Thank you to Atria Books, NetGalley, and Jaclyn Goldis for the opportunity to review an amazing advance copy in exchange for an honest review. Who would not want to be immortalized in a book as a Main Character? Well, Rory may not be liking it after this dream trip aboard the famed Orient Express that reclusive author Generva Ex has treated her and her family and friends with. She is surprised to see not only her her brother and best friend but her ex-fiancé meet her at the train. Thankfully there is a very nice man that Genevra sent along to help with all the travel details and Rory is content to get to know him until she finds out that everyone gets an advance copy of the book she is in and everyone has secrets that they really don’t want people to know. When the books get stolen Rory starts to wonder what people are hiding that they don’t want the world to know? Very interesting and enjoyable characters, love the settings and really a fun read for the day.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for a complimentary copy of this novel!

Ginerva Ex is a mysterious author whom no one knows much about. She is well-known because she bases all her novels off real people she hires to do interviews of them and their families. She then writes fictional novels from those interviews. So when Rory gets offered to be the next main character, she is thrilled. She is also offered a trip on the Orient Express along the Italian Coast. But when she arrives aboard the train, she receives the surprise of her life! Already on board is her brother, Max; best friend, Caroline; and ex-fiancé, Nate. As part of Ginerva’s plot, they’ve all been invited. But not all is as it seems because they all harbor secrets of their own, including Ginerva! As they are visiting stops along the Italian Coast, Rory almost gets killed by a falling boulder. Who would want her dead? As the train slowly approaches its final destination, Rory tried to uncover why Ginerva orchestrated this entire trip. Four copies of Ginerva’s manuscript were handed out at the beginning of the train ride to Rory, Max, Carline, and Nate. Now all four copies have gone missing. And Rory didn’t finish reading it. Who took the manuscripts and why? What secrets did Ginerva reveal in her upcoming book that someone didn’t want getting out? But it’s not over yet, because before the train ride if finished, a death will occur.

For the most part, I enjoyed reading this novel. It was a cozy mystery and kept me wanting to find out what secrets Ginerva and the other characters were keeping. Although a death occurs in this novel, there is no actual murder mystery to solve. The only similarity to Agatha Christie was that a death took place on the Orient Express. This novel definitely does not compare to Agatha Christie’s writing. This novel is not a murder mystery per se. There is no actual murder to uncover. Whereas Agatha Christie’s novels have an actual who-dun-it murder mystery to solve.
This novel will be available for purchase May 21, 2024

US pub date: 5/21/24
Genre: mystery/thriller
Quick summary: Ginevra Ex writes about real people who she places in unexpected scenarios. Her latest main character, Rory, finds herself on a dream train trip with a not-so-dream cast, including her ex-fiance, her brother, her best friend, and all their secrets.

THE CHATEAU by Goldis is on my list of underrated books of 2023, so I was really excited to read THE MAIN CHARACTER. The blurb describes it as an homage to Agatha Christie, and it seems like every reviewer wants to complain that Goldis is not Christie. We get it, no one is - can we just review the book??

IMO this book is entertaining, twisty and fun. If you like books about unlikeable people with secrets, you'll probably enjoy it. Since I sadly have no immediate plans to take a train trip through Italy, I was happy to be a passenger on this ride! I loved that the twists kept coming and that everything still tied together at the end. Italy with a side of murder - exactly the kind of escape I needed after long days at work!

Thank you to Atria Books for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I feel like comparing books to Agatha Christie is SUCH a double edged sword because sure, it draws readers in, but it also sets the bar SO high. And unfortunately this one missed it by a mile.

The Main Character starts off with a murder which is always a good way to start. We find out that famed author Ginevra Ex interviews different main characters for her book. Her newest main character is Rory. We then follow Rory as she’s rewarded a vacation on the Orient Express and confronted with her brother, best friend and ex and she has unfinished business with all of them.

I truly hate giving ARC reads negative reviews but this one missed the mark for me so much. Rory was truly insufferable. All of the characters were honestly. They seemed insanely immature for being mid 30s. I was truly bored throughout most of the book.

The first twist didn’t shock me or interest me. The twist at the end though was really good and I didn’t see it coming. It was definitely a satisfying and shocking twist.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

I GUESS you can call this an homage to Agatha Christie and Murder on the Orient Express. That said, don't think that you will get any character development, or maturity from the characters. It's an overlong story that has been told time and time again, but by better writers.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book .

The writing was easy to read and the story easy to get into at first. I felt like it took me a bit to finish this and felt unsatisfied at the ending. I felt everything was unbelievable and wanted to like the characters but they fell flat for me.

The characters in this novel vary in likeability—and I like that. The relationships are complex and evolving, and the same can be said for my feelings about them. I loved the concept, basing a novel's main character on a real person—and how the ramifications of that echoed throughout the story. And the overreaching mystery had depth, thanks to the historical details and beautiful settings.

4 stars!

I really liked this! I read this entire book while on vacation in a sunny location, and I think that really contributed to my excitement about this book. Historically, I love mysteries about authors, and then add in an isolated setting - I'm sold! I think where this shined was the tension between all of the characters - we knew everyone had secrets, and even though I could guess some secrets I didn't get all of them. I also really liked our main character, Rory, and thought it was fun and unique that Ginevra wrote her books by interviewing people and turning them into her characters.

Where this did fall apart for me was in the ending, unfortunately. I don't mind a bit of absurdity in a mystery-thriller but it was just a bit absurd and I wish she had done something a little different.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and I would definitely read more from Jaclyn Goldis in the future!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

An engaging, twisty, Christie-esque mystery. I really enjoyed reading about a mystery author being pulled into one of her own.

This book is the book version of the Truman Project. Author Ginevra manipulates the characters in the manner of her choosing for the entertainment of her readers. Rather than writing the main character's reactions, she's watching them in real life and then writing about them. The plot itself is sick and twisted, an episode of Criminal Minds waiting to be written. This is the ultimate psychological thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley, the Publishers, and Jaclyn Goldis for an ARC of The Main Character! The synopsis really pulled me into this one. I felt like I didn’t really connect to the characters, but I did enjoy the storyline. This book had multiple POV’s and at some points I forgot whose chapter I was on. I really did enjoy the twists at the end (the story came together more at that point that made it exciting) which earned it an extra star. Ginevra is a best selling author and pays for an all expense paid trip for Rory for being the main character of her newest book. Rory believes this is a trip at the end of her term being the main character, but what she doesn’t know is her best friend, brother, and ex-fiancé are also on the Orient Express with her. What she thinks is going to be a peaceful trip is anything but when everything starts falling apart - secrets, deception, lies - this is anything but a normal vacation. It’s up to Rory to figure out what is going on before something can’t be undone.

I received this ARC and I was so happy because I loved the Chateau. However this did fall a little flat for me. I enjoyed it I was just wanting for more in the end. I am still grateful to have gotten this ARC . Thanks so much !

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book. I enjoyed the author’s debut, the Chateau, but unfortunately Main Character was a miss on most levels for me. I generally find that multi POV novels that move in a linear timeline don’t work well for truly building suspense and oftentimes feel like a lazy way to move the story forward - this is what I felt in this case - it was just too cluttered with narrators. The book had a good premise and a promising setting, but the execution wasn’t there for me. Despite the many points of view most of the characters weren’t well developed and the mystery factor wasn’t high enough to distract from the one dimensional characters.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the copy of The Main Character by Jaclyn Goldis. It took me a while to get into the story but when I finally did, it was a clever one. The writing style made it hard for me to stay engaged though, and the random discrepancies didn’t help. (The group has copies of an unreleased book by one of the world's most successful writers, leaves them unattended on their beach chairs, and are shocked when they are stolen.) I was attracted to a “modern homage to Agatha Christie” but the only thing that evoked Christie's work was the Orient Express so as a long-time Agatha Christie reader I felt let down. It’s not bad as a mystery goes, it just didn’t give Agatha Christie vibes.

The Main Character, by Jaclyn Goldis, started out a bit slow, but I stuck with it. While it never became a fast-paced page-turner, it was a fun, engaging, though a bit predictable, read.
Thanks, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with the ARC ebook I read and reviewed. All opinions are my own.

Melodramatic, and I wasn't a fan of the writing style. Everyone's hiding a secret, but I didn't care enough about the characters, who we were supposed to like because they're your standard, judgmental, everday Midwest suburban-raised people in their mid- to late twenties. But whom I didn't like because they're judgmental, entitled people who have succeeded in spite of their shortcomings, and who will be fine because life is unfair. Read this if you're a plot person, or want an excuse to drink.

Fun story with interesting characters. You'll find many helpful reviews already posted. Recommended.

Thanks very much for the free copy for review!!

The Main Character offers up a mystery at a leisurely vacation pace such as one would experience on a cross country train ride. Multiple characters being led like puppets by an older woman, one of the world's most successful writers, Ginerva Ex, who has footed the bill for the four connected passengers. Clues are parsed out slowly and it isn't until the last quarter of the book that things really start to unfold.
What is at stake - friendships, romantic relationships, familial secrets, and of course, a bestseller. And, maybe even a life.

Thank you to Atria/Emily Bestler Books and Netgalley for access to an early e-copy. All opinions are my own.

Jaclyn Goldis delivers a riveting homage to Agatha Christie with "The Main Character," a modern thriller that pulses with tension and suspense from start to finish. Set aboard the famed Orient Express on a luxurious trip along Italy's Mediterranean coast, this electrifying tale of deception and betrayal keeps readers guessing until the very end.

At the center of the story is reclusive author Ginevra Ex, known for her unorthodox approach to crafting bestselling thrillers. When she presents her latest main character, Rory, with an extravagant bonus in the form of a lavish trip on the Orient Express, Rory is thrilled—until she discovers that her brother, best friend, and ex-fiancé are also passengers, all invited by Ginevra herself.

As the journey unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear that Ginevra has orchestrated a real-life plot with Rory at its center. With each stop along the way, tensions rise and secrets surface, leading Rory to fear that the trip will end in tragedy, just like one of Ginevra's novels.

Goldis's writing is stylish and compulsively readable, drawing readers into a web of intrigue and deception that mirrors the twists and turns of a classic Christie mystery. As Rory untangles the motives behind Ginevra's machinations, she must confront the shocking truth about her companions and the deadly end to which Ginevra's plot may lead.

In conclusion, "The Main Character" is a gripping and atmospheric thriller that will captivate fans of Ruth Ware, Lucy Foley, and Paula Hawkins. With its intricate plotting, well-drawn characters, and pulse-pounding suspense, Jaclyn Goldis has crafted a modern masterpiece that will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the final, shocking reveal.

This was really quite good. A little Agatha Christie-ish (what with the luxurious train setting and all) with lots of secrets, lies and manipulations. Everyone is under suspicion as strange events unfold until the ultimate finale is reached. There is quite a complex backstory to be uncovered and it was just fun and engaging.