Sunburned is a deliciously addictive mystery set on the glamorous island of St. Barth’s, where a murder rate of zero is about to be shattered. Audrey Collet is reluctantly pulled back into the orbit of her eccentric, paranoid ex, Tyson, when a foot washes ashore—and his deep, shared secrets are threatened. As tensions rise among a group of dangerous and mysterious people on Tyson’s luxury yacht, Audrey must unravel who’s behind the blackmail and who’s capable of murder, before she becomes the next victim. A perfect blend of modern suspense and classic whodunit thrills.

I enjoy the way this writer puts together a character based thriller. She fully develops the characters along with venues to ensure a realistic story and exciting outcome. This book includes all the necessary elements for a good thriller: murder, blackmail, romance, and an exotic locale. Enjoy a good read.

4.5 stars

Katherine Wood has done it again.

I loved Ladykiller and loved this one just as much.

I loved the interwoven timelines and the intricacies of this story. It kept me guessing the whole time and I enjoyed the cast of characters — especially Audrey and Laurent. It was especially refreshing to have a female protagonist who worked in technology.

It has a little bit of a slow start but it worked with this book and Wood gave us time to get to know the characters and really set up the story for success.


Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fast-paced, suspenseful read with likeable characters. The plot twists are foreseeable but it was still an entertaining and enjoyable read. I give it five stars.

his is the second book I have read from this author. So if you read the blurb you now the premise Audrey’s ex asks her to come to his exclusive island and he is being blackmailed and if she does not help he will expose everything. I truly enjoyed this books which included many twists.I want to thank net gallery and the publisher for the ARC I received for an honest review.

Discovery agent Audrey typically works on helping solve court cases. Audrey hasn’t seen or heard from her high school sweetheart Tyson in over 10yrs. Tyson threatens to expose Audrey’s past if she doesn’t help him figure out who is blackmailing him. Under the guise of celebrating Tyson’s birthday, Audrey agrees to spending a week on Tyson’s yacht. A severed foot of an old friend found in the Everglades, a yacht off the coast of St Barth’s prestigious island, a paranoid, eccentric billionaire, a murder and a list of family and guests of questionable character with too much at stake for everybody that’s on board. What could be better escapism for a quick who done it beach read? This ARC was provided by Random House Publishing | The Dial Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Actions have consequences, and the law doesn't care about good intentions. Sunburned is a brand-new novel that will have you glued to the pages as a high-stakes mystery is solved.

Audrey is a discovery agent. She helps dig up facts for court. But she wasn't always. Once she was just a girl in love with one of the brothers of the family she grew up with, with a mother who had a recent devastating cancer diagnosis, and extraordinary coding skills. What would you do, if you had the means and opportunity to have a chance at saving her?

Now years later, her mother is gone and she is estranged from the two brothers, when her ex-lover calls. Now a billionaire, he wants her to track down who is blackmailing him. It's not just his own morally brackish decisions coming back to haunt him, the dirt they have on him will bring back to light the events of that summer long ago that has the potential to implicate them all.

What a nail-biter! The narrative jumped back and forth between Audrey's blackmail investigation in the present and the shared past of the characters long ago. The tone is quite dark, but it never made me so uncomfortable I thought I wouldn't be able to continue (I'm a pretty sensitive thriller reader). I thought it was very compelling, and I never did quite land on guessing how the whole thing would end.

This is absolutely a great beach read for those who love thrillers. Maybe if you're going to be scuba diving anytime soon though...pick something else! That scene was absolutely the most intense of the entire thing. I loved this book, and I'm excited to find more from Katherine Wood!

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

After finishing Ladykiller, I had high hopes for this follow up book. It’s similar with family intrigue and everyone looks guilty, but the flashbacks along with present day build up was too slow for me. The twisty ending was good, but getting there was laborious. A decent murder mystery, but not as memorable as Ladykiller,

Thanks to Bantam and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Review of Advance Reader’s Copy

Audrey Collet, owner of Sunshine Discovery Agency, has reluctantly agreed to try and identify ex-boyfriend Tyson Dale’s blackmailer. Dale, the founder of De-Sal, a water desalination company, has invited several guests to his home on St. Barth’s; the billionaire believes one of them to be the blackmailer.

Audrey has her own concern . . . a long-held secret and a severed foot discovered in the Everglades could bring the past rushing into the present. Who knows enough about their pasts to blackmail Tyson?

And when the group goes diving in the Nature Reserve of Saint Barthélemy, the unthinkable happens.

=========

Told in two timelines: the preset and eleven years earlier when Audrey and Tyson were a couple, the unfolding story keeps readers guessing as secrets are slowly revealed. The group aboard the yacht are mostly unlikable characters, each a potential blackmailer.

Touching on secrets, suspense, and betrayal, the narrative, with its undercurrent of tension and danger, is both intriguing and compelling. Readers slowly discover the pieces of the puzzle as the telling of the tale keeps those pages turning toward a denouement that may bring a few surprises.

Recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine / Bantam and NetGalley
#Sunburned #NetGalley

Sun-soaked and simmering with tension, this novel captures the quiet unraveling of a woman on the edge. The atmosphere was oppressive in the best way—sticky, hot, and claustrophobic. I loved how it explored desire, resentment, and the dark side of vacation escapism. The ending felt abrupt, but the buildup was stellar.

Sunburned is the perfect thriller for people who enjoy "rich people behaving badly" books full of shady characters. Katherine Wood offers plenty of twists along the way and a resolution that I did not see coming. Plot-driven and propulsive, it was hard to put this book down.

This was soooo fun!

Audrey is a discovery agent who is called to help her now billionaire high school boyfriend figure out who is blackmailing him by spending his birthday weekend with him in St. Barth's. Everyone has a motive - his olympic athlete business partner Alison, his more timid younger brother Cody or his girlfriend, his French model wife Samira and her friend Gisele, and even the super hot butler Laurent.

I had the time of my life reading this book. Such a glamourous whodunnit. It reminded me so much of a Knives Out movie, and at points I was convinced everyone was guilty.

I can't wait to go back and read Katherine Wood's other book Lady Killer and the books she published under her penname Katherine St. John.

Thanks so much to the publisher and netgalley for the ARC - all opinions are my own.

Thank you Ballantine and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. Thrilling! Audrey Collett runs a company that works in discovery. When her ex-boyfriend Tyson Dale, billionaire and founder of his own company, contacts her and informs her that he is being blackmailed. Well they both are really, considering the blackmail involves events from their past. She’ll travel to St Barth’s to meet him and the other people staying with him in order to discover who the blackmailer is. But who can she really trust? And what happens when the case turns from just blackmail to murder as well? Once again Katherine Wood writes beautifully depicted settings! The story is told from both the past and the problem, showing how the two timelines are connected to lead to their current situation. Both exciting, captivating, and twisty! Full of morally grey characters and how greed and power can shape people!

When Audrey Collet’s billionaire ex, Tyson, drags her into a blackmail scheme tied to a very real, very severed foot that’s just turned up in the Everglades, she’s forced to reunite with him on his ultra-luxurious island compound in St. Barths. But as the suspects pile up, Audrey realizes someone’s not just leaking secrets, they’re willing to kill to keep them buried. Is she the next one on the killer's list?

I loved the weaving together of secrets and betrayals in this book. Told in a dual timeline, with the past being Audrey and Tyson when they were dating, and present, where she's repulsed by him and how he came into his wealth, it was cool to see how both of them changed and what values stayed the same.

A lush setting hiding dark secrets, SUNBURNED is a twisted tale of deceit and greed.

“Sunburned” is an unexpected story of complicated relationships and the choices we make, some good, some bad and some morally ambiguous.

As teen lovers, Tyson and Audrey were each others’ worlds. When Audrey’s mother becomes ill, Audrey, along with Tyson and his brother, choose to break the law in order to get the medical treatment needed to save her mother. She couldn’t possibly know the slippery slope she just embarked on.

Ultimately, this is about redemption and greed. But it’s also about unbreakable bonds. I loved this book and I am so grateful to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the opportunity to read it. Five easy stars.

This mystery-thriller has all the makings of a beach read: a billionaire’s private island, a messy past full of secrets, and a washed-up foot in a sneaker that kicks off the plot—literally. The setup is undeniably intriguing, and the pacing keeps things moving, even if some twists are more flashy than convincing.

Audrey Collet is a capable, if somewhat flat, protagonist. Her reluctance to get involved with her manipulative ex, Tyson, is understandable, though the emotional stakes never quite hit the depth they could have. Tyson, the tech mogul turned paranoid recluse, is eccentric enough to be interesting but not compelling enough to carry the tension once the story shifts to his Caribbean compound.

The real fun comes from the Clue-like setup: a cast of rich, morally questionable characters, all with motives, trapped in paradise as things spiral into murder. The mystery offers enough red herrings to keep readers guessing, but seasoned mystery fans may find the final reveal more serviceable than shocking.

While the book doesn’t break new ground, it delivers a decent mix of intrigue, tropical atmosphere, and interpersonal drama. If you’re in the mood for a twisty escape with a bit of scandal and a stylish setting, this one does the job—just don’t expect it to linger long after the final chapter.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Good mystery with fancy settings and billionaires and flashbacks to an earlier crime. It kept my attention and I enjoyed reading it!

Book review 📖

📜Sunburned
✍️Katherine Wood
📠Random House/Ballantine/Bantam
📚Mystery/Thriller Fiction
🗓️Pub date: July 1, 2025

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

✨Thank you @NetGalley and @bantambooksuk @ballantinebooks for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

✨Being a billionaire comes at a price. That price includes paranoia and blackmail, exposing secrets of the past. Tyson and Audrey’s relationship is a blast from the past, but he sends word to her that he needs her to clean up a mess, or he will threaten to expose skeletons in her closet.

✨A foot has washed ashore in the Everglades, one with a distinguishable Air Jordan sneaker attached. They both had something to do with the long-dead owner, and this could prove problematic if it gets out.

✨Once Audrey arrives to meet with Tyson at his St. Barth’s mansion, she quickly realizes the motives that his other guests have to cause him harm. And when Tyson’s birthday dive turns deadly, she fears she’s in over her head.

✨When I was sent this ARC because I had loved Wood’s Ladykiller thriller, I knew I was in for a treat. A fun, scorching backdrop of St. Barth’s, a wealthy billionaire’s yacht, and all the glitz and glam that accompanies partying with the uber-rich. This is definitely one to get sunburned on the beach with.

#netgalley #sunburned #katherinewood #randomhouse #ballantine #bantam #advancedreadercopy #arc #bookreview #bookstagrammer #bookstagram #summerreleases #thrillerfiction

(3.7 rating rounded up to 4)

I had enjoyed Katherine Wood’s debut novel, “Ladykiller,” so I was looking forward to reading an ARC of her latest book, “Sunburned.” In the novel, the protagonist, Audrey Collett, owns a company that specializes in discovery, hired by attorneys, corporations and individuals to gather intelligence. She is contacted by Tyson Dale, her ex-boyfriend from 10 years ago, an eccentric billionaire and founder of De-Sal, a company that employs an innovative technology to desalinate water. He demands that she meet him and his guests at a house on St. Barth’s to find out who is blackmailing him over an event involving her that happened 11 years ago. The book intersperses events from 11 years ago with the present, hinting at the sinister action that led to the present blackmail scheme.

Although categorized as a “thriller,” this book is too much of a slow burn to truly fit that description. The book primarily consisted of the characters going to parties in bars, having nice meals, and bickering, all presided over by the brooding, angry, paranoid presence of Tyson.

With that said, I had mixed feelings about the book as I read it. On the one hand, the descriptions of the setting were beautiful and realistic, making the reader experience the paradise-like setting. But on the other hand, it became tedious after awhile as nothing really happens until a little more than half-way through the book, when the action that takes place almost elevates the book to its thriller category. Readers will enjoy the book as long as they realize that it will be a very slow burn with a delayed reward towards the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam for providing me an ARC of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Sunburned by Katherine Wood will be a great beach read for the summer! Taking place in a glamorous setting, St Barth, with lots of interesting characters it kept me intrigued until the end. I did figure out some of the surprises in the middle of the book but that didn’t keep me from really enjoying it!