Red River Road by Anna Downes is one of the strangest books I have ever read. The beginning is slow with me as confused as Katy during most of that part. As the story continues to develop is reads as if it must be true because truth is often stranger than fiction, yet this is fiction. That serves to make it even scarier at times more horror than just suspenseful.

There is very little of the plot that I can give without it being a spoiler, everything is so intwined together. I can say Katy is looking for Phoebe who has gone traveling alone and is now missing. Boy, did I not see how the finding of her would turn out. Original, thought provoking, even keeping me awake at night thinking about Katy, Phoebe and the others, some okay people and some monsters. One that a person must read for themselves.

Story of a solo traveler who encounters a woman and they begin their adventure to find her lost sister. Twist and turns along the way. A psychological thriller, which will leave you guessing until the end. There were parts difficult to track and follow along, however the story came together slowly on its own. 3 star review. Thank you Net Galley and Minotaur books for allowing me to provide this honest review.

*Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

I really enjoyed this book until about 75% in. The 3 POVs did a great job at providing tension, between the lies they were telling others and themselves. I liked Beth's perspective best, which makes a lot of sense given the twists towards the end. My favorite part was the setting - Western Australia sounds lovely! I just felt like some parts of the plot were underdeveloped. The bones of this book are REALLY good, I just think it needed a little more editing to tighten it up and really make it tick.

But also what the heck was up with not getting closure on lonewanderer66?

Red River Road brings you Katy, a distraught woman trying to retrace her missing sister's travel route after going missing a year earlier. At the beginning of her journey Katy meets up with Beth, who is running from her own troubles and figures she can help Katy while trying to figure out her own next move. Their stories start to intertwine and you start to wonder who's telling the truth, who's lying and what's going to happen next all while traveling through remote Western Australia.

This one was a little hard for me to get into it felt like the first half was long and you finally got to some twists at around 75% which I enjoyed but I did feel like it wasn't all that shocking. Which maybe says I'm desensitized to a lot these days... I think this would be good for fans of Sally Hepworth or Megan Goldin.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Red River Road centers on a missing van life influencer, Phoebe, who disappeared a year ago. Her sister, Katy, has decided to come search for her by following the same itinerary in the hopes of getting clues. Katy’s path collides with that of Beth, who is on the run from her own dark past. Katy realizes that Beth might be her only chance of finding the truth, and the two women form an uneasy alliance to find out what really happened to Phoebe in this wild, beautiful, and perilous place.

Gorgeous destination setting, mixed media Instagram posts, multiple POVs, and unreliable/morally gray characters made this slow burn thriller a wild ride. My mind kept trying to guess the possible interconnections, but Downes brilliantly weaves a dark and twisty story full of shocking reveals. Narrator, Maddy Withington, did a fantastic job juggling Australian and American accents and even a tween boy’s POV. Her narration also increasingly added taught suspense!

3.75 ⭐️

Red River Road is a twisty and propulsive suspense-filled thriller. It kept me on the edge of my seat, guessing and second guessing all the way through. I enjoyed it but also started to get a bit frustrated as it started to feel a bit more improbable, but it was still quite entertaining.

Maddy Withington did an excellent and layered job narrating the audiobook.

Thank you Anna Downes, St Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

What a twisty and wild ride in this mystery thriller about a woman searching to find out what happened to her younger sister who went missing when on a solo van trip through Australia.

Great descriptive storytelling as Katy Sweeney uses her sister, Phoebe’s, old instagram posts to trace her route along the Western Australian coast. Following her social media photos and details into campsites and scenic sites, Katy finds the trail has gone cold. No one knows anything. Katy discovers more questions than answers as she soon realizes that the situation of a woman traveling alone can be very dangerous. What happened to Phoebe and where was she when it did?

Suddenly, the tracking becomes even more convoluted when Katy meets and befriends the stranded Beth. But things are even more strange as they travel together. Someone is following them.

I think it best to go into this without reading too much about it ahead of time. It’s a fabulous narrative with multiple points of view that, initially, is quite confusing. When all is revealed, you will likely shake your head and exclaim at how well the author tied everything together in a shocking climax.

I was able to listen to the audiobook while following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publisher. The narrator did a fabulous job with the different character voices and the Australian accents. The quality of expression and tone by Maddy Withington added immensely to my enjoyment of the story. An excellent production that has the added benefit of hearing the author’s note at the end and a conversation between Anna Downes and Sally Hepworth. Highly recommended.

Katy’s sister Phoebe was a popular #vanlife influencer when she disappeared a year ago while on a solo trip along the rugged western coast of Australia. Although the case has gone cold, Katy follows Phoebe’s route using her social media posts, determined to find out what happened to her sister. Along the way, Katy’s path crosses with a young woman on the run from her own secrets. Together, they embark on a dangerous journey, with pasts that are more interconnected than they know.

This interesting mystery is super atmospheric and would be great for fans of:
• Slow burn mysteries/thrillers
• Multiple POV
• Unreliable narrators
• Vanlife/social media based stories
• Remote Australian settings

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Minotaur Books for providing me an advance copy of this book.

Red River Road is a wild ride! With three alternating POVs and different storylines, it starts slow but picks up as the pieces come together. The last 25% is packed with twists and turns, leading to a completely unexpected, over-the-top ending that will leave your heart racing.

Get ready for a captivating, shocking, and intense read that will make you think twice about traveling on your own!

🚐Mini Review🚐
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Rating- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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My thoughts- Thank you netgalley and Minotaur book for the advanced copy of Red River Road! This releases 8/27 and was a lot of fun, I typically enjoy Anna Downes book and this was no different. The audiobook is fantastic with the Australian accent, it was so mesmerizing I had a hard time focusing 😂. This was a super quick read and I totally sympathized with both Lily and Katy! The ending of this one got a little bit off the rails and unrealistic but it was definitely a fun enjoyable read!
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QOTD- would you ever travel on your own? In this book Katy’s sister is a solo traveler, I don’t think I could travel in a van on my own. I’m awful in a crisis 😂.

Creepy and suspenseful, Red River Road will have you wanting to visit Australia but seconding guessing doing it in a van, alone.

This was such an interesting read, I had no idea what was going to happen and was shocked at the end!! Any good psychological thriller will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat, and that’s exactly what Anna has so well.

The ending was a little crazy but overall I really enjoyed it!

Thank you, SMP and MacMillan Audio, for the review copies—this one turned out to be a delightful surprise! The audiobook deserves special mention for its standout voice acting and stylish production. Listening to parts of it really helped me immerse myself in Downes' writing, capturing the “feel” of the story in a way that enhanced my reading experience.

“Red River Road” is a solid slow-burn thriller that intriguingly explores "van life" and thoughtfully examines the theme of women who go missing. Downes takes on familiar thriller tropes, but with a fresh focus on the reasons why women are in danger, making for a more reflective and compelling narrative. The plot centers on Katy’s search for her missing sister, Phoebe, but it quickly expands into a web of interconnected mysteries, including what’s happening with Katy herself and Beth, who gets entangled in Katy’s journey while grappling with her own secrets. The ending is powerful, tying all the connections together in a WOW moment and offering a complex, satisfying resolution to a well-developed story.

"Red River Road" by Anna Downes is an intense thriller which takes readers on a road trip through Australia in search of a missing solo female traveller. Readers who love unexpected twists and turns, multiple potential suspects, and a love for Australia must be on the lookout for this story!

When Phoebe disappears on a remote, coastal highway in Western Australia during a solo vanlife trip, her older sister Katy is determined to find her. Even though there are no witnesses, leads, or DNA evidence found and the police have essentially deemed it a case gone cold, Katy believes they must have missed something. Using Phoebe's social media account as a map, Katy traces her sister's path to find any clues the police may have missed that will tell her what happened and where Phoebe is now.

As Katy follows Phoebe's trail, she runs into Beth, who is running from her dark past. While Katy hesitates to trust Beth, she quickly realizes Beth may be the best chance she has at finding out what happened to her sister. As the two embark on this dangerous journey, they learn that it's not uncommon for solo female travellers to go missing and that no one can be trusted, not even each other.

"Red River Road" is a tense, tightly wound thriller with many unexpected twists that make it impossible to figure out who can be trusted and who is putting on a farce. While clues are given throughout the book, there are so many people with hidden agendas that there is no chance of predicting who is the guiltiest before reaching the last page. Downes is a master at keeping readers hooked on the tension and mystery of the story without giving all the answers away.

The characters are interesting to follow because they have these deep, dark secrets they keep hidden within themselves, not even bearing them to the reader. Not only is there an investment to find out what happened to Phoebe who is free-spirited and has a deep love for travelling and being out in nature, but there is also a deep-seated interest in learning about these characters who have so much to hide. No one is entirely innocent which makes this book hard to put down.

This was a 3.5 read rounded to 4. While I loved so many aspects of this book from the detailed and luscious images of Western Australia's landscape and the unending twists and turns that threw a wrench in my list of prime suspects, there were other parts of the story that I struggled with. For one, I couldn't connect with the character Wyatt and had difficulty getting through his chapters. By the end of the story, I questioned if his perspective was as integral to the overall story as it was intended to be. Phoebe also made a lot of choices as a solo female traveller which struck me as a little too naive. While the book works well to warn young women against the dangers of travelling solo, the characters are put into situations that most people know better to avoid. However, it is possible these are situations that still occur regardless when travelling solo and it is something I haven't read up on enough.

Overall, this was a highly intense and tightly wound thriller that will leave readers guessing until the very end. Be on the lookout for Downes' upcoming release "Red River Road" on its expected publication date of August 27, 2024.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press (Minotaur Books) for providing me with a copy of thie ebook and the opportunity to share my honest opinion in this review!

Anna Downes does exotic locations WELL. I love a book that can mentally transport me to a different place. Red River Road was unique and engaging, and kept me guessing until the end!

A slow-burn thriller told from three perspectives about female solo traveling in Western Australian. I liked the fact that I didn’t in know which character to believe and also liked the inclusion of Instagram posts and letters. There was a good stalker vibe throughout the book. There was also a good unexpected twist near the end.

I did find the pacing slow well until the 50% mark and while I understand it was to build backstory, it did make the story too slow for me at times. I also didn’t quite understand the last paragraph of the epilogue.

Overall, recommend for lovers of slow-burn thrillers.

Thanks to the publisher for this complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Anna downes is one of my favorites. A Safe Place set a high bar, and I’m happy to report Red River Road delivered!!

This was a first story about a Pheebs, a vanlifer, touring around the Australian coast. She went missing, and her sister Katy is retracing her journey, to find what happened to her sister.

When she teams up with “Lily” aka Beth, an unlikely friendship forms. Can they team up to find Katy’s missing sister? Or are the secrets they’re hiding going to catch up with them??

What a wild ride! Just when I thought I had things figured out, Downes threw me for a complete loop! I loved every minute of it, and couldn’t read this fast enough!!

A year ago, Katy’s sister Phoebe vanished without a trace on a rural coastal highway in western Australia. With no witnesses or leads, Katy decides to attempt to retrace her sister’s steps by following her social media. When a stranger named Beth randomly crosses her path, Katy begins to believe this chance encounter may be the best option she has at finally uncovering the truth of what happened to her sister.

This book is the epitome of an atmospheric, slow burn psychological thriller. I really enjoyed the use of mixed media throughout the story. The social media posts provided an interesting variety to the narrative. Despite having never been to Australia, the author’s vivid writing was so immersive that I felt like I was there. I was definitely taken aback by the big reveal. It was completely unexpected!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this digital ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

A search for a lost van lifer puts Katy in the path of another lost soul. When Beth joins her, they become a united front to solve the mystery of the missing girl, Phoebe. This was an interesting story during parts of the book, but there were also several sections I found myself skimming over. Overall, though, it was a good story.

This book was SO addicting. I started reading last night and then finished it today, which is pretty fast for me, especially during my work week.

We start out with Katy driving down the highway and being spooked by another car driving wildly. She pulls into an abandoned rest area to avoid them, and suddenly, she's not alone. Beth is looking desperately for help and climbs in the back of Katy's van without her initially realizing it. Katy takes pity on Beth, who is beaten and bruised, and allows her to continue on the trip with her. Beth is so cagey and used to hiding herself that she initially tells Katy that her name is Lily.

Both women are skeptical of the other, but with no one else to trust, they have no choice but to lean on each other. Katy explains what happened to Phoebe and Beth starts helping her sort through the clues of Phoebe's mysterious disappearance.

The author does a nice job of keeping the reader tense throughout. You can't help but be unnerved by thinking of being alone in Australia, on a pitch-black night, and no one else around. We also see Phoebe's social media posts and some of the kind, and also creepy, comments that are left for her. This story excellently highlights the point that people can glean A LOT of information from our social media posts, especially if we aren't mindful of how and when we share things.

I enjoyed the plotline of this story. The social media aspect and stalking are unique plotlines that were explored well. I also loved the tie-in to #VanLife as that is fairly popular right now and again, I haven't seen other books in the same vein.

There were a couple of things I didn't enjoy. The first was some of the dumb moves the girls made. Both were apparently very safety conscious, and somewhat paranoid, yet they would keep stopping in the middle of nowhere instead of staying in a place with more people and lighting and just general traffic. Then they would both keep running off on each other and then they'd have to go looking for each other. It got a little annoying for me.

The Wyatt angle felt unnecessary overall. There are allusions to the kid having an illness, but it's never really expanded on, and so it felt pointless. The ending with him and his family also just didn't tie into the story well enough, especially when a previous connection was made and could have been easily maintained without Wyatt's perspective.

This is my first book from this author, but I enjoyed it. The unique plotline, along with the intensity of the story kept my attention from start to finish.

Mystery about an influencer who disappears while touring Western Australia; this book is one of several on the new trend of "van life" which is traveling in a van and then taking pictures for followers. Phoebe had an Instagram account called "Phoebe in Wonderland" and went missing while touring Australia. Her sister Katy has purchased a van herself and is determined to find Phoebe by following all of the places she posted about. One day Katy pulls off the road after a car is following too close to her van and when she gets out to investigate, she finds a woman has crawled into the back of her van. The woman says her name is Lily and she appears filthy and covered in bruises. Lily says all of her belongings and ID were stolen and she has no where to go so Katy takes her in. The two women's story is alternated with the story of Wyatt, a young teenager that is constantly ill and also hears strange sounds coming from his house.

The book started out with a bang but then became muddled with Katy and Lily making a lot of stops but never really doing any work to find Phoebe. The parts with Wyatt were confusing because we never find out why he is sick or what is going on with him. As Katy and Lily continue their journey we find out Lily is being pursued by a dangerous man and both women have secrets they are keeping with each other. I did like the focus on the safety of women travelers but often found Lily's psychological lectures annoying as it appeared she took only an entry level class before dropping out of college. The ending does tie together the various characters with a couple of twists but I thought the main one was obvious. I like the author's writing style but found some of the plot didn't quite come together. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC for review.