And as for the characters, the story revolves around two couples , who although on the surface at first seem relatively transparent, are of course, anything but.

Stevie, (blond Scandinavian, struggling with her past)
Jacob, (Stevie’s sensitive, soulful boyfriend and protector)
Tamsin, (a beautiful girl who loves and is “best friends with her life”)
Leo, (movie-star handsome, strange and as we learn, hiding something ).

The chemistry between the couples and the tight and tense plotting that follows leads to a wild and twisty ride, no spoiler here, you will need to read the book to uncover the details. Enough to say that each of their lives is changed forever by the events that transpire.

I also loved the authors wonderful turn of phrase. Here are a few of my absolute favorites:

“Blood begins to fizz in my head like a foam”

“Soft rain tapping at the windowpanes like the ghosts of old fingertips”

“Noise hits me like the flat blade of a shovel”

“I squeezed myself into an easier shape for him.”

And finally:

“But there’s something else in the memory, something darker that’s starting to rise now, like some kind of monster creeping out of a cave”

I love, loved this book.

5 “bright, bright, burning bright” stars, and i can’t wait to read more from this author.

A very big thank you to NetGalley, the publisher,Simon and Schuster Canada, and the author, Roz Nay, for an advance review copy of this book. All thoughts presented here are my own.

This was one of those holy shit reads. I absolutely did not see that crazy ending at all, something I love it of a book, the crazy twists, the plot, well developed characters, I've absolutely loved everything roz has written and the Hunted definitely lived up to my expectations.
Told in dual pov we follow Stevie who's lost a lot, a best friend and her grandmother, traveling to Africa with her boyfriend who is taking on a new job. As soon as they get there Stevie begins to have some major things happen that trigger her past and put her on high alert.
Then we have Leo a total creeper who we learn to love, who is hiding secrets from his past. He started a game with his girlfriend Tasmin, but how far will they let the game go.

It seems everyone is hiding secrets, but the motives for those secrets are different for everyone evolved, but when the secrets start coming to the surface things begin to get a little crazy.

Will be posting to my linked accounts closer to publication date

I wish to extend my thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Ca. for an early electronic copy of The Hunted in return for an honest review. I first became aware of this book from a mailing from CBC in descriptions of 53 upcoming books by Canadian authors. I made a shortlist of the ones I was hoping to read and The Hunted among them. I was happy to receive my request.

I regret to say it didn't live up to my expectations, but I think it will appeal to many readers. It had everything I should enjoy in a thriller, but I could not connect with the characters. I found them emotionally unstable or devious and not at all likeable. The setting in Kenya and the journey through Tanzania were familiar to me, and then there was an exotic island off the African coast. There was a damsel in distress and a crazed stalker. It sounded exactly like my type of story.

Once on the island, the atmosphere becomes menacing. There are dark, disturbing secrets, false identity, misunderstanding of others' behaviour and motives, thefts, snooping in personal property, sabotage of equipment and communication, violence, fear, and deaths.

Stevie reluctantly agrees to accompany her longtime boyfriend, Jacob, to the remote island of Rafki, where he is to work as a diver for GoEco. She is mourning her grandmother's recent death and a friend who died in her presence when both were teenagers. She is in a fragile emotional state, has nightmares and panic attacks. She is constantly worried and discontent. She is growing distant from Jacob, who shows patience with her and understanding of her black moods. I knew I should have been sympathetic but found her annoying.

The story is told from the perspectives of Leo and Stevie. They describe the events in separate chapters. Both are introspective when relating their pasts from their own points of view.

Early in the journey, she is uneasy as she thought an intruder was watching her while she was asleep in her hotel room. Later, she and Jacob meet a gorgeous and friendly couple, Leo and Tamsin. She suspects they are following them to their island destination, but Jacob dismisses her concerns as a mere coincidence.

Stevie reasonably believes that Leo is a deranged stalker. He knows too much about her and is obsessed with her. She becomes friends with Leo's girlfriend, Tamsin, and finds she is attracted to her. Jacob finds Leo's behaviour towards Stevie creepy. There is sure to be some violence, with tension rising among the small group of volunteers and the diving camp manager. Suspicion and danger grow at an alarming rate.

I believe many will enjoy this character-driven psychological thriller set on an African island.