A young woman walks along a country road in the middle of the night - she has no phone signal whatsoever, and her stiletto heels are killing her. In the distance, she hears a car engine, and all too quickly the car is pulling up alongside her. It’s a male driver - does she get in, can he be trusted? She doesn’t really have a choice, stuck out here in the middle of nowhere……

The storyline follows Operation Tide and its search for a serial killer. Lucy’s sister Nicki is one of the missing persons believed to have been abducted by the killer, but Lucy has no faith in the investigation and decides to take matters into her own hands.

Told from multiple points of view, The Trap takes the reader into some scary places, but sadly I couldn’t connect with any of the characters, and also found it slow going at times. I really thought I would love this one, and it started off really well, but for me, not one of the author’s better books.

The Trap was one of those books that will suck you in from the beginning, and you will not want to put it down until it is over. It has some unpredictable twists that will have you guessing until the very end. It also has a unique POV change as one one perspective is from the serial killer himself. I was right in between a four and five star rating.

WAIT, WHAAATTTTT??!!??!?! 🤯🤯🤯

Catherine Ryan Howard delivers her best work yet in this mindblowingly good thriller! It was gripping and propulsive with plenty of wit and razor-sharp commentary. I loved the opening chapter, the cast (which was just the right number of characters and POVs) and what a terrific job the author has done with the missing-woman trope. She truly nailed it.

I also really enjoyed trying to piece everything together like a puzzle but wow I never saw all that coming! The plot, execution, red herrings and twists are seriously chef's kiss. I reread the book again the very next day to see what I'd missed and it turns out the clues were there along. Mind freaking blown!!!

But while I very much enjoy the author's work (this is my 4th novel by her), I still am not a fan of her extremely convoluted sentences that go on and on and garbled writing. Which is a shame because everything else is 5 stars.

Nevertheless, this is an extremely well-crafted, impressive and outstanding thriller. The reference to The Nothing Man was simply delightful!

I loved 56 Days and devoured it in one day, so I was excited to see The Trap as an upcoming release! Howard excels at weaving a web of lies and misdirection until the last 50 pages or so. I never see her twists coming and The Trap is no different. Following women at the center of an Irish serial killer's spree, she carefully crafts her trap for the sister left behind. My one gripe is also something I would compliment her for, and that is the feeling of unfinished business that this book left me with. Her author's note about the Vanishing Triangle helped it make more sense though. Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone for an advanced eCopy!

Lucy’s sister, Nicki, went missing a year ago, the third woman in 3 years. The one thing that ties them all together is each victim’s cell phone is found by the side of the road. The trail has gone cold, but Lucy is so obsessed with finding her sister she puts herself in danger over and over again to do so (sets a trap, if you will).

We also hear from the perspective of the policewomen, two characters I liked quite a bit. Their POV helped eased some of the tension and was a welcome relief.

All perspectives were compelling, but the one from the serial killer, as we find out he is an average Joe, married to a woman who is a true crime fan (oh, the irony…), plus how he chooses and abducts his victims, was particularly creepy. I suspect most of us will be able to relate in some part to how we judge a person on how ordinary they seem, and how we women usually want to appear to be nice and helpful, instead of following our instincts. All while falling into a trap set by a diabolical killer. The book is titled properly.

I was a bit frustrated by Lucy and the stupid decisions she makes, putting herself in danger over and over. But, let’s face it, a lot of people do stupid things.

The ending? I loved it! It was surprising and unexpected in a good way. No predictability here. Not all the blanks are filled in, but it didn’t leave the reader frustrated or hanging. Readers will “know” what will happen next (at least what I choose to believe what will happen next). I appreciate authors who trusts their readers to fill in the blanks.

Don’t miss the author’s note at the end!

Big thank you to Catherine Ryan Howard and NetGalley for the ARC.

I was surprised at how much I liked this book. There were many moving parts at one time. Several people, separate story lines. While some things I felt had fallen a little flat due to there not being enough developments in either depth or description, the story overall was well done. I was kept completely engrossed and kept wanting to get back to it. With so many characters and story lines, it kept my brain very busy trying to follow each plot as well as trying to figure out how it all connected. If 2 specific areas had been better explained this would be been 4 stars all the way. This book keeps you wanting to know more! Definitely recommend. Nothing too graphic (which I don't mind graphic at all), but simple and suspenseful.

There are times when you sit back and wonder, would I do such a thing as placing myself in danger to find a missing relative? For that is exactly what Lucy, sister to the missing Nikki does, hoping to trap a kidnapper who has captured not only her sister but as she later learns other women as well.

There is the faceless man who travel the dark lonely lanes outside Dublin, to find another woman to prey upon. The killer has a certain types, but the police (Guarda) have been clueless to finding this man. Until recently when a special task force was formed after a young girl of some wealth and background was taken.

Angela was a civilian member of the missing person's unit so desiring to become a full fledged Guarda, that she seems at many times to be the push behind the investigation. When she finds and investigates a single thread in this woven psychological thriller, she in her way break open the case, but in the meantime might ruin her chance of becoming what she desires.

This was an intense game, one that constantly had me shaking my head at the utter stupidity of Lucy, out there all alone, taking such chances that put her life in severe risk. Then there were the kidnapper's chapters that sent definite chills down one's spine.

This book was based on actual happenings in Ireland in the 1990's and to this day, not a person, those poor kidnapped women or the perpetrator have been found.

Catherine Ryan Howard, did a fine job of keeping the telling intense and although the ending was ft up in the air, this book will make you wonder once again why people do what they do?

Jan and I enjoyed this book and had some ideas as to who this mysterious psycho was but never got it right. Thanks Jan for another "fun" read.

I just finished reading The Trap by Catherine Ryan Howard. I have previously read several of her books and really enjoyed them. This one, however, missed the mark a bit for me. I liked the premise of the book, but there were a lot of characters that I found myself getting confused between. While this particular book wasn't for me, I'm sure there are many readers who will thoroughly enjoy it! I will still continue to read Catherine Ryan Howard's future books!

Review of The Trap by Catherine Ryan Howard

Thank you so much to @blackstonepublishing for the digital copy of this book. Also, thank you to @libro.fm for the listening copy. I mostly listened to it, but also followed along on my Kindle. This one has such a haunting premise. A devoted sister is searching for her missing sibling and puts herself at great risk to try to find her sister and her potential killer. It reminded me so much of a movie from the early 90s called the vanishing with Sandra Bullock. That movie haunts my nightmares and this book reminded me of it a lot. This one had a super fun twist at the end that you’ll never see coming. I love the point of view of the killer in this one as well.

Synopsis:

One year ago, Lucy’s sister, Nicki, left to meet friends at a pub in Dublin and never came home. The third Irish woman to vanish inexplicably in as many years, the agony of not knowing what happened that night has turned Lucy’s life into a waking nightmare. So, she’s going to take matters into her own hands. 
Angela works as a civilian paper-pusher in the Missing Persons Unit, but wants nothing more than to be a fully fledged member of An Garda Síochána, the Irish police force. With the official investigation into the missing women stalled, she begins pulling on a thread that could break the case wide open—and destroy her chances of ever joining the force.
A nameless man drives through the night, his latest victim in the back seat. He’s going to tell her everything, from the beginning. And soon, she’ll realize: what you don’t know can hurt you …

Wow, this book left me with a pit in my stomach. The story is primarily told by Lucy who is searching for her missing sister, Nicki. Nicki and two other women have disappeared and there is a task force searching them. Lucy is willing to go to dangerous lengths to find her.

As the story continues we hear the kidnapper as he is telling his story, but who is the talking to? Last we see from the perspective of a member of the missing persons unit, they discover that there may be more victims than identified.

I loved this book and had to stay up late to finish it, especially with the twists and reveals that the author mixes in.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and Netgalley for this eARC! While I can’t do half or fractional stars on this app, I would rate this 3.75 stars. I thought the way this story was told was very original and compelling for the reader. I liked having the killer’s POV and getting into his head a bit, I thought that was a really unique choice and rounded out the story. I liked the twists towards the end, but I think at first the three week time jump took me by surprised and I wondered if I had missed something. I personally would have liked a bit more from the ending, because I wanted to see the events from that last chapter play out a bit more. I definitely will be reading more from this author as I found her writing style to be easy and fun to read!

Good ingredients, something failed a bit in the finished product.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

For the majority of this book I was hooked. Interesting characters and a compelling mystery. Then it started to go off the rails. There was a bit of an ah ha moment but it ended abruptly and I was left feeling unsatisfied. Part of me really enjoyed it and part of me really didn't.

This one is twisty and I would never have expected less from Howard. I loved it, it had me flipping pages left and right!

She always does a good job of getting you to connect with characters and this was no exception. Thank you to Netgalley for my advance copy!

First off, thank you so much to Blackstone for a free copy of this book in exchange for a review.

The Trap is about a woman named Lucy whose sister is missing. She feels like law enforcement is not doing their job in finding her, so she tries to take matters into her own hands. We start the book with her trying to set a trap for whoever took her sister.

We also have the perspectives of Angela (a Guard hopeful) and an unnamed serial killer.

It sounds super interesting, AND it’s Catherine Ryan Howard. I’ll read anything she writes.

I thought it was a little slow moving, but I liked the police procedural aspects. I even was ok with the serial killer’s perspective.

I’m sorry, but I thought Lucy was a moron. I don’t want to spoil anything but that’s it. She’s a moron. It really dragged it down for me.

The ending is open ended, so be ready for no resolution !

This was so, so good. I think it might be my new fave Catherine Ryan Howard book! I loved the little nods to her other works throughout & the twists in this?! *chefs kiss*

4.5/5 stars, this is one I will be recommending FOR SURE.

The Trap is the first Catherine Ryan Howard book I've read and I'm wondering why it took me so long! I was hooked from the first page and managed to read the entire book in a day, which is rare for me. I thought I knew where the story was going but ended up being absolutely wrong. I'll definitely be reading more of her work soon.

The Trap by Catherine Howard
My rating:
3/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Multiple women have gone missing. The police believe that all cases are connected, but how?


Told in the perspective of Lucy, the sister of a missing woman, the investigators, and the killer themselves, the story slowly unfolds.

I was super excited to read this one as I have enjoyed books by this author before, like 56 Days. I also have the Nothing Man on my TBR. The story, cover and name of the book were very enticing to me.

I really enjoyed the multiple POVS, especially the killers perspective.

Overall, this one feel a little short for me. I felt like I had more questions than answers by the end of this. I absolutely hated the ending for that reason because it was not definitive.

I wasn’t expecting this book to take a turn like it did in the end, so my initial theories were not correct, which is nice, but it just didn’t give me the fully finished ending that I needed to give it a higher rating.

Thank you netgalley for this ARC. You can buy this one now!

A year ago, Lucy's sister Nicki disappeared, assumed one of the missing women in an ongoing investigation. Desperate to find out what happened to her sister, Lucy wanders the streets late at night, hoping she will run into the suspect and get some closure on what happened to Nicki.

Early reviews were comparing this read to The Nothing Man, which is certainly one of my top 3 thriller reads, so I may have set my expectations too high. I did enjoy The Trap. The twists were quite enjoyable, and I was satisfied with the ending. Personally, it was too police procedural for me, and I would have just preferred more Lucy and Bad Guy POV's. Overall I still really liked it and would recommend.

I love this author, but I didn't love this book. While it was very scary, it felt a bit disjointed and unorganized. I also felt the characters were not fully developed. The ending left me a bit upset, and I wanted more. I was surprised it ended where it did. However, I thought it was clever and full of twists, just not organized very well. I will still read more from this author!