Sunburned is the newest thriller about a women who is hired by her ex boyfriend to try to figure out whose is blackmailing him. Set in the beautiful St. Bart, with a cast of characters that all have motive to be the blackmailer this book was a fast paced page turner that kept me engaged. The only reason why it was not 5 stars for me was I guessed the end pretty early on but otherwise it was an enjoyable read. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publishers for allowing me to read this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.5/5

Wealth, betrayal, blackmail, secrets, murder, and a tropical setting. This was a good summer thriller!

Audrey is a discovery agent and her ex Tyson, a tech billionaire who she hasn’t seen in 10 years, needs her help. He is threatening to expose secrets from her past unless she helps him figure out who is blackmailing him. All of the people closest to Tyson are staying with him at his home in St. Barth but he trusts none of them. Not long after Audrey arrives there is a murder and she doesn’t know who to trust.

Part I, the first half or so of the book, seems to be focused on getting to know the many characters and their backgrounds. The story alternates between present day and 10 years ago, explaining Audrey’s relationship with Tyson. Part II was where it really ramped up. Murder. All the suspects are trapped on a yacht. Secrets start coming out. Who can be trusted? Then in Part III you get all the answers, some totally unexpected. This book had twists and turns and kept me guessing. I didn’t see several of the final twists coming. It was a quick read and perfect for summer!

Audrey Collet is a computer whiz who co-owns a Discovery Agent firm with her best friend, but she has dark secrets in her past that her ex-boyfriend Tyson, now an eccentric tech billionaire, threatens to expose unless she figures out who is blackmailing him. Audrey joins Tyson and his entourage on the Caribbean island of St. Barts, and soon realizes that Tyson's paranoia that the blackmailer is someone in his own household may be well founded. Before she can get to the bottom of things, someone is killed and Audrey's own life may be in danger. I thought the pacing of the story was great, and Wood provides a solid cast of suspects and motives. The beauty and exclusivity of St. Barts are offset by the tension and ugliness at the heart of Tyson's household. The characters are well developed, and the twists kept me on my toes!

Wow!!!!
I really enjoyed this book! So many twists and turns. The characters are very interesting and aren’t one dimensional at all. The main characters definitely have both good and bad in them, just like everyone does. I like that she showed that instead of using the cliched tropes of good girl/ bad girl etc. I loved the setting in St Barths! I’m looking forward to reading more by this author. I feel like she will do well with this novel. It has all the characteristics of a summer read that everyone talks about. I certainly recommend! Well done! 4 1/2 Fun Filled Stars!

I read Ladykiller last year, Katherine Wood’s debut novel and liked it. But her newest Sunburned just came out last week (7.1) and I think this one was even better.

Set in Saint Barth’s, this novel had all things for a summer mystery/thriller … blackmail, secrets, betrayal, multiple suspects all in the most perfect vacation setting.

Don’t want to give too much away, but I honestly flew through this one. With past and present story lines, a group of very guilty people there was multiple twists and turns while reading. I could 100% see this playing out in mini series form on screen.

Thank you Netgalley, Random House - Bantam for this eARC copy to read and review.

Sunburned is a summer thriller that takes place in the Caribbean. A woman is hired by her former boyfriend (many years later) to help investigate who is blackmailing him. And this all takes place in a giant house in the islands and on a yacht. Murder, secrets, lies, deceptions with a side of romance and beachy vibes made this book so juicy and fun. A quintessential summer thriller full of twists, turns, and red herrings to totally throw me off.

This is the perfect summer thriller! I love the authors writing style and ability to pull the entire story together seamlessly. This is definitely a book you’re going to want to take on vacation, read on the beach or if you want to mentally getaway to a private island. The story was engaging, with plenty of twists and juicy secrets.

Sunburned by Katherine Wood is a captivating mystery with classic whodunit vibes and a modern edge, evoking the spirit of Agatha Christie while carving out a voice all its own. At the heart of the novel is a smart, complex female lead—layered with a shadowed past she’s tried to leave behind—who is pulled back into a world of secrets, lies, and long-buried truths.

When a call from an old friend—who also happens to be the father of her children, though no one knows it—disrupts her carefully rebuilt life, the mystery begins to unravel. What starts as a simple request for help quickly spirals into a tangled web of deception, where nothing is quite what it seems. Wood masterfully guides the narrative through unexpected turns, slowly revealing twists that keep the tension high and the pages turning.

With sharp writing, compelling characters, and a plot that steadily builds to a satisfying and surprising conclusion, Sunburned is a standout mystery. It’s both a homage to classic detective fiction and a refreshing take led by a heroine readers will want more of.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy. Sunburned follows Audrey as she is invited to St. Barth to her ex’s Tyson’s mansion to uncover his blackmailer. Once there, a body surfaces, and a classic whodunnit emerges. I enjoyed the storyline. I liked how the story switched between the present and 11 years in the past. I feel like this added depth to the story. I did predict the ending, but overall I enjoyed the book.

Sunburned is a very entertaining story. It’s a very well written romantic mystery/suspense. The plot twists kept me on my toes. I thoroughly enjoyed Tyson and Audrey’s journey.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House | Ballantine | Bantam for gifting me a digital ARC of the sophomore book by Katherine Wood, following her debut Ladykiller, which I enjoyed. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars rounded up!

Audrey Collet's ex-boyfriend, Tyson, calls after over a decade absence, threatening to expose the secrets in her past unless she helps him figure out who is blackmailing him. Tyson is now a billionaire and lives on St. Barth's in the Caribbean, and has invited all his suspects there for Audrey to help him figure out who's extorting him. Once there, Audrey realizes that everyone has a reason to wish him harm.

I love a good locked room mystery and one set in the Caribbean with private beaches and yachts involved? Sign me up! This book was very well-executed, with glimpses into the past and secrets that Audrey and Tyson share that are threatening to come to the surface. I suspected everyone but was rooting for Audrey throughout the book, although there are plenty of morally-ambiguous threads here. The story was tense from the beginning when a foot shows up in the Everglades to that twisty end I didn't see coming. Perfect for summer reading!

This is a great summer thriller with an island setting! Yes please!
There’s a dual timeline- current and past.
There’s extortion, missing person, murder mystery, ex-lovers, who did it?!
The writing style was great. I loved the shorter chapters. Everything flowed well even with the 2 timelines.

Thank you to netgalley and random house publishing group for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Let me start out by saying that once you start this book, you will be sucked in and unable to put it down. Audrey has been summoned to help her ex, Tyson, at his island home in St Barth's - all after a foot has washed up in the Florida Everglades. The person previously attached to the foot was someone they both knew. The twists and turns in this one were wild and I loved the descriptions of the island. I finished the last 50% in one sitting. Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Set in the tropical Mediterranean locale of St. Barth's, you are introduced to exes Audrey and Tyson. Because of blackmail and betrayal, the two have collided again in order to solve a mystery. Murder, mayhem and more ensue. You jump from past to present in Audrey's POV, but it is not confusing. It actually gives clarity to the mystery unravelling with each turn of the page.

Katherine Wood is great at suspenseful thrillers. Sunburned is a perfect summer vacation read!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.

This is the perfect light, fun beach read! I first read and loved Ladykiller from this author, another great beach read, so was excited for this one. I did think the first was a bit better, but this one is still worth the read! Audrey is a "discoverer" for law firms. She is summoned to St. Barth's by Tyson her ex to find out who is blackmailing him. Oh, and Tyson is a billionaire now and their teenage relationship ended badly. So, what could possibly go wrong? Well, murder for one. A body turns up and we get to figure out who did it from the group assembled by Tyson at his beachside mansion. There are a lot of suspects, and I had several different ideas for what happened and was wrong on all counts! Pretty cool twist that I didn't see coming. Extra points for the rich-people island atmosphere and I especially loved the diving sequence! I could practically see the fish! I would love more from Katherine Wood!

Thank you to #NetGalley, Katerine Wood and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I will post my review to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Instagram and other retail and social media sites upon publication day of Julu 01, 2025.

Audrey Collet is a mother of twins and a partner in a discovery agency, where she and Rosa help law firms track down information to help in their cases. Audrey is the computer expert, a hacker since she’d gotten bored with gaming as a teenager while Rosa does more of the hands-on investigating. So when Audrey’s ex Tyson, called and asked her to come to St. Barth’s to help him figure out who is blackmailing him, she is his only choice. Because not only is investigating her job, she’s also privy to many of his secrets, including the one that has the potential to blow up his latest deal and his entire company.

Tyson has created a multi-billion dollar company based on his ability to turn salt water into potable water with efficiency. They are preparing to open a new site on St. Barth’s, the Caribbean island that is home to a great deal of wealth. But a foot has turned up in the Everglades, and now everything is at stake.

The foot, a human foot, once belonged to Ian Kelly, who had lived in a trailer behind the house of Tyson and his brother Cody. Ian had been a drug dealer who had gone missing the summer Audrey and Tyson had dated. But there was more going on back then than just a little bit of drugs, and Audrey and Tyson both know that things could go badly for them if the police start digging around Ian’s disappearance.

But when Audrey arrives at his villa on the island and gets to know those Tyson has surrounded himself with, she realizes that there are several people under his roof that could mean him harm. Add to that Tyson’s increasing paranoia, and Audrey knows that she will have a difficult time figuring out who is it that is blackmailing him. Between Tyson’s double-dealings and secret deals, his wife, his business partner, or his brother could be gunning for him. And then there’s his butler Laurent. Laurent seems to know a lot of what’s going on, which Audrey finds surprising, because Tyson confides in others so rarely. Audrey can’t deny that she is drawn to Laurent, but she thinks it would be unwise to trust him, especially since she is there with some pretty big secrets of her own.

But when Tyson is killed during a scuba dive gone wrong, Audrey is faced with even more questions, and she’s even more vulnerable to exposure. She has to figure out who is was who killed Tyson and who was blackmailing him in order to get back to her life in the States, and to her twin boys, safe and sound. But then the killer turns their sights on her, and she has to figure out who to trust to save herself.

Sunburned is a white-hot thriller about the dealings of the wealthy and how even they have to deal with the secrets in their past. The setting in St. Barth’s makes for a gorgeous backdrop for this murder mystery, and the story is filled with crazy twists. It’s an exciting beach read for thriller fans, with a side of romance and layers of secrets and hidden agendas. I loved reading Sunburned, and while I couldn’t get to the beach myself to enjoy it, I did bask in that Caribbean flavor and had a lot of fun with this story.

Egalleys for Sunburned were provided by Bantam through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine

I had the pleasure of diving into Sunburned by Katherine Wood, an atmospheric read that kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. The author's skillful storytelling and ability to create tension and suspense had me hooked from the very first page. What I loved about this book was the twists and turns that kept me guessing until the very end. The pacing was perfect, making it hard to put the book down once I started reading. Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a creepy ride filled with suspense, mystery, and unexpected surprises. It's a must-read for fans of the genre.

I devoured this book! It sucked me in from the beginning and kept me hooked. The boat storyline of being held on it reminded me of other stories I previously read but it still kept me engaged. This is a perfect read for summer!

I loved this book. It had short to mid size chapters and easy to follow. The ending still shocked me and the smaller twists did along the way as well. I wish we heard the ending of what happened with her foot and how it got healed.

Caribbean Islands, beautiful people, beautiful rich people, what more could you want? Audrey wants to be as far away from this party as possible, yet, here she is, and she can't leave until she figures out who is blackmailing her ex. When her billionaire ex-boyfriend blackmails HER to find out who is blackmailing HIM, the stakes are a little skewed in his favor until he dives off the yacht and doesn't come back up. This was not only a terrific mystery/thriller, but it was also very entertaining watching Audrey move from one suspect to the next while trying not to get herself killed. After reading SUNBURNED, I'm going to have to add her first book, LADYKILLER to my TBR.