I wouldn't have said this was a thriller but it was a decent enough quick and easy read about some utterly vile characters. Like, it actually made me angry reading about them because they were just so vile but that's always a sign of good writing if make believe characters elicit a real world response lol. They really are the worst though! It's told from multiple povs and has a few twists and turns. It's quite surface level but I did find the writing flowed well and as I said, it's just a really quick, by the poolside type book

When Suzie and George embark on a holiday to Tenerife there is hope from Suzie that she can rekindle their marriage which has been on the downturn for some time. George, however, is looking to get access to some of the money his wife has won on the premium bonds and she is withholding from him. He is not a nice person and only has feelings for himself, whilst Suzie is not much better and is totally reliant on her religion and wont make any decisions without consulting with her father.
Things don't go as planned during the holiday however there are some unexpected outcomes including Suzie finding a surprising confidant. In fact throughout the book there are many unexpected twists and turns and the road to happiness proves to be a very bumpy one. The old adage of "Money is the root of all evil" is so very true in the background to this story.
It is well written, well described and full of intrigue.

The Holiday by John Nicholl was a great read and mystery that worked for me!
This book really kept the suspense alive and going.
I thoroughly enjoyed this riveting suspense book.
The Holiday has the right amount of plot twists, great characters, and the writing is just intriguing.
It was hard to put this one down because the writing was fantastic!

Thank You NetGalley and Boldwood Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

What an INSUFFERABLE cast of characters. Suzie was so naive and almost childlike. Her husband was a disgusting pig. It almost made the story hard to read, which is a sign of a well written character when done intentionally. I love love loved the ending.

This is very different to other books I’ve read by this author and for me wasn’t as compelling. Quite a small cast of characters but probably some of the most unpleasant I’ve read recently. Told from multiple POV’s but mainly those of married couple Suzie & George. Suzie has won a million pounds and their home is in her name. George is a gambler and a womaniser and Suzie doesn’t trust him and won’t give him access to her money.

Briefly, as they fly off on holiday to Tenerife George cannot stop himself eyeing up the glamorous woman sitting on the other side of the aisle. Suzie notices but she has booked this holiday to try and repair their marriage.

Suzie & George are both completely obsessed by money, she uses it as a carrot to dangle in front of the donkey (George) to make him do what she, and for she read her father, thinks he should do. George is obnoxious and misogynistic, a truly unpleasant man. There is also a lot of religion with Suzie a devout Catholic and George a fallen Catholic who won’t even go into church with Suzie even though she nags him repeatedly to embrace religion again.

Quite a short read and I did guess the big twist although there are a number of other twists. For me there was too much emphasis on money in the book when there were other things that could have been given a bigger role. An interesting and shocking read.

With a cast of totally amoral characters The Holiday provides a quick read that keeps you turning the pages just to see what the outcome will be. Self obsessed, vindictive and narcissistic you’ll not find a redeeming character amongst them.

I'm really not sure what I just read.

It didn't feel like a psychological thriller which is what it's meant to be, and I didn't find it particularly addictive.

The two main characters I personally wanted to do significant amounts of damage too within the first couple of chapters, and that feeling didn't particularly change over the course of the book. They were one dimensional, money obsessed and I think I kept reading in part because it was a quick and easy book to read, and in part to see if either Suzie or George had any redeeming qualities.

I was shocked to discover they were only in their twenties, I was convinced they were middle aged at the very least, especially with George's misogynistic tendencies and internal rants. On the other hand he did sound incredibly mistakenly entitled which is definitely a younger person's thoughts.

Suzie on the other hand is a weak willed woman, who has recently won a very large sum of money, and she is incredibly religious, and will only do what her father tells her to do, including with regards matters of her marriage and her money. I'm never comfortable with large amounts of faith mentioned, and there was far too much of it.

There is a minor sub-plot involving I'll say a rogue priest and I'm putting it mildly and some of other opinions towards him were beyond my comprehension. Having not read this author before I have no idea whether this mirrors his personal thoughts on some of the topics, or it really was just his characters speaking.

What attracted me to this book initially was the cover, title and the fact that I absolutely love this growing trend psychological thrillers set on holiday or holiday destinations. But frankly the section in Tenerife could have been anywhere and wasn't remotely recognisable to me as Tenerife (although admittedly based on the transfer time, they were staying at the other end of the island to where my sister lives).

By the time the conclusion came around, I wasn't remotely surprised about it, however there were a couple of chapters in the story including the police - and I much preferred the writing of those chapters, but they were so fleeting. The plot once it ramped up felt so flimsy, and just lacked any depth.

I didn't hate this book by any stretch, but I do think from what I've seen of other reviews, as well as my own thoughts that this is definitely a marmite sort of a book. You will either love it or hate it, And if you love completely vile main characters this could be a good fit for you.

I was a quick read and if you are looking for something that you can whizz through in an afternoon by the pool then this might hit the spot. Or if you are curious like I was as to just how horrible these main characters are, and how awfully they think of each other and treat each other, then please do give it a try!

Thank you to Boldwood Books and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

The Holiday is a gripping domestic psychological thriller. Susie and George are off on holiday to Tenerife to try and help their marriage. They have suffered miscarriages and it’s deeply affecting Susie. Susie is rich and George is a gambler with huge debts. It’s a toxic relationship, but Susie being a catholic, her marriage is for life. The trip is full of bumps in the roads and then the fun begins.

It’s a slow start to this book, with an exciting ending. Susie did annoy me at times, she takes her fathers word by gospel and being a grown woman I thought she was immature. George is the bad boy character, cocky, arrogant, but he’s great to read about. He does have a tiny bit of sympathy in his body.
It’s well written and I liked the descriptions of the locations. Fast paced thriller that’s easy to read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy.

This one wasn't for me. But I see that many early readers have loved it! We all have different tastes and this review is my own opinion.

Susie and George are two of the most revolting characters ever created. She doesn't stop whining and nagging. He's a crass, arrogant, misogynistic bully.

The writing is simplistic and extremely repetitive and the prominent religious theme that's constantly mentioned, should really feature in the book's description.

John Nicholl does it again in his newest book “The Holiday”. This is a great psychological thriller that keeps you guessing. This is a fast paced edge of your seat book that you don’t want to put down.
Suzie and her husband George are going on a holiday to help rekindle their marriage. Suzie is convinced that George cheated on her and does not trust him. George is trying to gain Suzie’s trust, but is that all? On the holiday Suzie meets a new friend, but all might not be what it seems. When tragedy strikes where will everyone stand.
Loved this book and would highly recommend to the fans of psychological thrillers.

Susie and George have been married a few years and he has recently gone to rehab for gambling addiction and now they’re on a holiday trying in Susie’s opinion to regain the love they want shared. Which she doesn’t know is that George totally resented he feels he was shamed into the marriage due to her getting pregnant and even though the pregnancy resulted in the first of a few miscarriages Georgia not only resent Susie but has no sympathy at all for her. The only thing he cares about is her money for some reason Susie has a lot of money and if they said my I must’ve missed it because I don’t know how she got this money but in any event she has it and he wants it she has a separate bank account and pays all the bills while he tries to pay off his gambling debt throughout the book besides cheating on her his main focus is to gain access to her money it is the only reason he does nice things for her. Even when she almost drowns when he goes to see her at the hospital he wakes her up and he is disappointed when all she says is hello and doesn’t talk about the admiration he thinks she should have for him for saving her life and he even tells her that she owes him because of that. Neither one of these people were really worth rooting for although I did like Susie a tad bit more than George I also thought the ending was quite good I don’t want to give too much away because besides being ugly to Susie and praying on her money and discussing the priest who he couldn’t stand due to him abusing George there really isn’t much more to the book with the exception of everything that happens the last five or six chapters I almost DNF the book because I couldn’t take George’s negative statements I don’t know if you would call that a trigger but I had had enough of George but after putting it down I came back and finished it and I’m glad I did I was satisfied with the end and although I think this is the book that is beneath this author who is books I love I still think it is a pretty good book if you don’t have any triggers concerning verbal abuse talk of murder and pedophilia then you may like this book I thought it was OK this will not put me off reading this authors books as I said I love the Braithway books I just think this book is one of those you have to read it for yourself to decide. I want to thank Boldwood Books and NetGalley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

A bit of a mixed bag this one. Great characters but then I hated George who was a bit too mean - Suzie the wife seemed to accept all the **** he gave her. What is wrong with you woman I heard myself shout! Still, she was no model wife. George was so awful but then I had no sympathy for what happened next.

This part was strong but it was overshadowed by the rest of it in that I thought it dragged to get to the crunch. And I really did not like George.

2⭐
Genre ~ domestic thriller
Setting ~ Canary Island (off the west coast of Africa) & Wales
Publication date ~ February 22, 2024
Est page Count ~ 273 (36 chapters)
POV ~ multiple 3rd
Featuring ~ insensitive references to miscarriages, references to child molestation, infidelity

Sorry to say that I did not care for this one.

If any two people should not be married it's Suzie & George. They are both so unlikable and really insufferable, truly awful. Suzie relies too heavily on her father's influence and can't make any decisions for herself. George is so full of himself and a right meany pants to Suzie, often calling her a cow and bi!ch. Talking about his fair share of her money over and over and over again. If that's not bad enough he doesn't know how to keep it in his pants. They both use money as a way to try to get what they want.

I'm not sure the child molestation plot added much to the overall story, except as to be the reasoning George won't go to church with Suzie. Maybe it's why he was so awful, too.

The ending was quite implausible, but overall satisfying.

This was the first book I have read by this author and certainly won’t be my last. Highly recommend if you love psychological thrillers that grip you from the outset. I read this practically in one sitting.

This book keeps the reader on their toes with lots of twists and turns along the way while the story unfolds and the characters and their true colours are revealed.

This would make a good tv adaptation.

I have never hated reading two such characters as I have done with George and Suzie. The toxicity in the relationship from George is astounding! Suzie is not without her own in some way mind you.
But what I loved about this kind of relationship is that it felt more raw, more real as opposed to the fluffy lovey dovely relationships stories I tend to read. Very heavy on the religious aspect especially from Suzie's point of view, I wasn't expecting it to be such an prominent part of the story, but Nicholl has his way weaving this in there to make you question your own beliefs and values.
Both characters are flawed and I thought I had the story figured out but really as it goes along you are beginning to questions just who is real villain in this story?

Ok let’s be honest here. I hated a good majority of this book. Because I was just waiting for Suzie and George to either get a divorce or for one of them to die. Since they are MISERABLE together and also toxic. Suzie just wants to be the good catholic wife and stay by her husbands side who is obviously not good to her while all George wants is for Suzie to get out of the way.

The writing was done for me to hate George which is why I loved his karma in this. I do think that George is a walking red flag that takes advantage of the people who just want to help him. He doesn’t realize he is being played until it is too late which is something that I loved the most.

Since I spent the majority of the book hating the main couple since at the very least they didn’t want to get a divorce, George just using Suzie for her money, and waiting roughly 80% for a murder to happen, I couldn’t give this higher than a 3. And truth be told the majority of the book felt very 2 start to me but the last 20% rounded up the star rating for me since I was very invested in what was going down.

I felt like this book didn't quite hit the potential it could have had. There were times things seemed a bit repetitive (outside of the characters mentioning of money) that felt slightly necessary.

The characters almost seemed to lack any real dimension to them, though I did feel myself disliking George and hoping he wouldn't get his way.

I don't think I expected the death to really happen, but I guessed pretty easily who had done it. The ending just felt a bit dull and maybe rushed. The book wasn't bad, I just feel like it could've been better.

Normally there is at least one character that is likable in a book but in this one all main characters were very easy to despise,Twists and turns and red herrings made for an ok read but not the author's best one for me,I've really enjoyed his earlier books and look forward to reading more in the future.
Thanks to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for the ARC

A holiday trip to Tenerife sounded like a fun virtual vacation. Unfortunately the holiday part of the read was rather monotonous. Too much of Suzie and George having the same conversations. And that George was a first class jerk. It wasn't until about the 80% mark when things finally got interesting. Perhaps John Nicholl just isn't the author for me. The Roman Catholic faith really took a beating in this one and I sense an overall hostility to religion in his writing.

Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Another cracking book by John Nicholl. Hard to put down once you start grips you from the very first page.