This was a bit on the bonkers side of being a bit of a farce in places but it was a cracking romp nonetheless and which kept me entertained as I was reading it. It also had me rolling my eyes too at some of the sucker punches the author delivered along the way. You could say it was deliciously over the top in places but it crossed the line so far that it actually came back into focus.. if you get what I mean!
So... three couples book a weekend away at a remote barn. With no easy access, no wifi or phone signal. And then, one by one, the men drop out of coming until the next day, leaving the three women on their own. Oh and there's a storm brewing. What. Could. Possibly. Go. Wrong?
But, wait. The go wrong has gone wrong already as, on arrival, they find a note from the widow of the fourth couple who made up the "gang" with a rather chilling message...
Firstly I have to mention the format of the book which I can see not being everyone's cup of tea. There are NO chapters. There are natural breaks where the book changes from one perspective (character) to another. But these aren't always easy to get to grips with initially and it did take me a wee while to work out what was going on and who we were with. But... once I got that down, it was relatively easy to follow for the rest of the book. Oh and my further advice is that you write down who is who and what if you, like me, often struggle with a large cast all introduced at the same time.
The story that goes along with the veritable cast of eclectic characters is, as already mentioned, a bit bonkers. A bit "carry on" does psychological thriller in my opinion. There are lots of secrets and lies and a healthy dollop of dysfunctional behaviour thrown in for good measure. We also have a pretty big dose of "dupe the reader" which was done well enough not to irk me too much. But it is well enough plotted to be at a pinch credible, albeit at the same time a bit fanciful too. You'll understand that better once you have read the book, trust me!
All in all, an entertaining read that kept me nicely occupied for the time I spent with it. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Enjoying some well-earned time away from work and family commitments with good friends in a remote cottage or barn conversion sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Unfortunately for the friendship group in The Long Weekend, this being a Gilly Macmillan novel, their planned weekend get-together will be far from cosy and relaxing, and any walks either treacherous or unnerving at best. It may even be a matter of life and death, as they’re about to discover.

Shortly after the three wives are dropped off at the barn, they find a note telling them that one of their husbands has been murdered. It’s revealing to see how they take this news and the way in which each responds. We start to get a feel for their characters and how different they are. Their husbands should be joining them the following morning but with no phone signal or internet, they’re unable to check in with them. Does the note contain a genuine threat or is it a hoax? Should they venture out to try and get a signal or go down to the farmhouse for help? Or would they be better off staying put and seeing if some or all of the men arrive as arranged the next day? What would you do in their situation?

As Gilly Macmillan takes her reader through the tumultuous and disturbing first night of the women’s stay at the barn, things rapidly begin to unravel. Gilly Macmillan whips through events at breakneck speed. It’s as wild a ride as the storm which blows in and batters the Northumbrian hills and moorland. Every time one of the women ventured outside, I felt as if I were out there with her, battling through the elements, while trying to keep our nerve. And the chill from the wind and lashing rain wasn’t the only thing which sent shivers down my spine. I also felt a creeping sense of unease about what seemed to be someone’s sick and incredibly cruel game being conducted entirely at their expense.

The storm’s impact outside the barn is mirrored by an equal amount of devastation within. That sinister welcome note sets the women’s minds racing and worries, doubts, fears and suspicions soon surface, again giving us more insight into who these women are and their relationship dynamics. It also understandably creates tensions among the three of them and we begin to get an idea of the faultlines within their relationships with each other and those with their husbands. It seems they don’t know each other as well as they thought they did. And perhaps that’s not entirely unexpected. They each have their secrets and particular blindspots, even newcomer Emily, who otherwise seems more perceptive than either Jayne, who’s been trained to detect them, or Ruth, who’s become practised at hiding some of her own.

In addition to this main story, there’s also the more poignant one of the farmer and his wife, which provides yet more opportunity for Gilly Macmillan to add to the confusion of the weekend, while also contrasting the friends’ weekend retreat to the countryside with those who’ve worked the land for years. And, linked to what’s playing out here on the Northumberland hills, the 17-year-old daughter of a mutual friend is caught up in a bewildering and frightening situation of her own, one where she also finds herself questioning her own judgement and who she can afford to trust.

Gilly Macmillan’s moorish mix of long-hidden secrets, lies, and obsession together with a particularly wild and stormy night on the Northumberland moors all combine to upset the equilibrium of this once close friendship group and their wives, exposing their weaknesses and vulnerabilities. The Long Weekend‘s master manipulator makes full use of these to toy with her characters and her reader. For that title belongs to the book’s author, rather than its villain here. Gilly Macmillan cleverly orchestrates things, switching between storylines, feeding us just enough information to keep us hooked throughout while wanting yet more answers, and stumbling over clues in a frantic bid to work out who was behind everything. She teases, wrong-foots and fiendishly ramps up the tension before the final reveal.

The Long Weekend may have felt excruciatingly long for the women in the book. (I felt as if I got to know them better than most of the men.) It was anything but that for me. I devoured this in three deliciously greedy gulps. It’s such a compelling read and one I’d heartily recommend, although perhaps not when you’re on a weekend away with friends…

Three couples, each with their secrets and weaknesses, are booked into a creepy barn conversion for a weekend. Only the women make the journey for the first night and are immediately put on edge by a threatening note.

The story is told from several points of view, but once I had images in my head for the characters, the novel became quite the page turner. There are scenes which stretch credibility, but that’s fine because this is fiction, after all.

This is an enjoyable and gripping suspense thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance copy of this novel.

Fast-paced, clever, twisty, atmospheric and suspenseful- The Long Weekend is another great thriller from Gilly Macmillan! Told from different viewpoints, the plot is deviously good and the characters are wonderfully flawed. Loved it!

Thanks to Random House UK, William Morrow and Netgalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this gritty novel

a weekend away with friends is just what the doctor ordered and for these couples it is very much needed but things dont go as planned from day one

at the arrival they are greeted with a letter and a bottle of wine but upon opening the letter the 3 girls were horrified to read that one of their husband would be killed and to make matter worse the weather had made leaving impossible for the night

a well thought out book with many scenarios in it..i for one am glad none of my weekends away with mates end up like this one did

Well this was certainly different - what complex characters and I just had to keep reading to find out what was going to happen. I do admit the writing style did confuse me a bit as I wasn't sure sometimes on the timeline, but that all worked out for the best in the end.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and so glad I read it. Really need to read more by this author now that I have read this one.

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

This book is quite dark from the start although it does have some moments of humour. It keeps you guessing throughout and has a few red herrings thrown in. I loved some of the twists. I am not sure that I really warmed to any of the characters but I am not actually sure that I was meant to. There were a few different agendas going on! Overall though it was a good read.

I shall begin by saying that if you like chapters in your books, then this one may not be for you. It is written as the Friday and the Saturday with a small epilogue at the end. Gilly also interlinks everyone's telling of the story, so at the start it is a bit convoluted until you get your head around all of the characters and where they might be! After that, it becomes a thrilling read and all the time you are having to guess who is doing what to whom and thrown in for good measure is a host with dementia!. This book may not hit you from the off however if you give it a few chapters, then you will have a great read.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC to review.

My first book by Gilly Macmillan and definitely not my last. The book was a well-written, creepy and intense psychosocial thriller that was difficult to put down. Sometimes a bit confusing but overall it was a great read.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Random House UK/Cornerstone for the ARC.

I found this a difficult read as it was not made clear who the narrative was so very confusing.
Three friends head to an isolated farm for the weekend and their partners were to join them the next day but they received a letter off another friend saying by the time they read this letter one of the husbands will be killed.
Which one can it be, no one can get a telephone reception to find out.
Trying to get to the nearest farmhouse was a bit far fetched to believe and the characters were not likeable but the twists were good.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is, without doubt, a tense and twisty ride. It’s filled with flawed characters and I had no idea how the story would pan out. From the start, there’s a sense of claustrophobic atmosphere as a group of women arrive at a remote holiday rental; their husbands are due to join them. There’s a storm, no internet or phone coverage and the setting becomes darker and fragmented as one by one, husbands fail to arrive and a death threat is received.

The characters are well developed although I didn’t really warm to any of them. The strength of the story is not being able to predict the ending and it’s well written to set your pulse racing in a few places. The narrative point changes frequently and sometimes it’s not clear that it’s switched. Once I realised this, I skipped through it almost like an observer watching a drama unfold. Overall I enjoyed it.

My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.

Creepy and tense. A perfect book for me. I’m glad I wasn’t on this weekend. It will keep you gripped from start to finish. Lots of sub plots and lots of different characters. I’m not sure I liked any of the characters but they were certainly interesting! 5/5.

This is a quick read the story is fast paced with lots of twists and turns told from different characters points of view. There are no chapters so when the character changes quickly it can be a bit confusing to start off with.

Three friends are on a weekend away in a converted barn on remote farmland in Northumbria their husbands set to join them the next day. A parcel has been left with a note that unsettles them all. With a storm coming in and no phone signal how will they deal with it, is it just a hoax or something more sinister?

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK for the ARC

The Long Weekend is an accomplished, well paced thriller. Mark, Rob, Paul, Toby and Edie have been a gang since school. Edie and Rob married and the others all found partners of their own. Over the years they have always got together for a long weekend somewhere remote. However, this year nothing is the same. Rob died in a freak accident and Edie doesn’t feel she can join them. The other women travel ahead of their husbands, arriving in the middle of a storm -when they get to the cottage they find a note saying “By the time you read this I will have killed one of your husbands”.
This sets off a chain of events as the women desperately try to contact their husbands, and Rob and Edie’s teenager daughter, left behind in Bristol, finds herself in terrible danger.
The Long Weekend is one of those novels that you race through breathlessly trying to work out who is who and what their motives really are. It’s a great fun read with a ending where everyone is in peril and you have no idea how it is finally going to resolve.
My only issue with it is the layout, there are no chapters and the POV changes from character to character with no warning. It may add to the pace but I found it really irritating.
Thank you to #netgalley and #randomhouse for allowing me to review this ARC

I really enjoyed this, a pacy, twisty thriller that had so much tension! The scene setting was great, especially around the barn in Northumbria and the characters well drawn. The storm and terrible weather really add to the drama and it builds and builds. Slowly the darker sides of the characters are revealed with each twist in the story. Fast paced and very readable, recommended.

Every year four couples get together for a weekend away – until four couples become three, when Rob sadly dies in a terrible drowning accident, leaving Edie a widow and a single mother. When the long weekend comes back around, the three remaining couples decide to book a getaway to Dark Fell Barn. An isolated Northumbrian barn located on farm land owned by the Elliotts and used as a holiday rental to bring in extra cash.

One by one, the three husbands of the remaining couples – Mark, Toby and Paul inform their wives that something has come up and they won’t be able to make it until the following morning. The group of men, Rob and Edie are old friends from boarding school – leaving their wives, Jayne (ex army intelligence) Ruth (a GP and struggling new mother) and Emily (a much younger new bride and newest member of the group) to travel up to the barn alone and to spend their first night away alone-together. After a long awkward journey, the three women finally arrive to find a ‘gift’ and a note that is to set the women against one another and potentially change one or more of their lives forever.

“Hi ladies, Your weekend starts here! I hope you have a great time! I didn’t come along because I know i’m not welcome. This is goodbye. I’m going away. But I wouldn’t want you to forget me. By the time you read this, i’ll have killed one of your husbands…”

I did like this book, it was atmospheric – especially at the barn, it was full of twists and definitely kept you guessing throughout the book. One major twist though was so changing to the beginning of the story that it was difficult to imagine it differently after the reveal. In places the book felt a bit disjointed but that could have been due to the fact I was reading an arc that hadn’t been fully edited yet. It was so difficult to determine who you’d switched to when POV changed but this sorted itself out after a while. All in all, I did enjoy this book and the finally was pretty good.


Three and a half twisty stars ✨ rounded to four stars 🌟
My thanks to the author and Random House UK for my gifted copy to review via Netgalley.

The long weekend is a mystery thriller set in a harsh and claustrophobic setting. The characters are compelling and completely flawed. It will keep you captivated and wanting to know what happens next. Slightly confusing at parts, over all I give it a solid 3.5 stars!🌟

Gilly MacMillan’s The Long Weekend is a great page turner. It isn’t especially novel in terms of the premise, but it is, in the main, well executed.

Maggie and John are farmers in a pretty remote location. John is staryting to show signs of Alzheimers and Maggie is trying to secure their future by focussing on providing quality holiday and short break lets in their converted barn.

One of their first set of guests is a party of friends whose husbands are all old school friends, but the wives know each other much less well. Emily, Jayne, and Ruth arrive in advance of their husbands who are set to join them the next day. Ruth is a new mum to Alfie and a doctor with a secret she is trying hard to hide from everyone. Ruth’s husband, Toby has seemed remote since their son was born. Emily is younger than the other women doesn’t have much in common with them. She’s married to Paul and is really quite insecure. Jayne used to be in the army and she’s finding it hard to adjust to ‘real’ life. She’s married to Mark.

Edie should have been with them this weekend, but her husband has recenty died and instead she’s left a special message for the women. By the time they read her message, she will have murdered one of their husbands.

Trying to shrug off the message as some kind of perverted joke, the women try and settle in to Dark Fell Barn. But as the night progresses and they feel the oppressive weight of being stuck in the wild and on this occasion, very stormy, moorlands where mobile phones have no signal and they are cut off from civilisation. The women grow increasingly concerned to try and find out if their husbands are alive.

Thus begins a rollercoaster of a story with many twists and turns as we see the women unravel and their deepest fears, secrets and flaws are exposed.

The Long Weekend is told from multiple points of view, and sometimes this does get confusing because the voices were not always as distinctive as I might have wished. These are not immensely likeable characters either. It’s hard to feel much empathy for any of them. But these are characters who stick in the mind and Gilly MacMillan does dark and brooding psychological suspense well.

Full of twists and turns this is an eerie and atmospheric read and there are some excellent surprises which lead to a startling, tense conclusion.

Verdict: A solid mystery which challenges assumptions and delivers some really unexpected moments.

I loved the premise for this story and was excited to start it. I found it a little slow initially and overly long. It took me a while to get involved and connect with any of the characters. There are no chapters in the book and the book switches between characters points of view very suddenly which I found confusing! I found myself having to reread parts to work out who was who which then detracted from the pace of the story.
By the second half I was gripped by the storyline however and I had got used to the sudden change in POV. The tension was at breaking part! There were secrets being uncovered on every page and twists at every turn which were hard to predict. Each character was quite flaky, flawed and unreliable so it was hard to know who to trust. I enjoyed constantly having to reconsider as I read!
Overall this was an enjoyable dark tense thriller. I think it would make a great film.

This is a good read.
Three women travel to a remote location for a weekend away in a converted barn.
Due to several reasons, their husbands are now going to be joining them the following day.
On arrival at the barn they receive a letter containing an ominous message saying one of their husbands is dead and they all hope it's someone's idea of a bad joke.
Things go downhill from here for the group with lots of drama and tensions are very high.
There are no chapters in this book, just breaks in the paragraphs and it chops and changes as to who the paragraph is about, and did become quite confusing. I don't think this was helped by all the different characters in the book as you had to keep refreshing your memory about who was who.
Overall a good read though.
Thanks to Random House UK and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.