This is a re-release of one of John Marrs’ earlier books, 'Welcome to Wherever You Are.’ It’s a bit of a slow burner but is a good read.
Venice Beach is a hostel in Los Angeles which is a bit rundown but many travellers use it as a place to stay.
The story is centred around the hostel and there’s quite a lot of characters to get used to. At first I found it a little confusing, trying to keep track of who is who but soon got used to it.
Not too much happens in the first part of the book but it definitely gets going in the second half with a few twists in store.
This is another great read from John Marrs.
Thanks to Pan MacMillan and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am a big fan of John Marrs books so was super excited to have the chance to review this one early. It is a re-release of one of his older books, 'Welcome to Wherever You Are' which I had not read

Venice Beach is a hostel in Los Angeles; run down and in desperate need of repair, yet frequented by many backpackers and travellers looking for a cheap place to stay. The Vacation follows several characters during their stay at the hostel, delving into their mixed and often torrid pasts.

At first I found it a little confusing, attempting to keep up with the varied characters. It is not unusual for John's books to follow multiple characters at once but in this case, only did they have their own storylines, but the timeline also jumped backwards and forwards, diving into their past and present. As usual though his characters were so vivid and distinct that I soon got the hang of it.

The Vacation was a slow burner compared to his other novels - at about the 50% mark I realised not a lot had happened, yet I was intrigued all the same. By 70% I couldn't put it down! I didn't predict any of the twists and turns and as always was mesmerised by the clever way he weaves his characters and plot lines together.

Not my favourite John Marrs book but still absolutely worth a read!

I was hooked from the start and although there are a lot of chapters, they are short, snappy, and drip feed you just enough information to leave you wanting one more chapter.
The beginning is a slow burn, but from about 40% I couldn't put it down.
Marrs is the king of cliffhanger chapter endings and is without a doubt one of my favourite authors.

The Vacation is based in a hostel in Venice Beach, Los Angeles. We meet many different characters who are staying here for varied reasons. As we learn about them their character's come to life and we find out they are all running away from something. Each persons story is amazing. I really enjoyed this book, it kept me engrossed all through and I really recommend it.

Welcome To Wherever You Are is a book I read that has now been retitled The Vacation but I think I prefer the original title if I’m honest.
This book has a lot of characters in it, there are eight main characters and at the beginning it did take me a while to figure out who was especially the male characters. I liked how all the characters had a story to tell, some were more exciting than others and some had a resolution to their problems by the end of the book. I liked how each character had its own chapter and there was always a part of it where we were taken back to a tragic or happy point in their lives enabling the reader to identify with the character better and to realise what they were searching for.
I enjoyed this read and liked getting to know all the characters and the twists along the way kept it moving and made it an interesting read. It makes you realise that you never know what someone has dealt with in previous years of their lives and to what affect it has had on them now.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! I was honestly gripped from the very first page.

Another gem from John Marrs.

Following the stories of various people & seeing how their stories intertwined.

I enjoyed the short chapters as it helped to remember who was who & made the whole thing fast paced.

The twists were fantastic & I didn't want to put this one down!

5🌟

John Marrs has only gone and written a masterpiece of a book!

This book is absolutely brilliant and SO complex! John Marrs has taken on a beast of a storyline and chosen to create a plethora of complex and interesting characters. He honestly deserves such credit and acknowledgment for just how much he’s created because it’s one thing to attempt what he’s done, but it’s quite something else to pull it off! So we’ll done John and thank you!

This book, as you may know follows the story of: Nicole, Eric, Tommy, Marty, Declan, Savannah, Ruth and Jake. But it doesn’t stop there! We also have the main characters associated AND owners/management of the hotel. Each chapter follows a different character. The first half of the chapter is ‘present day’ and the second half gives you their timeline up to the moment that they arrive on Venice beach.

Each character not only has their own reasons for ending up at Venice beach, but they also by some weird kind of fate… are part of a 3 degrees of separation.

John has taken ALL this on and made an absolute tomb of a novel that is both gripping, heartbreaking (yes I cried!) and just a delight to read.

Thank you SO much NetGalley for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review. If you’re wondering if this book is for you? Just try it! You won’t regret it!

This book is being re-released under a new name and I had an early copy to review from netgally. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. The book is about 8 characters who end up at a backpackers hostel in Venice Beach and all are running from something in their past. Maybe there could have been a few less characters to maintain the focus but I enjoyed the fast pace and change of storyline as we learnt about each person's past and where they are now. There were lots of twists along the way and the book kept me gripped until the end. I will definitely be reading more by John Marrs.

Unfortunately The Vacation just wasn't for me. There were too many characters that I found myself getting confused throughout and the story seemed a little drawn out in places too.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

3.5 stars.
This was previously published under the, in my opinion better, title "welcome to Wherever you Are" and that book has been languishing on my tbr for quite a while. So, when I saw it was being reissued I decided it was high time to get round to completing my John Marrs back catalogue (this being the only one I hadn't read). It seems that my reticence might have been justified (although how to know) as although a solid enough read, I thought it wasn't nearly as strong as the rest of his books. I think maybe because I didn't manage to connect with enough of the vast cast of characters, some of whom weren't as well developed as I would have liked them to have been. I think, for me anyway, there were simply too many of them and their stories weren't as well developed (a bit hit and miss all told) as they could have been if there were fewer and had more time (word-count).
So... it all revolves around a rundown hostel at Venice Beach LA and the people who choose to lay their heads there. All for various lengths of time, all for different reasons. All the characters we meet have something to hide or something they are trying to escape from. Or someone. It's jam packed full of secrets and lies and dysfunctional behaviour. A rum bunch for sure.
So it all kinda goes like this... we meet a character in the now and then we cut to show a bit of their past. All the way through. Rinse and repeat. A bit episodic in nature and a format that would lend itself well to the screen. Was it written that way with that in mind? The characters interact and share some of their pasts. Friendships are formed. Secrets are outed.
Don't get me wrong, there are moments of real genius in the twists that occur but, probably due to the sheer quantity of dysfunctional characters all with twists and secrets of their own, the punch is somewhat diluted. I wonder if the book would work better if the cast was thinned down a tad and those left better developed? Also, I would have liked more of a major storyline rather than a bunch of minor ones, albeit interlinked on occasion. Often to me it read as a bunch of short stories all linked together by the setting. Maybe this lack of a main story also led to the fact that I wasn't wholly satisfied at the end. But one miss doesn't dilute my appreciation of the author and would not stop me reading his future books. This one sadly just wasn't for me.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Really enjoyable story with so many indiviudal stories running through out.. This book keeps you on your toes and unable to put it down for needing to know what happens next!

This rattles on at a breathtaking pace. There's so much happening in it I thought I might lose track, but I managed to keep up and thoroughly enjoyed doing so. I remember not getting round to reading it when it was first out under its original title Welcome to Wherever You Are, I'm glad I've done so now, although I think the original title works best. John Marrs is such a versatile writer.

How far would you run to escape your past?
I was hooked!
This is the story of a group of travellers from a hostel in Venice Beach who all have secrets in their past.
Twists, shocks and sunshine make it the perfect summer read.

Excellent read ! Hooked from the first page right through to the last! A thrilling physiological tale with twists and turns you won't see coming!!

Genre: Adult Fiction | Thriller | Mystery

Released: Expected 24th June 2021

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Previously published as Welcome to Wherever You Are



Content Warnings: Racism, Guns, Drugs, Alcohol, Graphic Violence, Rape, Assault, Death.



The tourists that cover the golden sands of Venice Beach, Los Angeles are dreaming of suntans, holidays and Hollywood - full of people who come together from all over the world to have fun.

But for eight perfect strangers an unassuming seafront hostel full of free beer and complimentary cockroaches, the only thing that will bring them together is secrets. And even with the sun shining outside, there are things following them in the shadows that they're still running from.

And they'll do anything to escape them.



There's a difference between tourists and travellers - someone who's been travelling for long enough can always tell. Whether they're trying to find something or running away from something, there's something keeping them moving. From trying to solve clues an old friend left, running from a dangerous enemy or trying to escape death itself, our strangers all have a reason why they've ended up at the Venice Beach Hostel.

Told from multiple points of view and multiple timelines - The Vacation could have easily been confusing but it was so masterfully crafted that it was so easy to follow and each character had such a distinct voice and personality that every single person was memorable long after the last page. Each of them had their own mysterious background and trauma they were dealing with, some of them intertwining in ways they'd never expect until it was too late.

Now, this hit really heavy in places - from violent racist fathers to brutal assaults so it's definitely not for sensitive readers. But this was a perfectly wrapped mystery - sinister and absorbing right until the last word.



RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to John Marrs, Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for this ARC in return for an honest review.

EXCERPT: 'So you are never curious how Joe's life became such a waste?'
'Who are you to judge him? Just because he hasn't got what you have doesn't mean he's wasted it.'
'He's got no money, no home, no family . . . Nobody deserves that.'
'But a man can live without all those things. And you have more in common with him than you think.'
'Please enlighten me, oh divine oracle.'
'Neither of you has any freedom.'
'Well that's crap. I may not have much money but I'm not a slave to my next fix.'
But you're not free from the limits you set yourself either. You're one of the most uptight, frightened little shits I've ever met. You went travelling to escape something - that's clear - then you separate from your friend and you end up here where you hide in the margins, never in the middle of the page. You're too scared to embrace freedom . . . you're like a fish in a bowl looking out towards the ocean but too gutless to make the jump.'

ABOUT 'THE VACATION': How far would you run to escape your past?

Venice Beach, Los Angeles. A paradise on earth.

Tourists flock to the golden coast and the promise of Hollywood.

But for eight strangers at a beach front hostel, there is far more on their mind than an extended vacation.

All of them are running from something. And they all have secrets they’d kill to keep…

MY THOUGHTS: I never did the backpacker experience when I left school. It wasn't much done back then, so I enjoyed this experience. I like stories where a disparate group of people are thrown together. I enjoy the dynamics of them all getting to know one another.

In The Vacation we are introduced to eight characters who are staying at the same hostel in Venice Beach. Their stories move between the current time and the past, as the reasons behind their travels are slowly revealed. It is all a bit disjointed in the beginning, and it doesn't really come together cohesively until two thirds of the way through the book when things begin to get really interesting. So be patient.

The characters, although all running from their pasts for various reasons, are all very different and easily distinguishable. It really is no mean feat to be able to tie together this number of threads without it becoming confusing, but John Marrs succeeds admirably.

There were a few things that initially puzzled me, but the author ties everything up before the ending. There are plenty of twists and turns, especially in one of the threads. Every time I thought I had that storyline figured out, Marr would double back on himself and disrupt my theories.

While The Vacation is not the best book I have read by this author, it is entertaining and enjoyable.

⭐⭐⭐.8

#TheVacation #NetGalley

I: @johnmarrs.author @panmacmillan

T: @johnmarrs1 @PanMacmillan

#contemporaryfiction #crime #familydrama #mystery

'...trying to second-guess a crystal meth addict was as pointless as giving a dog a Rubik's cube.'

THE AUTHOR: After working as a journalist for 25-years interviewing celebrities from the world of television, film and music for national newspapers and magazines, John Marrs is now a full-time writer.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Pan Macmillan via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Vacation by John Marrs for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon and my webpage

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book.

This book has a number of different characters and they all are hiding something.

Set in Venice Beach and in a rundown hostel . Read as it unfolds.

How far would you go to escape your past?

I struggled for the first half of the book as found all the characters confusing but was hooked in for the second half.

⭐⭐⭐ From me.

Wow! What a twisty read this was. So many characters, so many back stories, and yet John Marrs ties everything up so neatly at the end, leaving me fully satisfied.

This is a book about eight strangers from different walks of life whose paths briefly cross at a shabby hostel in Venice Beach, California. Each with their own troubled past to come to terms with, new friendships and alliances are formed, while dark secrets slowly reveal themselves.

This book kept me engaged and on my toes from start to finish. It’s only my second John Marrs but will most certainly not be my last.

The vacation is set in a hostel in LA featuring numerous travellers who all seem to have one thing in common. They are running away from their past and have something to hide.

Told from numerous viewpoints and both in the past and present, this could easily have been a quite confusing book but it’s very easy to follow. Credit for the writing and story structure on that point.

The characters are mostly interesting, some a little stereotypical and some just 2 dimensional and a little silly(the Australian girls story was incredibly silly, unbelievable and didn’t really have a place in the book).

For three quarters of the book it’s a very entertaining read even accounting for some shortcomings. The final quarter let’s it down badly where everything is wrapped up in a bow for you with everyone’s story resolved and unfortunately mostly ludicrously.

A couple of characters felt very clumsily written. Eric, a pain from the start. Who in their right mind would have him as a best friend? I know it tries to explain itself away towards the end but he was the most annoying one dimensional character in the book. It really took away from that story arc.

Also the Dutch guy. The Confucius style musings towards the end were sugary sweet nauseating. Another really poor character.

Despite all that, I enjoyed the book overall. It was just let down by a poor final act and some ropey story decisions and characters.

The ask to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

This is most definitely a novel, but it is almost a book made up of separate stories, all set around a traveller's hostel in Los Angeles.  Some of the stories are about people who find themselves staying at the hostel to escape from events in places they have left behind and there are also the back stories of the people who work at the hostel.  Because there are so many characters with their own tales to tell the first half of this book is a little slow going, but once you get to know everyone and their past lives start to unravel the action really picks up.  The characters are all fantastically fleshed out, even the hostel which is a character in itself.  A quick read broken in to short sharp chapters (more than 150 of them) and a perfect book for a bit of summer escapism.