Seit ich „One of The Girls“ von Lucy Clark gelesen habe, bin ich Fan der Autorin, und habe mich über dieses Vorab-Leseexemplar sehr gefreut (danke an HarperCollins und Netgalley!!!). Und ich sage gleich: Wow, auch dieses Buch war genial! Richtig genial packend, von Seite 1 an war ich direkt dabei und gefesselt bis zum Schluss.
Hierum geht es auf Deutsch: Es geht um eine Wandertour (klar: The Hike), und zwar sind wir in Norwegen. Maggie, Liz, Helena und Joni kennen sich seit Schulzeiten, und fahren einmal im Jahr gemeinsam in den Urlaub. Mittlerweile sind sie um die 30, aber die Freundschaft hat gehalten, so unterschiedlich die Damen auch sind. Dieses Jahr ist Liz an der Reihe, den Urlaubsort auszusuchen, und entgegen der Strand- und Partytradition der vergangenen Jahre will sie wandern gehen. In Norwegen. In den Bergen. Liz‘ Ehe ist gerade dabei, den Bach runter zu gehen, und sie braucht eine Auszeit, und muss den Kopf klarkriegen. Und was ist da besser als Wandern? Und so finden sich die Freundinnen in einer Lodge im hohen Norden wieder, ausgestattet mit Outdoorklamotten und Equipment, und mehr (Liz und Joni) oder minder (der Rest) begeistert treten sie an, um in der Wildnis einen Berg zu besteigen und einen herausfordernden Trail zu laufen.
Und gleich zu Beginn des Buches wird eine tote Frau am Berg gefunden…….
Die Autorin erzählt nun abwechselnd aus der Perspektive der 4 Freundinnen von der Wanderung, und blendet immer wieder den Erzählstrang um die tote Frau und deren Bergungsaktion ein. Das ist ganz clever gemacht, denn wir sind so immer auf dem Weg gemeinsam mit den Mädels, und rätseln nebenbei, was mit der Toten ist, und vor allem wer zum Henker sie ist – sehr spannend erzählt. Natürlich werden zum Ende hin die beiden Fäden zusammenlaufen, und es wird noch mal krimimässig richtig packend, denn, wie sagt schon der Klappentext, da ist ein Mörder unterwegs auf dem Trail…..
So eine gemeinsame Reise alter Freundinnen bietet per se immer viel Erzählstoff, und das erinnert auch ein wenig an „One of The Girls“, auch da sind alte Freunde zusammen unterwegs, aber hier wird gewandert, und wer schon mal eine mehrtägige Wanderung unternommen hat, der weiß, bei so was geht es ans Eingemachte. Wandern ist anstrengend, und vor allem in unwirtlichen wilden Gegenden reduziert sich schnell alles auf die Grundbedürfnisse des Lebens. Wer an seine körperlichen Grenzen geht, der hat nicht mehr allzu viel Etikette zu bieten, und so werden auch hier einige Masken fallen. Ja, die Mädels lieben sich, aber auch sie haben alte und neue Geheimnisse und nicht immer ist es schön, wenn diese ans Tageslicht kommen. Ich fand diese Interaktionen sehr sehr faszinierend. Ich persönlich liebe Hiking, und habe auch schon diverse ähnliche Trips hinter mir, und konnte mich komplett in die Szenerie reinversetzen. Die Autorin hat das alles echt gut beschrieben: die wilde Idylle, die Natur, die Herausforderungen am Trail, und die Gruppendynamik, die sich bei sowas fast zwangsweise entwickelt.
Natürlich ist auch der Krimi spannend, der sich erst am Rande anbahnt und dann allmählich immer mehr Raum einnimmt. Gut geplottet, fand ich glaubwürdig. Aber für mich war der Reiz die Beschreibung der Wanderung. Wer jemals schon mit Blasen durch die Berge gestolpert ist, ist voll und ganz bei Helena 😊, und hat jemand schon mal eine Tour organisiert, und musste seine Mädels permanent motivieren, dabei zu bleiben? Liz hat zu kämpfen…!
Ganz davon abgesehen, auch Couchpotatoes werden die Story lieben, denn das hier hat echt Action, Thrillerelemente, ungeahnte Plot Twists, glaubwürdige Charaktere und ein permanentes Spannungshoch. Richtig gutgeschrieben, richtig cool erzählt. Alle Daumen hoch!

The Hike starts simply, an unidentified woman who had fallen down a mountain in Norway. It's an introduction that whets the appetite. It teases that someone knows what happened to her, and that they may have a reason to avoid telling anyone else exactly what happened. Meanwhile, the reader is unclear who she even is. And then you're introduced to a group of women from England embarking on an annual reunion-esque holiday and you're set for adventure. The broody brothers in the lodge where they stay. The woman who went missing a year ago. The inevitable bad weather and unheeded warnings... There's nothing wrong with leaning into tropes though, and having read some of Lucy Clarke's work before I remembered her ability to add a little extra spin to her storytelling that delivered a nice sense of satisfaction.

What unfolds is pleasant and enjoyable. The plot thickens like the fog. There are a number of teases about who the fallen woman might be. A number of incidents that could spiral out of control. Chapters are headed my the character taking the lead of the narrative, which actually feels unnecessary - when they are apart the perspective is clear without the heading, and when they are a small group up a desolate mountain they don't have much that is unique to share. In truth, you just read past the headings. They are just a flourish that doesn't actually make a difference to the story. Which is the general issue I have with the book - it tries slightly too hard. Not uncomfortably so, it doesn't ruin the core story, it's just that parts feel too forced and lack the subtlety that could elevate this story much more. Think of those moments like a forced television cliff-hanger tempting you back next week - you know the trick being play and that makes it lose impact. You're tuning in next week because the real story is still interesting, more despite the cliff-hangers than because of them.

It makes for a light read. I'd call it a holiday book but the snow storms won't suit many relaxing on a sun lounger. But it'd still suit reading on an airplane or suchlike. It's a book you can graze comfortably and enjoy. It won't change your life, but it'll keep you entertained. Because the fallen woman? The realisation of who she is still delivers the payoff. It's a good book, it just feels like one where less could be more at times.

Having read Lucy Clarkes books for years I always eagerly await her latest and this one definitely did not disappoint. Lucy researches her book locations with her family and shares her experiences on her social media pages so when I read this story I felt like I already knew the area.
Liz, Helen, Maggie and Joni have been friends since school and always take time out of their busy lives for an annual holiday to catch up with each other. Usually it is a relaxing beach vacation but this year Liz opts for a hiking adventure on the Svelle Trail of Blafjell Mountain. Not all of the women are keen and lapse in the fitness plan Liz has set them so they will be prepared for the arduous trek that awaits them.
They arrive to the wild beauty of Norway not aware that darkness is lurking nearby as they are caught up in a suspicious murder.
My thanks to Net Galley and Harper Collins for the ARC of this thoroughly enjoyable tense and exciting book.

The book starts with a dead woman’s body in the Norweigian mountains. And we also have four girlfriends from the UK go on a dangerous hike in Norway. Which one of them ends up dead?

If you like a good thriller with multiple POV, this is a great book for you. I enjoyed the mystery, the dipiction of nature and mountains in Norway and all the drama the four women dragged onto the hike! The pacing was great, so I wasn’t bored, but it wasn’t too fast for me to understand each character. The twist was good too (it didn’t blow my mind, but good). All in all, this is a great thriller I can recommend!

I really enjoyed this book! I loved hiking in Norway so could really relate. The character’s stories blended well together and I’m always a fan of a twist too! Would recommend :)

I picked up The Hike on a whim, in the mood for a thriller, and I got hooked from the start, pulled into the story and unable to put it down until I reached the end. While perhaps not the most surprising in terms of plot, this is still a book that had me on the edge of my seat.

The story follows four friends who, on their yearly holiday together, decide to go for a hike in Norway. First things first: the blurb makes it sound like the murder happens while they’re on the trail. It does not. The murder has happened well before they arrive, but they find themselves somewhat embroiled in the aftermath while on their hike. I say this vaguely, because I feel it best to go into this book without spoilers. Having started the hike, they find themselves in more than a spot of bother and it’s at this point that the thrillingness kicks in. (I told you, vague.)

There are two specific things that Lucy Clarke does so well here. Firstly, she gives you a group of friends with gripes and grudges and secrets and she makes you, okay if not care about them, then feel compelled by their relationships. How does it end between them? You want to know so you keep reading, so you can find out if they repair their relationships or if there’s some deeper secret going on there. On top of that, you want to find out what exactly is going on with the side characters, who keep showing up rather mysteriously.

The second thing is in how well she ratchets the tension up. Even though I wasn’t entirely sold on the writing style (just a personal thing), I ended up giving this one 4 stars simply because the thriller aspect of it was so good. This was a thriller that genuinely thrilled me, so much so that I found myself devouring it quicker and quicker the more I read.

This, then, was a book that convinced me to dig into the author’s backlist a little more. When next I’m in need of a thriller, I’ll certainly be looking towards Lucy Clarke.

Best friends, Liz, Joni, Maggie and Helena decide on a hiking trip in Norway for their annual girls holiday. They set off not knowing what to expect, but soon their trip takes a sinister turn.
Lucy Clarke has a way of writing that transports you right to the beautiful landscape of Norway with characters you can’t help but love and twists that will keep you guessing until the very end. She is fast becoming one of my go-tos for when I want an edge of your seat thriller. Thank you to Netgalley for the change to read this.

Having enjoyed another of Lucy Clarke's books, I was keen to read this one and I wasn't disappointed!
Four old friends gather for a hiking holiday in Norway, but as they begin their walk things quickly go wrong. From the start of the book we know that a woman's body has been found, but we have no idea initially who she is, how she ended up there or who was responsible.
The story is fast-paced and full of action and lots of twists and turns, as old secrets come tumbling out. I liked that different sections are told from different characters' perspective and it made it a gripping read.

A story told from four peoples points of view. We’ll written. I highly recommend this well written book

Lucy Clarke does it again! Having devoured her previous novels I was hungry for this one and it did not disappoint! All the twists and turns we've come to know and love from this author, with an added shot of Cheryl Strayed 'Wild' realness.
Spent Saturday night with this book, a glass of wine, and my comfiest PJs. The perfect Saturday night!

Lucy Clarke is one of my favourite authors, as such this book piqued my interest and it didn’t disappoint! I highly recommend The Hike, especially if you love a gripping mystery or thriller and enjoy a book that keeps you on the edge of your seat!
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this brilliant read 📚

A group of friends want to try something different for their yearly holiday - or Liz, an exhausted GP who has discovered how walking can cure all her ills - does anyway. I mean, it’s not the obvious thing to switch from a sunny beach holiday to wild camping and climbing a mountain in Norway - but her friends (somewhat reluctantly) agree to join her.

This novel is similar to other Lucy Clarke novels I’ve read. Four middle aged women, well out of their comfort zones negotiated their friendships - can you really still have enough in common with people you met at school as you near your 40s? And what is everyone hiding? There’s Maggie, leaving her young daughter for the first time - and leaving her with no prospect of contact for the week (a bizarre choice in my opinion). Helena, too scared to take a pregnancy test before she leaves - mainly because she’s pretty sure it’s positive. Liz, the aforementioned GP, on a temporary separation from her husband and of course Joni - the rock star (because who doesn’t have a rock star in their group of childhood friends!!)

If you can suspend your disbelief for long enough, it’s a good tense read - and escapism. It doesn’t seem ‘real’ in any way - Maggie is a doppelgänger for a woman who went missing a year ago on the mountain - what are the chances? But I’m not sure this sort of book is ever supposed to be realistic, so it’s enjoyable anyway!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for the digital ARC. This review will be posted on instagram (@chloekreads) and Goodreads on the 14th April 2023.

Maggie, Helena. Liz & Joni are old school friends, and their annual holiday takes them to hike in the Norwegian wilderness. But there’s a killer on the trail, and nothing goes according to plan…

This novel was gripping from start to finish. Even before the hike began, Lucy’s writing had me intrigued from the first page. But once the hike had begun, I could not put this book down - there were new twists and turns in every chapter, and Lucy Clarke’s beautiful writing of the Norwegian wilderness kept me fully immersed in the story. I cared deeply for the characters as I progressed through the novel and explored the intricacies of their friendship, and I felt for them when things began to go wrong. I particularly enjoyed the ‘The Search’ chapters, which really added to the atmosphere and mystery of the story.

5 stars, a must-read for anyone who loves thrillers!

3.5 stars

If I had to sum this book up in three words, it would be ‘so much drama’.

The story follows Liz, Maggie, Helena, and Joni as they head to the mountains in Norway for their yearly girl’s trip. Unprepared both physically and emotionally, their trip moves from bad to worse thanks to fractured relationships, creepy side characters, a mysterious disappearance, and a battle with the elements.

Despite there being some unnecessarily chaotic parts, I enjoyed this more than I anticipated. Lucy Clarke is great at shifting the story from a slow opening to a tense page turner that you can devour in one sitting. I also really like the way she describes the setting – both here and in The Castaways. She is great at putting you there alongside the characters and whether they’re in awe or in fear of their environment, I can imagine it so vividly while reading.

A highlight for me is how she uses multiple POVs to her advantage. Very quickly, each of our characters are established and it’s easy to understand their insecurities and quirks. While Joni and Liz are more defined, I still appreciate the situations that were causing chaos in Helena and Maggie’s lives. The POVs also give us insight into the disappearance of a young woman, build great tension and have you flipping pages long after the twist has been revealed.

The only reason I’m not rating this higher is because of an issue I also had with The Castaways – I don’t like the way the last act comes together. The pacing feels rushed as we approach the end and there is more info dumping than needed. I also find that the final ‘twists’ as such are a bit meh but that might just be me.
Overall, The Hike is an easy read with lots of drama and a stunning backdrop. A great place to start if you’re looking to ease into the mystery/thriller genre.

I was looking forward to this book after loving The Castaways and One of the Girls. I didn’t hate it but I wasn’t gripped, and I’m not sure why but the four friends started to irritate me. Some very stupid decisions were made. It was well written and easy to read but the plot seemed a bit over the top to me. Maybe I’m just not keen on books set in cold countries. A decent read but I wouldn’t gush about it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the electronic copy.

The Hike by @lucyclarke_author

Thank you Lucy, @netgalley and @harpercollinsuk for my ARC copy in exchange for an honest review ...

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I am going to do my best to review without giving too much away as I believe you should go in blind with this story!

I will start by saying I absolutely LOVED this!! Lucy has a way of making you constantly change the way you think .... One minute you think you have it figured out then .... Bam ... Something happens and you're like ohhh maybe not.... but then again ... I was going round in circles at one point with it 🤣🤣

There is trauma, devastation, mystery, thriller and some really good dynamics between certain people.

There was one twist I didn't see coming .. well not in the way I expected it to go 😅

I absolutely love the snippet at the beginning of what's to come but you only get a glimpse of what's coming.

The whole atmosphere of the book and certain scenes are written so well you feel fully immersed in where they are and you can imagine the scene in perfect clarity! The spooky bits had me on edge!! 😬😅

I also love the ***** chapters in between the girls chapters ... Teasing us as we go!

The emotions are so strong I really felt for certain people 🥺

If you love a good mystery, thriller which throws you through loops then I highly recommend!!

#netgalley #arcreader #harpercollinsuk #lucyclarkeauthor #lucyclarke #thehike #bookstagramuk #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookphotography #booksbooksbooks #mysterybooks #thrillerbooks

I found The Hike somewhat of a mixed bag. As always with Lucy Clarke’s writing, the characterisation was well done and I felt I knew and understood each of the four women intimately. The sense of tension that builds as it becomes clear how woefully underprepared they are for the mountain climb was well done, too. However (and this is a MAJOR SPOILER so don’t read further if you don’t want to be spoiled) the reasoning Joni gives for sacrificing herself for her friends - basically that their lives are more important because they have children - is grossly offensive. I wouldn’t have minded so much if this was interrogated or critiqued by her friends after the fact but nope.

Lucy Clarke is an auto-buy of an author for me. I really enjoyed her previous books, especially One of the Girls, so was super excited to get my hands on this and am happy to say this was a brilliant read. I was hooked through and through; and there was aplenty of twists and reveals.

This follows four friends - in their thirties - who annually travel together. It’s their only chance to get together like the old times. But as you can imagine with such old friendships there’s bound to be room for resentment and jealousy, as well as insecurity. This time Liz has chosen the destination: hike a famous mountain in Norway. The story opens with a prologue - a woman’s collapsed body lies at the bottom of a mountain; she’s been hiking. But did she fall or was she pushed?
Set over a couple of days we watch the four female friends trek up the mountain. There’s another mystery threaded through of Karin, a young local woman in her twenties, who hiked the same mountain with her boyfriend Erik but he returned and she disappeared, never to be seen again. It’s not long before disaster strikes and there’s a storm and the four friends find themselves stranded. Pent up emotions will come out but in such enclosed and dangerous territory, they can have deadly consequences…Interspersing the main hiking narrative is that of Leif, who manages the ground hotel and monitors hikers coming and going through his logbook. Leif has been told about the woman’s body (referenced in prologue) and sets about getting help. Much of the mystery is juxtaposed alongside the main story to build suspense as the reader is eager to learn the identity of the hiker.

I really enjoyed this. Friends travelling together with resentment and pent up emotions is catnip for me. It’s one of my favourite tropes in the mystery/thriller genre. In Clarke’s previous two novels, she explored Thailand and Greece. Here she explores Norway and she builds the setting exceptionally well. The fjords are atmospheric and dangerously looming, full of secrets. But most importantly I loved the dynamic between her four female characters, who feel real and unique. Each character is fleshed out and relatable in their own way. Their chemistry, their secrets, their bickering, but their love for each other underpinning everything else is so well executed and relatable. The way you hurt those closest to you in the most painful ways. I particularly loved the argument scenes between Helene and Joni, whose relationship reminded me of my sister. Parts of the story do follow the usual plot setups you can see in this genre and there were times when the story became a survival story with the suspense starting to lag at times, but the short chapters and multi-POV really helped zip the narrative along and was compelling. I couldn’t put this down. 4/5.

Maggie, Liz, Helena & Joni. Old friends bound by history, adventures, old secrets. They lace up their hiking boots for the adventure of a lifetime in the Norwegian wilderness, the perfect place to lose themselves...

I'm a huge fan of Lucy Clarke and I thought this was another strong novel from her. I loved the vivid descriptions, the wildness of the mountain and the sense of unease created as the friends made their way on the hiking trail. The four main characters were really well developed, I could picture them all clearly, and I loved finding out more about their history. The beginning was a little slow as the characters were introduced, but it picked up pace really well. The ending was maybe a little too neat, but I really enjoyed the story overall, and Lucy Clarke will always be an auto-buy author for me!

Four old school friends hiking in the Norwegian wilderness on an adventure of a lifetime, what could possibly go wrong? Everything!
An adventure thriller with a dramatic atmosphere that is pacy and engaging. It’s the friendship between the four women that makes the book with each of them bringing their own motivations and issues to the trip.