Cover Image: The Hike

The Hike

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

This thriller had me guessing from just about the first page! An annual girl's trip is a tradition for Liz, Helena, Maggie and Joni, and at the start of the book Liz, Helena and Maggie set off for a four-night camping trip in Norway. The trip is going to be physically demanding, and each woman is also carrying her own emotional baggage. Before they leave, a few locals give them warnings about the journey, but they don't heed those and set off. They have to battle weather, injuries, and the other people who are also out on the trail. Will they all return safe and sound? You'll have to keep turning page after page to find out. The four women are great characters, all with flaws but all with redeeming qualities. Their interactions with one another are so believable. This book is fast paced and the prose is lean but really good. My only quibble is that there's one situation in the forest that doesn't seem to be physically possible, but other than that this is a great read.

Was this review helpful?

This was my first thriller I read by Lucy Clarke, and it did not disappoint! The atmosphere, set in the middle of nowhere in the Norwegian mountains, was so perfectly eerie! I love that the prologue began with the murder and then gave alternating timelines that kept you guessing as to what actually happened. Combine that with the short chapters, secrets being kept, foreshadowing, and all the creepy lodgers that have ominous warnings, and you have a girls’ trip gone so WRONG, but so great to read!

Was this review helpful?

This book kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time! It was such a tense thriller. I could not put this book down! This page turner was so fun trying to figure out the bad guy. The setting was so descriptive! Also loved the friendships being tested and seeing the outcome.

Was this review helpful?

I could not get into this book - I really wanted to like it but I enjoyed her previous thriller, ONE OF THE GIRLS. Her books are very atmospheric which is appealing but this was not grabbing me at all and too slow for my thriller-book taste.

Was this review helpful?

I’m so grateful to have received an ARC for this book that I’ve been looking forward to reading. I read One of The Girls last year and enjoyed it so I was looking forward to reading something else by the author. I enjoyed the book it was very easy to read and had short chapters which made it feel fast paced. I do feel like the beginning was dragged out a bit I would have liked to get in to the action a little quicker. I liked how I wasn’t able to guess the ending even if it was a kind of a let down for me which is why it lost a couple of stars. But I still really like Lucy Clarke’s writing and will definitely be reading more from her.

Was this review helpful?

This was a pretty decent books. It was definitely a page turner and there were so many plot twists I didn’t see coming because they were so far fetched. But honestly I didn’t mind how crazy each plot twist was because it kept me saying wtf wtf wtf WTFFFF. but thank you Lucy Clarke for giving me a reason NOT to go on long hikes. New fear unlocked.

Was this review helpful?

A thriller surrounding four best friends where everything and everything goes wrong. While the beginning was slow, about 1/3 of the way in the plot picks up - secrets are revealed, friendships are tested, everyone is suspect, and there are plenty of twists and turns to make up for a slower beginning. Lucy Clarke is great at setting the eerie scene among the Norwegian mountains, and conveyed the tension throughout the plot very well. Like some of the other reviewers, I felt the ending fell a bit flat, but overall, I enjoyed this read.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Was this review helpful?

This book was everything I was hoping for and more! Four lifelong friends vacation annually. This year, it is Liz’s turn to choose and she is desperately seeking something different and life changing. Rather than a usual beachside holiday, Liz opts for a physically demanding hike to an infamous mountain in Norway in hopes of a cathartic experience. Although reluctant, her friends join her but they quickly find that the trail to Blafjell Mountain is more dangerous than they anticipated. Four friends embarked on a journey and only three of them returned. I absolutely fell in love with these characters. The author did such an incredible job of giving them each their own story with their own individual twists and turns. Overall, this was a fantastic thriller!

Was this review helpful?

Slow to start as we learn about each of the characters in this friend group. It did pick up a bit! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. A three star book in my opinion.

Was this review helpful?

Two couples go for a hike seemingly unprepared when disaster strikes. Things are not what they seem and there are some twists and turns. I loved the natural setting and the characters were necessarily unlikable. A good read and an author I will follow.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

Was this review helpful?

With her marriage in jeopardy, Liz and her husband decide on a trial separation. Looking to reset her life, Liz takes the opportunity to use this time to catch up with her closest friends on a hiking trip in Norway. But things quickly go awry, and without cell service and a malignant presence seemingly following them, Liz worries that she'll never get the chance to make it home and set her family life right.

This was a nicely paced thriller with the type of Scandinavian setting I quite enjoy. Once things start going off the rails for Liz and her friends, you're never sure what's about to happen, who the "bad guys" are, or who will survive, and the last quarter of the book flew with heart-stopping action. I really enjoyed it, and look forward to more from this author.

Special thanks to Penguin/Putnam for allowing me to read a copy of this book to review through NetGalley.

Was this review helpful?

This was a good thrilling read! It made me a little nervous to go on a hike but I think that just proves the authors writing style was effective! The story started a bit slow but once it got going, I was hooked. I found myself flying through the pages to see how this hiking trip would unravel! This was my first Lucy Clarke novel, but I now understand the hype and hope to read her backlist!

Was this review helpful?

Round up to 3.5 stars.

Quick, page turner that you are able t breeze through. Although this was not my favorite Clarke book, it still kept my interest even though I had a few f the surprises figured out pretty early on..

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and honestly review this book!

Was this review helpful?

I have to say I enjoyed this book. It kept me on the edge of my seat excited to turn the page.
The beginning of the book is a bit slow while introducing each character’s and their back story but now we know who’s who and their relationship. Once they get onward to Norway 🇳🇴 it picks up and doesn’t slow down.
I really enjoyed how much conflict Lucy writes about between the 4 friends and how she transitions each chapter to their point of view, it’s flows very nicely.
This was my first book by Lucy thanks to NetGalley and I can tell you this won’t be my last.
3.5/5

Was this review helpful?

Page turning thriller with a twist you don’t see coming! I really enjoyed reading this book. There were multiple plot twists I never could have anticipated and once the characters were on the mountain and hiking the story was a fast read and really great. Four friends reunite for their yearly get together. This year it happens to be hiking a mountain in Norway which is much more challenging than any of them expected. Fraught with weather, danger, and plot twists galore this is a great page turner! Five stars. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy!

Was this review helpful?

My initial thoughts in the first half of the book was that it was a slower paced thriller, which I was honestly kind of ok with because it seemed to center around friendship and finding yourself and I loved the way it was depicting that. Then the second half is where the thriller part peaks through and I've read so many this year and have been so disappointed with how predictable they've been and this one was not predictable to me which was so great. I rated it a 4 because it could have had a little more suspense and I did wish it was a little faster paced but outside of that I appreciated how different it was for a thriller. It didn't feel formulaic at all.

Was this review helpful?

The Hike is all my favorite things wrapped up into one book: girls trip, hiking, travel, adventure, camping, mystery, and thriller. I loved Ms. Clarke's last book "One of the Girls" and couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy of this one.

Maggie, Liz, Helena, and Joni have agreed to meet up in the Norwegian mountains for a four day overnight hiking trip. The idea was Liz's and she may have been the only one full prepared.
The book starts out with someone dead and you don't find out until almost the end who it is. There are many twists and turns along the way, most which were unpredictable. I loved everything about this book! The setting, the characters, the friendships, the adventure, the mystery, and the thrill! This one was a fast read for me.

I will say I did do a few eye rolls as these 4 friends with no wilderness experience decide to go somewhat unprepared into the mountains of Norway to complete a 4 day hike. However, the author did do a good job at portraying the struggles of inexperienced hikers.
The characters were well developed and each one with their own conflicts of life they were dealing with. This was very relatable to a group of friends that I have.

Thanks to Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Was this review helpful?

Liz, Helena, Maggie and Joni have been friends since secondary school and take a trip together every year. It’s Liz’s turn to plan the trip, and she convinces the group to spend four nights camping in the mountains of Norway. Each of the friends is desperate for escape and struggling with their current life situations.

As they hike, it becomes clear the wilderness also has its secrets, and the people of the closest town have something to hide as well. If they’re not careful, not all of them will return.

I liked this book and was hooked immediately. Each of the friend’s storylines was well developed and had well established starting points. Some of those evolve more during the hike, and I enjoyed the change of perspective from chapter to chapter.

I wish Joni’s “secret” had been revealed more slowly throughout. While there were some clues, I didn’t feel like she was really struggling with that choice until after it was revealed.

I also wish the people in the town were explored in more detail throughout the book. We’re introduced to them on the women’s first night in the lodge but then largely left to take them at face value. We only get additional perspective from Leif while I would have enjoyed more from Vilhelm, Erik, Karin or even Austin. That perspective would have helped to flesh out the reveal of the plot twists.

There are great twists and some angles I didn’t see coming, which normally make me love a book. However, I didn’t feel like there was enough build up throughout to make those twists really feel like twists. We had so little information from what was / had happened outside the group’s hike that anything would have been a twist.

Overall still a really good book, and I would recommend if you’re looking for a quick mystery read.

Was this review helpful?

Three long-time friends book a 'vacation' to hike a Norwegian mountain. It's all pretty typical until they get to the hotel. Not only do they find out that a young woman who looks just like Maggie disappeared on the exact trail they'll be hiking, but apparently, the mountain is said to be a "thin place." Meaning, the border between the living and the dead is thinner. It's also mentioned that there's something on the mountain . . . The other.

This story had excellent, well-developed characters, A beautiful setting, and an intriguing premise. However, it was so, so slow. Nothing really happens in the first 60% of the book. I skimmed a lot of it, wanting to get to the thriller part of this thriller book. In the end, I was left mostly disappointed. The suspenseful 30% was good but it wasn't worth the agonizingly slow wade.

If you like slow builds, this is for you. It's well written and a good story.

Was this review helpful?

I devoured this book. It was so engrossing that i got barely anything done after I picked it up unless I could do it while reading. This was my first Lucy Clarke book and I will definitely be picking up her other titles. I've been missing out because her writing is beautiful.

This is a well-paced slow burner with short chapters and multiple points of view. The scenery is beautifully described. I could picture the landscape so vividly I felt like I was there. The main characters are very well developed and felt relatable and human. I enjoyed getting to know the four women and cared about their fates. The suspense really kicks up a notch in the second half and I just kept turning pages until well after midnight.

A huge thank you to Lucy Clarke, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Was this review helpful?