Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group for this eCopy to review

Red River Seven follow a group of seven people who wake up on a boat with no memories and signs of recent brain surgery. They are set a few tasks by a disembodied voice on a satellite phone and have to kill off team members if they show signs of remembering. A new disease has been unleashed on the world which becomes active when people remember. Can they survive to travel down the river Thames and destroy the origin site of the disease which turns people into zombies before the disease starts growing out of them.

I did not think there was much suspense or horror built up, the story is quite short and feels quite rushed especially towards the end. As the characters have no memories it was difficult to feel much empathy for them and as we only find out what the problem is towards the end is little sympathy for the human race either.

3.5 stars rounded to 4. Although this was a bit rushed, perhaps in order to allow for more story highlights than character-driven twists, it was enjoyable, with an intriguing premise, and well done dialogue. A.J. Ryan's 'Red River Seven' has all the makings of a short and simple horror movie, where characters are more easily distinguished by their faces rather than their actions; it's quite atmospheric, but with many unoriginal moments the closer we get to the ending. It's important in such a case to keep the review spoiler-free, especially since the plot rests on visual rather than narrative twists. Many thanks to Orbit for the ARC!

Really interesting concept - read nothing like it before! Kept me guessing continually, and the ending just leaves you wanting more! The characters could have been developed a little more - I didn’t find myself connecting overly to any of them in particular, but the plot more than made up for it.

Seven strangers on a boat, all with no memory, but scars to prove some surgery had been done. It was a horror story for today's market, but it did seem rushed from about halfway through.

Was this written for a film or television series? I felt there was not enough background of the people involved.

Thank you Netgalley for reading this book.

Thank you to Little, Brown Book Group and NetGalley and for providing me with an advanced copy of this book.

Red River Seven was thrilling, imaginative and equally horrifying from start to finish - and I loved it. The premise of the book was simple but was executed brilliantly with one of the best aspects being the dynamic between the main characters. It was concise, fast-paced, and the world-building was superb. I finished this book in a day and I highly recommend it. 5/5.

Interesting concept but the whole book felt hugely rushed and almost as if it was intended to be a film. Not a fan of books that give me the impression they were written with the screen in mind. I liked the basic concept but everything felt wrapped up too quickly.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I came to this book already a fan of AR’s writing having enjoyed his fantasy novels in the past. This was nothing like his fantasy books! This was a well crafted and written thriller instead, set in modern times.

It’s quite a short book, only 200 or so pages, but I sat and read it in the evening which shows its compelling plot line I think. Coming at this book you should definitely come at it from a horror view point, almost Racoon City-ish if you understand this reference!

Huxley, our protagonist wakes in a horror world reduced to a boat with six other amnesiacs and a gun, with no idea what they are meant to do or where they came from. Following the orders of a robotic voice on an automated voice they have no choice but to move forward into hell.

This book is definitely one for the horror fans and those who enjoyed Resident Evil gaming!

I liked the premise of this - 6 people wake up on a boat with no memory and a dead body. Trying to work out who they are, and why they’re on the boat made for a decent claustrophobic horror. However, as soon as they got to London it just descended into using lazy zombie tropes. The science was laughably bad, and it seemed like it was written in a rush.

starts as a perfect horror story and runs flat. i wanted to enjoy this but couldnt get past some aspects that should be written better.

What an intriguing synopsis, who can say no to seven amnesiacs waking on a boat in the middle of nowhere?

Ryan gave himself a get out of jail free card there, no need to give any back story for characters that don't even remember it themselves! This gave the novel a shorter page count and allows the reader to focus entirely on the plot.

Told from first person perspective of 'Huxley' we can only know what he knows and in this case... it ain't much.
A constant heavy fog increases the foreboding atmosphere and confusion aboard the ship and I was quite surprised when it's location was revealed.

As the Captives? Survivors? Soldiers? make their way through a series of bizarre missions given through a console and a satellite phone the horrifying condition of their surroundings is revealed. They are not alone.

Half of the characters were likeable, demonstrated via their actions alone with nothing more to go on, but with no real personalities and minimal motive given there wasn't a lot to invest in.

The protagonist was a typical ego maniac trope; fun, scary and easy to hate, making Red River Seven a very simple read. I enjoyed the atmosphere, the pacing was good and the storyline held up but for the most part the writing lacked any emotion and I felt the book would have been better as a novella.

I've written this review as best I can to avoid spoilers but suffice to say Red River Seven - as bizarre as it may be- is nothing that hasn't been done before.

The story follows a group of people, each with their own special skillset, who wake up on a boat in the middle of nowhere, with no meaningful memories, other than their skills. As the story progresses, we understand more and more about the world they live in, the purpose of their predicament, and the team members as individuals.

It's very hard to review this book without spoilers, as the main mystery in it is the premise of the book itself. It's hard even to mention analogues and similar books or movies, without spoiling it for anyone reading the review. Therefore, I'll try to be as specific as possible in my thoughts, without giving anything essential away.

So - what did I like? The premise, all else being equal, isn't bad. It's not particularly new (more about this later), but it's a solid basis for a neat and well-paced thriller. The writing, as usual with Anthony Ryan, is great and engaging, with energy and action evident every step of the way. I also liked the brevity of the book - any longer and it would have lost me frankly.

Unfortunately, despite wanting to like the book very much, and expecting lots from the author's foray into a new genre, there is more I disliked about the book than liked. Most of all, it came across as wildly derivative, bringing to mind literally dozens books and movies with similar premises. While the premise itself is not bad, it's genuinely hard to do something new in this space, and, unfortunately, this book has not done it either.

I also struggled with the GI Joe action scenes and sequences, making it feel more like a movie script than a book. It lacked all the nuance I typically associate with the author's work, and came across as simplistic and shallow. This was most apparent in the unnecessarily superficial way the author chose to deal with the psychological stress the characters were under, and rather than exploring that aspect of his story, chose to say "oh, they were all chosen because they are resilient", and then focus on gunfire, flamethrowing. and C-4 explosives. It's fine, but less than I expected from the author.

Overall, the book is an easy and quick read, especially if you're looking for something engaging and forgettable for a beach holiday. That's all I'd recommend it for. If you're looking for something more serious, memorable, innovative, or intellectually stimulating - look for it in the rest of the author's work.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Red River Seven by A.J. Ryan starts off with a group of amnesiac people who wake up on a boat that is moving. They don’t know where it is going nor do they know why they all are on this boat with no memories.

Red River Sevens puts you bang straight from the very first pages into the first characters POV waking up and going about finding the others which some are more hands on than the rest, some of the characters were very unlikeable and made me wonder who they were outside of the boat.

A.J. Ryan does a great job in adding a tension filled atmosphere whilst adding in minor information and plots along the way. I did have a hard time remembering which character was who but as soon as I read further on it started coming to me. A suspense filled with aspects of mystery and intrigue that the author did a good job on and I really enjoyed this book despite the ending, I wasn’t keen on the ending but overall I still very much enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy of this arc in exchange of an honest review.

This book read a lot like a post-apocalyptic book from about 10 years ago, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. there was a sense of nostalgia in the characters and the setting. However, it doesn't seem all that original and therefore makes the beginning of the story read slower than to otherwise would do. That being said it was an enjoyable read and once you get into the story more the atmosphere does a good job of creating tension which is heightened when we realise that each character may be a ticking time bomb of sorts. I would still recommend this book to people that want that nostalgic feeling or want a creepy thriller like story that keeps you in the dark for most of the book.

This is a really difficult book to review without giving massive spoilers, just because of the way it's written and the revelations we get as we go through. I can tell you that there's no fluff, the very first sentence has our POV character waking up on the boat knowing nothing about what's happening. Things only intensify from there as the rest of the crew wakes up, some more violently than others.

I often have trouble telling characters apart until we get to know them, and because everyone is amnesiac and don't really have defining traits to start with that was exacerbated here. That's very much a me problem though and I don't think other readers will have the same trouble as I did.

This is fast paced, scary, and things are revealed at just the right pace to keep people interested and reading. I'll enjoy recommending it to people.

Unfortunately I really did not like Red River Seven at all. What I though was going to be an intense, suspenseful and interesting read was actually a very frustrating flat novel that had absolutely nothing to say.
The idea of sticking people with amnesia in a boat going nowhere and no idea what's going on means this book basically had no plot. All the characters came off as unlikeable and the whole reading experience was so dull I struggled to get through this very short story. I guess it would be okay as quick weekend reading but this is unfortunately a completely forgettable book.

Red River Seven follows a bunch of amnesiac people who wake in a boat that is moving somewhere. They don't know where. That’s the plot.

Oh, gosh. I’m so sorry but I hated this. The writing was flat and the characters were just irrational, unlikable, and uninteresting. I don't usually enjoy the amnesia stuff in books. The peeps here slowly realize they have tattoos with writers' names and, by talking, they quickly uncover they’re specialists in different things. This is awful because every character will info dump their stuff (aka, the historian info dumps history; the doctor-forensic woman whatever info dumps medical stuff; the military dude keeps talking about guns; etc.).

There’s also this satellite phone where a robotic voice gives them orders and the voice only wants to talk to one of them (why? I don’t know. Because he’s the protagonist. And I think he’s supposed to be funny and sarcastic but he comes off as an unlikable narcissist) (sorry).

So, yeah. I just didn’t enjoy it at all. I skimmed after 150 pages because I was getting so tired of how dramatic and irrational everything was. The climax points were just uninteresting, there were a lot of arguments that were solved through peer pressure alone and felt like a waste of pages, etc.

I’m not familiar with the author but I don’t think I will be reading anything by them again. I hope this is a ‘me’ thing and everyone else has a blast with it. I didn’t :(

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for this advanced copy.

Anthony J Ryan was back with his mystery debut. Unfortunately, I was not really enjoy it. The pacing felt like a rush. I also didn't really like his writing style in mystery, thriller. It was too light. AJ. Ryan also didn't explore more about the setting. He could more explore "The River".

Overall, such an okay book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. I have loved the author's fantasy works in the past and was looking forward to trying this new genre. It is a short and fast paced, making it an easy read with decent amount of mystery and tension building up over the story, however I found the ending rather abrupt and a little unsatisfying. I had also managed to guess some aspects to the situation before they were revealed, which felt it feeling a bit flat. Recommended for those that like short fast faced sci-fi/thrillers

A science-fiction tale with an interesting take on examining humanity's affinity for sentimentality, quest for a sense of identity, the roles of art and science and our power as the most dominant species on our planet. Give it a read if you want something to mull your mind over.

Thanks to Netgalley and Orbit for providing me with an e-ARC/DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Do you know that feeling when you start a book and it just sucks you in with a deep rooted mystery? Red River Seven drew me in from the get go with some slight horror and a mystery surrounding how strangers with no memory are all on a boat together. From here the author does a great job drip feeding us information, ratcheting up tension and delivering a world changing ending. Why am I only giving this 4-stars then? Well, the characters themselves kind of get lost for me, working out who’s who - not enough to make me want to stop but it was easy to forget who was doing what. All in all, a fun read and it’s a recommendation if you like a little horror in your life.