3.5 stars rounded up. While I liked the premise of this book, there were a lot of slow-moving parts, and the ending wasn't my favorite. I liked the characters and the dual telling. The mystery of it is fun, the open interpretation of the ending I do like but could have ended without the epilouge.

Gone Girl meets The Lion’s Den, with several of my favorite thriller themes: Toxic friendship, rich people behaving badly, murder and con artists, all in a glamorous Greek island setting. A fun, spicy and well-paced read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I love my mystery/thrillers with a side of rich people escapism, so this hit and it hit deliciously. I'm into this trend of Greek island vacation noir, all sunlight and the sea and bad husbands and too much money, like let's gooo. In the midst of all this scenery the plot left me wanting a little bit, I could have done with a bit more finality to the ending. (And props to Gia for banging out a flawless first draft of a novel while on vacation...share your tips, girl.)

I do think this book had something interesting to say about underprivileged kid/wealthy benefactor relationships and I appreciated the presence of that theme undergirding everything, though it felt ultimately undercut by the way things ended up. Overall, though, the setting was so vividly rendered and the writing solid enough that any complaints I have feel more like debut novel foibles that can be shaken off on the next go-round - which is to say I'll be looking out for what Katherine Wood writes next!

My thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you #NetGalley and #RandomHousePublishingGroup for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.When an heiress goes missing, her best friend races to unravel the secrets behind her disappearance using clues left behind in an explosive manuscript.I loved the chapters where you're reading Gia's Manuscript up until Abby finds it and it is up to you to decide if she's really lying or not. I loved the characters and the writing. The story was super fast paced and i couldn't put it down.

This was an automatic approval from Netgalley that I got in my email. So since that was kind of exciting I decided to check it out. I took a lot of time to get into it. This is dual POV from Gia’s manuscript and Abby in present day. By the time you get to Abbys POV the stuff with Gia has already happened so that can get confusing. At about 50% things start getting crazier and I was more hooked. However this book was so open ended that I was frustrated and not sure what even happened. There’s no definite conclusion. Did they do it or not. I need a conclusion in my books unless there’s a sequel which I truly hope the author continues with something.

Where is Gia?

This novel centers around the disappearance of Gia, who vanishes from her luxurious Greek island home.

Her friend Abby and brother Ben join forces to find her, using the journal she left behind.

I found this book incredibly easy to read. The setting was lush, the characters misbehaved, and there were lots of twists and turns. The use of the journal reminded me of the novel Verity, in a way. Can a journal ever be completely truthful? Is it filtered, and if so what truth is it trying to portray, if, in fact, it can be trusted at all.

This was one of 3 islands set on a remote Greek isle that I read back to back, so it did blur a bit with the others. Maybe Greece is the hot novel setting for this Summer?

Regardless, I give this book 4 stars for sheer enjoyability. What a great beach day Summer read this will be!

Thanks to Netgalley for providing an advance reader copy of this novel for my review.

Exciting read for suspense readers. Really enjoyed the dual pov bouncing between Abby and Gia’s Manuscript. I really couldn’t figure out what was truth and wasn’t. Still I don’t know who to believe about Gia’s story. Did Garret really do everything or does she embellish A LOT!

I thought this was a pretty fun read, centered on best friends Gia and Abby who plan a fancy trip (along with Gia’s brother Benny) for which Gia doesn’t show. This takes us on a journey of alternating timelines between Abby trying to figure out where Gia is and a manuscript Gia wrote a month before that may or may not be autobiographical. I enjoyed the alternating timeline and I love an unreliable narrator!

The setting is on a Greek island and was atmospheric; I could easily picture myself there. I was very fascinated by the abandoned island nearby as well. I felt that Gia’s character was a little bit of a caricature but I still enjoyed reading about her. Abby was more believable, but both made a few decisions that I thought seemed out of character. The twists were somewhat predictable for the most part, but were still fun to read, and there was one that did catch me off guard. I thought the ending was interesting; though it didn’t leave me super satisfied, I appreciated where the author was going.

Overall, fun read that held my interest throughout and had interesting characters - would recommend to those who like psychological thrillers. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the eARC.
Wow, what a fabulous book, it blew my mind!
It had everything I want in a book: a great setting on a Greek island; the rich; con artists; lies; cheating; and mysterious secrets from the past.
We get two pov's: Gia's and Abby's, two best friends who are supposed to meet in Sweden. Abby plus Gia's brother Benny wait at a lush Swedish hotel for Gia, but she never shows. They rush back to Greece to search for her.
There are so many ways the story could go, and I loved every bit of it. Hope they make it into a movie!

First of all, the author used masters suite instead of primary ( we aren’t doing that anymore Katherine) over and over again. I have never seen that word come up so much in a fiction novel. Hopefully, Katherine is listening and learning. Anyway, it’s a fairly enjoyable but fairly predictable tale as old as time…the rich behaving badly. I had a fairly good time but don’t know if I would recommend it. I wanted a little more depth. If this is your niche genre I would! Thanks to NetGalley for the preview of this novel.

Wow!! Ate this up in 2 days. This thriller/mystery had it all - rich people, fabulous Greek island setting, lies, cheating, con artists, secrets, murders, and everything in between.

This was a bit of a slow/medium burn at first, which I actually enjoyed for once - I could read about rich people and their escapades in a fabulous villa in Greece all day. It really picks up towards the end and becomes more of a thriller. You get answers at the end but is also left a bit ambiguous which I surprisingly loved.

This book was fabulous, sexy, and a wild ride. Definitely recommend!!

Thank you @netgalley and Bantam for an advanced copy of this book. Definitely grab this one when it comes out on July 9!!

This was a very engaging book and I could hardly put it down. But, oh those characters! I couldn't believe any of them, not even the ones who were supposed to be trustworthy. Everyone was shady, everyone told lies, everyone took relationships for granted. Even the one real good guy turned out to be (probably) fictitious. What a messed up bunch of people, but together they made for an interesting book.

This started a little slow, but then i became so sucked in I could hardly put it down. Towards the end it got quite twisty and I imagined who I thought was the true villain. It would have been a perfect plot twist. Then it ended and it was such a let down. I sincerely hope the ending is tweaked a bit before publication. So much potential! But as the ARC stands I give it a 2.5 for the ending as I read it.

An interesting story about friendships and betrayal. I read it one go and couldn't put it down. It had several twists and turns, but towards the end I believe there could have been one more twist that didn't come. The author chose to play safe.

Having said I enjoyed reading about the friendship between Gia and Abby. Gia was the popular, pretty, rich friend who befriended quiet and nerdy Abby who always felt she owed Gia her friendship and whatever she needed because Gia's dad was paying for Abby's education. The ramifications of following Gia blindly led Abby down a dark path.

Overall a fun thrilled I recommend to others.

When Abby becomes friends with Gia she thinks she's found a friend forever. Gia comes from a wealthy family and Abbys mom works for Gia's family.
They spend their summers in Greece until one summer something happens that changes everything.

Now adults and with Gia's father passing away, he leaves the Greece home to her. She moves in with her husband to renovate and sell while she attempts to write a 2nd book.

But will all the secrets they buried stay to rest or will everything come to the surface? Are they truly friends?

A very intriguing story with two different POVs and stories for you to try and figure out which is true.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

I was SO EXCITED to get this as an Advanced Reader's Copy from NetGalley.

Ladykiller is a clever, slow-burn psychological thriller that had me questioning who to trust and what was real the entire time.

The imagery was as beautiful as the plot was twisty, set in the sun-drenched Greek isles and following estranged friends, Abby and Gia.

The girls were as close as sisters since childhood, but a traumatic event one summer when they were 18 changed everything and left one person dead.

In the aftermath, Abby poured her energy into her education and focused on her career. Gia wrote a memoir. They fell out after Gia impulsively married a man she had known a month and Abby warned her against it.

When Abby gets an invite from Gia to a luxury trip to Sweden along with Gia's brother, Benny, she is hesitant, but eventually decides to go as she knows this is an olive branch from her best friend.

But Gia never shows up.

Instead, Abby and Benny get a series of suspicious messages that kick off a frantic search to find Gia before it's too late.

Perfect for any reader who loves an unreliable narrator and a bit of escapism. It is a bit *spicy* so be aware if you are not interested in that!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC! This book had me hooked from the first page. The story of 2 best friends with some serious trauma from the past. You’re not sure who you can trust. I raced through this book and loved her writing style. The ending did seem slightly rushed but I definitely wasn’t disappointed and I’ll read anything else by this author!

Started off strong - I was hooked. It did tail off a little at the end and the jumps to the manuscript were confusing. Good ending though!

This book has honestly just been a rollercoaster. The plot is completely unexpected, wild and made me feel a rush of anxiety and fear throughout. And one day I'll reread it all over again once enough time has passed.

I found this book captivating. It had me hooked from the beginning with its dual perspective &timeline. With so many twists and turns I didn’t know what to believe.
My only complaint is the ending. I would have liked a more clear cut, climactic finale.