The Trap is the latest from Irish author Catherine Ryan Howard; an auto-buy writer for many of us and purveyor of the twistiest twists known to all of humankind.

Set in Ireland and taking inspiration from “the vanishing triangle” (the unsolved cases of several women who disappeared here in the 80’s & 90’s), I think consumers of true crime and fans of “The Nothing Man” will love this one.

In The Trap, we meet three women on the hunt for a serial killer.
Angela works in the missing persons unit but longs to be a Garda. When she finds potential evidence, she jumps at the chance to get involved with Operation Tide, the official investigation into three missing women.
Enter Denise; she’s a detective working on Operation Tide but believes they should also be looking into several other disappearances that her boss has no inclination to get involved with.

Lucy is one of the left behind; her sister Nicki went missing a year ago and she will do anything to find out what happened to her, including using herself as bait to catch the murderer on deserted roads at night.

We also hear a fourth perspective in this book; a devious killer who is determined not to be caught, and may just be as clever as he thinks he is.

Me nerves! I describe myself as “feverish” sometimes when I’m glued to a book and desperate to keep reading to find out what happens. The Trap is a feverish read, for sure, and is expertly plotted with truly ingenious twists. One in particular felt like a punch to the gut; I’m still not over it!

I enjoyed reading each chapter from a different characters’ perspective; the story felt well balanced and I was never eager to get back to one narrative over another.
The serial killer calmly talking us through his preferred methods of abduction are genuinely bone chilling, poor Lucy’s desperation and grief felt so realistic, and I loved the interactions between Angela and Denise (the Jurassic Park conversation in particular was most excellent 😅).

I read this book in two sittings, it’s riveting, creepy, and propulsive. Highly recommend!

The Trap is available to buy on the 17th of August. With huge thanks to @randomhouse & @transworldbooks for my copy.

Yes, yes, all the yesses! Thank you for such a great read! If you read and loved The Nothing Man it’s safe to say you’ll love this one too!

The story is about the desperate attempt of one sister in finding her missing sibling. The novel didn’t miss an amazing start because I was sitting on the edge of my seat right away, as Lucy’s trying to lure the person who abducted her sister into taking her on a dark miserable night. The start is totally gripping, but the rest of the novel as well.

The tension did somewhat subside after those first tense moments which was a good thing for my own health, but it never completely left so I raced through this, almost as desperate as Lucy was to find her sister Nicki. Nicki is one of three women who was presumably taken by the same man, but it was only when the third girl was taken that they made a connection between the cases where the only thing retrieved every time was their cell phone. A task force was set up under the name of Operation Tide but they are not getting anywhere until Angela who’s not a garda (yet) but someone working at the Missing Persons Unit, stumbles upon something interesting left at a thrift store that could potentially help break the case open.

Apart from hearing from Lucy and Angela, the abductor has a chance to share his thoughts as well. He is married and his wife is totally and horribly oblivious of course, and the more I heard his voice the stronger and more desperate I wanted him caught and the women found. I wouldn’t have wanted to skip those chapters for anything, he’s a fascinating character and the way he talks in such a matter of fact way only made me realize even more that he could very well be your next door neighbour and you wouldn’t have a clue at all.

It felt like the danger in this novel was lurking around every corner and it really ramps up when Lucy uses the media to demand attention for the missing women, especially her sister. The twists in this novel were really great, I expressed a few expletives while reading this story and I was knocked for six in the last part of the novel. That twist! And what an ending! All I have to say is that it was all quite… unpredictable. I still don’t really know how I feel about the final pages, a part of me feels there’s still unfinished business, as if the whole story isn’t told or over yet, but on the other hand I do respect the author’s wish to deliver maybe a little bit of an unconventional ending. It’s the main reason for giving 4.5 stars (rounded up however), it is not exactly the ending that I had in mind and I do feel a little guilty that I have to admit a miniscule part of me still felt somewhat let down.

This is my third novel by this author, the first one was a miss for me but I’m so happy I picked up The Nothing Man afterwards and now I’m totally won over. Bring on the next one!

Thanks to Netgalley and RandomhouseUK for my early copy of this brilliant book! Catherine Ryan Howard has been a ‘must read’ for me ever since I read The Nothing Man and her new book is also excellent. Great writing and characters, a strong premise and lots of twists & turns! Loved this and can’t recommend it highly enough!

I cannot believe that last twist and ending!! Catherine did it again with this book full of twists and turns. This read was twisty, suspenseful, and shocking. I absolutely was hooked from the start!

Finally, finally found a book I wanted to finish. Ive started and dnf'd so many books lately I was beginning to despair. But no such chance with a Catherine Ryan Howard book. She is a fantastic author.

Loosely based on a series of missing women in Ireland in the 1990's, and still unsolved, The Trap follows Lucy who believes her sister was the first abducted girl in a series of abductions, Angela - civilian working in the Missing Persons Unit of An Garda Siochana (Irish police) who longs to be a garda herself, and the abductor himself who gives his own narrative as to why and how.

Catherine Ryan Howard's books are sp easy to read, they just flow and pull you in. It also helps they are set in my home country so I know where the areas are that she mentions. Oh and I loved the reference to her previous book, The Nothing Man, another of hers that I loved. 5 stars all the way.

A young woman is walking on the street alone in the rain, her feet are killing her with her heeled shoes, she has no charge left on her phone and she wasn’t able to hail a taxi so she has decided to walk home on her own with all the fears conjuring of a woman walking alone until the sound of an engine is coming up and soon stopping beside her. The person behind the wheel is a guy offering her a lift. Does she get in and accept the ride, can he be trusted and even if she declined what would that entail for her? Does she really have a choice being stuck out in the middle of nowhere…

The Trap starts of with Lucy wanting to know what happened to her sister Nikki who went missing. Lucy deliberately goes out alone at night walking the street to try and get picked up by the person who kidnapped her sister as well as the other young women Tana and Jennifer who have also gone missing. We follow alongside Operation Tide that the Garda have set up but Lucy feels like this isn’t doing anything nor moving fast enough for her likes. Really how far would you go for a missing relative and would you ever be able to grieve without knowing if they are still out there.

A dark and gripping enduring tale with many twists and turns that constantly pop up throughout and will keep you wanting to carry on reading more to find out what happened to these women as well as told in multiple POVs.

The Trap takes the readers into such a tense and claustrophobic read that has excellently written characters that you do feel for. An excellent psychological thriller that constantly amps up with suspense and mystery aspects. The ending wow what an ending, I’m pretty sure I’m going to be thinking of this book for a long time.

Many thanks to NetGalley and publisher Random House UK for the copy of this arc in exchange of an honest review.

5*

I really enjoyed this book, I loved how the story unfolded and the ending was just gripping. Really well written and easy to read

Unfortunately I think the premise was far more exciting than the actual book, I finished it just feeling a little disappointed as I had been looking forward to reading it.

I didn’t find any of the characters particularly likeable or interesting and found myself just wanting to get to the end. There were some twists towards the end that I liked but found the ending very disappointing and I felt like I’d spent a lot of time getting through the book just to be left in limbo.

A young woman is apparently stranded and looking for help from a passing male motorist. But what is she really doing out alone? This is a twisty and dark novel about the fear women feel, and the search for the truth when the worst thing imaginable actually does happen. Women are going missing in Ireland, and the Garda are struggling. With a multi perspective narration, this is a gripping and terrifying read. Highly recommended.

Unfortunately, The Trap just wasn't for me. The writing was good enough but the plot just didn't go anywhere and the 'twists' couldn't really be called that - more lacklustre turns at best. The concept could have been really interesting (and was why I wanted to read it in the first place) but it wasn't executed well enough and by end, I was just disappointed. I also struggled to relate to or care about any of the characters, although the chapters told from the POV of the killer was probably the highlight of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Lucy is looking for her missing sister, Nicki. Nicki seemingly vanished into thin air, along with other women who make up the Gardai’s Operation Tide. Lucy will do anything to find her sister, even if it means putting herself in danger.

This was another great, solid read from this author. The storyline was complex, and well thought out, and really shone a light on the levels of presence in the media some missing people get compared to others. Lucy was a great character, full of bravery and determination, but also vulnerable. I felt the storyline and the issues tackled within was quite unique, but totally fitting for the here and now. A great page turner which I’d recommend.

This is a really dark and twisted thriller about three women suspected of being killed by a serial killer and the family members left behind and trying to get to the bottom of what happened. As one of them puts her life in danger for answers it’s a race against time to work out who is responsible and are there more women missing out there?

Well I just picked this up for a bit of a decompress after a lot of literary fiction and I forgot how addictive Catherine Ryan Howard's writing is. Hence I carried on reading it and finished it in two sittings (I had to stop at night because I'm a wimp).

So the story revolves around 3 missing women - Tana Meehan, Nikki O'Sullivan and Jennifer Gold. There are certain similarities between the cases and once 17 year old, pretty, well connected Jennifer goes missing An Garda Siochana ramps up its efforts by starting Operation Tide to coordinate their response. But nothing is moving fast enough (or at all) for Lucy, Nikki's sister. But just how far will she go to find out what really happened to her sister?

Catherine Ryan Howard gives us a marvellously circuitous, twist and turn, claustrophobic, tense and immensely readable thriller. It is certainly up there with The Nothing Man and Luar's Girl, which I thought her two strongest books to date.

I'd highly recommend this book to fans of Ms Howard or anyone who simply enjoys a taut, explosive thriller with a massive twist at the end of lots of other twists.

Thankyou to Netgalley for the ARC. Most appreciated - even though (as usual) I got every culprit guess wrong throughout.

A young woman walks along a country road in the middle of the night - she has no phone signal whatsoever, and her stiletto heels are killing her. In the distance she hears a car engine, and all too quickly the car is pulling up alongside her. It’s a male driver - does she get in, can he be trusted? She doesn’t really have a choice, stuck out here in the middle of nowhere……

The storyline follows Operation Tide, and its search for a serial killer. Lucy’s sister Nicki is one of the missing persons believed to have been abducted by the killer, but Lucy has no faith in the investigation and decides to take matters into her own hands.

Told from multiple points of view, The Trap takes the reader into some scary places, but sadly I couldn’t connect with any of the characters, and also found it slow going at times. I really thought I would love this one, and it started off really well, but for me, not one of the author’s better books.

4.5 Stars. A dark and gripping tale with plenty of twists to maintain the tension. Expertly plotted with well-developed characters, several POV narrators, including a very creepy criminal, which worked really well. Overall an outstanding psychological thriller. The ending was abrupt and left several issues open, but this is what happens in reality. The last chapter is very clever indeed and made me re-read the first! Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley UK for the ARC.

This book gripped me from the start. Lucy wants to know what happened to her sister who went missing and deliberately walks the streets at night to try and get abducted by whoever might have taken her sister (and other women who’ve gone missing). This is one of those tense reads where you can’t believe or want the character to be doing something but have to keep reading to see what happens. The story is told by Lucy, the protagonist and by the Missing Persons Unit worker. What made this book for me were the thoughts expressed by Lucy and the protagonist, explaining their actions. I sat and devoured this book in an afternoon, as I couldn’t stop reading it. Interesting twist at the end too.

What a crazy story! The relentless search of her missing sister takes Lucy on a dangerous path as she tries to recreate the scenario of her sister’s disappearance over and over again by climbing into strangers cars late in the night in a remote part of Ireland. With a scenic mountain background believed to be where a series of missing girls could have been dumped throughout the years, the atmosphere is eerie and sucks you in. But despair can make you drop your guards and might make you take the wrong turn. What an ending! I still think about it months afterwards.

Catherine Ryan Howard is an auto-buy of an author. I will happily drop everything to immerse myself in her latest psychological thriller. She doesn’t disappoint, and The Trap is definitely a gripping page turner following three characters.
First you have Lucy, whose sister disappeared years ago. Every so often Lucy goes out at night and pretends to look confused and drunk hoping one of the men that picks her up will be her sister’s abductor. Then we have Angela, who works in missing person, alongside DS Denise trying to solve the case when a woman named Lena - dressed in a cotton nightdress - gets hit by a car as she babbles about her abductor and the pink house. Then you have the unnamed antagonist, watching everything…creepy and scary.
I devoured this in two sitting. So atmospheric. So unsettling. The only disappointing thing was the ending, which doesn’t wrap things up and is quite open-ended. I wished the antagonist had been caught and that Lucy’s storyline was wrapped more tightly. That being said this was a corker of a read and I eagerly await Howard’s next read.

I've read two previous books by Catherine Ryan Howard, 56 Days and Run Time, both of which I really enjoyed. The Trap is another cracking read, and made me want to seek out her other books which I haven't read yet.

The ultimately quite complex plot revolves around missing women, focusing on Lucy who's determined to find out what happened to her sister, Nicki. There are some pointed observations about the type of missing people who are deemed worthy of attention and those who aren't - Nicki's disappearance sparked little official concern until it was linked to the more high profile vanishing of a seventeen year old girl.

Meanwhile, the police side of the investigation follows likeable civilian employee Angela, with aspirations to become an officer (once she finally gets through the physical competency test), who gets drawn into the story alongside Denise, a detective equally determined to uncover the truth. I liked these characters a lot and I hope we see them again in the future.

This was a fab read with lots of surprises along the way. It did seem to end abruptly and with some questions unanswered, leaving the reader to make assumptions about what happened to certain people. I don't necessarily need everything tied up in a neat bow, but this felt just a little too open an ending. That said, the final scene echoed and extended the opening one in a way which was quite satisfying.

Overall, top quality stuff. Many thanks for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy!

Absolutely loved this book - took me off in a direction where I really thought I had worked it all out, only to discover I knew nothing at all! Brilliant characters that jumped off the page, and a clever, well executed plot - highly recommended.