This is a cheesy play on Murder on the Orient Express. It's not a murder mystery, but more of a non-suspenseful thriller. The author tells tells tells the whole time. The fact that the telling is from multiple people's perspectives doesn't make it better. None of the characters is likable, but they're also uninteresting.

Not for me. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. I purchased it for my library and will share with others who may appreciate it more than I did.

The book and the writing really remind me of Agatha Christie. And I will tell you that, that isn't a bad thing. If you enjoy her books, i think you will enjoy this one as well. Thanks netgalley and to the publishers

Domestic drama and mystery aboard the Orient Express.

A unique premise -- a young woman has agreed to be the main character in a book written by a famous author. In addition to the monetary compensation, the author has rewarded Rory with a lavish train trip aboard the Venice Simplon-Orient Express. In addition, Ginevra Ex has surprisingly invited along Rory's brother, Max, her best friend, Caro, and her ex fiance, Nate. They all board the train and head to Positano with several stops along the Italian Coast. Why are these people along on this trip? It feels like some sort of game full of secrets, lies, and manipulation.

Wow, a lot of characters and a very long, involved backstory about Rory and Max's father and Russian history. Parts of that seemed overly long and I wasn't very interested in most of it. Actually, I wanted more about the iconic train, but the characters spent little time aboard. There were some twists and turns, and some were predictable. Lots of emotional baggage to unpack. I didn't really care for any of the characters and was left unsatisfied by the climax and the conclusion. In short, I wish different things had happened to the characters than what I read!

The narrative is told from alternating character points of view and there are timeline jumps. I cared more about the modern-day story than the deep dive into the past. The resolution of the mystery seemed rather anticlimactic.

I listened to the audiobook while also following along in the e-book ARC provided by the publisher. The audiobook was quite unsatisfactory overall despite having 5 narrators. The reason being that the person who voiced the character of Caro sent me over the edge with her shrill voice. The other females were hard to keep straight but fortunately I was able to tell who was speaking due to the chapter titles in the e-book. Normally the experience of reading and listening enhances the experience for me but toward the end I had to turn off the audio as it was very irritating.

This was listed as a tribute to Agatha Christie books. Not even close. Boring, predictable and very soap opera-like characters. Really slow too and it wasn't even a long book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review an advanced copy of this novel. I highly enjoyed it and will be recommending it.

Lies deceit and betrayal have seemed to follow Rory on her presumed relaxing vacation. Rory is given an ultimate all expenses paid vacation after being the muse for the elusive best selling author Ginevra Ex latest book. But Ginevra has many secrets and an ultimate deceitful goal. Not only is this trip for Rory but unbeknownst to her Ginevra has invited those nearest to her along for the ride. What is Ginevra planning and what is her end goal? Just remember everyone has secrets and not everyone is telling the truth.
This book reminded me of Murder on the Orient Express minus the lovable detective. I felt this book was great at sticking to the Agatha Christie “who done it” trope but felt it needed less of the filler love stories. I do appreciate the revelation at the end that tied everything together.


*Thank you to Jaclyn Goldis, Atria Books | Atria/Emily Bestler Books and Netgalley for the ARC copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.

The setting and premise of this one are really fun & entertaining enough as a domestic thriller type plot. However, I was hoping for a Christie-esque mystery which this did not delivery IMO - more family drama than whodunnit

cool little very Christie-ish with a modern twist work that was very intriguing to read and kept me guesssing

The Main Character by Jaclyn Goldis was not what I was expecting. Started out slow for me but then really picked up for me. 3.5 stars!

What twisty book with unlikeable characters! THE MAIN CHARACTER is really an ode to Agatha Christie and, specifically, Murder on the Orient Express. I will say this book is a bit on the slower-paced side, but it does eventually pick up towards the latter third of the book. But overall...it is tense! You don't know who to trust, and there is an exceptionally unique cast of characters to point fingers at.

Unlike the original story, this one doesn't start with the crime - so you don't even know what's wrong...only that something is off. There are also elements of historical fiction, with some chapters flashing back to 1980s Russia. Additionally, I loved the setting - a luxurious train and dreamy Italian cities - it made it a very atmospheric read.

I think fans of Agatha Christie (obviously!) and Peter Swanson will enjoy this.

Big thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books | Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the ARC copy!

Unfortunately there was a bit too much going on in this one to stay focused. It fell flat for me on the suspense side leaving me a tad bit bored. It was just okay for me. I was also able to predict the twist leaving it flat on that front for me also.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to receive this book for an honest review.

One thing I can say about this book is don't give up. It was slow at first but well finishing.

I don't want to spoil anything so just give it a try.

Thank you for the ARC !
This book was great and love the author ! Good story but was a little slow at first but when you start getting to the end it gets very interesting! Recommend this book !

The concept of this book sounded so intriguing and unfortunately fell flat for me. While it did have some good twists along the way, the journey to get there was slow and at times boring. I felt the story was lost in the multiple POV’s and there wasn’t a connection to the characters, I simply didn’t care about them. I enjoyed The Chateau, so I’m bummed this one was a miss.

Interesting setting and I love Agatha Christie mysteries! But, no one can write a mystery as well as she does - this novel included.

I’m not a huge fan of fuel timelines, but it was necessary for this story. The characters seemed mostly to be terrible people with horrible motives that I could not connect with.
The ending was abrupt, but a little unexpected which was surprising.
Pros: fast read, nice setting, good twists
Cons: AC this author is not, meh ending, terrible characters

C/3⭐️

Imagine this: You are feeling hopeless. You have lost your job, your fiance. Your father is battling Alzheimer's and it pains you too much everytime you see him. To only be given a deal of a lifetime after feeling so much loss, presented to you by the worlds most prestigious author. A three day paid in full train trip vacation around Italy in exchange for her to use your life as her next novel but after boarding the Orient Express you realize quickly how you have become a puppet in some sort of twisted game when you see she has also invited your childhood best friend, brother and ex fiance.

Do you?
A. Stay on the train to see where this is going
Or
B. Run, run away as fast as you can

Rich People Drama at its best, I tell ya!!

Goldis knows how to write some drama and I was absolutely blown away by the execution.

With giving a slight nod to the famous Agatha Christie but at the same time giving such a modern, uniquely spun web of lies, deceit, betrayal and mystery.

I was immediately pulled right into the story with its very mesmerizing atmospheric descriptions, and dramatic friendship and family dynamics. There was no way I could look away.

Goldis keeps you on your toes trying to piece together this twisted puzzle of what the heck is actually going on. And when you think you have it all figured out, you are smacked with the most insane revelations.

I had the best time with this even tho there were parts that lagged a bit for me in the middle. And I highly appreciate the authors vulnerability in writing something that is very near and dear to her heart.

Defenitly give it a try!

And I'd like to extend my hugest gratitude to @jaclyngoldis @atriabooks and @netgalley for the advanced luxury train ticket. This was a train ride I will never forget.

I read this book and recommended it to my book club. We read it and enjoyed it. It slows down in the middle but if you stick it out, the twist at the end is very unexpected, if unrealistic.

I didn't enjoy this as much as I did this author's debut but I still had fun! This book is full of so many twists and turns and I honestly felt like I didn't even have time to see most of them coming. My biggest complaint is that I wish there was more about the novel the author was writing, it would've been super interesting to learn things through passages from the book and see things unveiled in the character's lives. But other than that, it was fun to follow the characters through different countries and settings while they took the Orient Express train, and I enjoyed that I disliked every character. It made the conflicts more interesting because I wasn't rooting for anyone but the resolutions were still satisfying.

I wanted to like this book. The premise sounds really interesting. However, there are too many characters and too many years of history to keep track of. Not my favorite.

Something about this one just wasn't working for me. None of the characters captured my attention and the storyline felt meandering. There's mystery here for sure, but not enough answers to keep me engaged. I'm not sure I fully understood what the author was trying to do here and that really just made it fall flat for me.