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!

Katherine Wood's *Sunburned* is a thrilling read that mixes glamour and suspense.

Audrey Collet gets pulled back into her ex-boyfriend Tyson’s life, and it’s not for old times' sake. Now a super wealthy and paranoid tech billionaire, Tyson claims someone close to him is blackmailing him. If Audrey doesn’t help, he’ll spill their dark secrets, which could ruin her life. Oh, and there’s a severed foot that shows up on the beach, tied to both of them.

The action moves to St. Barth’s, where Tyson is hiding out with a wild group of suspects, like his cold Belgian wife and a charming French butler. Things get really tense when Tyson ends up dead during his birthday dive, turning the yacht into a crime scene.

With snappy dialogue and a twisty plot, *Sunburned* is perfect for anyone who loves a good mystery with a side of dark humor. If you like thrillers with a beach vibe and secrets, this one’s definitely worth picking up.

Audrey is forced to help her ex boyfriend, now a millionaire with lots of darkness and secrets. What does he have on her and who is extorting him and how does the past impact what is happening now. Luxury is mixed with a group of people all with motives to hurt him. The book starts off at a slow pace and it took me a bit to get into it but when i did, I got involved in the mystery, the danger and the romance

This was fun! Perfect beach read. This has tons of twists, set on an island, and characters that I could not figure out! Definitely recommend if you like a fun but twisty thriller.

Tyson and Audrey are connected from their haunting pasts. When a foot washes ashore, it threatens to unearth everything they have tried hard to keep hidden. When a yacht trip turns deadly, the whodunnit plot unfolds. Such a page-turner! Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for the eARC.
What a great read, especially the setting of St. Barth's, a playground for the wealthy .... wished I could afford to visit!
The story is fast moving, the protagonist likeable and I rushed through the book until the deep-sea dive. That is one of my nightmares - I could barely breathe! The ending was unexpected, I never guessed the perpetrator.
I loved this read and recommend it highly!

Sunburned is a great beach read—full of glamorous locations, an eccentric billionaire, and crimes old and new. It is reminiscent of Agatha Christie in a good way. Would definitely recommend this quick read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

Sunburned is the kind of thriller that draws you in with its beaches, yachts, and paradise vibe- and then hits you with an undercurrent of danger that won’t let go. It’s the perfect balance between tropical escape and classic whodunnit, with a story that’s both glamorous and deeply unsettling.

The story centers around Audrey, a discovery agent with a knock for digging up buried truths. She’s pulled back into the world of her ex, Tyson - a billionaire whose paranoia is escalating fast. He ropes her into helping him find out who’s blackmailing him, and against her better judgement, Audrey flies to his private estate on a stunning island in St. Barth’s.

What starts as a favor spirals into something much more dangerous. Tyson has gathered a group of his potential suspects: his distant wife Samira, his own brother Cody, Cody’s influencer girlfriend Jennifer, the flirty butler Laurent, and Tyson’s intense business partner Allison.

Wood really dives into the messiness of secrets and fractured relationships with this story. The tension builds in all the right ways. The pace of the story is perfect, and the twists just seemed to keep coming and will keep you guessing until the end.

This is definitely a must-read if you’re a fan of psychological thrillers and morally complex characters. It’s definitely a wild ride of betrayal, secrets, and suspense.

Thank you so much to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this one, I absolutely loved it!

Tyson Dale is mega rich, a massive jerk, and very paranoid (for good reason). Eleven years ago, he made some choices that were life altering for him but for others as well. And those choices are coming back to him.

Audrey and Tyson dated years ago, and it did not end well, with Audrey having no desire to see Tyson again. In the intervening years Audrey has used her computer skills to create a career as a discovery agent (finding information for lawyers in preparation for litigation). She is surprised when Tyson hires her for a secret project, flying her to his private residence in St. Barths. She is even more surprised to see how he has changed, and to be accused of blackmailing him.

Tyson’s past is catching up to him, and it involves Audrey, as well as others. However, there is a house full of suspects, as Tyson’s wife and her best friend, Tyson’s brother and girlfriend, and Tyson’s business partner all have reasons to hate him but most of them also need him for various reasons. And all of them are hiding secrets, which Audrey will have to uncover both to protect herself and catch a killer.

The story has plenty of surprises and will keep the reader guessing. It alternates between past and present, as the reader gets insight into what happened eleven years ago. Will you figure out the significance of past events before the characters do? I figured out two of the significant connections well before the author revealed them but there were still plenty of surprises.