Wow! What an incredible debut thriller! This has such an addictive storyline and well-written characters. It’s one of those thrillers that will have you thinking about it long after you’ve finished.

Debut author Jessie Garcia (who is actually a news director in Milwaukee) had a chance encounter with a woman on a plane and she was inspired to give us seat mates Stephanie, a TV news director going to San Diego for a weekend conference, and Jazmine, a down-on-her-luck escapee from a brutal partner. Jazmine was planning to go to Denver; Stephanie is taking the connecting flight to California. We only get to know them briefly as the rest of the story is told from the POVs of the people left behind in Madison, Wisconsin.

In Jazmine’s world, there’s her abusive drunk boyfriend Glenn, who was making her world smaller and smaller by taking her money and her car, and constantly keeping track of her. He’s furious when he realizes she’s ditched him and vows to hunt her down. Jazmine’s friend since high school, Anna, and co-worker and the bar, has been helping her stash money away. All she knows is that Jazmine is going to the airport to pay cash for a ticket somewhere. Anna never expects to see Jazmine again.

In Stephanie’s world, she knows she has a good life and is yearning for maybe something more.caring about her are her cat-sitter/neighbor Robert, and co-workers Bruce and Lucy, plus her boss, Dave. They’re expecting her back on Monday.

But both groups of people start getting separate texts from Stephanie and Jazmine — both of them are now in Atlanta, with a sleazy local news director named Trent who was also at the San Diego conference. Both women are initially gushing over meeting “Trent” until they both suddenly sounded scared and terrified. And both of their Madison friend groups are increasingly horrified. Stephanie’s co-workers and neighbor no longer believe it’s her using her phone. Glenn is out-of-loop, but Anna is concerned about Jazmine as well. How are the two women tied together with creepy Trent?

This book was so well-written that I couldn’t put it down. I hope the publisher has an amazing PR campaign for this author, because I want this 5 star read to be read by as many thriller fans as possible! It’s an incredible heart-throbbing, page-turner!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO No eye colors mentioned at all.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO But both Wisconsin women are amazed by the green winter landscape in LaJolla.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

This was such an interesting, intriguing, and captivating story.
Two women on two separate paths that collide. As the story unravels and I thought I saw where this was going, I couldn’t have been more wrong. I enjoyed the multiple points of views, they made this even more intriguing and suspicious. Great plot, good suspense, and clever, unexpected twists.

This sucked me in immediately! Stephanie and Jasmine could not be more different, yet we know their stories somehow overlap. They meet on a plane by chance and their lives will never be the same. I loved the multiple points of views and at first I was really rooting for Jasmine to escape her horrible reality. The ending was unexpected and I can't say I loved that, but everything else was so good!

Thank you to Jessie Garcia, St Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange of my honest review.

🎢 W I L D R I D E W E D N E S D A Y review 🎢 featuring “The Business Trip” by Jessie Garcia!

BOOK REVIEW: 🖤🖤🖤🖤/5

Jasmine and Stephanie are complete strangers who sit in the same row on an airplane. Stephanie is going on a business trip, while Jasmine is fleeing from her abusive relationship and suffocating life.

Both women part ways at the airport … but mysteriously their friends start to receive the same text messages about a guy named Trent McCarthy. At first the women seem to be infatuated with Trent in their messages … but then they start to sound dangerous and the messages suddenly hit a dead end. Both women vanish out of no where and the hunt is on to find them before it’s too late!

OK this book is DERANGED in the best way! Talk about a totally gripping ONE DAY read that will hook you from line one! Much like a rollercoaster, the twists and turns/multiple layers are a sucker punch to the gut and a crazy head rush! The razor sharp manipulation and scheming is on a different level and I loved all of the mind games!

Thank you kindly to @jessiegarcia_author @stmartinspress @netgalley for my advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review! This addictive DEBUT releases on January 14, 2025!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published January 14, 2025.

This book was crazy good. A definite page-turner. We meet Jasmine who needs to escape an abusive relationship and Stephanie who is attending a conference in San Diego. Fate puts them on the same plane sitting next to each other and then they both disappear. What follows is a plot for justice and freedom for Jasmine. But at what cost? And who is Trent McCarthy??

There are a lot of characters in the story; Glenn and Trent are particularly easy to hate. But Jasmine has a plan and it is incredibly well thought out. Or is it?

At times it was a bit far-fetched but if you want a quick and clever mystery, this is was a really fun read!

Arggghhhhh I really thought this one was gonna be good - it had me hooked, no idea where it was going. Then it got to where it was going and I’m like - omg this is wild and dark but ok LFG. Then the last chapter(s) happened and WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!? Ughhhh!

So much promise, the ending just killed it for me.

Not gonna lie, it took me a while to finish this book. The plot is promising but it just didnt have the grip on me, specially the damn ending. Plot holes and huh what now? for me when i was reading this book.

The Business Trip is a dark story of fate, when paths cross and lives are never the same again. The reader wonders constantly what is going on, and as the story grows more tense and sinister, Jessie Garcia redefines the perils of crossing paths with the wrong people at the wrong time. A suspenseful read I’d recommend for crime noir fans.

This one was WILD! As soon as we met Jasmine, I knew we were in for a ride...and that's only the beginning! In an attempt to escape her abusive relationship, she comes up with the most insane idea - one that can go REALLY well if it works out, but could ruin her life if it fails! Just when you think you have everything figured out, the ending gets even MORE crazy!

I was hooked from the first page with this one and finished it in one sitting; Garcia will easily be at the top of the thriller author charts and someone to keep an eye on! My only grievance was with the number of characters, particularly when it starts involving Stephanie's coworkers. There were so many minor characters that caused things to become confusing, and I didn't really feel like they played a major role. I think it could have been strengthened with fewer characters that had deeper development and backgrounds. Regardless, this was a fast-paced, entertaining read that I can easily see making the bestseller list upon publication. Thanks for the ARC!

Well paced thriller, but nothing phenomenal. Enjoyable, but not quite believable especially the final twist.

Stephanie is on a business trip and mysteriously sends out of character texts to her work and friends, the goes missing. Jasmine is fleeing an abusive relationship and also goes missing. Trent, who is attending the same conference as Stephanie, has been mentioned in both if their messages. Where are the women, and is Trent responsible?

This was a fast paced thriller with an interesting concept. It started off really strong for me and was hard to put down. However, there are many side characters narrating chapters and that often made it difficult to keep track of what was happening and who was telling the story. There are many twists, almost too many, and at the end it became a bit outlandish for my personal taste. I could see fans of Freida McFadden really enjoying this author’s style as it is written in a similar way. However, it was still an entertaining read and I enjoyed the quick pace of the book.

Thank you to the author and St. Martin’s Press for the arc and opportunity to be an early reader and reviewer.

I'm only giving this an average rating of three stars because the beginning half of the book pulled me in and I didn't want to stop reading. Once the story went to a different point of view to wrap up how everything ended up being played out, it felt repetitive and boring. I skimmed most of it just to see how it ended. The ending was supposed to be a twist, but it was so far out there that it was absolutely unbelievable.

Very clever and well written book. . It did start out as a slow burn but even that was enjoyable. Definitely went from slow burn to a nail biting, edge of your seat read! Great story line that kept me guessing until the end. Great thriller, definitely recommend. Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Jessie Garcia for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Two women meet on an airplane, one fleeing domestic abuse, the other on her way to a work conference. They part ways when the plane lands, but then friends and colleagues of both become suspicious that something with each of these women isn't quite right. This premise of this one sounded so great, but this debut novel definitely read like a debut. The characters were more like caricatures...the gay best friend, the abusive boyfriend, the macho sleazebag, etc. The dialogue wasn't realistic. The second half of the novel had sooo much re-telling from the first half. I did really enjoy the suspense midway through, trying to figure out exactly what was happening, but that couldn't make up for the rest of the shortfalls. With a little nore practice and a little more editing (editors! Why didn't you help her cut out all the repetitive plot? An easy and obvious edit!), this author will create some zingers. But she's not there yet.

If you like your thrillers to be fast-paced, engrossing and with multiple twist, you will really enjoy The Business Trip, the debut novel by Jessie Garcia. Jasmine and Stephanie are two women in their mid-forties who meet for the first time on a plane trip to Denver. And that’s all I want to disclose so as not to give anything away. Go into this one as blind as you can.

I enjoyed the way the story was told. There were many first person voices as the story unfolded, each providing information to move the narrative forward and give a unique perspective. It was not flawless but very impressive nonetheless. Readers who enjoy a twisty thriller should pick this one up. I can’t wait to read more from this author!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

I really liked this book! There were a lot of POVs but each character was unique so it wasn’t too bad to keep track of! It was kind of a fun chaotic because each person was going through a different set of emotions regarding the mystery. The twist was completely unexpected! I finished this one pretty quick, it was pretty fast paced! I’m grateful to have read this debut early!!

Oh, man, I really struggled with this one. It felt like a completely original premise (and, after reading the spoilers, it does seem different from any other thriller I've read). However, I just could not get into it. Multiple POVs are tough for me, and the high volume of narratives — especially from minor characters — didn't help. And I really didn't need the perspective of an abuser.

I also think this books needs some content warnings at the beginning. A few pages into the first chapter had some triggering content (with basically no warning), which didn't encourage me to keep reading.

This one wasn’t for me. I tried to get into a few times but just couldn’t. It felt like I had already read it before. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook, all opinions expressed are my own.

I love a good popcorn thriller, but this was just ridiculous n so many levels. It was also very, very wordy. Hopefully the editor(s) will make note of that.

This book was definitely a page-turner. I liked the different perspectives (although didn’t think the two men Stephanie worked with each needed their own). I loved Robert’s perspective the most, and I wish we got Raven’s perspective. I won’t really be able to talk about the parts of the story I didn’t love because I’d have to include spoilers, so I will wait to put those on Goodreads closer to publication. I really disliked the author making Jasmine a victim of DV in order to get you to sympathize with her/like her right away. It almost felt mean to the reader to do that, knowing now what kind of character she is. I liked the friends solving the mystery parts, and I think thats why I was so frustrated with the fairly abrupt ending. I know some other reviewers were able to suspend their belief for that last bit, but I think it was just a little too much for me. Also, how on earth is the lie Stephanie told REALLY that big of a deal, such that it would lead to those consequences? Over a conference? Really? It feels…very not that serious.