If something seems too good to be true, it probably is!! Sometimes, people just have to learn the difficult way!

Maddie and Tom decide to swap apartments for a couple of weeks with Alex and Ed. Once the keys are exchanged, everything goes downhill.

I found Maddie to be gullible and annoying. I also found it irritating thatTom referenced his ADHD over and over and over again... ugghhh!! Eventually, things picked up, and I was able to look past Maddie's and Tom's personalities.

The storyline started out rather slow, so slow that I almost marked this book DNF. I hate to be a quitter, so I stuck it out. Things picked up about halfway through the book. Based on the ending, I'm hoping/thinking there will be a sequel.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion/review.

Rona Halsall’s The Getaway is a gripping psychological thriller that keeps readers on edge from start to finish. Centred around a woman who embarks on a spontaneous holiday to escape her problems, the novel quickly takes a dark turn as secrets unravel and trust is put to the test. Halsall masterfully builds suspense with sharp pacing, unexpected twists, and a strong emotional undercurrent. Fans of domestic thrillers will find The Getaway an addictive, page-turning read with a chilling conclusion.

Love love loved this. Such an intricate ot with twists i could never have seen coming. Kept me up at night

Thank you to Boldwood Books for an early ARC of this tense and exciting psychological thriller. Wow what a read.
Twists, turns and reading page after page with abated breath.
The characters are deep and with back stories that make you want to know what they are hiding in their past and how does it impact on them now. It is a real page turner and deep. So, deep. What you think you know, you don't.
Halsall keeps you on the edge of your seat as she draws you into this complex web of deceit, betrayal and lies. You don't know who to believe and that makes it an enthralling and engaging read all the way through from the start. It has made me very sure that I would never do a house swap with anyone. And also do you really know who your partner is? Scary stuff.
Blurb
Maddie and her long-term boyfriend, Tom, dream of a life living and working abroad, though right now they’re settling for a lovely vacation in the sunny European beach town.

When Maddie is befriended by a lovely-seeming couple, who are living the digital nomad lifestyle, they make her an offer that feels hard to refuse…

Swap houses, swap lives – just for a couple of weeks - and see if living abroad is a lifestyle that would really suit them.

But as soon as they’ve handed keys over to their home in London, it becomes clear the couple aren’t who they’d seemed to be. And Maddie and Tom’s dream getaway is about to become a nightmare they could never have imagined…
Kerry Kennedy Author

Wow, wow, wow!!! What a page turner!!!

Maddie and Tom are on holiday when a chance meeting with another couple overs them the chance to try out their dream of living and working abroad.
Suddenly a house swap is on the cards.....surely it makes sense.....the perfect opportunity to follow their dreams......but is it too good to be true.

An absolute cracking book that was a rollercoaster. I loved it!!!!

Definitely clear your schedule as this twisted dark tale will keep you turning pages into the night. Thank you to the publishers, Net Galley and the author. My review is of my own opinion.
This is a intense read that features deceit, lies and manulapation. The main characters are naive and that leads them to terrible unlawful people that take advantage. The quest for revenge was satisfying and leads the reader through a excellent finish. I enjoyed this book as a escape from reality. This book will change your first impression of people to justification of suspicion.

This was not your average thriller but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The suspense had me wondering who I can trust; if anyone. The ending was very satisfying and even had another twist in addition to the first one! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

A punchy fast paced story of naivety and revenge, It's true that when things seem too good to be true, there is usually something shady lurking in the background. At the start Maddie had the potential to be annoying but her true strength emerged when it was necessary.

This seemed an interesting read to begin with but it really kicked off . I didn’t expect the twist about what would happened.
Tom,ADHD storyline was interesting.
It made sense as the story went on . But it just got more sad .
The getaway title was vague and it didn’t seem to cover it an awful lot in the story line but Maddie was a bit Niaive to trust a random couple and Tom being odd about it really became apparent why around the second part half.

I really enjoyed the mystery and thriller element.
I really like this author and this book wasn’t disappointing but brilliant!

Rona Halsall’s The Getaway is a sun-drenched psychological thriller that lures you in with the promise of paradise—and then locks the door behind you!

When Maddie and her boyfriend Tom agree to swap homes with a seemingly charming couple they meet on holiday, they think they’re testing out their dream life abroad. But what begins as an idyllic escape quickly spirals into a nightmare of deception, danger, and buried secrets.

The book builds suspense so well, keeping readers guessing who to trust and what’s real.

Absolutely loved it!

Another fantastic read from Rona Halsall! This book was captivating from start to finish. A great cast of characters lead this dark and twisted journey. Never a dull moment.
Thank you NetGalley, Rona Halsall and Boldwood Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I wanted to love this book so much, and it really had it’s great moments, BUT.. I just can’t stand it when the main character is dumb. Her choices made absolutely no sense and she annoyed me constantly. The end didn’t feel right either. Just didn’t make sense for the character.

As usual, Rona Halsall doesn’t disappoint. This is a well-written thriller with a twisty plot and a punch ending that I wasn’t expecting. Maddie and Tom go on holiday to Croatia and then Maddie meets Alex and they soon become friendly. Alex is upset one day and tells Maddie she has to dash back to the UK because her mum is ill. Maddie and Alex decide to swap apartments for two weeks, with Alex and her partner Ed staying in their UK apartment and Maddie and Tom having an extra two weeks in Croatia. However, this isn’t as straightforward as it seems and we are soon plunged into a dark web of lies and deceit.. This twisty, drama filled story kept me guessing right until the end. A great read.

Maddie and Tom are having a lovely holiday in Croatia, where Maddie befriends a digital nomad and decides she'd like to try the same for a while. New friend suddenly has to return home and offers her apartment for the remaining time.

It's a thriller, so I assumed I had at least a shape of what would happen next. House would be actually not available, a terrible neighbour would do something - I don't know - there are loads of obvious ways this could have turned out.

What *did* turn out happening was completely unexpected, and I'm certainly not going to spoil it. With perspectives given from a range of characters, and some completely conflicting facts, it wasn't easy to guess what was going on. I certainly kept picking it back up to figure it out.

It's still 3 stars from me though, because it was 'fine'. It wasn't a 4-star read. If there was a half star available it would be a 3.5...

I think the title "The Getaway" as well as the synopsis is a bit deceiving . The book really is not about a getaway. Sure, at the beginning Maddie and Tom are on holiday in Croatia and end up house swapping with another couple. But the actual events of the book have nothing to do with the "getaway" nor do they take place in the holiday setting of Croatia.

This book was really rushed and always felt surface level, but at the same time, dragged on at parts. It was sooo wordy and overly descriptive at times that the suspense level really dropped. It was kinda a strange story and I did not enjoy the plot twists. Just super OTT and messy. The characters were unlikeable and super cringey. This also made for a difficult read. If you're an avid thriller reader like myself, unfortunately, this one will not do it for you.

Thank you Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for providing this book, with my honest review below.

The Getaway takes advantage of a fantasy I’m sure many of us have, the opportunity to become a digital nomad and work from gorgeous locations. In this case Maddie is visiting Croatia from England with her boyfriend Tom and meets Alex, who is a digital nomad in Croatia. Just as Maddie is debating giving work from anywhere but home a try, Alex learns her mother needs treatment back in England and she and her partner, Ed, decide to swap with Tom and Maddie. From the moment the swap occurs you know something is wrong when Tom realizes Alex is an old and unstable girlfriend he didn’t treat right. When the couple goes back England separately the plot thickens with Maddie realizing Tom hid a lot from his past and both Alex and Ed being up to no good.

I had fun with this thriller but I can’t say it was especially shocking. It is, however, very well written and sweeps the reader along with the mysteries. I do think the ending events weren’t necessary as they felt a bit tacked on.

Wow, what a read! I was hooked right away because of all the things—the setting in Croatia, the digital nomad lifestyle, the promise of travel and mystery. I've never read a thriller with this premise and was eager to read it for that reason too. The opening was immersive and instantly intriguing, especially for someone who loves a unique backdrop.
Initially, I really liked both Maddie and Tom. The first half of the story is phenomenal. As the story unfolded, though, I found the character development a bit lacking. It felt like the author was aiming for complexity and nuance, but the result left the all the characters feeling inconsistent or poorly thought out. I just couldn't connect with any of them, and at times their decisions didn’t quite make sense, which pulled me out of the story a few times.
Still, despite some frustrations, the premise was excellent and the pacing kept me turning pages. I think readers who enjoy escapist thrillers with a travel twist will still find this an entertaining read. With a few adjustments to the plot or character arcs, this could’ve been a standout. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a quick, atmospheric thriller with an exotic setting.

While on vacation in Croatia, Tom and Maddie befriend a couple. They eventually decide to swap houses with them. Who does this?! This story is crazy! It’s twisty and suspenseful, but also predictable. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy.

Rona Halsall has once again dished up a chillingly, evil suspense thriller in The Getaway. The idea of a house swap definitely piqued my interest, but brought me to places I could not have foreseen.

Maddie and Tom are on holiday in Croatia. Maddie is on her own most of the time as Tom is always busy with work. During one of her solo jaunts she befriends a couple, Alex and Ed, who are living a Digital Nomad lifestyle. When a situation occurs for Alex and Ed, they offer Maddie and Tom an opportunity too good to pass up. Swap lifestyles and apartments. Maddie jumps at this opportunity, and Tom, more reluctantly agrees. When Tom realizes Alex is someone he knows from his past, but has kept from Maddie, he tries to talk her out of it. When his truth finally does come out, it's too late to stop the plan of revenge already in motion.

This is a very fast paced and gripping tale of evil. The characters are all unreliable, and it's hard to tell who is telling the truth, making it hard to guess where this is going. This is one you'll want to race through to get to the stellar ending. I highly recommend this book to suspense lovers.

Thanks to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for the advanced copy

Read in 1 hour and 38 minutes.

This was a tense mystery with twists that genuinely surprised me with the he said/she said cunning.
Maddie is an emerging go-getter who fervently wishes that a last minute trip to Croatia with her vacant boyfriend Tom will reinvigorate their life.

It’s there that they meet vibrant Alex and her partner Ed, who announce themselves as digital nomads and offer Maddie a taste of the good life; it’s only a house swap for a few weeks- and it worked so wonderfully in The Holiday, after all!

The plane wheels haven’t even left the tarmac before the plans fall to pieces.
But whose plans?

It can be compared to stories like The Darkest Game, Known To the Victim, and The Missing Family, which also pack a punch.
I find the very last pages to leave the story a little too tidily packed away, but the plot was otherwise solid; it was suspenseful and I liked how the different stories played against each other, leaving you unsure who to believe.

I can emphasise with both Maddie and Tom, as their feelings are spilling out in every chapter, and Ed and Alex’s point of view provide some useful insight.

The moral of the story is that the past never stays dead…