I loved it! This is such a well-written story I was sad when it was over. Clarke did an amazing job with setting the scene and pulling me into the story. The emotions I felt while reading were very strong too. When any of the characters found themselves angry, or scared, or brave I genuinely felt it. The four POVs worked wonderfully too! The twists in the story had me shocked and I ate it up! I loved being totally stunned how this unfolded in front of me. I want to search out more of Lucy Clarke's work because I loved this so much!! 5 stars!

Nice, little thriller based on four BFFs' hiking trip in Norway. Had a great plot / pace and I finished in less than a day. The main characters all have depth and enjoyed all four of their points' of view. 4 stars because the ending was a little unrealistic. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I loved the plot of this book so I was very excited to read it. I couldn’t put it down until the 60% mark, which without spoilers, introduces a factor that I feel like was a bit of a cop out for the progression of the story. Unfortunately after this happened the book went downhill from there.
However, if you like what happens to progress the story, you’ll be a fan of the last half of the book.

I enjoyed following along with Liz, Maggie, Helena, Joni and all the characters they meet on their hike. The beginning was a slow build but I couldn’t stop reading once the hike begins. I had to know who the killer was and if the friends would make it off the mountain. I was surprised by the ending and found this book a refreshing read compared to some thrillers I’ve finished. Highly recommend!

This was a great book!
Kept me on the edge of my seat. A page turner with lots of great twists. The only thing was that I sometimes got confused with of the characters were which because there were so many, especially when it came to the norweigan characters because their names were similar. Also was hoping there would be one last twist at the end like that Jodie was actually pushed or something, but maybe I am being greedy.
This was such an interesting and unique story.. thank you for sharing it!

A hiking trip, a storm, a murder- I bet they wish they had gone to the beach again.

This is a fast-paced thriller where four friends set out on a hiking trip that they should never had gone on. A storm rolls in and then we're left to decide who can be trusted and who is a murderer. Overall, a fast and fun read.

I really enjoyed getting to know Joni, Maggie, Liz and Helena. I didn't see the ending coming. Thank you for the arc Netgalley.

First off, thanks to netgalley for providing me an ARC!

This year was Liz's turn to choose where the yearly friends' trip is.. and she chose to go hiking/camping the Blafjell mountain.
When arriving at the local lodge near the trailhead, it was the end of the season, and locals were having a party. They heard tales of the peak being spooky and the story of a local woman going missing while hiking. The brother of the lodge, Erik, was the last to see her alive.
Even with all this information, the woman goes hiking.
While walking, they all unpack their issues. Maggie gets lost of the trail. And it ends up making them more determined.
However, when a rain storm rolls in while camping near the beach, the group needs to hide out in a cave to stay safe. That's where they find the missing local girls bracelet and massive amount of Coke.
They needed to get out of there quickly, but they had lost everything in the storm, and those hiding the cocaine would be coming for them.

Very good and fast read! I'd recommend it for any thriller lover

I received this as an advanced copy from NetGalley. This is the first I’ve read from Lucy Clarke and won’t be my last. The book alternates chapters between the main characters and chapters with another character to weave in another storyline. Definitely had me guessing at what would come next and needless to say there were plenty of surprises. The gorgeous descriptions make me wish I was hiking across Norway, but the storyline makes me think I’m good at home!

This book was a fun read! 4 best friends head out on an adventure to climb a mountain in Norway. Bad weather ensues secrets are revealed….now they are being followed…..4 friends enter the wilderness but will they all return from it?
What an adventure! I kept putting myself in their shoes and I’m pretty sure I would have become ant food!!

Thank you to @netgalley and @putnambooks for letting me read an early copy of this one!
384 pages
Pub date 8/29/23
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 3.5/5

#netgalley #netgalleyreviewer #putnambooks #kindle #kindlepaperwhite #bookrecommendations #bookreviewer #bookreviews

3.5/5⭐️

Solid thriller with an eerie Nordic atmosphere. I’m a big fan of a multiple POV mystery/thrillers so I knew this would be up my alley. It was actually pretty twisty toward the end which kept it interesting. Overall, I wasn’t really attached to any of the characters and found each of them to be slightly irritating/immature especially for how old they were. Despite this, I enjoyed the pacing and the overall plot line. I’ll definitely continue to pick up this author’s new releases!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you for the copy of The Hike by Lucy Clarke. I really enjoyed this thriller! She provides 7-8 characters to keep your eye on. 4 best friends decide to travel to Norway to hike some trails and mountains. What they don’t know is that there is a murderer close behind them, watching their every step. I think that she did a great job keeping it easy to follow. The reader can keep track of the four women, but still could read it in one sitting or over a weekend. I would recommend this to others who enjoy fast-paced thrillers!

Thanks again.

Jaclyn Brill./ @brillsbooks (instagram)

The Hike Review!

Thank you so much Penguin Group Putnam and Netgalley for this gifted E-read in exchange for an honest review. The Hike is out August 29, 2023!!

I am always going to love books about friends getting away together, especially when they get away outside. I thought this was a perfect summer read and it made me really want to go on a hike. 😄 The Hike was a 4/5 ⭐️ for me! The characters in this one were all so unique and had a lot of problems that were all drastically different. I couldn’t relate to any of them, but I did love reading about them! I loved the setting and it was a very steady paced book. This probably had to do with the beautifully short chapters and the switching of povs. It was a wild ride, but it fell a little short for me at the end! Definitely recommend if you like suspenseful books about friendship and the outdoors!

One of my favorite things in books is reading about extreme sports (mountain climbing, scuba diving, wilderness camping, etc) that I am definitely never going to try. And if there's a mystery or thriller element involved, EVEN BETTER. This book is for the most part about hiking and the interpersonal relationships of a female friend group, but it does get thrilling and I was very into it. It is a great quick read/vacation book, and I would definitely recommend.

But this would not be a sincere review if I didn't mention that this book has one of my personal most infuriating tropes in media--the Established Childfree Character that...~*changes their mind*~. I hate this nonsense. There is very little representation of childfree characters (particularly women), and if you don't want to write about one because that is outside of your experience, that's fine, but books like this are constantly furthering the narrative that adults who don't want children will all magically "mature" and change their minds. It's insulting and unnecessary--there are plenty of other ways to add in an unplanned pregnancy.

So yeah, the book is good, but it happens to contain one of my largest personal pet peeves (second only to unnecessary animal death--fortunately not present in this book).

8/10

ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley (The book is out in the UK but not in the US yet)

The Hike was great. The story was good, but what really made it stand out was the excellent characters. Each of the four main characters that the book follows through their own POV chapters feels real, but also completely unique from one another. The friendship that unites them also feels deep and complex like a real world friendship would. Throughout the story suspense is built up and you are constantly left wondering when the other shoe is going to drop, and then it does.

The Hike had me hooked from the first chapter. It sunk it's literary claws into me and I finished it in one sitting. Four friends take a yearly trip to escape their lives (some better than others) and reconnect. For the trip, they skip beaches and relaxation and take a hiking trip in Norway. None of the women are experienced climbers and quickly realize how ill equipped they are for their adventure. Writing the summary of this title lessens how smooth the fall into complete chaos is. There's fractured friendships, cheating husbands, creepy locals, drug smuggling and more. It sounds ridiculous, but fits together really well in an engaging and exciting title that is a great escape for an afternoon. I thoroughly enjoyed this, and started reading more Lucy Clarke books because of this title.

I read the description of this book and I knew right away it was right up my alley- and boy was I right!

This was not a disappointing twisty mystery- it had me holding onto my seat until the end!

This was my first Lucy Clarke book but it won’t be my last! This one was full of suspense and each time I thought I had figured it out it moved in another direction. I am not a fan of books that are left on a cliffhanger (no pun intended) so I appreciated the nice bow this one was tied up with at the end.

I was initially drawn to The Hike because I am a huge fan of Scandi Crime and this is a story about a group of friends who decide to go on a hiking trip in Norway. I thought it would be a good mix of a more domestic thriller with the Nordic setting that I love. Norway (and the hike itself) doesn't really feature that much in the story, it actually was much more of a character study - looking at each of the four main characters and the issues they were dealing with in their lives and how this was having an affect on their friendship. I thought it was an enjoyable read and it kept my attention the whole way through but I didn't think there was enough of the 'thriller' aspect for me personally. There were a few scenes at the end where it started to get a bit more exciting but I would have liked a lot more tension. The thing I did enjoy was the two strands of the story running parallel - the first following the group on their hike and the second following the rescue mission. I thought the way this was put together worked really well and kept me guessing about how things were going to turn out. A great choice if you are looking for a fast-paced but slightly lighter mystery thriller.

While I wanted to love The Hike, I kept waiting for something more. It wasn’t that the writing was bad. The characters were well developed. The plot was good, and yet…something was just missing. I’m not sure what. It was more of a chore to read this than an experience. I do believe a lot of people will love this. It is deeply atmospheric with strong female leads, but it missed the mark for me.