Title: That WeekendAuthor: Kara Thomas
First Published: June 29, 2021
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Pages: 324
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Rating:
Synopsis:
THREE BEST FRIENDS, A LAKE HOUSE, A SECRET TRIP -- WHAT COULD GO WRONG?
It was supposed to be the perfect prom weekend getaway. But it's clear something terrible happened when Claire wakes up alone and bloodied on a hiking trail with no memory of the past forty-eight hours.
Now everyone wants answers--most of all, Claire. She remembers Friday night, but after that . . . nothing. And now Kat and Jesse--her best friends--are missing.
What happened on the mountain? And where are Kat and Jesse? Claire knows the answers are buried somewhere in her memory. But as she's learning, everyone has secrets--even her best friends. And she's pretty sure she's not going to like what she remembers.
Buy the Book: AmazonReview
An intensely readable page-turner with more twists than an M. Night Shyamalan movie, That Weekend is a young adult mystery thriller about a trio of friends that disappear in the woods. The story begins with Claire, the only one of the three that is found injured and alone in the woods with no memory of what happened that weekend. It’s the perfect set-up for a summer thriller.
The first twenty percent of the novel was slow, setting up Claire’s story and her relationship to her two best friends. It was essentially just Claire’s romantic drama with three different teen boys and while I found it exhausting, I wasn’t too surprised given that this is a YA novel. The plot flirts with the romantic suspense genre which was decent, it’ll hook the right reader.
Thankfully the meat of the novel was really great, the mystery about what happened and the drama that unfolds between the characters made it hard to put down. I blazed through most of the novel in one sitting and stayed up all night reading, it was that engaging! I even came to like Claire, even though I found all of her boy drama to be frustrating.
I really wanted to know what happened, but all the plot twists bombed the ending for me, there was just too much and the narrative goes so wildly off the rails, I couldn’t help but sigh. Claire, who the reader follows for most of the book, is just as naive, useless, and frustrating as she was at the beginning of the story. The book overall didn’t quite stick the landing for me, but I can appreciate it for its merits, it’s a good summer thriller that is easy to devour.
Quote
“I’m angry because there must be answers locked in my brain somewhere, memories I still can’t access after six months. The answer, the rest of the story, could still be in there.”
Content Warnings
View Spoiler »About the Author
About Kara Thomas
Kara Thomas, also known as Kara Taylor is an American author of novels for young adults and television writer best known for writing the Prep School Confidential series.
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