Another clever psychological thriller that I couldn’t put down.

The premise is incredible and so creepy, it draws you right in and some scenes gave me actual goosebumps.

You will love the ending, it’s so well written and worth it!

A few years back The Nothing Man and 56 Days by this author,made my top 5 and 10 books of that year respectively. The Trap is right up there with them.
I read the last 3 chapters of this book twice..
There was a complete loop back to the start and I was sure I'd read something wrong. I hadn't. This is how it's done. It's very clever and I most certainly(I think that's obvious!)did not see that coming.
Lucy has been without her sister Nicki for over a year,when one night Nicki met friends in Dublin and never made it home. The third woman to vanish without a trace in as many years. Lucy is tormented by her sisters disappearance and is taking it upon herself to find our what happened.
Angela works at a desk with the missing peoples unit,but her mission is to work as a Gardai..when she finally passes the fitness exam. With her great skills and eye for details the lead detective on the case borrows Angela,seeing her potential,to help on the case of these missing women.
We even hear from the killer himself. Driving to his destination with a victim in the back,telling her all about his other victims as they have lots of time on the drive. This is such a sinister and creepy part of the book,its so well done.
You'll be completely hooked with this one...and then .....wait,what?...did that just happen? Yes. It did..and we end up where we started.
Totally recommend this psychological thriller from one of the best on the go. Great job CRH.

*I also listened to this on Audible..and at the end there's a 15 min or so afterword from Catherine herself. She speaks about the influence for the book,which was the "Vanishing Triangle" of the latest 80s/90s. High profile cases of missing Irish women from Dundalk/Wexford/Offaly.*
BOOKWORMS RATING: 📒 📒 📒 📒 📒

Great read. This author’s books just keep getting better and better. This book is brilliantly written with such clever twists and turns all the way through. I am not prepared to say anything else as I don’t want to risk any spoilers but honestly if you love a good thriller then you definitely need to read this.

I must admit I’ve been struggling with this review from the moment I finished the book. Such an intricate plot, with so many surprises! The story starts with a very creepy encounter between a young woman and a man, on a dark rural road in the middle of the night. From then on, I was hooked. I read the book in one sitting and had to take some deep breaths after finishing it.
From the blurb it sounds as a straightforward story, where Lucy goes out each night to try and find her missing sister Nicki. We learn Nicki is not the only young woman disappearing over the past few years, and ‘of course’ the police doesn’t have a clue. So far, so good. We get to read the story from multiple POV’s, including that of the killer and it’s also set in multiple timelines. However, for me, the way the author slowly unravels the real story behind the story, was breathtaking. I became a little suspicious nearing the end, but I never guessed the real final twist in the plot.
A very creepy and dark story where many characters have their flaws and make bad decisions, but this add to the depth of the story.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for this review copy.

Catherine Ryan Howard knows how to write a gripping thriller! The trap is no exception. I was enthralled from start to finish.

I love the dual narrative, as well as the dilemma of working out who is a reliable narrator…

Twists and turns a plenty, alongside enjoyable characters, this book is brilliant.

The ending is in some ways infuriating, but that mirrors the reality of many female abductions.

Brilliantly written, I flew threw it.

Lucy cannot accept that she will never see her sister, Nicki, again. Nicki disappeared after leaving a group of friends on a night out. So far the Garda don't seem to have a clue so Lucy sets out on the dangerous quest to find her sister's abductor. Each night she walks the lonely lanes waiting for someone to stop to offer her a life. Will it be a good Samaritan or will it be 'him'? The Garda have not forgotten about Nicki, along with her there are two other women missing. Operation Tide is working hard on it, Denise Pope is committed to finding out what has happened to them, but admittedly without much success. Angela is a civilian working in the Garda station. She longs to be a Garda herself but failed the physical last time. Lucy, Angela & Denise are voice of the story along with the abductor which all makes for an absorbing tale.

I really enjoyed the author's '56 days' but was disappointed with 'Run Time' but this one was a really good read. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

Mind blown 🤯🤯🤯 = my reaction after this story!

Catherine Ryan Howard has a way of spinning my head and fully pulling me into her stories, more than any other thriller authors I’ve discovered.

As a huge fan, I was going in to this with BIG expectations, worried it wouldn’t pull through the way her last few books have - but oh, I was wrong.

Not only was that opening chapter chilling, the stories & POV’s that followed throughout the rest of the book were intricate & weaved in a way that I genuinely felt like a part of the story.

I was gripped & ready to see how it unfolded, and wanted answers just as much as the main character and police presence.

Well, without spoiling anything.. I was NOT ready for where the story went.

I usually dislike when I see too many posts about a ‘BIG’ twist before I read a book, as my expectations then sky rocket before I even begin.

But nothing could have prepared me for what The Trap had in store. I didn’t see it coming a mile away, and honestly my jaw was on the floor for the last 15-20% of the book.

You may have heard about the ending not being everyone’s taste. It definitely is a love or hate kind of ending.

I saw Catherine say recently, she likes books that invite her to meet them on the page. To get involved, question everything and think about the book long after. And I couldn’t agree more.

This is a book that I will be thinking about for a LONG time, and constantly changing my narrative on where I think the characters are now.

Once you welcome the open ending, and step back. You’ll truly see the way in which it’s up to you to piece it all together. Though the answers are weaved throughout the pages!

It was the kind of story, I HAD to go back and read sections to see how / why I missed certain twists & narratives coming.

Excited for Catherine’s next piece of work, is an understatement!

Have read all of Catherine Ryan Howard's books and this one is no exception
Catherine has a way to completely drag you into the story, which then emerged into a good thriller which is full of twists and turns
You are then left hanging for more - is there going to be more ...............

When Lucy's sister Nicky becomes one of several women who have gone missing in similar circumstances, she is determined that she won't be forgotten about, even if it means putting herself in danger.

Angela is working on the civilian missing persons unit, still dreaming of becoming a member of the An Guarda Siochana, when she uncovers a clue in the case of the missing women and is taken under the wing of spiky lead detective Denise.

The story follows both Lucy and Angela as they try and find the culprit before any more women are taken, and there is a third narrative from the adductor, giving a well-rounded look at this story. It was a slow-burn to start with, setting the scene, but the gradual ramping up of tension is worth it for the ending.

The Trap by Catherine Ryan Howard is a terrifying account of a number of women going missing in Ireland and the reaction of their families, local police and society.

Lucy is the despairing sister of missing women Nicki who disappeared almost a year ago. The Garda appointed family liaison officer has been unable to offer any positive information on her disappearance of the disappearance of two other girls for whom a special operation Tide has been set-up to investigate.

Lucy is offered some hope by a journalist which Lucy is giving careful consideration.

The Trap is a fictional account of the disappearance of women unrelated to the actual disappearance of a number of women who did go missing in Ireland. Ryan Howard's story is terrifying in parts and cruelly emotional in others. The failure of the Garda to solve these cases has very negative impact on the families, some more than others.

This is a skillfully plotted narrative with a number of unexpected twists as you would expect from an author who has surely confirmed her reputation as one of the most successful crime writers in Ireland.

The Trap was a good psychological thriller about a girl who is searching for her sister who disappeared the year before, the police and the press don't seem to take it seriously even though other girls have apparently gone missing as well, As a story it was going well until the last few chapters and then I was like " what have I missed something " and then it ended. I've since come to understand that this novel was inspired by Ireland's vanishing triangle mystery from the 80's and 90's where several young girls disappeared without a trace, but this could of been better explained.

You can rely on Catherine Ryan Howard to offer you an original and distinctive take on criminal activity. This book has narratives from a number of different perspectives, but the key ones are Lucy, the sister of Nicki, a missing girl; Angela, a would-be Garda, currently a civilian working for the An Garda Síochána Missing Persons Unit. The third main voice is the killer.

The author tells us in her postscript that the book was instigated by six missing Irish women who disappeared during the 1990’s and whose disappearances, because they were on the edges of society, were never investigated.

Lucy O’Sullivan’s sister, Nicki, went missing from her home in Dundrum. Her mobile phone was left behind and she has never been heard from again. She left behind her boyfriend Chris who shares, platonically, a house with Lucy. Lucy is struggling. She’s broke, feeling terrible about her sister and desperate to do something – anything – to find her.

Lucy couldn’t get the Garda interested in doing more than a cursory search for her sister. Then a teenager, the beautiful, middle class Jennifer Gold vanishes and her well connected mother makes it her business to ensure that the Garda are looking for all the women who have gone missing. Dubbed Operation Tide, this investigation also takes in Tana Meehan, a woman who left her husband Roland Kearns because of his propensity for domestic abuse.

Detective Denise Pope has been assigned the role of Family Liaison Officer for Lucy and for Roland, and it’s fair to say she’s not won over by Roland’s manner.

Pope takes civilian employee Angela Fitzgerald, under her wing and knowing her male colleagues aren’t the biggest thinkers in the unit, the pair quietly set out to investigate the women’s disappearances.

Howard’s characters are always interesting and I enjoyed Denise’s sarcastic view of the Grada patriarchy and Angela’s naïve but intelligent perspective. Howard’s killers are pretty much always chilling, but the more so because she makes them so matter of fact. They are ordinary people leading ordinary lives all the while plotting and executing the most awful murders.

Lucy though is still frantic and does not see much progress being made in the search for Nicki. So she has adopted her own pretty risky strategy for trying to find her. And when one of the last hopes she had for a clue to where Nicki might be disappears, she takes the riskiest step of all.

As ever with her plots, Catherine Ryan Howard takes us on a very twisted journey, building the tension, laying false clues and thoroughly mixing things up. I’m not sure there wasn’t a little too much of that as I thought the pace slowed a bit in the middle and could have been speeded up somewhat.

This is a topical exploration and we understand the ways in which the press and the Garda react – true to form and often horribly predictable and misogynistic. It’s a reflection that is as chilling as Howard’s plot.

Verdict: Always an enjoyable read, Catherine Ryan Howard brings her considerable characterisation skills to bear, creating a clever, twisted and chilling plot that left me, as ever, impressed by her skill and imagination.

Catherine Ryan Howard is a master of the thriller twist. This story had me turning the pages. I could not put it down. With every twist and turn I needed to know where this story was taking me.

All the characters had distinct voices and the tension that was built through their differing points of view gave you the impression that you are not quite sure who is a reliable source. Keeping you guessing until the very end.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the eArc. This is a firm recommendation as one of my favourite thriller reads this year.

A dark,chilling,ever changing,complex story built on a great premise that has some sterling characters in it ( Margaret Gold for one,there could easily be a book just on her ),I liked the fact that I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on for a lot of the book ( I mean that in the good way ) and the author kept the intrigue and mystery high throughout
Some fairly horrific descriptions of kidnap that made me wince and an unsettling perp who tries to justify what they are doing in various ‘chats’,very calculating and very scary as they try to give reason and gain understanding for there evilness
A bit of a quiet ending maybe after the loudness that came before but altogether a good read worthy of anyones time
The authors letter to readers at the end cane as quite a surprise…….

Catherine Ryan Howard is an amazing author. I didn't love her last book 56 Days but holy dooly, this one was a smash. I was gripped throughout the whole story and loved the multiple POV's. With so many twists, this is the way a good thriller should be! Highly recommend.

Thanks.to Netgalley and Random House for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lucy's sister disappeared and she is one of several females that has recently disappeared. So Lucy goes out on the street at night, trying to entice her sister's abductor in order to find out what happened to her missing sister.

This book was a little slow for me. It was told from different points of view and the most compelling one was that of the abductor. Other parts of it dragged a bit. I thought the ending, which I did not see coming, turned a 3 star into a 4 star. I have mostly enjoyed this author's work and I look forward to her next novel.

t's a scene replicated all too often in the early hours of the morning. Drunken revellers spilling out of clubs and looking for a way to get home. Some are lucky and manage to get one of the few taxis available. Others squash onto the night bus that will only go as far as one of the outlying villages. The woman all regret the 'taxi problem', particularly in the light of 'the missing women'. For one young woman, the final stop on the bus leaves her a long way short of her home. She had intended to ring someone to come and collect her - but her phone's dead. The bus had driven off before she had the chance to beg the bus driver to let her use his. There's no option but to start walking - unsuitably clothed and in high-heeled shoes.

The missing women? Well, over the past year or so, three women have gone missing. They're linked by the fact that their phones were found discarded at the side of the road near the point where they were last seen. The search for the women is being run by Operation Tide, under the leadership of Superintendent Colin Hall. It doesn't have a great reputation as there's no further news of what happened to Tana Neehan, Nicole O'Sullivan or Jennifer Gold.

We hear the story from three main sources: Lucy (Nicky O'Sullivan's sister), Angela Fitzgerald a civilian working for the Missing Person Unit of An Guarda Síochána and the killer himself. The lead detective is Denis Pope, who's developing quite a reputation within the force which is more than can be said for Colin Hall. What quickly becomes clear is that it might be that not all of the disappearances are connected - and that there might be others which haven't been brought into Operation Tide. Hall needed three 'incidents' to get the funding for a task force> He found three that appeared to fit the bill - and didn't look further.

It's a cracking story. You'll need to be in the wide-awake club as you get near the end and points of view change rapidly and there's a twist you might not be expecting.

As well as reading the copy which the publishers gave me, I bought an audio download, narrated by Beau Holland, Jessica Regan, Heather O'Sullivan and Barry Fitzgerald. It was well-paced and a good listen.

So, what brought me to The Trap? Well, I had very fond memories of reading The Nothing Man back in August 2020 so this book wasn't one to miss.

As the synopsis tells you, this is the story of Lucy and the search she undertakes for her sister Nicki. Nicki is not the only woman who has gone missing and has little to go on. While Operation Tide has been set up to hunt for the women, not everyone is convinced they are connected.

The story has a cast of characters that are enough for the story, with each one having a role but no others to make it confusing. There is Lucy who needs to know if her sister is alive, why was she taken, whether was there anything that could have prevented it and also the way she goes about trying to discover the identity of the perpetrator.

Angela works in the missing persons unit and is sort of seconded by the FLO for the case to help try to understand what is going on. The case has hit a brick wall and anything new could help. Angela is a person who is a little don't he naive side and eager to please and be noticed.

Then there is the unknown voice, this voice tells of the way women are abducted and what he does to lure them. This person has a sinister and unsettling nature and tone to him.

Understanding the actions of Nicki and of the abductor is one side of the story, the other is the way Lucy goes about trying to achieve what the Garda are unable to do. This is a twisted story and it takes quite an unexpected route, not only once but a few times. The story does meander as some of the lanes and country tracks around the Wicklow Mountains.

I was never too sure about how this story was going to develop or even end, and I wasn't excp[ecting the ending the author came up with. It definitely caught me unawares.

This for me was a slower crime mystery, there is a lot of detail for the characters and from the beginning of the story, the tension gradually mounts. There are shocks and at times some humour but the essence of the story is a woman trying to cope with the disappearance of her sister. The not knowing is cruel and the author brings this well into the story.

If you are a fan of slow-burners that gradually ramp up the tensions and add suspicions upon suspicion then this is one that you may like. It is not straightforward and you never quite know where it is going to go or how the conclusion will be achieved. Clever and twisted and one I would d happily recommend.

This is a horrifying, mysterious, gripping and wonderfully constructed story. Lucy cannot rest until she finds out what has happened to her missing sister, Nicki. She knows she must have been picked up after leaving a pub very late at night, and believes that by dressing similarly, and retracing Nicki’s steps, she has a chance of being taken by the murderer as well. I wanted to scream at her not to be so utterly stupid!
Angela, a civilian trying to become a Garda member, is drawn into the investigation into Nicki’s disappearance, as well as those of other women, all of whom are assumed to be linked. I really enjoyed the way Detective Denise recognised Angela’s potential and involved her far more than she should have.
I also enjoyed hearing from the murderer every now and then (very clever and chilling) and their explanation of what serial killing means to them. The Everest analogy is brilliant.
I loved the quiet wisdom in the book, and the gentle humour. Catherine Ryan Howard is such an accomplished author. Her description of how those who suffer misfortune have to behave in front of other people (‘always be the exact right amount of devastated’; ‘be OK, but not too OK’) is excellent.
The only reason I haven’t given the book 5 stars is that I felt a little cheated by the ending. It was a bit abrupt. I understand why, but I wanted more.

This was another holiday read that I finished in just over a day. I couldn't put it down!
Inspired by a series of still unsolved disappearances in Ireland this is a fantastic creepy thriller!
The story is mostly told by Lucy. Following the disappearance of her sister she cannot move on with her life until she finds out what happened to her. We meet Lucy as she gets into the car of a random male driver in the middle of the night. She is hoping that it might be her sister's abductor and he will take her to him and she can 'trap' him.
The story is also partly told from the perspective of the killer and I loved these chapters, trying to understand what motivated him and what had happened to the girls.
There are some brilliant twists in the story. The ending also left me wanting more!
Overall a dark and intense thriller that I continued to think about after finishing the book. I'll definitely be looking out for more books by this author.