This was exhausting. The book has some Very Important Messages (rich people = bad; misogyny = bad) and conveys them in a heavy-handed and clunky manner. For most of the book, I thought it would work better as a screenplay, since there are dramatic visuals and the psychological insight is slim to problematic, but once we get to the turning point, suddenly it's all inner thoughts and nothing else, so I guess it's better as a book?

Jessie writes women believably enough, but her writing also made me question whether she'd ever spoken to a man, "bastard" or otherwise. The men blend, except for the Abuser, the Misogynist, and the Homosexual, which were such caricatures that nothing they said or did could land. I get that exposition is necessary, but there needs to be a lot more attention paid to whether or not a character would comment on his or her own actions in the way they are presented. Perhaps third person omniscent would work better?

Why am I re-editing this book? It's a fine rough draft, but for me, the format didn't work, the characters weren't believable, and the twists were.... I mean, come on.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the ARC.

I loved this book! Literally listened to it less than a day because I could not stop. The story is so well-written and the multiple POV’s keep it all so interesting.

Two women meet on a plane, and then both disappear. I listened to the audiobook and it had a full cast of characters which helped keep the fast-paced and direction of the story. All the narrators did an excellent job voicing their parts. There were plenty of twists but also too many holes or unfinished pieces with sub-characters who helped you stay engaged with the story and then they were dropped completely. The two women who meet on the plane have no history beforehand and what draws them together is they were on the same flight to, Denver. The narration then suddenly switches to that of friends and co-workers disturbed by increasingly odd and worrisome texts from them. The novel is based more on action than character depth and does take a suspension of disbelief at some points, but the author does her best to keep the reader engaged until she’s forced to reveal the devious plans of one of the main characters there was good pacing with this and still a few more unseen twists.


Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this ALC. This is my honest review.

The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia immediately pulled me in. I felt like I was in the story with Jasmine, on the edge of my seat. This feeling lasted until Part 3. After that, I started to care less and less, especially once one of the bigger twists is revealed. I honestly felt betrayed, but it shows that I cared deeply, which is why I still rate it 4 stars. I loved the ending, even if suspending reality is somewhat required.

Andrew Eiden, Dylan Fitzpatrick, Fred Berman, Gail Shalan, Hillary Huber, Jennifer Pickens, John Pirhalla, Kimberly M. Wetherell, Kirby Heyborne, and Tim Campbell are all good narrators. I loved how distinct they were, though I found one of them less appealing.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ALC.

This is a pretty decent debut. Jessie Garcia has alot of potential. This book definitely kept me guessing for most of the book. The ending left me quite disappointed though. Not how I wanted it to end but I get why that was the way it was written. It was unexpected how it went down for sure.

Whoa talk about a crazy ride!!!! I devoured this book because of how it was written and the story. I loved the different points of view. Usually when you get a story told from different POV’s the story gets repetitive since you are seeing the same thing different ways. Not with this story at all! And most the chapters were super quick so it kept me blowing through it!

The narrators were incredible! I worried having so many it would be confusing and it wasn’t at all. They all did a great job.

2.5 rounded up
Not a likable character in the whole book.
I figured a lot of it out so it was anticlimactic. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook

Jasmine is escaping her life with an abusive boyfriend; Stephanie is on yet another boring plane trip for a business meeting. The two meet and form a connection. But Stephanie fails to show up at work, saying she's met someone. And Jasmine seems to vanish as well. What is happening?

I enjoyed the first half of the audiobook, which featured many perspectives voiced by different actors. The last half was told from one perspective, which slowed things down a bit for me. Overall, though, it was an entertaining audiobook for my work commute.

This was a fast paced audio book thriller that I could not stop listening to. The narration was very good although there did seem to be a plethora of characters that sometimes got a little confusing. Jasmine is a young woman bent of escaping an abusive boyfriend and Stephanie is a news executive on her way to a business conference. When their paths cross and they are seated together on an airplane to Denver, CO Jasmine begins to imagine all kinds of possibilities that could change her life trajectory. From there things go sideways and the wild ride begins. This was a very fun and twisty read with all kinds of surprising twists and turns in the story line, many I did not see coming. Highly recommended for lovers of mysteries psychological thrillers. 4.5 stars.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Macmillan Audio for a chance to listen/read an ARC version of the audiobook. All opinions are my own.

**3.5-stars rounded up**

The Business Trip is a novel told in Parts. In Part I, we meet our two main women, Jasmine and Stephanie. It's a tame start, considering the craziness that follows! Jasmine and Stephanie are quite different and don't know each other. That is until they end up in the same row on a flight. Stephanie is headed to a business conference and Jasmine is secretly-fleeing an abusive relationship.

After that fateful flight, their lives will be intricately entangled. Days later both women have vanished and both mentioned the same man, Trent, in text messages to friends and loved ones, shortly before they disappeared. Who is Trent McCarthy, and how did he end up tied to both of these women?

I found this story to be intriguing from the very start. We're introduced to a lot of characters, but I felt like the full-cast narration of the audio definitely helped to keep everyone straight. I highly recommend that format.

This is certainly a wild ride, and although I feel like this story sort of fell victim to the 'one twist too many' issue, I still feel like it was a really enjoyable experience overall. It kept me guessing and took some turns that I was not in the least expecting. It's full of unlikable characters, except for Stephanie and her neighbor/friend, Robert. I loved them.

The two men that are given the most time in this story, Glenn, Jasmine's abusive partner, and the aforementioned, Trent, are both terrible, but in such a way that they almost feel like caricatures of what a bad guy is. That did irk me a little. It felt a touch lazy, TBH. Even with that being said though, I still feel like the twists and turns were exciting enough to make this one worth rounding up my 3.5-star rating.

Garcia did a great job with the structure of this. I loved how all the Parts played off one another seamlessly to build out the full picture of what was actually going on here. That's where I felt this story was the most successful.

Thank you to the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. The audio production was fantastic and lends itself well to the format of this story. This is the first time I've read from Jessie Garcia, but I would absolutely be interested in reading more. This was fun!

What a wild ride! I absolutely loved this ALC…. until I didn’t. What started out as an easy five star read for me ended up leaving me a bit unsatisfied. I felt the ending was more for shock value than anything. Me personally, I like when the story leaves you some breadcrumbs to nibble on while you’re trying to figure out the major twist at the end.

All that aside, I did love the intriguing plot, the wide range of characters & the different POV’s, the background stories, and the pacing for about 60% of the book.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this full cast ALC of The Business Trip. I will definitely be recommending this debut and can’t wait to see what Jessie Garcia writes next.

The first thing that caught my attention with this book was the multiple POVs. There were a lot, and some were seemingly unnecessary, but as the story went on, I started to really appreciate them. Some were brief, and some characters got more chapters than others, but it really highlighted the author's ability to write from different personality types. Aside from the main characters, we got chapters from a domestic abuser and from a complete misogynist, and they were chilling. The narration really brought all of the characters to life, and the production was fantastic.

The book itself was twisty and entertaining. I wasn't entirely sure where it was going. The plot twist at the end had me scratching my head until the narrator brought us back to a comment that was made earlier on, and I appreciated that it was hidden in there, and not just a random blindside of a plot twist.

The book left me with a lot of feelings on who was "good" and who was "bad." It starts out with a woman who didn't get a fair hand in life, planning and executing her escape in the middle of the night. At first you sympathize with her. Although some people may not deserve some things that happen to them, they may deserve other things.

Overall, it was a good, twisty popcorn thriller and worth the read.

This book about two women on the same flight for different reasons, who go missing, seemed like such an interesting and compelling read. However, it was the furthest thing from that. There was way too much info dumping in this book for me to enjoy it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. Andrew Eiden, Dylan Fitzpatrick, Fred Berman, Gail Shalan, Hillary Huber, Jennifer Pickens, John Pirhalla, Kimberly M. Wetherell, Kirby Heyborne, and Tim Campbell were okay narrators. Unfortunately, this book just was not for me.

The Business Trip by Jesse Garcia, in the beginning of the book we meet Jasmine Little, who is quietly getting her things together, as to not wake her abusive bully of a boyfriend Roger. She’s running away to Denver, she’s been saving for over a year and just wants a clean break and a fresh start. then we meet Stephanie Monroe. She’s packing for a business trip in San Francisco with the layover in Denver. she’s divorced with the son named Eathan, who she wish she was closer to, but since her divorce, she feels as if their relationship has grown distant. before the story is over, both acquaintances of the women will get text saying I met a guy named Trent McCarthy, but not much else. This was a great book. It’s almost as if throughout the book you wait for the plot of the story and then when you get that, you wait for the big reveal but for most of the book you’re just as confused as their friends and coworkers. I found this to be a brilliant story and a well done novel. It’s a book you’ll either love like I did or hate it like a few people did. I listen to the audiobook and read the Kindle version and I must admit everyone except for Jasmine. I listen to on the audiobook. I don’t find the girl who did Jasmine has a very reliable narration because one minute she sounds as if she’s trying to seduce the reader and then the next minute she sounds as if she’s bored. I’m still giving the book 5 stars because as I said, I listen to her on the Kindle book which really changed the whole tone of the story immensely and I just couldn’t get enough and couldn’t put the book down. although I do want to say that when I listen to Trent on the Audio book I was laughing out loud at how stupid he was. He really is like something out of a cartoon, but still very entertaining in a well done story.#NetGalley, #JesseGarcia, #TheBusinessTrip,

Jasmine and Stephanie are both boarding the same flight from Madison to Denver, but for very different reasons. Stephanie is headed to a conference for news directors in San Diego. Jasmine is trying to escape an abusive partner.

But a few days following the flight, friends of both women begin receiving separate but similar text messages about a man named Trent McCarthy. Both of the women say that they have followed him to Atlanta for love. But Stephanie's friends begin to find her messages suspicious, and soon it seems that something terrible may have happened on this trip.

Told through multiple perspectives and a non-linear format, I was really hooked by the first half of the novel. Part One introduces the reader to Jasmine and Stephanie as the central characters of the story. But then in Part Two, the perspective is told entirely from the people in their lives who are starting to realize that the women might be missing. I really loved how the mystery and suspense started to slowly build and unfurl in this section and felt that the full cast narration was used to great effect here. Part Three shocked me when I realized we were then going to hear events from Trent's perspective.

However, after the answers started to emerge in Part Four, they felt completely underwhelming. If the book had followed a more conventional narrative format rather than the non-linear approach, I likely would not have finished reading the book — the inventive structure is the real star of the novel. The plot itself hinges on under-developed characters and bizarre choices.

I can see why some readers felt the later twists stretched plausibility. While the resolution and character motivations didn’t land for me, I have to applaud the author’s creativity and the gripping suspense of Part Two. The audiobook production was stellar, as full-cast narrations are always a plus for me, and the initial setup of the mystery was genuinely intriguing.

Overall, while the payoff left something to be desired, the journey was still a compelling one. This is a qualified recommendation from me.

The Business Trip, written by Jessie Garcia and read by a cast of narrators, is a fictional mystery that I really enjoyed! This book is told from the point of view of multiple characters, including Stephanie, Jasmine, Trent, and other narrators.
Stephanie and Trent are both on a business trip, while Jasmine is on her own trip. Stephanie and Trent are both in leadership positions at news stations, and are attending a conference. Jasmine runs into Stephanie while leaving an unwanted situation, but what might have just been a quick meeting could maybe turn into more.
I loved this book! I really enjoyed the different characters, as well as the plot twists. This was one of those books where I thought I had it all figured out, until the last few chapters when the author took me for another wild ride! Also loved that this book has been recommended by Freida McFadden, I found this book very similar to hers, and think that fans of McFadden will enjoy this book as well!
Thank you to NetGalley, and to the author, narrator, and publisher of this book for an ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Jasmine is on the run from a bad relationship and Stephanie is on a business trip when their paths fatefully cross on a flight to Denver. Not long after they land, both women send cryptic texts to friends about a man they’ve met… and then they both disappear.

What follows is a crazy twisty wild ride perfect for fans of Freida McFadden! This is a such a fast-paced, unpredictable story, my mouth was constantly dropping open in shock! It was a really entertaining read, and there is no way to predict the curveballs that keep coming at you. I binged this popcorn thriller in a single afternoon and loved it all the way up until it went off the rails. While I definitely expect to have to suspend disbelief when I read a thriller, the conclusion was over-the-top unbelievable.

The audiobook has a great ensemble cast that voices the various POVs, which made for a very enjoyable and addictive listening experience.

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

With a whiplash plot and an abundance of twists, I tore through THE BUSINESS TRIP in a day. I like my popcorn thrillers to keep me guessing without going off the rails, and debut author Jessie Garcia succeeded on both counts. Told from a multitude of viewpoints, the story follows two women who meet on a plane and are each later declared missing. This book lended itself well to a full cast audio narration to make each viewpoint distinct. The less you know about this book the better, but rest assured you’re in for a wild ride.

Read this if you:
•have ever thought someone else had the perfect life
•can tolerate unlikeable characters
•binge Freida McFadden

RATING: 4/5
PUB DATE: January 14, 2025

Many thanks to Macmillan audio and NetGalley for an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An all-star cast + a twisty, turny tale = All the Stars!

So that I don't give away any spoilers, I will leave you with five travel tips I learned from this thrilling travel story:
🌟Don't pay cash for your plane ticket and also claim you are going on a business trip

🌟Have a catsitter with flexibility. You never know when you will be back.

🌟Don't leave your purse/wallet at your seat while using the plane restroom.

🌟Make sure you dead bolt or throw the extra lock on your hotel room door -- especially while sleeping.

🌟Be sure to get plenty of rest. Getting away with murder is really hard work.

Last year one of my favorite early reads was First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston --her first thriller. This year one of my favorites for January will have to be this debut thriller by Jessie Garcia.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an early audio copy and to St. Martins Press for a DRC in return for an honest review.

Thank you Macmillan Audio, NetGalley, and Jessie Garcia for the opportunity to listen to this wonderfully produced audiobook. The narration was flawless, the plot had wild twists and turns, and the characters were interesting (though not very likable - intentionally I suspect). This was a wild trip (pun definitely intended) across state, country, and personality border lines! What an absolute ride this was. Looking for a thriller that keeps you on your toes, but won’t keep give you nightmares… this is the book for you.