Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! I really enjoyed this thriller by Adam Sternbergh. From the first pages of the novel, we know that there will be two deaths-we are left to try to piece everything together throughout the novel to figure out who exactly they might be and why. I will say that my guesses changed multiple times throughout! The twists and turns in the plot were captivating and kept me on the edge of my seat. I really enjoyed the characters and their different motives and perspectives, so I found the multiple perspectives to be super interesting! I also enjoyed the setting.

This was an interesting ride, with a lot I did not see coming. The main couple find themselves surrounded by secrets, and as a reader you think you've got them figured out. But, there is even more to uncover than one can guess at from the first couple chapters.
The concept of a marriage counseling getaway with seven days and seven questions is very clever and gives the book a clearly defined structure. It is well paced and the reveals are carefully meted out. The perspective shits seamlessly between the characters giving the novel a great flow while reading.
While in the end the story goes a bit over the top, it is a fun read with interesting characters that gets you hooked.

QUICK TAKE: I'm a huge fan of Sternbergh's THE BLINDS, and this was his take on a relationship drama, which I enjoyed a lot. It's not perfect, but it's a big swing and there's a lot to lean into here.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. This is such a good book! It was a twisty wild ride of events. Daisy wants to save her marriage, so she has her husband meet her for a week long getaway in the woods. They have to answer 7 questions in 7 days to save their marriage. Is Craig going to be able do it? Read this great book and find out!

3.5 rounded up to 4
Super easy and fun thriller with medium size surprise. Slow to build, and fairly well constructed.
There’s some questionable plot points that had me scratching my head… and the character of Craig was incredibly annoying and weak to me. Overall enjoyable ride but nothing to write home about, thank you to flatiron & NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I thought this book was entertaining & fairly well-constructed. The dual perspectives were helpful & done well.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the ARC, which releases to the world on April 25th, 2023.

Daisy and Craig are a couple whose young marriage is in serious trouble. Daisy is an actress who refuses TV and movie roles to focus on the theater and is hiding secrets. Craig is a philanderer who hates his job and has a bag packed to run off to Cabo with his mistress of four months. Daisy leaves him a note with an address to meet her in upstate NY for an anniversary trip. Daisy has booked them into a week long couples retreat/therapy where they are to answer and discuss a relationship question each day while enjoying together time in a cabin. Craig goes to tell her in person that he is leaving but then has a change of heart and decides to give the Eden Test a try. We learn at the beginning that there will be bodies, but who dies, how, and why? The book is somewhat of a slow burn but the tension ratchets up and I was not at all sure where this was going. Enjoyed the ride.

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC of this book. I was hooked from the beginning, this was a fast read for me. The ideas behind The Eden Test are brilliant, and this books has plenty of curveballs throw you off of what you thought was really happening. Great read and great twists!!

This book! An excellent, twisty thriller that had me all the way to the end. Well-written and surprising, the author puts the reader through their paces, developing characters and settings quite well. Relatable too, to anyone who has ever been in a lasting relationship; a commentary on marriage and humanity. Well done!

As domestic thrillers go, this one is decent. It has some good twists and “What!” moments, but the dialogue and forced dramatization in how it’s written just didn’t do it for me, but I have also stepped away from domestic thrillers as a genre in recent years, so grain of salt with my review.

The plot of this one, though it borrows lots of similar tropes from other domestic thrillers throughout the book, is actually what caught my eye: Over seven days, a husband and wife answer seven questions in an attempt to save their marriage. I wanted to know what those seven questions were, and how they were going to evolve as a couple over the week.

My main issue with this book, as I said, was the dialogue, and the forced dramatization. For example, near the beginning of the novel, there is a scene where our couple, Daisy and Craig, are watching a happy couple. Daisy says something to the effect of, "That could be us one day." Craig, in typical Craig fashion, makes some joke about their age, or how they look, as he rarely takes things seriously and seems to bumble along. "No," Daisy answers, in typical Daisy fashion, making things seem more heavy and serious than they actually are, "Happy."

This to me felt forced and fairly cruel to say — you're on a retreat to better your marriage, and so far during the trip, you've been having a pretty good time, and then you go say something like this? A lot of the dialogue felt like it was more for the reader's sake, to make a good story, rather than between certain characters as part of a good story.

All of that said, I did find this very readable. Even at ~350 pages, I blew through it, because the paragraphs and sentences are quick and short. I imagine that fans who are genre readers of domestic thrillers would love this one. Just not for me.

As film and TV studios increasingly reject original works and prefer sequels and adaptations, I imagine that the publishing industry will encounter more books whose aim is ultimately to land a licensing contract with Netflix, HBO, Hulu, etc. This book is less of a literary project than it is a TV pitch: Gone Girl meets White Lotus. It succeeds at that. One, I imagine, is to forgive its literary shortcomings, because they will be padded out with smooth visuals, attractive actors, partial nudity, and an atmospheric score. With that, who cares about the text's predictability or insane characterization? The book has enough forward momentum that readers will make it to the end without any trouble, but with so many Gone Girl clones put out there over the past decade, I doubt this one will be particularly memorable among them.

What a fun ride! Seven questions in seven days will Daisy and Craig make it through all the questions?

I thought this was very well written and super fun! I knew Daisy was testing Craig but I had no idea that she was in contact with crazy Frank all this time!

I was also happy that Craig finally came to his senses and stepped up his game!

Thanks for the ARC!

The Eden Test is a thriller full of twists and turns, centered on a married couple struggling after only a couple of years. Daisy, an actress, and Craig, a corporate worker with novelist dreams, are spending a week together in a remote cabin in upstate New York. It's their anniversary week, and Daisy's booked them into an immersive holistic therapeutic experience designed to help them hopefully reconnect on an even deeper level. However, both Daisy and Craig are harboring secrets from each other. Craig's secrets could end their marriage... but Daisy's secrets are so much more dangerous than that.

This was an extremely engaging read, revealing just enough in each chapter to keep me turning the pages long after I should have been asleep. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book!

I very much enjoyed this latest novel from Adam Sternbergh. I was slightly disappointed by the ending as it fizzled a bit flat for me after a terrific build-up, but I would still recommend it! I found it to be very fresh and new, not something I've read before.

This was one of the best thrillers I've ever read.

Daisy and Craig, an actress and a marketing expert, are a couple in a troubled marriage. He's been cheating on her and is planning to leave her. In a last ditch effort to save their marriage, she books them a seven day stay at the Eden Foundation, a retreat in upstate New York. The foundation gives each couple one question a day to answer, to see whether their marriage can survive.

When they get to the retreat, they go into town and are menaced by the locals. From that, I expected a novel akin to "Straw Dogs," the Sam Peckinpah movie about a couple that moves to a small town and end up tortured by the townies.

But it isn't. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but rest assured that there are enough twists and turns that, by the end, you'll ask yourself who the victims are, and who any of us are. I will only say that there's an orchard, a carefully tended orchard from which the guests are forbidden and the seven questions will make you wonder whether Eden is possible or ever existed.

Do yourself a favor and read "The Eden Test."

This honest review was given in exchange for an advance reader copy from #NetGalley.

Intricate, ridiculous, but delivered with stolid self-belief, this is a woman-in-peril, she-won’t-take-it-anymore gothic. Its twists and turns aren’t wholly predictable, so congratulations for that. But it’s a whole heap of silliness that begs so many questions that the reader is left amazed at the audacity.

Daisy and Craig are celebrating their three-year anniversary. Daisy knows the relationship needs work, so she plans some time away with a test to try to get their relationship back on track. There will be much to work out, as Craig is already planning his exit, but Daisy has some plans and some secrets of her own. This book plays out over
the seven days and seven questions of The Eden Test. The questions are very interesting. How would you respond to so these questions? Would your relationship last? How well do you know your partner? What would you do for them? I am not a fan of remote cabins, so I don't think I will sign up for a test of this type, but I am a fan of books that keep me guessing and push everyday people to be extraordinary. I will sign up for those types of books any day.

I thought this book had a really unique hook and captivated me from the get go, however, the conclusion of the book just seemed a bit forced. Almost like the author was trying to pair two different ideas into one novel. I had a hard time understanding Craig's appeal and the necessity for the Eden test. All in all, it just seemed too forcefully pieced together.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me early access to this title!

This was fun! I am not the biggest fan of this type of book but I enjoyed Sternbergh's take. I thought it was clever and well told and would recommend it to anyone.

A sincere thank you for providing me an advanced readers copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to read “The Eden Test” and leave my review voluntarily.