The Holiday by T.M. Logan is a thriller about four women who were friends from college and decide to go on holiday to France together with their families.
Kate suspects that her husband is having an affair with one of her friends and plans to find out which one by spying on them.
A book about secrets and lies and dysfunctional families.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bonnier Zaffre for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a fabulous book! I was totally gripped from start to finish with no idea of what was going to happen. A brilliant page turner!!

This is a perfect book for a ‘Holiday’. Four friends and a luxury villa in France. What could possibly go wrong. The book starts with suspicion and deception and leads you on a journey to a thrilling end. Every time you think you’ve figured out the plot something happens to throw you off the scent. A good page turner and a thoroughly enjoyable read.

I find myself somewhat torn on The Holiday.

The fact that a terrible death is going to occur is flagged right at the start of the book (so no spoilers!) and that is a very clever decision; because it isn't revealed WHO is going to die, I spent a lot of the book in suspense wondering when and to whom the fateful event would occur. The author provides plenty of moments when it seems disaster is about to strike, only for it to be averted – and all the while, death is still on the horizon. I was rather impressed with that aspect of it.

Having said that, the tension provided by the flash-forward at the beginning really is needed, because other than that there's not a lot of action in the book until close to the end. It's all about suspicion – and here the protagonist, Kate, jumps to conclusions far too readily for someone in her line of work. She doesn't ever seem to note the ambiguity in the various clues she's picking up on. And the lack of communication between the various parties drove me crazy (though to some extent this was mitigated/explained by the ending).

Many aspects of the ending itself, I was pleased with – it tied up the main loose ends and did a lot to make sense of everything that had gone before. However, the funeral fakeout felt cheap, and one young character in particular I consider to be getting away far too lightly given the fact that he appears to be a real threat to society.

On a technical level, there are some really bizarre tense changes, sometimes several times within the space of a page – as if the book was originally written in present tense, then it was changed to past but the odd sentence got missed here and there. I wouldn't normally mention this kind of thing since these are uncorrected proofs, but this is a copyediting or even structural issue and should have been picked up earlier. I was also thrown by a couple of continuity errors (particularly the one where Kate confronted Sean about his messages near the end as if for the first time, despite the fact that she'd already done so halfway through).

However, despite my various criticisms, I did enjoy the book overall – it kept me guessing – and there are far worse ways to spend a few hours. I'd say it would work well as a light summer read.

This book is perfectly timed for a summer beach read. A group of women who have been friends since university rent a villa in France with their husbands and children. Kate suspects her husband of having an affair with one of her friends and the book keeps you guessing throughout. The setting is perfect for a holiday read and the writing is descriptive and gripping. I suspected this would be just another generic thriller but I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend!

Thanks to Netgalley and Zafree for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is about 4 old college friends who reunite in France for a week long holiday with their families. Kate, the main character finds some suspicious text messages on her husbands phone and assumes he is having an affair with one of her friends that is on the same trip.

This should have been a 5 star because I love books set in exotic locales and books where any member of a finite group of people could be guilty. This one fell short because it was just a lot of suspicion without any real reason until very late in the book and when we finally got the truth, it wasn’t as earth shattering as I had hoped. I loved Lies by this author and thoroughly enjoyed 29 Seconds, but this one was missing something for me. Nonetheless, I eagerly await his next offering.

A great story about four old friends and their families who go on holiday to France to celebrate their fortieth birthdays. I really liked this book, it is full of suspense and keeps you guessing throughout. A good holiday read.

3. 5 Stars

Well this is definitely a book about a holiday, for four friends. Right from the start you sense something epic is going to happen on this trip.

What frustrated me was that we were given so many clues and red herrings about the truth, and it seemed like Kate was going round in circles about some suspicious messages found on husband Sean's phone, that the real juicy action took until around 85% to get going.

It may be that reading this on holiday myself and not checking the blurb, meant that I was expecting it to be a different sort of book to what it was.

I enjoyed the writing style, and once I got used to getting insights into almost all the characters through dedicated chapters, it became easier to follow.

I would happily read another book from this author in the future. He certainly kept me guessing throughout, and I couldn't have predicted half of it.

Thank you to Zaffre for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

After devouring “Lies” and “29 Seconds” in one-sitting reads, I really couldn’t wait to settle into “The Holiday.” The premise sounds brilliant, dysfunctional families, teenage angst, cheating husbands....and murder! Very regrettably, in my opinion at least, the actual book, and story, just does not live up to the standard of those previously mentioned titles. Don’t get me wrong, this is NOT a bad novel, it’s well-written and will keep you entertained and amused but, for me, the “plot” is pretty weak and takes a long long time to get going. I was never going to give up, but did feel it was a plod to actually get to the meat of the story. The ending was good though.
It was always going to be hard following “Lies” and “29 Seconds”, I accept that, but I expected more plot and twists from “The Holiday.” Will I read T M Logan’s next book? Damn right I will, he is a huge talent, but please T. give us a more twisted plot next time. I know you have it in you.

An absolutely brilliant story featuring four dysfunctional families. I have read and loved T.M Logan’s other novels and I have to say this is not as much of a thriller as the others. However, it was a captivating story, well told and really explores the dynamics in the four different friendships and families. The book seriously picked up in the second half when one of the characters is found murdered and relationships are tested and secrets are revealed. I thoroughly enjoyed this story. Highly recommended xx

The Holiday is a great well written thriller based round four couples who get together to celebrate turning 40 and also their continuing friendship.In a villa in France the holiday starts off well but then Kate finds messages on her husband Sean's phone and suspects him of cheating on her with one of her friends in the villa. Then the secrets and lies come tumbling out from all four couples.With children thrown into the mix what you get is a 5 star thriller which keeps you turning the pages from the first page to the last and once again TM Logan has written a brilliant book.

Once again TM Logan has written a gripping book
It has everything
twists, turns, suspense, tension, secrets and lies
It's a spine-tingling read with an unexpected shocking ending

Thank you netgalley, TM Logan and Zaffee Bonnier for allowing me to read and review this book.

This was a great read and didn’t pan out as I expected at all! Well written and thought out, though some of the characters were a little unlikeable and made me think what the hell are you thinking/doing a few times whilst reading the book!

Looking forward to reading more by T M Logan. Thank you for letting me review this book.

I will confess to being a huge fan of TM Logan and this is his third book and both of the others are brilliant. I received ‘The Holiday’ as an ARC thanks to NetGalley, Bonnier Zaffre and TM Logan in return for my honest review.

Once again, I loved everything about the storyline, characters, twists and turns as four female university friends go on holiday together to France with their families. The setting is perfect, the weather is perfect but all is not perfect with the relationships within the families and with each other in the glorious villa.

Kate, Jen, Rowan and Izzy had always agreed to meet up regularly since university days and this time the families were included as a celebration of all of them turning forty. On arrival, Kate sees text messages on her husband’s phone which indicates he is having an affair with one of her best friends, one of the women in the villa. This is only the beginning of the surprises.

We know from the very start that somebody dies, but not who and certainly not who killed them.

The development of the interrelationships between the families and their children and the one person who is still single, Izzy, meant that I was hooked from start to finish and could not put this down. It is never clear what is going on within the villa let alone what develops between some of the children.

Compelling reading. Highly recommended. Another must read from this author,

Stifling heat, three families, plenty of secrets and one holiday. What could possibly go wrong?

It seems that nearly everyone involved has something to hide, even though the women are all best friends there are still some things that you can’t be shared, not even with them. Especially when that secret is that you are having an affair with your best friends husband!

This is a very character driven novel that is a bit of a slow burner as it follows the three women and their families on what should have been a much-needed, unforgettable holiday, and that is exactly what they got. A holiday no-one will ever be able to forget.

Dysfunctional families, cheating husbands, troubled teenagers all together under the roof of one luxurious French villa where the only thing that is right is the villa it’s self, everything else is most certainly not alright.

As the heat rises and the plot thickens each secret is brought to the surface and when you are all living under one roof there is no way of hiding from them, and as much as no one wants to air their dirty laundry in public that is exactly what happens, only for one of the group their secret ends up in murder.

Full of escalating suspense this is a clever page turner of a book that withholds its final secret right up until its conclusion.

The perfect summer read for fans of authors such as B A Paris and Clare Mackintosh, this will be a book you won’t want to miss.

The Holiday will be published on 13 June 2019

A big thank you to the author T.M. Logan, publishers Bonnier Zaffre and NetGalley for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest and independent review.

https://debbiesbookreviews.wordpress.com/2019/03/05/the-holiday-by-t-m-logan/

I love this book. I’ve had this authors other books on my kindle to read for a while they will definitely be top of my holiday list now. Wow. Loved the writing style, characters & the twist on the story. Would highly recommend this.

A perfect holiday read that keeps you guessing right until the last page!
Kate, Sean, and their two children, teenager Lucy and 9 year old Daniel arrive in the South of France to holiday with Kate’s 3 old University friends and their families, celebrating their special 40th birthday year.
However things do not get off to a good start despite the Villa bring amazing and the weather perfect.
Kate has noticed that Sean has behaving strangely recently and she suspects him of an affair. Lucy has also been withdrawn. It’s only their younger son who has come prepared to enjoy himself.
This is a warning for any group of friends who decide to holiday together. How well do you know other people and even if you think you know them really well do you actually want to spend a holiday with them?
There is a lot of intrigue and bad behaviour from other people’s children, particularly Jen’s surly teenage boys who seem to enjoy bullying young Daniel and Rowan’s 5 year old Odette who screams and cries, attention seeking the whole time.
However things spiral out of control as the novel progresses and a death occurs. Who is it and which of the so called friends is really a murderer?
I liked the interaction between the main protagonists and the way the story was gradually revealed from different characters points of view. I felt sorry for Kate who spends the whole time suspecting her own husband of having an affair with one of her friends.
The setting was well described. I know that part of France, having holidayed there for many years and the author evoked it brilliantly.
This was an enjoyable book but don’t read it if you are planning a Villa holiday with friends in the near future!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my arc in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book in two big greedy gulps when my kids were away for half term! I genuinely couldn't put this down and the plot twists kept me guessing as to how everything wove together. A great holiday read - looking forward to more by this author.

Really enjoyed this book raced through it in two days full of suspense twists and turns. Big downside is the sudden ending, I felt like there was a comp!eye chapter missing.