Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for an advanced digital copy of this book.

Although this book had a slow start, once I got halfway through I couldn’t put it down. A dark turn spin on social media, as well as touching on a few other trigger points, this book may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Mind blowing ending, I did NOT see that coming! I cannot get enough of the travel influencer stories and this was a fun one set on the coast of Australia. Katy has set out to do the “Big Lap” around Australia’s coast line in search of her missing sister, Phoebe, who went missing doing this very trip a year ago. The case has gone cold, according to the police, and Katy is convinced she can find out what happened to her sister. Soon into her trip, Katy meets up with Beth, a grifter who is also traveling alone, and together they set out into the vast wilderness.

This was a great story, my favorite part was the Australian setting and the Instagram updates. There are quite a few characters to keep track of, especially with Beth who goes by many aliases, and it was confusing in the beginning. So hang in there and pay close attention!

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on August 27, 2024

This book is very slow and that was hard for me. This book will lead you to want answers and start putting the puzzle pieces together to figure out what happened. I did figure out one of the biggest puzzles early on in the story but the rest threw me for a loop. I would definitely read this with no distractions because theres a lot to keep up with and will leave you confused if you’re not paying attention.

Small summary
Katy is joining the van life after her sister Phoebe goes missing. Phoebe had took on the van life documenting it by using social media and posting the route and stops she would be making. A long the way Katy picks up a girl named Lily and thats when things take a turn when Lily takes on helping Katy find her sister. A long the way they encounter other van lifers and everyone becomes a suspect. Two strangers traveling together to solve a case without even knowing anything about each other. What else will they find out along the way!

Red River Road by Anna Downes is a chilling and deeply enthralling read about various characters travelling and living from a van, and there reasons for doing so.

There are multiple point of views throughout the book and although Beth and Katy are travelling together, having their two distinct voices really worked well for this book. This is especially the case because there is a lot of past reflection that occurs, particularly for Beth, so their separate accounts make sense for this, and the dive into their pasts is very necessary to establish who they are and where they came from. It sets up why they are both travelling Western Australia and how this brought them to where they are in the present, having stumbled across each other by chance. Wyatt, the third point of view, was less interesting to me, but it does become clear how he is tied to the overarching story, although he is removed from it.

Reading this book I couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease and as if I wasn’t getting the full story even from the point of view characters. There was something to the undertone of chapters, particularly as the story moved along and they got deeper into their journey and investigation into Phoebe’s disappearance that just felt off, like I was dealing with a very unreliable narrator, one that wasn’t even telling the truth to themselves.
 
Being the sucker that I am for this kind of thing, I loved the Instagram mockups done periodically between chapters showing Phoebe’s (Katy’s missing sister) journey which Katy is following in order to try to figure out what happened to her. I thought it was a nice little touch that really added to the story and the almost enigma that Phoebe is with only really knowing her through Katy’s eyes and the posts from her Instagram.
 
Red River Road also manages to be so spooky at times that it chilled my blood a little. The sense of isolation really creeps up in moments, especially when Katy and Beth start getting a nighttime visitor who leaves creepy messages behind. This really added to my reading of the book and I felt so immersed in it because it was so well done. I found it very hard to put this book down because I was so invested in finding out what had happened to Phoebe, and what overall was going on along this trail so many people take to explore WA. Even closer to the end, when it felt like everything had been completed with the story but it kept going for a while after the climax of the story, I was left with so many questions and was worried I wasn’t going to get them, but it’s all wrapped up nicely and clearly. This read is definitely a recommend, perfect for thriller lovers with a sense of adventure.

Katy is looking for her sister, Phoebe, who disappeared a year ago while blogging her travels in Western Australia, a part of “The Great Lap,” around the perimeter of the country. Beth is escaping both from her family life and a dangerous situation in her immediate past. The two find each other and begin an unlikely friendship as they look for Phoebe and find their fates intertwined.

The story was told perspectives: Katy’s, Beth’s and Wyatt’s, a young boy living in Western Australia.

This book is incredibly suspenseful and high on the tense atmosphere. I was absolutely glued to the pages as things were unfolding, wondering how things would all end up coming together and meshing. And wow! Mesh they did! The story really perfectly came together in the end and tied all the loose ends together really well.

This is one of those books where you are better going in knowing as little as possible. And you may guess some things - but not everything. I had some inkling about a couple of things…..but not the total picture, even about what I had a guess about, if that makes sense.

Some of it gets complex and kind of tangled, which means I had to read some sections a couple of times to really understand all the details, but I think I got everything right in the end. And I enjoyed that the author added an epilogue to clarify things further. Some authors just leave things as is, and in complex stories, that’s no good.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! If you live great mystery/thrillers, particularly ones that will make you want to go traveling, this is the book for you!

This was a tough one for me to get through. While I ended up liking the story and the ending had some good twists it took me forever to get into it. I basically had to force to read so much a day until the last third of the book. I was really hoping to like this one a lot more and really liked the premise but it was just ok for me and if it hadn't picked up at the end probably would've rated it a 2 star but giving it 3. I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc in exchange for an honest review,

Red River Road both makes me want to do a road trip in Western Australia and never be traveling alone as a single woman ever. With all of the attention paid in the U.S. to Gabby Petito, there are elements of that readers will see resonating in this book. Katy is looking Phoebe, a woman who disappeared in WA while doing a road trip. Katy is clearly not alright, but is bound and determined to retrace Phoebe's last known locations. Along the way she runs into Beth, a young woman trying to escape an abusive boyfriend that she's been traveling on the road with. Because of the less than upright reasons she and her boyfriend had been on the road, and her lack of money and identification, Beth convinces Katy that she'll help her find Phoebe. Along the way the women receive messages that seem threatening to both of them while drawing ever closer to the reason that Phoebe disappeared to begin with, and a teenage boy named Wyatt that's connected to both of them. The premise of this is really interesting and definitely plays up on the dangers of traveling with someone you may not trust, AND the dangers of oversharing information on social media. It makes it seem like something very real to be aware of and careful about. As the twist is revealed at the end the book kind of seems to lose it's momentum, and I don't entirely love how Downes leaves things with what happens with Beth and her boyfriend. But all in all it was a good psychological thriller that feels like many elements of are possible in real life. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A little messy wrap up, but the backdrop of traveling by RV along a popular tourist route was entirely worth reading this.

Absolutely outstanding book! Gripping, chaotic, and intense! Could not put it down, highly recommend!!!

This book was instantly captivating. Set in Austrailia with 3 POVs. Katy, who is retracing her sister's trip where she went missing a year ago. Beth who just escaped her life with her abusive, con-artist boyfriend and Wyatt who is a teenage boy stuck at home dealing with being sick and missing his mom who left their family years ago.

The way Anna Downes pulls all three of those stories together was amazing. Each time I had a theory it would be busted. I had no idea where this story was going and stayed up until Midnight last night to finish it. I'm pretty sure kids know when you do something stupid like that because mine woke me up at 6:30AM when none of us needed to be awake. 🤣

Thank you to #netgalley and @stmartinspress for allowing me to read this ARC for my honest opinion. This is a solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read that releases August 26th but you can pre-order it anywhere now!

Red River Road by Anna Downes, set in the Australian Outback, has Katy looking for her missing sister Phoebe, who disappeared on a road trip around the area. While chasing clues written in Phoebe's social media, Katy runs into another woman on the run and the two combine forces. I found the characters hard to keep track of which I guess is the point of the whole story, but it made reading this a bit difficult. Other than that, the twisty story was intriguing.

I so enjoyed this road trip thriller sed in Australia. The misdirection was on point, and the twists were amazing and completely unpredictable. Extremely entertaining and thrilling.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I hope I do justice to Anna Downes with my review...

Red River Road, is fantastic and breaks every point scale we have put forward.

I can not give this book 5 stars because to be quite honest, it would be an insult. Red River Road, will exceed all your expectations and leave your jaw on the floor.

I should have known just looking at the cover how much I would love this book. I mean, look at it, it's stunning.

And don't even get me started on the twist. My insides still feel the gut punch and my chest is tight from my shock.

I can go on and on but I don't want to spoil it for you, all you need to know is you truly will be missing out if you do not pick this one up.


Teaser :


Katy Sweeney is looking for her sister. A year earlier, just three weeks into a solo vanlife trip, her free-spirited younger sister, Phoebe, vanished without a trace on the remote, achingly beautiful coastal highway in Western Australia. With no witnesses, no leads, and no DNAevidence, the case has gone cold. But Katy refuses to give up on her.

Using Phoebe’s social media accounts as a map, Katy retraces her sister’s steps, searching for any clues the police may have missed. Was Phoebe being followed? Who had she met along the way, and how dangerous were they?

And then 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 best―and 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.

Anna Downes takes us on a twist-filled journey into the dark side of solo female travel, in this gripping novel that explores what drives us to keep searching for those we have lost, the family bonds that can make or break us, and the deception of memory.

Really enjoyed this book. It was the perfect sunny day read to sit back and binge in one sitting. I’d recommend this to anyone who loves a fast paced read!

Red River Road, even the title seems filled with foreboding! Anna Downes has written a gripping book with a total surprise ending that kept me unsure what would happen next or who I could believe. This is the sophomore publishing effort by Downes,, and I personally found it more polished and engaging than her first book.

The book had a great menacing atmosphere, and was slightly claustrophobic, with the two main characters, Katy and Beth, traveling together through the west coast of Australia in a van. Katy's sister, Phoebe, disappeared a year ago on a similar trip and Katy is determined to find her, so she is retracing her sister's trips by following her Instagrams.

Although they are not the integral parts of the book, a few interesting points are highlighted. One, how Instagrmmers lives can become public property, and this could be dangerous. Two, how women in general and lone women travelers in particular have to be on guard. Three, I found the references to camp life interesting. It can be good, but also very bad!

Every main character in this story has a lot to hide, and it was interesting to see what their secrets were, one by one.

An entertaining summer read! I give it 4.5 stars, rounding up!

Thank you to NetGalley, Anna Downes, and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars rounded up.

Katy’s sister went on a solo roadtrip in Australia and wasn’t heard from again. So, a year later, she decided to follow her sister’s trail to see if she can find something the cops missed.

While she’s out and about, she meets a girl named Lily. But that‘s not her real name, and she’s got plenty of other secrets too. Is she dangerous? Or is she simply lying to save herself from her ex-boyfriend?

These questions are answered, along with a whole lot more. And if you think you’ve got it completely figured out, you don’t.

This was almost a perfect read. The ‘after’ section was a bit too long, though.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

Katy Sweeney’s sister, Phoebe, has gone missing while traveling through Australia. The police have turned up nothing so Katy decides to follow Phoebe’s path herself, using her posts on Instagram as her road map. She saves fellow traveler, Beth, AKA lily along the way and the two decide to team up to find out what happened to Phoebe. But both are keeping secrets that could put them both at risk. And there seems to be someone following them, leaving notes on the van at night and strange piles of rocks surrounding the vehicle. Will they find out what happened to Phoebe or will they also disappear without a trace?

This book is a fun ride! I couldn’t put it down, and flew right through it! I never was quite able to pin point what had happened to Phoebe, and that’s a definite plus as I can usually guess these types of things pretty early on in a book. There are a number of suspects in Phoebe’s disappearance, and Downes does a great job making you think it could be any of them. The way things unfold are interesting, fun, and makes you want to keep on reading to see what happens next.
There was a bit of confusion with the medical talk at the end of the book, and that bit did go a bit long, but it didn’t take away from the story.
I was very happy how this wrapped up.
Would recommend for thriller readers, and will be putting more Anna Downes books on my TBR.

Loved this book! It was fascinating and kept me engaged the entire time. Solving the mystery was part of what kept me reading, but understanding the characters and their choices was just as much a part of that. I love mysteries where characters are well developed and complex!

Unique and charmingly clever, Red River Road will appeal to readers who enjoy their murder mysteries with a slow burn. Prepare to be fascinated and enthralled by.

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t have anything particularly notable to say about this book. I think the unreliable narrators and general flakiness was interesting to read about, but for some reason found it difficult to get invested in the story as a whole. I think it was the switching of perspectives and instagram posts constantly that made it feel less continuous and more jumpy. Beth and Katy had voices that were a bit too similar in spite of differing motivations and that made it hard sometimes to remember who was speaking.

Overall, I think it’s kind of a 3.75/5 - I could see a lot of people enjoying this but it was on the high 3/low 4 spectrum for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book!