A truly grippimg psychological suspense thriller. I have to admit this sat on My tbr pile for a long time before I got round to reading this book I should have read it sooner be cause I enjoyed t a lot. Recommend for all thriller loversThis book will have you on the edge of your seat. !

this was a good read! quite a claustrophobic one in a way, despite the breadth of the road trip, as it is very character heavy, relying on the author's ability to curate a convincing character. it was an engaging read and i enjoyed how the setting reflected the characters

Olivia, 32, and Will Taylor have been together for nearly 14 years and married for 8 years. They are both from South Wales (Cardiff and Monmouth) originally, then moved to Kensington in London. The couple head to New York after Will gets a new job at the Lowbeck Hotel as an events and client manager for a company called Piper-Dewey and they live in a company apartment in SoHo. Liv can’t work under the terms of Will’s visa and is taking a career break; writing a travel book and exploring the city.

After discovering Will is having an affair with a 26-year-old work colleague, their holiday of a lifetime road trip round the national parks of North America – from Phoenix, Arizona to Monument Valley, Utah to the Grand Canyon and then Yosemite Valley, Mariposa Grove and Death Valley in California – takes on a new meaning. Liv decides that they need to get away from New York and the 1500-mile trip across four states is the perfect chance to focus on each other, get their relationship back on track and for Will to make amends. She also plans to use it as a test for her husband and, although she doesn’t tell Will about them, he has to follow three rules: 1) Surprise her with a thoughtful romantic gesture; 2) Be spontaneous and seize a sense of occasion; and 3) Stay calm if things go wrong and look after her.

As we learn more about the circumstances behind the affair, why their marriage deteriorated and discover more about Liv’s past, we’re left wondering what the outcome is going to be. And also what form Liv’s revenge is going to take, especially as she’s researched how easily people die in national parks and all the common causes of accidental death (drowning, motor vehicle crashes, falls and slips, in case you’re interested!). She’s obviously not going to let her husband off the hook easily!

She’s distraught and angry about Will’s affair and tortures herself by thinking about him and the other woman regularly, and imagining all the times when Will was lying about where he was. She is obsessed and, as she admits herself, the affair contaminates her thoughts like a virus. She thinks about how he’s wrecked their lives and ruined memories.

Liv is a complicated and flawed character with a rather dark and dangerous past – there are more than a few skeletons in her cupboard! She’s the classic unreliable narrator and there’s a lot more to her than meets the eye, certainly more than her husband realises! She knows more about his affair than he realises too. She’s rather intense and unpredictable but also good at plotting and planning, which comes in very handy at times!

Will is rather a weak man and easily led. He had his head turned by his colleague and she made him feel special and needed, unlike the rather independent Liv. He thinks that he’s off the hook and that Liv has forgiven him as she’s agreed to go on their dream road trip. Neither of them realise what is in store!

The book contains great descriptions of the intense, dangerous wilderness of the various national park locations in contrast to the hectic, claustrophobic feel of the city of New York.

Most of the characters in the story are rather unpleasant and seem to be hiding something. I didn’t trust any of them to tell the truth or be honest. They all help to create a fascinating storyline though.

This was a fast-paced and action-packed read, full of suspense, with some good misdirection and red herrings. I was never really quite sure what was going to happen or which way this twisted and gripping story was going to go – it was tense at times and I was waiting with bated breath for the next twist or shock!

Overall, I really enjoyed this twisty and well-plotted thriller. It was an entertaining and sinister read, as well as compelling and engaging, and, after an initial slow start, I raced through the book desperate to see how everything would be resolved. I wasn’t disappointed! Who needs a holiday when you can have a staycation? This is an amazing armchair adventure!

A great touch is the addition of the ultimate road trip playlist at the end of the book, which the author recommends you listen to at various points while reading! She listened to the songs on US road trips with her husband and while writing Wilderness.

This is the first of Beverley Jones’ books that I’ve read but I’ve got Where She Went on my Kindle and I’m looking forward to checking out her other novels too.

I have come across this fabulous author before and I have another of her novels, Halfway on my Kindle, although I've yet to read it. Naturally, this latest one, Wilderness caught my eye and it certainly did not disappoint!

The plot was fabulous, intense and so intriguing - the story goes back and forth in time between a road trip that married couple Liv and Will Taylor are taking to revive their relationship and the events that lead to the deterioration of their marriage. I appreciated the way B.E. Jones gradually disclosed soupçons of information allowing me another perspective on what I'd just read and on the next piece of the story. There were no elaborate twists, instead the story had a wonderful subtlety and a multitude of pivotal moments that linked seamlessly into the rest of the tale.

B.E. Jones is the master of good characterisation. It was so easy for me to empathise with Liv because I could feel many of her emotions, the anger, paranoia, pain, insecurity and indecision. Although Liv wasn't likeable, by some peculiar reader-manipulation B.E. Jones made me desperate to know what was in store for Liv, regardless of her personality traits. Will, I found even less appealing than Liv. He was not as fully fleshed out, he struck me as rather an unsympathetic character, and I wasn’t particularly invested in what happened to him, though he was obviously, in my opinion, extremely relevant to Liv's journey and the overall story.

I enjoyed the author's descriptions of the road trip settings interspersed throughout the novel as they provided an aura of eeriness, highlighting the couple's isolation, and adding an atmospheric feel. An interesting psychological thriller, Wilderness is very highly recommended for those who favour morally ambiguous, tense, character-driven stories.

I can't wait to see what B.E. Jones writes next.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel at my request from Little, Brown Book Group UK via NetGalley and this review is my unbiased opinion.

Wilderness has all the makings of a five star book but it just didn’t agree with me. Disappointed since I thought I’d love this!

I didn’t finish so will leave as a full star review.

I feel like the back of this book slightly mis-sells the plot as I thought it was going to be more like she tried to kill him three times and they were the challenges she spoke of. It went in a direction I wasn't expecting but for the most part I really enjoyed this. There were a couple of characters who were too one dimensional and needed fleshing out more but they weren't really in there enough to negatively affect the story. This was fast-paced and very thrilling to read!

A fast-paced thriller with a definite psychological edge...and one that might have you watching your nearest and dearest very closely indeed.
The story seems fairly straightforward in some ways. Young married couple move to America. Husband has an affair with a co-worker. Wife finds out and decides to forgive him...but then organises a road trip to give her errant husband the chance to show he’s changed. Things aren’t going well, and it seems the wife is going to take the opportunity to remove her husband from the situation. But things don’t quite work out like that.
Our narrator, Liv, is definitely cut from a very special kind of cloth. As we learn more about her actions over time, I couldn’t believe she was still walking round free. A dangerous woman, but the level of her danger doesn’t really become clear until the end.
This is certainly a story it’s best not to know too much about before reading. It’s a fast-paced story and one that was certainly unsettling. There’s a lot of coincidences within the story, but it was still a good read.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this prior to publication.

This is the kind of book that will have you looking over your shoulder and wondering if you really know people at all. The character building is sensational - I know these people, I'm sure I do! The writing is superb, as is the story itself. A brilliant read that kept me hooked from start to finish.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. This review is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

A bit of a crazy story but was enjoyable all the same. Well written, intelligent and funny at times. I loved it. A crazy tale of revenge x