The Hiking Trip by Jenny Blackhurst
When nineteen-year-old Maisie takes off on the trip of a lifetime, leaving behind her demanding family, her only thought is of freedom.
Hiking the West Coast Trail in Canada, she soon meets Ric and Sera. But what began as a fun-filled adventure quickly turns sour, with devastating consequences…
Twenty-five years later, a woman named Laura is panicked to learn that a body has been found near the trail. The police suspect the remains to be of missing backpacker, Sera.
The secret Laura’s been hiding for a quarter of a century is about to come out – and someone is determined to make sure she tells the truth, and pays the price.
Laura will do anything to protect her family and the life she’s crafted for herself. It’s a race against time and a question of: who has the most to lose?
About the author
Jenny lives in Shropshire where she grew up dreaming that one day she would get paid for making up stories. She is an avid reader and can mostly be found with her head in a book or hunting Pokemon with her son, otherwise you can get her on Twitter @JennyBlackhurst or Facebook. Her favourite film is Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, but if her children ask it's definitely Moana.
Review
‘The Hiking Trip’ is a gripping and twisty read that kept me hooked from beginning to end!
Maisie is on a big adventure, she has left all that she knows to go on her first-ever trip out of the UK to Canada to hike the West Coast Trail. She has been let down by her friend and is now on her own but she soon meets up with fellow hikers, brother and sister Sera and Ric. They set off full of enthusiasm but as the seclusion closes in around them, they soon find themselves in trouble.
Twenty-five years later Laura, mother and wife in the UK are terrified when she hears on the news that a body has been found on the West Coast Trail and that they believe them to be the body of the missing hiker, Sera. Laura’s secrets are going to unravel and it seems as if there is someone out there who is determined to make that happen!
I enjoyed the dual timeline aspect of the book as it allowed the reader to be drawn into the story from the off-set and helped to drive the building of tension throughout the story! I devoured this book in one sitting when I was sick in bed and I was thoroughly drawn into the story and wanted to find out what happened to Maise and Laura. There are frequent twists and turns, reveals and red hearings and once the end scenes kick in you just cannot put it down. The action and reveals at the end were brilliant. Did I work out the ending? Yeah, I did but it didn't matter as I enjoyed the smug feeling of knowing that I was right!
This was an entertaining read which I thoroughly enjoyed, let me know if you read it!
Just to let you know you can buy this at my indie bookshop Murder at the Bookshop!
https://www.murderatthebookshop.com/shop/p/the-hiking-trip-by-jenny-blackhurst?rq=Hiking
