Wow what a fast paced ride of a thriller ! This one kept me reading late into the night. I had no idea this was a debut novel until I looked up the author's information on Goodreads, hoping to read something else of hers. I enjoyed the descriptions of the setting in Thailand. It really set the tone for a good vacation thriller. The alternating pov with Cass and Brooke were very well written. I felt like you really got to know both of the girl's characters and their motivations for being on the resort as well as the secrets they have been hiding that start to unravel as the book progresses. 4.5 stars !

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

ᴀʀᴄ ʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ
✍️- Sara Ochs
📆- Feb. 13, 2024
📚- The Resort
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

First off thank you @netgalley @bookmarked & @saraochsauthor for an e-copy.

Read if you
🌴like Dual POV
🌴liked “Pretty Little Liars”
🌴like close knit friendships
𝕊𝕪𝕟𝕠𝕡𝕤𝕚𝕤

Two women are running from their past and have found a serene island to reside in. Cass has taken a job as a diving instructor to find a purpose on the island as she harbors some dark secrets. Brooke is a travel influencer in search of the next boost to her instagram page. Brooke has been closely following the death of Jacinta, another traveler who mysteriously fell to her death. She thinks if she can solve what happened to her she’ll get a major job opportunity, but as she tries to uncover the truth she’s getting threats to leave it alone. Cass and Brooke come together to uncover the mystery of Jacinta’s death and as they’re trying to piece it together another body turns up. It seems like the permanents don’t like to talk about the deaths and want to keep it hush. Why would they try to sweep it under the rug? Wouldn’t the deaths steer tourists away? Will they uncover the truth or will they just rule these deaths as accidents!?

𝕄𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤 💭
Oh my gosh Sara! I literally had to pick up my jaw off the floor. I did not see the end coming. This author done an amazing job weaving together the two main characters POV. This is definitely a beach read! Be on the lookout to take this book on vacay next year. I can’t wait to read more by this author

🏷️
#theresort #saraochs #thriller #beachreads
#whodoneit #bookreview #arcreader #bookworm #kohsamui🌴

This was Un.Put.Down.Able!!!

Koh Sang, Thailand is the backdrop of this twisty, suspenseful thrill ride. With a stunning coastline, energetic nightlife, and fun to be had, this place is paradise… or is it?

Cass is a diving instructor living on the island and Brooke is a traveling influencer looking for content. We follow both of these mysterious women through a winding story of secrets, murder, lies and pasts that are creeping in.

When a body is discovered on one of Cass’s diving classes, the puzzle pieces don’t seem to be adding up and the two women try to follow the clues to track down the truth. Nobody is who they seem and the possibility of secrets hide behind every smile on the island.

This had one of the most fantastic final acts I have read in a long time. The culmination of all the craziness is simply superb! I loved this wild ride!

Book review of The Resort by Sara Ochs
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to @netgalley and @bookmarked for this early release of this thriller. Out on February 13, 2024, you want to grab it.
This is set on a beautiful, tropical island 🏝 at the Koh Sang Resort. Cass has come to this island 🏝 in Thailand as a new beginning. She has found her place as a scuba diving instructor and has her group of friends who feel like family.
Brooke has befriended Cass to learn more about a death that has happened on the island 🏝. Brooke is an Instagram influencer chasing a big story that could make her famous.
Cass takes her group on a dive, and they find a dead body. As the body count increases, can Cass figure out if her past has come back to haunt her, or is this something else?
Super twists, especially at the end!
#crazybooknerd
#netgalley
#theresort
#bookstagram
#loveagoodthriller

Looking for a destination thriller? Pick this one up! I loved this setting & the twists and turns this story delivered. So many secrets it’s impossible to guess them all, and it definitely kept me on my toes.

On a remote island in Thailand, guests seem to be dying under mysterious circumstances. Told in two POVs: Cass, the resort diving instructor who is recently engaged and hiding a past of her own. And Brooke, a travel influencer who is just trying to work her way from one place to the next.

Look for this one on shelves February 2024!

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted ARC.

This was a dark and deceptive thriller that kept me guessing the whole way through. I’m adamant about not spoiling this but there were so many moving parts that anytime I thought I knew what was happening i didn’t. Deeply disturbing at times, I really enjoyed this!

TW: SA, grooming, drug use, police brutality, death, murder

This was gifted by Netgalley & the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

A fast paced vacation thriller set on the remote parts of Thailand, compared to Rachel Hawkins, and we were never here. Signed me up! In this book, we get to follow two women, a curious group, and a murder. This island vacation may not be all it’s cracked up to be. The resort has three simple rules
1)breathe even if something goes wrong
2)always go diving with someone you trust
3) don’t panic if your oxygen is running out
Simple rules right? Only one of our guests has a secret and somebody has found out the Islanders and big and there are many places to hide, so can you make it out alive?

Initially, I was drawn to the Comparisons to other authors and books that I enjoy. Plus, I also enjoy a survival style thriller with some domestic thriller elements where we’re finding out about somebody’s past. I thought this book was fun. I definitely recommend it for a nice quick summer read. I don’t think that it did anything out of the ordinary or anything that I haven’t seen before but I did enjoy the book

A remote island in the Southeast Pacific is a great place to hide from a sketchy past. The Resort is set on Koh Sang, a resort island in Thailand, where mainly younger travelers flock to party with abandon. Brooke is a travel influencer with a huge following on @BrookeaTrip who arrives at the Koh Sang Dive Resort, ostensibly to promote the island and the resort. While there she meets and befriends Cass, a dive instructor who is a member of The Permanents, a tight-knit group of multi-national expats who work on the island. Every member of the expats has something to bury in their past, some secrets worse than others, that no one else knows about. What the resort and Koh Sang authorities are eager to cover up is that a young woman recently fell, or was pushed, to her death from a cliff on the mountain walking trail. Brooke is suspicious of this unlikely incident, and when a second woman dies on the island she begins to quietly investigate since no one else will. But Brooke needs to be careful…because someone on the island will do anything to keep the truth hidden.


I did something I rarely do while reading this novel – I stayed up far past my usual bedtime to finish it. And it was completely worth it. The story unfolds in chapters alternating between Brooke and Cass as they paint a picture of The Permanents and slowly divulge their past and true reasons for being on Koh Sang. On the surface, it appears that everyone in the group is friendly and congenial, with Brooke and Cass quickly becoming very close friends. But it soon becomes apparent that none of the people in this circle truly knows or even trusts the others.


Without the necessity of flowery descriptions, the author provides the reader with a vivid mental image of Koh Sang. “As soon as we step outside, the sun bites my skin.” The setting and resort feel very real, and the passages describing dives indicate the author’s first-hand knowledge of diving. In some respects, The Resort reminded me of an Agatha Christie novel, with virtually all the characters becoming suspects as unpleasant aspects of their character or history are revealed. The icing on the cake is the chilling surprise at the end. Perhaps the only fault I could find was the title, which doesn’t do the book justice. A cracking good read – highly recommended.

To start, my mind is absolutely blown that this is a debut novel. I was sucked right in from the first page and found it so hard to put down. I thought it was perfectly paced, crazy ride full of tension, drama and shocking twists. I loved the setting and descriptions, it made me feel as though I was there and in the story. The cover is also gorgeous as well as the cover for the UK version, The Dive. I was absolutely shocked by the epilogue and did not see that twist coming at all! I’m hoping there will be more books to come by this author and can’t wait to read more.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for my early digital copy for my honest thoughts and review!

Cass has finally found a place where she is happy and building a new life. Koh Sang,a tourist destination in Thailand. She is a dive instructor, loves her boyfriend Logan, and has a group of amazing friends she considers family. What could possibly go wrong?
Enter Brooke, just another beautiful influencer. She desperately wants to belong to this group, but why? She seems to have everything, looks, followers, and sponsors. So why does this location and these people seems so important to her?
Told from two POVs, Cass and Brooke, we will soon find out that both of them are running from the past. When ‘accidental deaths’ occur, who could be responsible and why here?
There were more secrets and lies here then there are grains of sand in the ocean. Just when I thought that I understood everything that happened, the author threw in one heck of a twist. The dual points of view kept me reading, and every chapter ended with either a little more information or another twist. A really good debut and I can’t wait to see what the author writes next.

I ended up not making it through this one. I read a little over half and realized I wasn't invested in the story and didn't like any of the characters. This genre is hit or miss for me and this one was mostly a miss. I feel like I'm an outlier, though, because I've been seeing positive reviews everywhere for this one and two of my friends really enjoyed it. It just wasn't for me. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my complimentary digital copy.

A thrilling story with a beautiful backdrop of Thai beaches. Nobody is quite who or what they seem on this small island filled with expats and tourists, making it impossible to know who to trust. Full of twists and surprises, this book had me staying up late and guessing til the very end.

Wow I was just not fully prepared for this book. What an amazing debut thriller.

The atmosphere here of a Thailand fairly secluded island resort is a character in itself.

Cass and Brooke both have secrets and reasons for being there. Cass is a ‘permanent’, a local for the past few years and Brook is a travel blogger there for who knows how long. They collide and boy does it gets twisty!

It took me a few chapters to get hooked but once I was in, I was IN. Read this in one day and I can’t wait to read what this debut author comes up with next.

Oh and that epilogue/ending. I was shook. Loved it!

So thankful
For this early copy!

I devoured this. It had a fantastic setting, a story full of secrets and thrills, it was just an incredibly gripping and fun experience in general. Highly recommended to thriller fans, they will love this one.

Wow, this was really good! Lots of mind-blowing twists, characters who each have something to hide, all in a beautiful setting. There were a few moments that felt a little bit far-fetched, but I didn’t mind because this book was so entertaining. I’ll be looking for more from this author. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This thriller set in a tropical destination makes for the perfect beach read. The pacing of this book kept the suspense going until the end. The plot weaves together nicely as it went along. We learn more about each character and sometimes I wondered how this many crazy/secretive people ended up on the same island. I would definitely read this on a beach vacation!

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this advanced readers copy.

This was a fast paced, tangled web of a mystery with a beautiful setting and I loved the little nod it gave to the movie, The Island. This started off strong and kept getting better as the pages turned, unraveling the secrets and lies between each of the characters. The only complaint I had was that I could of done without the epilogue. While it did tie up some loose ends nicely, I honestly preferred it ending with that last chapter. That said, this book was highly enjoyable with well developed characters and a mystery that held me in its grip until the final page. Four Stars.

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this ARC.

𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞. 𝐖𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲...

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒕 is a brilliant debut thriller from Sara Ochs. Set on a remote island in Thailand, the story is told from the perspectives of Cass and Brooke, two women with mysterious pasts. Cass, a scuba diving instructor at the Koh Sang Dive Resort, moved to Koh Sang years ago and became friends with "The Permanents," a group of expats who moved to the island looking for fresh starts. Brooke is a travel blogger and social media influencer staying at the resort. When Cass takes her students out for their first dive off the coast of the island, what is supposed to be a life-changing experience quickly spirals out of control when one of her students, Lucy, is found dead. After a woman fell to her death weeks prior, Cass wonders if Lucy's death is not an accident. As Cass and Brooke team up to investigate the deaths, another person is murdered, and dark secrets are revealed.

This was such a fun summer thriller! The author did a great job building the suspense and creating a real page-turner. As the story developed, more secrets were exposed and more questions were raised. I enjoyed the dual POVs of Cass and Brooke, and I never knew who or what to believe. There were so many times that I thought I had figured it all out, but I was wrong. The ending was unexpected and nicely wrapped up any loose strings. Overall, an incredible debut from Sara Ochs, and I look forward to reading her future novels.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the ARC!
I read this book on my way to Asia (not Thailand, but close!), and it grabbed my attention quickly. I liked that there was no time wasted with unnecessary background stories about the characters; it was just enough to like/hate them.

It's a good story, but the plot twist was a little too easy to guess for my taste. Still, I enjoyed it!

So good!! An excellent written story that kept me flipping the pages. The characters were great and everything clicked well. The epilogue was awesome!
5/5