I feel the blurb for this one lets it down. I'd hesitated on requesting it, as I just wasn't sold on the storyline that was being hinted at in the description. Thankfully I went back and took the risk.

This is quite a clever, twisty and dark thriller that looks at the psyche of people in a crisis and the badness that can linger under the surface in people.

With several moments where everything is not all as it seems, this one kept me guessing until the very end. There were even a few jaw dropping moments at the end!

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the two separate narrators for the two lead characters and there was no silly accents to be heard!

The plot was really good, the story was quite captivating and I wanted to know what it would happen all the way until the end. I found the characters interesting, well fleshed, and the alternating perspectives and timelines made soooo much sense! The ending was really good and did not expect some of the stuff that have happened. I also liked the decision the younger sister made, it made total sense.

This book was amazing!

First of all, both narrators had me captivated and made for easy listening.

I loved the dual timelines and how fast paced the story was.

Will definitely be reading to more from this author in the future.

This was a great murder mystery that kept me guessing. Two sisters, Erin and Lori, plan a holiday getaway in Fiji but only Lori turns up for the flight. The plane disappears without trace, and Erin is left picking up the pieces. She decides to investigate by herself when, two years later, some new evidence appears, and the book takes you on her journey alternating it with Lori's story. I enjoyed the way it was written, each sister taking a chapter, keeping you waiting to hear the outcome of the next part of the story. I listened to this as an audio book and the two narrators, Jess Nesling and Helen Phillips were excellent. Thank you to Lucy Clarke, Net Galley and Harper Collins UK Audio for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

One of the best psychological thrillers that I have ever read. I felt as if I was there experiencing everything with Lori. You will turn every page with intrigue mixed with fear. I cannot recommend it enough. My first book by this author but definitely not my last.

Audio ARC provided by NetGalley



Two great audio narrators.



This thriller had such a great premise; two sisters booked on a flight to Fiji. The night before they have a bitter argument. One makes the flight, the other does not. And then the plane crashes. From there the story is told in alternating POVs - the younger sister Erin, who has always been less organised, less decided in what she's doing with her life, and the perfect Laurie, who until recently had a plan and was following it faithfully. I don't want to give spoilers but this was a fast paced and engrossing look at the pushes and pulls between sisters even as Erin tries to discover what happened to Laurie, and how much she is to blame. Highly recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins fir the ARC of this book.


This is a fabulous thriller. I barrelled through it and was very frustrated whenever I had to stop listening.

The story follows two sisters; Erin, in the present day, and Lori, two years earlier. Lori has vanished after a plane crash which stranded her on a desert island in Fiji. The plane passengers are presumed dead but then the pilot turns up alive 2 years later and Erin is determined to find out what happened to her sister.

I really enjoyed this book. It is fast-paced, tense and compelling. I thought the ending was heavily signposted throughout the book, but I didn’t mind as I found it a fairly satisfying, if unlikely, resolution.

The audiobook is well narrated. However, I thought the choice of narrators was a bit odd. They are supposed to be sisters who have grown up together (in Bath, I think) and lived much of their adult life together, but one has a strong London/South-East estuary accent and the other has a faintly Welsh burr. I found this slightly distracting, but it doesn’t make the book any less enjoyable.

I’d like to thank Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for approving me for an ARC of this audiobook.

The story is told, in mostly alternating chapters, by sister’s Lori and Erin. The sister’s have an amazing holiday planned on an island off the coast of Fiji but the night before their final flight they have an argument. This means Erin decides not to join her sister on the last flight. Laurie’s plane ends up disappearing and no one know where Laurie, the other passengers, the crew and the plan have gone. It’s like they’ve vanished into thin air! Two years later the pilot is found and the question of what happened to everyone else resurface.

This starts Erin on a mission to find out once and for all what happened to Lori, as a journalist she has connections and ways of getting crucial information. I was really impressed with Erin’s detective skills and admired her determination. She had compassion for the relatives she spoke to but wasn’t a complete push over. As we follow Erin on her mission Lori tells her story from the moment she boarded the flight. We learn what happened to her and why the pilot managed to survive.

I enjoyed learning more about the sibling relationship between Lori and Erin, they had been through so much together and relied on each other a lot. I thought the author had done a fantastic job of including the sibling moments even when they were apart. Lori had such a natural mothering instinct which obviously came from looking after Erin and being the older sister. Her part of the story was the most interesting to listen to and certainly packed some drama. I can understand Lori’s final decision but I don’t think she realised the devastating impact it would have on Erin.

And that is as much as I can say without spoiling the read or listen for you. This was a brilliant listen that pulled me in from the start, a story that packed a punch and had me glued to my headphones!

This was a five star read right from the outside. I couldn't have loved this book more. In the first few pages I was drawn in to Erin's search for her sister Laurie. Her need to know what happened leapt off the page and I was totally absorbed. The teasing of alternate chapters left me wanting more and I struggled to put it down. It ended as I thought it might but in no way did it detract from the story. This is the first book I have read by Lucy Clarke but I'll seek out the others now. One of the best reads so far for me this year.

As the story unfolded I could guess what had happened, but it was very cleverly written. The love of sisters, mothers and lovers. The inborn instinct to survive, the natural world and the natural responses to a crisis. An absolutely gripping read. The search for the truth, often ends like this story - the truth often hurts.
I really like the voices of the characters on the audio version of this story. I think the narrators were the best choices to tell this story.

This was amazing. The story was brilliant the narrator was perfect. What a lovely story so much hope but also lots of twists and turns. The ending was brilliant just perfect. Other people and the publishers have explained the plot - I am not going to do that as do not want to spoil anything. Just go and listen.

To be fair it has inspired me to re-watch lost before it went weird.

I was given an advance copy by the publisher and netgalley but the review is entirely my own.

First book by Lucy Clark, would definitely try her again.
This book was good and original. It didn't have me gripped needing to know more and there were no big surprises in it, but still enjoyable

Thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook. The pacing was spot on and I couldn’t stop listening as the mystery unfolded in the two separate time lines. Compulsive listening.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lucy Clarke and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.

What a book! Action packed from the first page to the last. This is an all round people pleaser, everyone will enjoy it. It’s thrilling and dark. Can’t wait to read more by Lucy. Thoroughly enjoyed. Lucy Clarke is an author to watch!

An easy and entertaining read. After the promising start the story slowed done, with not much happening. However, the premise was intriguing enough for me to continue reading. The main setting was atmospheric but most of the characters weren’t particularly well developed. There were several twists, although after so much build up the ending was anticlimactic. I listened to some parts of the book on audio and both narrators were excellent.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Fast paced storyline that alternates between two characters. I would never have guessed how it would all play out. Loved the island setting and the different characters involved in the story. I flew through this audio book - great narration.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the audioARC of this book.

The Castaways is one of the best thrillers I have read for sometime. It maintains the pace set out at the start of the book, whereas so many other novels fail to do so. There are many twists and unexpected events, none of which I found far fetched or ridiculous. The ending is also completely believable and left me feeling totally satisfied, instead of my usual frustration of being disappointed after investing in a book that starts off well but peters out.
Erin and Lori are sisters on their way to a remote Fijian island for a holiday. After an argument, Erin fails to make the final leg of the journey, and when the plane crashes she spends the next two years feeling guilty that her sister was lost while she survived. The book has a ‘then’ and ‘now’ approach, slowly revealing information about all the characters and their secrets. I also found the narrators to be excellent and added another level of tension to the storyline.
I will be recommending this novel to book loving friends and family, as well as seeking out other Lucy Clarke books for myself.

A new take on a locked room mystery with the characters being "locked" on a desert island. Moving back and forth between past and present with two different narrators worked well, and it was overall a well written, gripping book, although I did not find the ending particularly "twisty". I listen to the audiobook version of the book which I thought was narrated well.

Interesting plot involving a plane crash on a small isolated island which i guess and could and has happened before. How do the passengers survive, so wanted a happy ending for the survivors. The book switches from current to then (time of crash) with two sisters, one crashed on island and the other who missed the flight giving their account of what happened. Did not like the babyish voice of one of the narrators maybe should have been the same narrator throughout the book. A gripping story with complex characters which kept me guessing. Thank you #NetGalley for the audiobook.

Well! This has really taken me for a ride! It sucked me in and there were all sorts of twists and turns. I don’t think I can mention anything more for fear of spoilers, so I’ll just say wow. Quite a read and highly recommend!