Omg this was so good!
I'll admit, I wasn't excited about this book at first because it was very slow to start.
However, towards the end, i couldn't put it down.
I loved that it was about van life and traveling. Not gonna lie, I ended up looking up some van life Instagram accounts because I became in love with the idea! I think I just love the idea of traveling.
I also loved that this took place in Austrailia.
I really enjoyed all the characters and their stories.
I also liked that it ended up focusing on female safety and domestic violence.
It delivered a very important message.
Also, I can say with great confidence that I did not see those twists coming!
I even gasped in the kitchen, and my husband asked me what was wrong 😂.

This was such a good book, and I would definitely 100% recommend this!

I just finished reading Red River Road by Anna Downes, and wow—what a thrilling ride! 🌟 This psychological thriller takes you deep into the heart of the Australian outback, following Katy Sweeney on her journey to uncover the truth behind her sister Phoebe’s mysterious disappearance.

Katy’s road trip turns into a suspense-filled adventure when she teams up with Beth, a woman with her own secrets, and together they retrace Phoebe’s steps. As they uncover hidden truths, the tension keeps building, and I couldn’t put the book down!

Anna Downes’ storytelling is masterful—she expertly creates a chilling atmosphere and keeps you hooked with twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. If you love psychological thrillers with complex characters and an edge-of-your-seat plot, Red River Road is a must-read!

A twisty thriller that will keep you on your toes. The amount of surprises in this one kept me up until 3am binging this one!!
Katy Sweeney is searching for her sister, Phoebe, who vanished a year ago on Western Australia’s coral coast. Katy doesn't have much to go on except her determination and drive to find her sister. She will rely on Phoebe's social media posts as a guide. Along her search, Katy meets Beth, a woman on the run.
Atmospheric, so very creepy, unsettling, well written, and well thought out, this thriller was so incredible I dare everyone to read it.

Thanks to Minotaur & Macmillan Audio for advance copies of Red River Road.

Katy’s wild & free sister, Phoebe, disappeared without a trace in western Australia a year ago and there have been no leads, turning the case cold. Katy decides to take it upon herself to do some investigating. Starting with any clues from Phoebe’s social media, she is able to retrace a portion of her trip. Katy meets Beth, someone running from their past whom Phoebe may have crossed paths with, and they join forces in a shaky alliance. There’s more than just the Australian wilderness that can be deadly, and the girls need to keep their heads on a swivel to discover what happened to Phoebe and make it out in one piece.

This was a great exploration of the dangers of solo travel - especially for females. On top of that, it also tackled the topics of sibling relationships, the secrets we keep from those who are supposed to know us best, and the depths at which we’ll go to protect ourselves.

There were so many layers, several twists that I didn’t see coming, and such an expertly-crafted slow burn suspenseful plot that I could not wait to get to the bottom of.

I have several Anna Downes books on my TBR, but this was the first I’d gotten around to reading. I will definitely be prioritizing her backlist!

A solo female vanlifer goes missing while documenting her journey through the Western Australian coast. Now, a year later, her sister tries to retrace her steps, in an effort to find out what happened.

This book is so twisty, and is filled with tense moments while we work alongside Katy, the missing girls sister, to track her down. The pacing was really well done, as I found it hard to put down every time I was reading, and the ending was a huge payoff. There was also an authors note at the end which tied the author to the story which I really enjoyed reading. Definitely one to put on your radar!

I unfortunately struggled to get into this one and ended up DNFing about 80 pages into the story. Hopefully others have a better experience while reviewing.

Thank you publisher and NetGalley for the gifted copy.
I absolutely loved this book. Idea was original and different enough for it to be fresh. I've never been to Australia but I googled images when I could and it added an extra layer of enjoyment. The book has a very strong sense of place and would be a perfect read for travel vibes. It was very creepy, on the edge of supernatural while not being so which I loved.
Overall, highly recommend and can't wait for the next book from the author.

Dual perspective story of two women who link up to search for one of their sisters who went missing during an Australian solo trip.

Intriguing premise and beginning but overall I just didn't enjoy it. I probably wouldn't have finished it had I not received it as a complimentary review copy. I felt there was far too much going on and the two main characters didn't feel fully developed. The plot was twisty, but in a confusing way. Overall this may just be a case of 'not for me' because it seems to have mostly favorable reviews. So please give it a shot for yourself!

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing me a digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

A tense thriller, I love a missing person story, and this one definitely delivered all the secretive, mysterious feels.

𝗠𝘆 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 4⭐️
RED RIVER ROAD
🤍𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: thriller/mystery
📖 384 pages
𝗘𝗺𝗼𝗷𝗶𝘀: 🇦🇺🚐⛺️🐥🔎🦗🤒🗺️🥾

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲:
◽️ multiple POV
◽️ camping & exploring
◽️ unreliable narrators
◽️ blackouts & losing time

❤️𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲❤️

Thank you @netgalley @macmillan.audio @stmartinspress for the #gifted copy!

This book was an intense & twisty journey, told through multiple POV, that kept me guessing. More than half the time, I found myself wondering how the seemingly unrelated threads would tie together. The narrative raises countless questions, & I couldn’t predict where the story was heading.

The plot centers on Katy, who is searching for her missing sister, Phoebe. Phoebe, a travel Instagrammer, left behind a trail of posts filled with detailed tips & her agenda (the book even provides photo descriptions as if you’re looking at them), that Katy uses as clues. Along the way, Katy crosses paths with Lily, though we know her true identity is Beth. Trust becomes elusive, with plenty of red herrings to throw you off. Interspersed are the thoughts of Wyatt, a young boy whose connection to the story remains a mystery for much of the book. These shifting perspectives, paired with the tension between Katy & Phoebe, create a gripping sense of unease & layered motives.

The vivid descriptions of Red River Road & its surroundings add to the immersive atmosphere, & the story’s pace picks up significantly in the final chapters, around 75%, delivering answers to lingering questions, so don’t fret! While the frequent timeline shifts were occasionally disorienting, the payoff was worth it. This was my first book by AD, & it left me eager to explore her backlist. Be sure to read the author’s note at the end—it’s a perfect conclusion to this complex & intriguing novel. I loved chatting with @alwaysreadingrach when I finished & along the way to clarify lots of theories!

𝗣𝗹𝗼𝘁: Katy Sweeney is determined to find her sister, Phoebe, who vanished during a solo vanlife trip in Western Australia a year ago. With no leads or evidence, the police have abandoned the case, but Katy refuses to give up. Using Phoebe’s social media as a guide, she retraces her sister’s steps, uncovering unsettling questions about Phoebe’s journey. Along the way, Katy meets Beth, a woman fleeing her own troubled past, & they form an uneasy alliance. Together, they confront the dangers of this remote landscape in a race to uncover the truth about Phoebe’s disappearance.

I really enjoyed this one! The use of Phoebe’s social media posts as Katy’s trail of bread crumbs was unique and intriguing. The twist at the end was definitely surprising, even if I found it a bit far-fetched. Even so, I enjoyed this missing person thriller from beginning to end so I’d definitely recommend it!

Very trippy read! And this is just another story to add to my trepidation about exploring Australia without knowing the lay of the land. A great read, even if a lot of the time I was a little unsure of what to believe, who to trust, the reliability at all, etc. I will be thinking of this one for some time!

Red River Road opens with the text of a cheery Instagram post from Phoebe Sweeney, a solo #vanlife traveler making her way up the western coast of Australia and looping all the way back around. When her family stopped hearing from her after just a few weeks on the road, they knew something horrible must have happened. A year later, unwilling to resign her beloved sister to another unsolved cold case, Katy Sweeney bought her own converted van and planned to follow her sister's footsteps, hoping her Instagram breadcrumbs would lead to some answers.

Downes' book unfolds in layers. Both Sweeney sisters are represented, with Phoebe's surviving Instagram posts serving as our link to her direct experiences and Katy as one of the primary narrators. Katy soon collides with terrified Beth, and though the two are quite skeptical of one another, they quickly realize they need each other's help and a tenuous friendship begins to form. Beth becomes our second (or third, if you count insta captions as narration) narrator and we slowly learn that she is definitely running, though her motivation and intentions are murky. Piece by piece, little bits of information are revealed as Katy and Beth grow closer as they try to piece together the missing pieces of Phoebe's disappearance.

Although Red River Road's strongest element is dropping breadcrumbs for the reader to piece together alongside the girls, the suspense never rose above a swell. It kept my interest, but I wasn't nearly as hooked as I like to be in a thriller. The length was at odds with the climax of the story, leaving it feel like we knew what the characters didn't for a few beats too long. Full disclosure though—I am a horror/thriller junkie and may be a little more difficult to please here. The character development felt a little lopsided as well; Beth became nuanced and real while some of our other recurring faces (including Katy) didn't quite measure up.

I was drawn to this book based on the description having similarities to a recent case in the US. It was certainly everything I could have hoped for, engaging and engrossing. I look forward to more books from this author.

After seeing this one all over and the beautiful cover, i was excited to get a copy of this one! This wonderful thriller shows a woman wanting to discover what happened to her sister on a solo road trip in the Austrailian outback. The case has gone cold, but Katy refuses to give up.

This is a wonderful representation of what the current true-crime community is like, scouring social media looking for clues that the police may have missed.

Thanks so much for the gifted copy of this one!

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted e-copy.

Wow, this book was a wild ride, with three POVs and some very unreliable narrators! I started out pretty certain of what was going on, but the more I read, the more I didn't know where the plot was going or who to believe! I really enjoyed the twists and turns this book took, and by the end there were quite a few that I didn't see coming.

This book is a slow burn, though, and sometimes, it was too slow for me. The first half of the book kind of just plodded along, but then the last half picked up steam and it was full speed ahead. The twists came out of left field at times, and I had a hard time keeping everything straight by the end.

Anna Downes is an author I have enjoyed in the past, and I will continue to read her work!

3.5 stars

Red River Road was one of those stories that twists and turns and makes you think twice about everything. I was definitely hooked and a little bit freaked out about all that was happening within the story. I thought I had it figured out, but I was wrong. Definitely a good mystery!

Another book I read pretty much in one sitting (2-3 days). I didn’t even realize the 3 main POVs were written in different persons until chapter 5 or 6. Some readers might have issues with it, but I was so engrossed in the story itself that none of that bothered me. The author’s choice to start with the MC sleeping at the wheel was great, then adding that she had been drinking, all of it contributed to a good hook and making the stakes high from the get-go. The same with Beth/Lily’s POV, we know she’s lying and something terrible has happened, so it was the right dose of tension to start.
The hardest part was trying to connect Wyatt’s POV. Yes, it made sense at the end, but it was a gamble. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. Many times, the author threw in a red-herring to make us think HE was the killer. I knew it wasn’t Lucas because that was too easy. Then there were also Rory and Mrs. Creeping in my suspects list.
When it came to the resolution, I thought it was intriguing and tied those loose ends, but there were a few things that I might’ve missed or were not there:
1- HOW did Phoebe escape if any of the other women did?
2- Did Lucas know Rory’s secret about the women?
3- Was Wyatt really a sick kid or was his dad making him sick so he wouldn’t realize what was happening around him?
4- Did Lucas get up after Beth hit him and got in the Troopy then died OR someone put him there so the police wouldn’t find him right away? Maybe Jesse?
Now to the one thing that really didn’t work for me: Jesse. Yes, he added to the mystery and tension, but at the end his resolution/explanation felt too contrived. Dude went to all that trouble and creepiness just to walk away and end up helping a stranger? Really? Why? Like Beth said, “I didn’t get him at all.”
All in all, it was a great read. I’m curious to learn more about fugue.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This had a slow start but it definitely makes up for that as the story moves along. There were definitely some interesting twists!

I'm desperate to go camping and visit new areas... but it's winter and cold here... so what's a girl to do? Read Red River Road by Anna Downes, of course!

Let me set the scene: Australia. Missing van lifer. Unraveling plot that gets tighter and tighter as it goes.

Fact one: After reading this thriller, I'll be even more cautious with social media!

Fact two: This one took me a long time to figure out how all the pieces and characters fit together... and it was perfect!

Fact three: I absolutely yelled at both Katy and Beth/Lily for their stupidity and nativity... but I still loved them both!

What else?

I was delighted that the Aussie-isms didn't get edited out for a North American audience!

Maddy Withington does a fantastic job narrating this audiobook! Accents: check! Believable fear and excitement: check! Giving the story air to breath: check!

I'm a big fan of an audiobook with extras, and this one had them in spades: both an authors note and a conversation between Downes and Sally Hepworth!

I might just be sleeping with the lights on after finishing this one tonight! I can't wait to read more from Downes!

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for the complimentary copies to read and review.