Yet another smash hit of a book!
A read in one go, page Turner that is a book you definitely don't want to miss ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I've read and enjoyed books previously from Gillt Macmillan but unfortunately this latest book wasn't for me.

The synopsis sounded very intriguing. Although, not original I've read other thrillers which a very similar synopsis which I've gone on to really enjoy.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case with this book. I found the characters and the plot just simply okay.

I found myself quite bored throughout reading this book. The plot wasn't as interesting as the synopsis made it out to be.

Another reason I did not enjoy this book was there was no chapter breaks nor did it indicate when the characters perspective had changed. I found this incredibly confusing to read and it made the plot difficult to follow.

Overall, this is certainly not the worst thriller I've ever read and I would be happy to read more from this author in the future but unfortunately this book was a miss for me.

A group of six, three couples, plan a trip to the Northumbrian moors. They will stay at Dark Fell Barn the women, Jayne, Ruth and Emily, arriving first, the men will be turning up the following day as they have work conflicts and other demands on their time. However, when Jayne, Ruth and Emily land at the off-grid retreat they find a present with shiny wrapping and ribbons on the kitchen table, alongside a note saying that when they get to read the note, one of their husbands will have been killed...

Told via multiple viewpoints, one of which was an unknown narrator until near to the conclusion Gilly Macmillan's tale is tense and complex. I had no idea how things would pan out and spent many a minute pondering over the finer details whilst reading. Intense and dark, obsession and a menacing atmosphere assist the clever plotting. 100% recommended I'm left eagerly awaiting Gilly Macmillan's next novel.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Random House UK, Cornerstone/ Century via NetGalley and this review is my unbiased opinion.

I found the premise of the story was engaging, and I read to the end to find out what had happened (and who did what!). I did, however, find I lacked sympathy for most of the characters, and the one I found most interesting (Emily) had the lightest touch. I also found the last part of the book tedious, and long-winded, dragging out who was behind all the things that had gone wrong.

Claustrophobic and tense. Fast paced.

The chapters are soooo long and change perspectives continously without telling you who is who, which is confusing but once youre used to it adds to the fast paced and tense nature of the entire thing.

EXCERPT: Behind her, something approaches, not quickly, but deliberately. She swings the torch wildly in its direction but sees only foliage, teased by the wind. A shudder ripples through her. Lightning strikes, but it only confuses her, white light glancing off every tree trunk, picking out every leaf and thorn and bramble.

She feels spotlit by it, intensely vulnerable, and takes off down the hill, running as quickly as she can, not caring what she steps on, or whether she risks falling. She feels possessed by fear, driven by it. The torch beam bounces, illuminating things at random. A tree, the ground, a face.

Emily doesn't see the log across the lane. Her toes hit it, hard, and she falls heavily. Her phone flies from her hand. For a moment, the large puddle it lands in glows, lit from within, before reverting to oily black. Emily lies still, wet, shocked, cold to her bones, and in the deepest darkness she's ever been alone in. She begins to push herself up and her whole body starts to shake.

A few feet from her, a hand reaches towards the puddle where her phone has sunk, dips into the water, and removes it.

ABOUT 'THE LONG WEEKEND': Three couples. Two bodies. One secret.

Dark Fell Barn is a “perfectly isolated” retreat, or so says its website when Jayne books a reservation for her friends. A quiet place, far removed from the rest of the world, is exactly what they need.

The women arrive for a girls’ night ahead of their husbands. There’s ex-Army Jayne, hardened and serious, but also damaged. Ruth, the driven doctor and new mother who is battling demons of her own. Young Emily, just wed and insecure, the newest addition of this tight-knit band. Missing this year is Edie, who was the glue holding them together until her husband died suddenly.

But what they hoped would be a relaxing break soon turns to horror. Upon arrival at Dark Fell Barn, the women find a devastating note claiming one of their husbands will be murdered. There are no phones, no cell service to check on their men. Friendships fracture as the situation spins wildly out of control. Betrayal can come in many forms.

This group has kept each other’s secrets for far too long.

MY THOUGHTS: I raced through the first two thirds of The Long Weekend by Gilly Macmillan, the story tautly paced, compelling and atmospheric. But then . . . (my hand is doing that wavering thing here) the author started to lose me. It started to get messy and disjointed and, frankly, more than a little unrealistic. Melodramatic is another word that comes to mind.

None of the main characters are particularly likeable. We initially meet only the women: Ruth, a doctor, alcoholic, increasingly paranoid new mother, married to Toby, and whose life is rapidly unraveling; Jayne, ex-army, suffering from PTSD, married to Mark, also ex-army; Emily, the newbie in the group, younger than the others, and married to Paul. The women are together because of their husbands longstanding friendship. These are not women who would ever have been friends otherwise. They are not particularly close and now find themselves in a remote and hostile environment without the buffer of their husbands, recipients of a strange and threatening letter, signed 'E'.

Edie: the only woman in the men's longterm friendship group; at school with them all and married to the fourth of the men, Rob, recently killed in an accident, and struggling to adjust to life without him. Toby, Mark and Paul have formed a protective circle around her, dropping anything and everything to be at her beck and call. Edie is the only one of the wives not going on the retreat. She is upset that the group is continuing with the annual tradition so soon after Rob's death, not even skipping a year. Is that why she has written the vitriolic and threatening letter? Or is there a completely different reason for it?

I loved the first two thirds of this read, and tolerated the remainder of it. Overall it's a good read, just not great like I have come to expect from this author.

⭐⭐⭐.1

#TheLongWeekend #NetGalley

I: @gillymacmillan @randomhouse

T: @GillyMacmillan @randomhouseuk

#contemporaryfiction #crime #domesticdrama #mystery #psychologicalthriller #suspense

THE AUTHOR: Gilly Macmillan grew up in Swindon, Wiltshire and also lived in Northern California. She studied History of Art at Bristol University and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.

Gilly lives in Bristol, UK with her family and writes full time.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Random House UK, Cornerstone, Century via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Long Weekend by Gilly Macmillan 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 is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

Who wouldn't love to get away from the weekend? A break in the country sounds lovely. But when Ruth, Jayne and Emily head off to Dark Fell Barn in Northumberland, a remote barn and the weather changes, no-one is enjoying the turn of events that happens once they arrive.

The story is told from the point of view of the characters, and theres a fair few to keep up with. the main one being Ruth, Jayne and Emily though, with their husbands - Mark, Toby and Paul. But also Edie and Imogen. Edie and her husband Rob used to be friends with the others, until Rob died. And now it’s just her and Imogen, their daughter. She didn’t want to go away on the weekend, but she also doesn’t want the others to enjoy it. The boys and Edie are old school friends, well Paul was their rugby coach and Edie's parents taught at the school too.

Emily is the reluctant one of the bunch, being the late comer to the group, she's younger and finds it hard, with the in jokes and knowing they have a shared history she finds in hard to fit in. But to keep the peace and Paul happy she goes along. As soon as the three women arrive at the barn, escorted by the Farmer who owns it, John Elliott. They know it was a mistake going. No phone reception, the husbands are due to arrive the next day. And when then find a package left by Edie, is when it all really starts to break down.

Superbly atmospheric, scene setting, dark and thrilling, what ever you think might happen, won’t. Gillian Macmillan builds tension using the characters, whose combined lives can’t help but thrust the story along. Which all adds to the story and pulls the reader in.

2.5 stars

It was a very strange kind of book. I really do love when there are multiple points of view. I think it adds a lot to the book and how I perceive it and the characters in it. Having all that in mind “The long weekend” should be just on the spot for me. Well, it entirely missed the point of multiple characters having their say in a novel.

It drove me crazy that there are no obvious parts in the book. No real chapters. The parts that were happening in different places and times weren’t very much separated either. However that might have just been a case of an unfinished version as my book was a eARC. That’s fine. What I cannot stand though is the way this book was written. Changing point of view in the middle of a conversation from one character to another? And two sentences later it’s yet completely another person? That doesn’t make any sense at all and just creates unnecessary confusion. I would accept that if it was an exceptionally good book or if that changing point of view this often was justified by what was happening in there. Neither of those two was true so I suppose it was written this way utterly to make it hard on readers.

Apart from that, I couldn’t really connect with any of the characters. After reading a whole book I don’t even know much about them. Neither do I care. There were so many of them, speaking over one another, that from time to time I wasn’t able to tell who’s with who and how that relates to the plot. The author made them virtually as uninteresting as possible and her description of their actions didn’t have much to do with who they were supposed to be. I think that was the main source of my confusion over them. There wasn’t any connection between who they are and what they’re doing. If that was put deliberately to make it harder to guess who’s the bad guy in all this mess, well, it didn’t go as planned. At all. Most of the time I was bored with what’s happening and felt nothing in response to neither good nor bad events unfolding before me.

I’m a little bit afraid that “The long weekend” is the case of a book that just wasn’t for me. From the blurb it was looking interesting enough, but in the end I couldn’t stand the way it was written and it ultimately rendered me indifferent to anything that was happening there.

I am maybe a bit fed up of stories where friends go off for a weekend/ holiday/ cruise and the friendship fails dramatically and unpredictably ( is that even a word?). This book was more of the same with a few added extras and a lot of unrealistic behaviour in the face of potential disaster.
I’m not sure if the lack of chapters was deliberate or just because my copy was an ARC but I hope the latter because it was very off putting.
Some of the characters had real potential but the scenes with Edie are practically comic.

I really enjoyed this book, just the suspence i needed to get into....Front the first page i was gripped and couldnt put it down until id finished reading. I felt i was sitting on the edge of my chair all the way though, loved the twists and turns love the way it made me feel the excitment. It was a fast paced book .

This was my first book from this author and certainly won’t be my last!
This was a fast paced physiological thriller that’s has some great twist, dark moments and is very tense.

The plot was very well thought out with brilliant atmospheric description.

I struggled a little with not having any chapters as such, having to re read the line before to know and make sure I had read the last ‘chapter’ and I didn’t really warm towards or route for any of the characters except for Imogen.

If your looking for a fast paced page-turner with a who is it feel right to the end then this book will certainly be for you.

I am definitely keen to read more books from this author in the future!

Thank you to @netgalley and @centurybooks for this gifted ARC

Can’t wait to get a physical copy of this book, it is striking and draws you in which is what you want. Although it is what’s inside that matters and that’s also fantastic.

Three couples. Two bodies. One secret.
Dark Fell Barn is a “perfectly isolated” retreat, or so says its website when Jayne books a reservation for her friends. A quiet place, far removed from the rest of the world, is exactly what they need.
The women arrive for a girls’ night ahead of their husbands. There’s ex-Army Jayne, hardened and serious, but also damaged. Ruth, the driven doctor and new mother who is battling demons of her own. Young Emily, just wed and insecure, the newest addition of this tight-knit band. Missing this year is Edie, who was the glue holding them together until her husband died suddenly.
But what they hoped would be a relaxing break soon turns to horror. Upon arrival at Dark Fell Barn, the women find a devastating note claiming one of their husbands will be murdered. There are no phones, no cell service to check on their men. Friendships fracture as the situation spins wildly out of control. Betrayal can come in many forms.
This group has kept each other’s secrets for far too long.

This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own hone\st voluntary review.

I have read a few books lately about friends away for a weekend and strange things happening. This is a good plot but a little far fetched. It also seemed a little off that four couples who have been fiends and holidayed for years all fell apart at once. A good, twisty read nonetheless. A few red herrings to throw the story and provide a punch.

3 women head off for a long weekend (with their husbands to join later), the same as they do every year, but this time they are one couple down since the husband died in a tragic accident. They are staying at Dark Fell Barn, a completely isolated 'retreat' in acres of farmland. A package has been left for them that changes the course of their trip and what follows is an unravelling of secrets and search to find out the truth.

This book is told from numerous different points of view and initially it is hard to follow. Once I got a better understanding of who all the characters were, it became much easier to read.

This is the kind of book that leads you in one direction, only for events to take a turn in the complete opposite one! I enjoyed the character depth and found myself reading faster and faster to find out what had happened.

Overall, I enjoyed this and will look to read more titles from this author.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC in return for an honest review.

This is fabulous in my opinion! It doesn’t have chapters, and the storylines switch every few paragraphs- this would normally confuse and really annoy me but it doesn’t in this book - what it does is intensify the story, it makes me panic a little bit, keeps me on my toes and slightly frightened ALL OF THE TIME!!

The plot just twists and one minute I think I know what’s happening then the next sentence absolutely throws me.

It’s absolutely brilliant! Read it!

My thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review

Three couples are meant to be enjoying a weekend away in a remote cottage, but the men all have things come up and are running late, so the girls travel together the day before the men. They are all looking forward to a nice weekend away, but they soon realise that they aren't really all friends and that they may not know each other as much as they thought they did.
Their weekend takes a very quick turn as soon as they arrive at the cottage, as they are met with a letter telling them that one of their husbands is already dead. With no phone reception and no way to get back due to horrific weather, they are left panicking and trying what they can to get to the bottom of things.
I love the twists and turns that happen through the book and it really kept me on the edge of my seat. Some things may have been a bit far fetched but it was still really enjoyable, and it kept you guessing all the time about what the truth actually was.
I would definitely read another book by Gilly Macmillan.

When Ruth, Jayne and Emily arrive at the isolated cottage they have booked for a couples getaway weekend things soon go to pieces. For one reason or another, all of their husbands have given them excuses for not making it the first night. The couples often head off for time out together and have done for years. One of the group hasn’t been invited this year, she was the only female friend of the three men that were all mates at university. She used to bring her husband along to these getaways but they all feel awkward since he died, so she has been left out.

The weather has taken a turn for the worst, and the reception for their phones is non-existent. They haven’t got their own transport and was taken to the cottage by the owner. When they arrive, they find a note which tells them that one of their husbands will be dead by the time they are reading this. They don’t know how to take this, is it a sick joke? As time goes on, they begin to panic and wonder if it could be their husband that could be dead, or even is it their husband that has left this note, which could make him a murderer! It’s going to be a long night.

This story takes no time before you are dragged into the mystery, as it is told by each of the characters, including the person responsible for the note. You don’t know who is behind this voice. It is a small cast of characters in the story, so you don’t get confused about who is married to who. Each tells their life and why things are changing now.

The thing about the women at the cabin is they have only joined the group through marriage to their partners. They wouldn’t be friends if not for their husbands. As the story unfolds, you get to know how each couple tick.
I enjoyed this story and loved playing the who’s done it myself. I liked how the author let me know certain things, clues that the other’s didn’t have, although to be honest, there are some pretty creepy characters in the group to start with, once I was inside their heads. It is a chilling read, not knowing who is doing what. Fabulous story. Loved it!

I wish to thank Net Galley and the publisher for an e-copy of this book that I have reviewed honestly.

This was my first time reading any books from Gilly Macmillan and I think it was a great start! A weekend that's gone wrong, told by different PoVs (I always need a bit to get used to the different characters) and kept me turning the pages. Thanks for the opportunity to read this ARC.

thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for approving me for this arc

I really wanted to enjoy this book and I did for the lost part but I didn’t enjoy that there wasn’t any chaptering to the novel so it was a constant run on which I’m not a fan of. Overall the book was good and I enjoyed the narrative of it