This author!! I was so excited to get a copy of this one after reading The Resort and it did NOT disappoint. I hope this one gets more attention, I haven't seen it at all!

Ten years ago, a group of college students dubbed "The Mob" went to Australia for a study abroad program. Filled with adventure, none of the students expected danger until one of them went missing. In the present, "The Mob" returns to Australia for a reunion and also to be questioned by the police. But is "The Mob" innocent, or is one of them a murderer?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Sourcebooks Landmark, for the eARC for review purposes. All opinions expressed here are mine alone. "This Stays Between Us" by Sarah Ochs is widely available now.

Oh my, did I enjoy this gripping and twisty thriller! I had the hardest time putting this book down, and I gobbled it up in two days.

First, let me tell you that I originally decided to read this because I fell in love with Ochs' incredible storytelling last year when I read "The Resort." Ochs has a way of transporting her readers to her exotic travel destinations. She did just that in her newest novel, taking us along for the adventure with this group of college students. It was so much fun!

Now, let's talk about the thrilling mystery. It was twisty, and I was pulled in so many directions by all the flawed characters, some more than others. You literally couldn't trust anybody from "the mob" of friends.

There's some group drama involved with "The Mob," too! We're talking about mean girl drama and love triangles. I mean, we are talking about college kids here. Of course, I ate all of it up. I don't personally like being involved in drama, but I sure as heck like to hear about it.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to all thriller lovers. Happy reading!

I loved the setting and getting to know each character. I thought the MC made some pretty silly choices (you know, like wandering into the Australian desert alone) but I also understood her tenacity to get to the bottom of her friend’s disappearance.

Sun. Surf. Secrets. And one dead best friend.

Sara Ochs delivers a masterclass in slow burn tension with This Stays Between Us, a chilling, time jumping thriller where paradise isn't just lost... it’s a crime scene.

Ten years ago, Claire and Phoebe were inseparable. Study abroad soulmates. Until one of them vanished under the blinding Australian sun. Now, a decade later, bones have been found, and Claire is forced back to the scene of the crime, to the outback trails, hostel bunks, and boozy nights that changed everything. But here’s the kicker: Claire knows exactly what happened. Because she’s the one who killed her best friend.

What I loved most? It’s not just about the murder. It’s about the layers, how grief, guilt, youth, and memory can twist into something lethal. It’s about what we hide from others, and worse, what we hide from ourselves.

Ochs builds the pressure like a storm front, thick, breathless, inescapable. I could feel the humidity, the paranoia, the ache of a friendship gone violently wrong. And that ending? I read it twice. First to absorb, second to admire.

If you like your thrillers with a touch of wanderlust, a hint of nostalgia, and a whole lot of "Oh my god, what did she just say?", pack your bags. You’re going to Australia, and trust me, you won’t come back the same.

Just don’t tell anyone. This stays between us

Thank you so much for the advanced copy of This Stays Between Us. This book definitely kept me on my toes as I was trying to figure out throughout the whole book what happened to Phoebe and who killed her. I don't know how I feel about it being someone that idolized her brother that treated her so badly. It felt very random. But I didn't guess Josh as being the one that killed her and I did love the last chapter that showed us that Claire DID in fact see Phoebe in the mine that night and just left her there. That got me! I think thriller readers will enjoy the ride.

A quick, easy read that simmered with rising tension and dread, This Stays Between Us had me riveted from the very first attention-grabbing page. With a messy cast of characters seen from dual timelines and dual POVs, it was both a breeze to follow and even easier to get sucked in. After all, thanks to both this crew’s complex group dynamics and their enigmatic past, it was hard to slot everyone’s intentions into place before bodies started dropping like flies. And trust me, once their secrets and lies began to unravel, there wasn’t a thing you could do to pull me away from this novel. Dark, twisty, and mind-blowing, I never knew who to trust, which definitely pleased me to no end.

Evenly paced and with plenty of finely tuned suspense, I was wowed by the exploration of betrayal and guilt as each of characters’ stories were revealed one by one. Feeling both true-to-life and easy-to-believe, Ochs tapped into the psychology of blame, regret, and remorse with the skill of a master. But the series of twists were what hooked me again and again. Repeatedly shifting the storyline just enough to make me question what really happened, it was a plot that came together with complete and utter precision. After all, with an earth-shattering twist on the very last page, I was left gleefully open-mouthed once the truth was revealed. Bravo, Ms. Ochs, you shocked me but good.

All said and done, thanks to a storyline that was nigh on perfection, I’m sure that I just found a new favorite author. From the well-developed personas to the dead-on perfect conclusion, this immersive tale of a study abroad trip gone wrong won me over in spades. You see, this destination thriller had everything you could want in a unputdownable novel: untrustworthy characters, a strong sense of place, long-buried secrets, and even a bit of romance. Altogether, they formed a book that read like a blockbuster for this thriller lover. So if you’re looking for your next favorite summer read, be sure to grab a copy today. After all, I guarantee that you’ll be riveted by this one just like I was. Rating of 4.5 stars.

SYNOPSIS:

Ten years ago: A study abroad program like no other: a month-long trip of education and adventure, exploring everything Australia has to offer. And at first, it's everything best friends Phoebe and Claire, and the rest of the student group expects: sunshine, whirlwind romance, and all-night parties. But it isn't long before cracks begin to form within the group. Ones that lead to Phoebe's disappearance…

Now: It's the call Claire has been waiting for years for. Phoebe's remains have been found. It's time to return, for her and the others to go back to Australia. But as Claire retraces their steps and tries to piece together exactly what happened to her best friend all those years ago, it quickly becomes clear everyone in the group has secrets. Including Claire.

Because only she knows what really happened that fateful day ten years ago. The day she killed her best friend. And she'll do anything she can to keep the others from learning the truth.

Thank you to Sara Ochs and Sourcebooks Landmark for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

#ad much love for my advance copy @bookmarked #partner

🆃🅷🅸🆂 🆂🆃🅰🆈🆂 🅱🅴🆃🆆🅴🅴🅽 🆄🆂
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< @saraochsauthor >
^ Seriously, one of the sweetest authors ever - I 🫶🏻 her so much! Give her a follow 💕

Okay not today but tomorrow is pub day - preorder now - trust me 🥳

If you haven’t read this author yet and love thrillers, she’s a must read! I loved her debut book The Resort so so so so so so MUCH! As soon as I finished the book I knew she’d be an auto-buy author of mine. In fact, I was so excited I ordered her UK books - which are just the same as the US (just different titles) 😂😂 Best mistake ever.

This Stays Between Us by Sara Ochs is an unputdownable mystery thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end. The storyline alternates between the past and current times and both will keep you fully entertained.

Ten years ago a special group of students were selected for a month-long trip to Australia to study abroad. But not all the students came back. Now it’s ten years later and the group has come back - they have secrets, and someone close to them has now disappeared. Now the police want to interview them.

Phoebe, the girl who never made it back home - her remains have been found. Now everyone wants to know what happened to Phoebe. Claire, Phoebe’s best-friend, thinks she’s the one hiding the truth, but is she really?

Oof! Ochs’ writing is out of this world fantastic. I get so lost in her words that I forget there’s a world even happening around me. If you read and loved The Resort it’s safe to say you’ll also love this book.

Loved it. Won’t forget it. You need to read it.

Cannot wait to see what’s up next for this author.. it’s safe to say I’LL BE READING 👀

The narrative takes place between “then” and “now” as you learn the secrets. This read had me questioning a lot of things. Like, what really happened that summer? I enjoyed the suspense and the characters are well developed.

Happy Thriller Thursday! It feels like I haven’t really gotten into a thriller in a while, and I am excited to share about this one which published last week. Thanks to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for a review copy in exchange for my honest opinions.
After really enjoying The Resort, a vacation thriller set in Thailand, I was eager to read This Stays Between Us, a vacation thriller set in Australia. It can be hard for a second book to live up to the hype I create, but this one surpassed my expectations. The book kept me entertained on my long flights last week, and even though it is 400 pages, it felt like it breezed right along because I was so swept into the Australian setting, especially the outback. I've haven’t been to Australia, and after reading this I am even more eager to visit.
This Stays Between Us involves a college study abroad program - but instead of a semester- or year-long program, it’s a one month opportunity over the December holidays for a small group of students from all over the globe to come to Australia and be exposed to as much of the country as possible, with a focus on “adventure” activities like bungee jumping. Now, you wouldn’t catch me bungee jumping, but I would totally go for the rest of this program. Ten years ago, this group got to know each other very well on their trip, but there is a reunion being hosted by one of the members who remained in Australia, and the police happen to find the body of one of their group members at the same time as the reunion. It’s foreshadowed pretty early on that there were two fatalities in this small group during the program (and that the program ended immediately after - big surprise!). While the members are questioned in this homicide case, their RA is found dead, too. So we have three deaths and a lot of secrets and shady situations to find out about. As the book switches POV and timelines, the rest of the trip’s happenings and the details of the deaths are slowly revealed. While it might sound confusing to jump between POV and timelines, the chapters clearly note who/when and I found them extremely clear to follow.
If you want to experience an Australian tour from your couch, definitely pick this one up. I noticed it’s available on Hoopla through my library, so you might want to check it out there. I highly recommend reading it!

This book is a brilliantly crafted thriller that keeps your heart racing until the final page. The twists are clever and genuinely surprising, making it impossible to predict what’s coming next. The characters are richly developed, adding depth to the suspense. Every scene crackles with tension and urgency. It’s a must-read for anyone who loves intelligent, edge-of-your-seat storytelling.

Well this one went by quickly! I absolutely could not put this one down!!!! It was just so addicting! I also enjoy multi POVs, there’s two in this book and also a dual timeline. I just really thought the suspense building was just so incredible. The characters are hard to describe. They are a little unlikable but I feel like flawed is a better way to describe them, to me. The hint of secrets to be revealed was so annoying and equally addicting at the same time!!! I also enjoyed the story of these people who joined up from all different places and took and adventure together for only a month and made all these memories and secrets together and then coming back together to basically reveal all of their hands! This was just a really fun binge-worthy book! The setting of Australia was really fun as well! I def felt like I was in these places with the characters!

Ten young college students go to Australia for a month to do an adventure abroad. Things didn't go as planned and only eight returned. Ten years later Phoebe's body has been found and the police requests everyone to come back to be questioned. This story has a dual timeliness and is told from Claire's and Phoebes pov. This is a great mystery with lots of twists and will keep you reading with no ability to take a break. Just when I thought it was all done and I knew everything that had happened the author had one more BIG surprise in store. I really enjoyed trying to figure this one out as I was reading.
Thank you to Net Galley for allowing me to read this fabulous ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

It took me awhile to fully get into the novel. I didn’t resonate with the characters. That said, I like unlikeable characters — they’re more real. Trying to figure out who was responsible for Phoebe’s death. I did come to like Claire more. The setting was described well and added to the overall read. I have many students who will enjoy this book. I’ll definitely add it to the list for our library and book talk it with my students.

This was just ok! I liked the idea of this plot but all in all, it just felt messy. Too many characters. Too many little twists that didn’t do anything in the end.

Less Destination-y, Less Thrill-y, Still Solid Sophomore Submittal. Ochs' debut last year, The Resort, was a book where the exotic tropical setting played nearly as much into the plot as any of the characters themselves, and where the cat and mouse game kept you guessing nearly through the last words (at least per my review I wrote back then - nearly a year and over 200 books between reading this one and that one... I remembered it as solid, but yeah, I don't retain most details that long. :D).

This one still takes you to the destination, and you absolutely still see the beauty in the various areas of Australia that she brings us to... it just isn't *as* critical to the overall plot as the destination itself felt in The Resort. The thrills and suspense are still absolutely here, but in a more dual timeline nature where we see stuff happening in each that we know won't end well in either, rather than the more cat and mouse active timeline investigation of the first book. Not to say that element is completely gone, as there is in fact an investigation here, and there are absolutely several twists even through the last words yet again. It just felt somehow... slightly "less" again. More solid standard than spectacular standout.

This could well be from the sheer fact that an author has a lifetime to craft their debut... and then just weeks, months if they are lucky, to craft their sophomore and subsequent efforts. So this isn't really a knock on Ochs at all, just the nature of the beast, really. I'm not disparaging this book in any way whatsoever - it really was quite good, and actively better than some. This bodes well indeed for future efforts, as if *this* is *all* the dropoff we get from that phenomenal first foray, Ochs will certainly be an author to watch for the rest of her writing career, however long that may be.

Truly an excellent work that shows off several different regions of Australia well enough for someone who has only ever seen those regions on a screen and has never once so much as seen the Pacific Ocean - or even been within 300 miles (roughly 500 km, for those who refuse to use freedom units) of it. I'm sure my friends and colleagues who have actually been to - or even in some cases live in - the areas depicted might have a different take there, but it absolutely worked well enough for this Southern US man.

Very much recommended.

This book was a really good whodunnit set in the Australian Outback. The story is told in alternating timelines-then and now and alternate characters Claire and Phoebe. This writing style and the faster pace of the story kept me engaged throughout the book. I didn't see the twists coming. While some twists were far out, and I needed to suspend disbelief, they were satisfying. I thought this was a quick, bingeable read, that could easily be read in one or two sittings.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Ten years ago, a group of eight college students from all over the world went to Australia for a study abroad program. Over the course of several tumultuous weeks, they bonded in friendship and adventure, falling in and out of love while touring the country and enjoying the quintessential Aussie experience. Alas, not all of them made it back out of the country alive.

Claire, our narrator in the present day, went home to Chicago afterwards but never really recovered. Before she left for Australia, she’d been passionate about finishing her nursing degree. In the aftermath of her experience there, she wound up drifting from temp job to temp job instead, stricken still by her feelings over what happened on the trip, especially to the girl who’d been her best friend during it. Glamorous Phoebe had been from Georgia, and had taken shy, mousy Claire under her wing. As the trip progressed, however, Phoebe had found herself growing increasingly alienated from the group. When she disappeared, no one could say for sure what had happened to her.

Now the Australian authorities have discovered a body that they’ve positively identified as Phoebe’s. They’ve invited the survivors of that college trip to come give their statements as to what happened once again. For any number of reasons, Claire doesn’t want to go:

QUOTE
I’m not ready to see these people again, I realize. They were strangers turned family in little more than hours, the product of those whirlwind relationships that occur only when you’re all thrown into the same foreign circumstances[.]

We’d kept in touch over the years, but primarily through our group text message chain. Early on in our trip, Phoebe discovered a “mob” was the proper term for a group of kangaroos. One of the others had adopted the nickname for our crew, and it stuck. It was fitting, in a way. We were just as close as the Mob–for that one month at least–and equally riddled with secrets and lies.
END QUOTE

But with Kyan, the rich playboy of the group, offering to bankroll her flight over, she doesn’t have a good reason to say no, not one that won’t paint her in a suspicious light anyway. It’s with trepidation that she makes her way back to Australia, for one of the most surreal reunions of her life.

As the group meets with local investigators, they begin rehashing what happened all that time ago. Old feelings and fears rise to the surface once more, as Claire and these people whom she hopes are still her friends dig further into what happened to Phoebe. Claire always held herself responsible, but soon discovers that the rest of the Mob have their own guilty secrets too. And after they stumble across another body, it quickly becomes clear that someone is willing to continue killing in order to keep the past buried.

Full of twists and second-guessing to go with its exotic locales and dangerous games, This Stays Between Us is a thrilling addition to the genre. Phoebe, who narrates the chapters set in the past, is a deeply flawed yet sympathetic character. She came on the trip in a last ditch effort to reinvent herself after surviving years of abuse, but can’t outrun her past:

QUOTE
I put my hands over my ears, but his words still come, slippery and cruel.

You can’t just start over.

I throw myself upwards, running back in what I think is the direction of the rooms. I want to collapse, to throw myself onto my mattress, stab my headphones in my ears and turn up my music as loud as it will go. Anything to drown him out.

As I run, my feet sliding over the silky sand, the voice comes back.

Why would any of them ever want to be around you? Even Claire is too good for you now.

And I know he’s right. I tried to convince them that I was this cool, take no shit woman. Someone who the guys wanted and the girls wanted to be like.

Little did they know.
END QUOTE

Sara Ochs perfectly captures that tumultuous time of reinvention that characterizes late adolescence, as her fallible characters do their best to navigate the challenges they encounter. Too often they fail, and to disastrous consequence. But redemption lies in store for almost everyone… at least until the final, shocking pages.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. This fast paced thriller kept me highly invested to find out what happened in Australia. Paced with tension.

A tense, atmospheric thriller about buried secrets, fractured friendships, and the deadly consequences of silence.

Ten years ago, six college students embarked on a dream study abroad trip to Australia. But by the time it ended, one of them—Phoebe Barton—had vanished without a trace. Now, her remains have been discovered near an abandoned mine in the remote outback town of Jagged Rock.

The group, once known as "The Mob," is summoned back for questioning, and long-hidden truths begin to unravel. At the center is Claire, Phoebe’s former roommate, who has carried a dark secret about what really happened during those fateful weeks abroad. As past and present collide, tensions rise, and the fragile façade each friend has built starts to crack.

Told in a compelling dual timeline—from Phoebe’s perspective “then” and Claire’s “now”—*This Stays Between Us* is a slow-burning psychological thriller packed with atmosphere, emotional depth, and a final twist that forces readers to question everything they thought they knew. Perfect for fans of *The Guest List* and *The Girls Are All So Nice Here*, this novel explores how far we’ll go to protect ourselves—and the lies we’ll keep to survive.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sara Ochs, and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the definition of a perfect summer psychological thriller. This is the kind of book I'd bring with me on vacation or to the beach to read. This is the kind with tons of twists and turns, you can't trust anyone, and everyone there has something to hide, leaving you with nothing left to do but keep turning the pages to get more evidence to back up or change your theories on who did it. This was the kind of thriller that had me changing my theories almost every chapter once we found out more evidence, and that's what I want in a thriller.

The book is told in two POVs: Claire, Phoebe's roommate and best friend during the program, living in the present as she helps with the investigation in Australia, and Phoebe's in a flashback to their time in the study abroad program. I will say one of the only things I didn't like about the book was how abrupt the time jumps were from chapter to chapter. It was hard to follow along at first, but once the story progressed, it got easier.

Every character was unlikeable, but I think this is one of those scenarios where it actually works in the book's favor. I constantly had the feeling that everyone was hiding something about the events leading up to Phoebe's disappearance, and it was sort of fun trying to piece together everyone's alibis and their version of events to get the full story of what was going on. The book definitely would've been over in like, 100-150 pages if they all sat down as soon as they arrived in Australia and came clean about everything that was going on. The fact that the story built up at a good pace, and everything was slowly but surely revealed, made it a fun read. It was frustrating at first to try to piece together all of these loose ends and random puzzle pieces and snippets, but once I found out what was going on, it was pretty satisfying knowing that my original theory was nothing like the theory I had at the end.

I think, now looking back, that there are a lot of subtle clues in the story that can lead you down the right path of the entire crime that takes place. None of the clues/evidence will make sense at first, but a lightbulb will switch on in your head towards the end of the story.

I will say that one of the only other things I didn't like about the story was how many side characters and almost-loose ends there were. There were a bunch of side characters that showed up throughout the story, and aside from maybe like, TWO of them (out of 5 or 6 that I can remember), the rest didn't have relevant plotlines to the story. I'll leave it at that only because this is an ARC, and who knows if they got rid of some side characters too in the final draft. There were also so many moving parts and puzzle pieces that somehow had to all fit together; it almost made me think that there were going to be loopholes and loose ends that wouldn't get resolved by the end of the story.

Overall, if you're looking for a quick, summer destination psychological thriller to read, this might be the book for you! I loved how the book kept me guessing until the very last pages. I honestly might have to pick up the finished copy to compare it to the ARC to see how much of it has changed. I have a weird feeling that enough has changed to the point where I feel like it could be two totally different books.