I enjoyed the book and read it very quickly staying up late to finish it - always a good sign. Being drip-fed Sarah, an ex-marine's back story was a bit annoying; the reader could have been told at the beginning. It wouldn't have made any difference. I also thought the feminist angle was overplayed. I had assumed the book was written by a woman. It was still a good read with an actioned packed ending.
This is an honest review of a complementary ARC.

A locked room mystery aboard a luxury super yacht. Sarah is a marine who is aboard the yacht for insurance purposes as a crew of pretty unlikable people are delivering it to Antigua. The crew are odd and have secrets and stories of their own, some simmering away.

Very tense, very claustrophobic, despite the story being set on a luxury yacht. A real page-turner.

Thank you to Net Galley and to the publishers for the advance copy.

I really enjoyed this book and absolutely loved the main character - a strong, independent female who has her own issues but gets on with it. The constant feeling of impending doom and that something wasn’t quite right made me feel unsettled and on edge as I was reading it. The twists and turns kept me guessing until the end which was a bonus. Thoroughly recommended.

The premise sucked me in and I couldn't resist the superyacht setting - perfect for a locked-room whodunnit. I'm more of a psychological suspense reader which is probably why the Die Hard reference went over my head
but would recommend this to fans of plot-driven, action-based thrillers with a kick-ass female main character.

Great book, a little bit different from the usual. Some strong female characters who made the story for me.

I’d like to thank Jen from Michael Joseph for contacting me to take part in this blog tour.

This story follows the journey of Sarah, an ex-marine who is struggling following a traumatic event, who is hired as security on board a super yacht. Whilst trying to fight her inner demons Sarah befriends the different crew members and sets to work. I liked Sarah and was intrigued by her back story, her combat skills were also very impressive and I liked how quick thinking she was.

This one did start off a little slow for me, I was waiting for the first passenger to disappear and started to question when it would happen? However when it did happen the whole book seemed to take off and the action just kept coming.

I honestly didn’t know who to trust on the yacht. Everyone seemed to have an agenda and motive, each one as unreliable as the next. Sarah certainly had her work cut out for her, trying to figure out what exactly was happening onboard The Escape. I did have a few inclines along the way which turned out to be correct but I loved following the breadcrumbs left by the authors.

As everything was building up the ending proved to be as explosive and dramatic as I had hoped. Each scene played out in my head like a movie so I’m pleased to see the movie rights have already been secured.

If you love a thriller that keeps you guessing and has you more twisted than a game of Twister then this is for you! Entertaining, engaging and explosive!

This is a fast paced and different murder mystery. I really lived the setting; onboard a luxury yacht en route to Antigua. Plus, there’s a very strong female lead in the ex marine who’s aboard as a favour to a friend. She’s providing security, but she’s anticipating a bit of relaxation and down time to recover from past events. Things start to go wrong aboard very quickly and Sarah realises that she’s going to have her work cut out when there’s a death.

The passengers are, by and large, an odious bunch, but very well depicted and the real intrigue in the story is the locked room mystery. Someone on board is a killer and it’s a race to find the culprit. The plotting is detailed and with twists and an explosive finale, this kept me gripped right from the first page. A cracking thriller which I really enjoyed.

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

A fabulous fast-paced read that will keep you guessing till the end.

Sarah, a former marine, takes on a job as security on a superyacht. She takes on the job to help out a friend, in the hope, that it will be an easy job and provide some recovery time for her. The yacht is on its way to Antigua, a drop-off for the millionaire owner.

The ship sets sail ahead of schedule with a number of maintenance issues. Then things start going wrong and people start to disappear. Sarah has her work cut out to work out what is going on and to try and save the day.

I loved this book, it keeps the tension up to the end.

Thank you to #NetGalley for my advance copy of #AStrangerOnBoard by CameronWard
Ex marine Sarah French is employed as security for a super yacht sailing across the Atlantic with a skeleton crew to its new home.
No one really knows why a security detail is required until strange things start happening, equipment going missing or being damaged.
Then the first death, but who is behind it and who is next.
Hugely enjoyable, another author to add to my must read list.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is a difficult one for me to review as I very much found it to be a book of two halves. One half of which I didn't really enjoy.
When I started this book I was completely invested and transported onto this super yacht (which I had a very clear picture of a certain Russian Oligarch's yacht in my mind!) Whilst I have no interest in boats and/or sailing I found it to be interesting and I was really enjoying it.
I liked the characters, who came across as real.
Then this book took a turn and I didn't enjoy it. First off, does it need to be 400 pages? NO.
I didn't enjoy the small sub plot of romance which felt shoe horned in and it really didn't need to be there as I felt there was no connection between the characters it involved.
I also felt like I was reading and reading but not really progressing through it. The pacing needed to be a bit faster for my taste.
Then came the final third of the book in which I lost all interest. The story turned in a way I wasn't expecting and I think this is what spoiled my enjoyment. It felt like it went from a mystery to an action film.
I also found it hard to care about Sarah's backstory and found myself skipping over those parts.
Overall, this started off great and I was loving it but then it unfortunately turned out to be a bit of a let down

This story got off to a slow start and I wasn’t sure I was going to see it through…

That being said I did really enjoy the main character, Sarah. She was a reason why I kept on reading, she had some depth and I was interested to see where it was all going.

What is the story line had picked up, it was very fast paced which kept me reading. However, the plot is very unrealistic to me.

I also guessed one of the largest twists, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it didn’t shock me.

I’ve gone with a 3/5 for this book. Didn’t laugh it didn’t hate it… I probably won’t go around recommending it.

Interesting setup, the whole thing is very atmospheric set at sea and I enjoyed our protagonist. In a lot of ways it reminded me of the BBC show Vigil. Unfortunately it just took so long to really get going that I wasn't as invested by the time it did. But it's nice to see such a well developed cast of characters, considering there are quite a few. And it certainly did build up some decent tension.

Full marks to Cameron Ward for giving us a female lead who can mix it with the best, spoiled only by hobbling the ex-Royal Marine with a host of weaknesses that detracted and distracted somewhat. However, for readers looking for an action thriller set on a boat adrift in the middle of the Atlantic they will find something that appeals in ‘Stranger on Board’. The action sequences are particularly well described and as credible as you will typically find in this genre. As noted above, whilst PTSD is a terrible scourge affecting former servicemen and women, a little less angst about our hero’s problems from her service in Afghanistan and a little less distraction from a never quite realised flirtation on board would have improved the narrative. All in all, though, this is a book that was hard to put down as the violent denouement approached. Recommended.

Sarah is struggling with past events that led her to leave the marines, so when her friend and ex-marine Mitch offers her an easy post as security officer on board a super yacht as part of a relocation she agrees. After all, it's just for insurance purposes, there are no guests and it'll give her time to sort out her head...won't it?

Quickly things start to go wrong, they leave in a hurry with the engineer not happy with the ship or the captain's decisions, the bosun has been fired prior to sail and why is the man in charge of the owners assets so keen to leave anyway? Then a crew member goes missing...tragic accident or something more sinister?

This book is terrific! My absolute favourite film is Die Hard and I felt there were a few nods to it? It's fast paced, well written, the characters are likeable (or not!) and I devoured it in days. I'd never heard of this author before but I will definitely be keeping an eye on them now. So...can we make this book into a film now please?

#netgalley #cameronward #astrangeronboard

Also posted to Goodreads - cannot link account.

I felt this book started off well but kind of dipped about a third of the way in and didn’t pick up for me really until the end which was action packed then. I found i had worked out who the baddie was quite early on and I never really took to Sarah or the story behind her and Kay. I would read books by this author again as I did really enjoy the action at the end. Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the early copy of this book.

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. A luxury superyacht. And a killer picking you off, one by one...
When ex-marine Sarah French joins a luxury superyacht as on-board security, she's excited to get her life - and career - back on track.
Surrounded by crystal waters, it seems like the perfect place to start over.
As they head into open water, though, tensions between the crew quickly build. And when someone goes missing, Sarah has a terrifying realisation.
One of them is a killer. All of them are suspects.
To protect the other passengers, Sarah needs to uncover the killer's identity, and return the boat safely to shore.
But there's a storm on the horizon - and not all of them will make it out alive...

This is a thrilling 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 honest voluntary review.

🌟An engaging, entertaining thriller!
🌟It took me by surprise after a somewhat slow start, why is a 4 not a 5🌟 read for me! But when the action arrived boy you better hold on because it doesn't let up again until the end.
🌟Sarah is a tortured heroine who you can't help but root for... Who can she trust? What's going on? Will anyone get off alive?
🌟Cleverly written with all the breadcrumbs there for you to solve the mystery. I did but I didn't mind at all on this occasion clearly all reading all that Agatha Christie lately has paid off 😉

📖 Read this is you loved The Castaways by Lucy Clarke or Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins

I'll be keeping my eyes peeled to see what Ward brings out next!

A fast paced thriller and I could see this working on the screen, but it's obvious to the reader who is behind everything going wrong on the luxury Yacht, Escape, even though we don't know why. Although that doesn't really take much working out. Plenty action, but not so much intrigue. A good enough read. #netgalley #astrangeronboard

This was a book which built up the suspense and kept you reading. It was very exciting and I throughly enjoyed it. It made a change from my usual reads so I enjoyed it much more. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Sarah French an ex-Royal Marine, has suffered a traumatic experience and left the service. A friend of hers gives her a security job on board a superyacht that is being moved with a skeleton crew from Europe to the Caribibean. Sarah wonders if she can use this time to get her head straight and perhaps catch the sun.

Then things start to go wrong. There is an unexpected guest, who insists on traveling with them. The captain wants to get to the destination quickly but there are problems with the engines, plus there’s a storm bearing down on them. The drinking water is sabotaged then the engines, and the captain goes missing.

Sarah is called on to deal with the situations and put her Royal Marine training into use, but can she trust the crew after all the disasters that are befalling them?

It was an interesting book, though took it's time going as we got to know the characters on board the yacht. The action was good at the end as we discovered why things were going wrong.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.