The Getaway started well and I was keen to see what Lola was running from... But the story began to drag & I hoped was a slow burner. The last few chapters had far more action & twists/turns - I had not guessed the murderer and the final few pages saw a few more surprises.

I loved the twists and turns throughout this story and the overall vibes kept me guessing the whole time. However, I did find it slightly hard to distinguish between characters at times as I feel that we were introduced to quite a few at once.

Overall, an enjoyable story with an epilogue that left me intrigued to what happens next for the characters!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

The pacing was oerfect for the story and it was a nice quick read.

I didn't love Lola as a character but I did trust her as the narrator. There were some fun characters working and staying on the island.

I liked that we were getting to know the island and it's inhabitants at the same time as Lola was. It made for some fun amateur sleuthing, with quite a few plot twists!

Not the best murder mystery I've read but it was a fun one!

The description of this book really sounded great. It unfortunately didn’t really hold my attention. I didn’t like any of the characters enough to really get drawn in and therefore struggled to connect and care about the outcome. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me access to an early copy of this book.

I love a good murder mystery / whodunnit book or movie. I was going into this hoping for a similar vibe as Knives Out or Murder Mystery but something fell flat for me. Maybe I just read this at the wrong time of year (autumn) but this just wasn’t for me.

A twisting and turning thriller of a crime novel. You are aware ofbsecrets from the very first page and this only builds and builds the suspense to amazing heights!

This is a read that whisks you far away from the British winter to a private Caribbean island where no one is quite what they seem - including our protagonist, Lola. From the moment the first dead body turn up, the surprises keep coming and the pace is superb – I was kept up way past my bedtime, making this the definition of a page turner.
It's written with a sharp wit and an eye for detail that makes you feel like you're right by Lola's side - even if, at times, you wonder what she's running from and whether she too has secrets to hide. I loved this twisty, hectic read and the way all the threads were woven together. All my reading experience lacked was a sun lounger...

I really wanted to enjoy this book, thrillers are my favourite genre. Unfortunately this book wasn't for me. A real shame as the setting was idyllic and the write-up and front cover made it look really interesting, I wasn't at all invested in it, I found it too slow, the plot lacking and uninteresting.

An enjoyable read but it didn’t really capture my attention despite its luxurious location. I didn’t like any of the characters which meant I wasn’t that invested in the outcome.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read The Getaway.

‘The Getaway’ by Nicola Martin is a mysterious, twisty novel with a strong heroine and an idyllic private island setting. We meet hospitality extraordinaire Lola as she arrives to work on Keeper Island, a resort where the only person richer than the monied guests is the billionaire owner who calls the place home. However, behind the veneer of paridise, a dark and tangled web of lies simmers. When the man who offered Lola the job is found dead after an “accident”, things begin to get dark and stormy…

I liked Lola as a character and her loyalty and protectiveness towards her sister. I also found some of the guests, and the enigmatic billionaire Kip intriguing. The warnings of an oncoming storm ratcheted up the tension, and I was also captivated by the tales of Lola’s past life in Hong Kong.

However, the pacing of the novel felt a bit off to me, and I found some of the jumps quite abrupt and confusing. I also started to care less about the culprit for at least one crime as more was revealed, which pulled me out of the story a bit.

Overall, this gets three stars from me, though I’d buy it just for the fabulous cover!

I received an advance Digital Review Copy of this book from the publisher Bloomsbury Publishing via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Firstly I love any book that is set on a glamourous sun filled island, especially at this time of year! I found some of the characters a little bit unlikable but suprisinglythat worked. Really good thriller style book

An enjoyable thriller, which kept me reading although I found the characters hard to relate with or believe..
Lola needs to get away from Hong Kong fast and is offered a job on the upmarket luxury resort of Keeper Island as a deputy manager. The relief at arrival is short lived as the reality of this strange resort settles. Champagne and the spoiled attitude of the rich come through but also the harsh realities from the people that work there and how they cope.
The tale is compelling in places but doesn’t flow easily, although once started I was committed to finding out what had happened to her and what was happening on the island.
Interesting slant of the views from the inside of hospitality.
Well worth a read if you enjoy a good thriller, and a great change from festive romance and biography at Christmas!
Thank you to NetGalley and Raven Books for the early read.

🤍 Book review 🤍

The Getaway
by Nicola Martin


The Getaway by Nicola Martin is an addictive, tropical thriller that combines luxury, mystery, and suspense.
Set on the exclusive Keeper Island resort, new manager Lola is hoping for a fresh start after a traumatic event in her past. But when her boss is found dead, her dream job quickly turns into a nightmare.
The author expertly captures the clash between the opulence of the super-rich guests and the hidden lives of the resort staff. Lola is a strong, relatable protagonist, determined to uncover the truth while dealing with her own fears and insecurities.
Packed with twists and secrets, the story kept me guessing and provides a glimpse into the dark side of wealth and privilege.
Fans of White Lotus or escapist mysteries will find The Getaway an enticing read, with a thrilling pace and a setting as beautiful—and as dangerous—as it seems.

Very grateful to the publisher for my copy, opinions are my own

Twisty pacey read. Locked room thriller where none of the characters is at all likeable (which I don't mind!). The setting of glam island gave it a White Lotus feel, which really worked.
Love that cover.

This started out like a fun beach read and was fine until the last quarter where Lola seemed to make a series of bad decisions.

The characters were interesting (Diara, Fizzy, Moxam) until they all became caricatures and they either didn't make sense or became unlikeable. I was also interested in knowing Lola's past which turned out to not be as interesting or well written as I liked it to be.

Overall a decent read with a very enjoyable atmosphere. I felt like I was on Keeper island and was working alongside Lola. Thanks to Netgalley & Bloomsbury Publishing for the e-copy!

2.5/5

The Getaway is the second novel from Nicola Martin, following her debut thriller Dead Ringer, and as evidenced from the evocative colourful cover art, it focuses on the darker side hidden beneath the wealth and glamour of the luxury hospitality sector. The novel’s title is a double-entendre highlighting both the isolated holiday locale of its British Virgin Island setting, and also the fact that the lead protagonist Lola is escaping a traumatic incident in her recent past. Martin’s novel deftly balances the opulence of the Keeper Island resort against the mundane existence of its working staff in a familiar upstairs/downstairs manner. However, despite the huge wealth gap between the staff and the guests, there is one thing unites the two groups – they all have their own dirty, little secrets, and someone on the island is willing to kill to protect theirs.

The Getaway is primarily a murder mystery set on a paradise island where everyone is a suspect, and Martin does a great job at ensuring her central ‘whodunnit’ has plenty of twists and turns. The investigation and drip-feeding of clues is impeccably timed, which each new revelation reframing the behaviour and motivations of characters. With her own mysterious past, Lola is introduced to the reader as something of an enigma; what is she running away from and is she capable of murder herself? Initially, Lola comes across as strong-willed, ambitious and motivated in her professional life, but less so in her personal life, to the extent where she suffers from panic attacks that leave her practically paralyzed with fear. Martin does a great job at making Lola into a multi-faceted character, juxtaposing her efficiency at her job as a resort host with the chaotic way she copes with her private life and past. I really enjoyed my time with Lola, and witnessing the growth in character she undergoes throughout the novel, especially in regards to resolving her issues with her past.

Alongside the murder-mystery element, Martin also gives us a realistic view of what it is like to work in the tourism industry, catering to the whims of the ultra-rich and privileged. While it might seem desirable to work on a tropical island surrounded by affluence and excess, the staff are often presented as tools to facilitate the desires of the guests. When one of the staff members ends up dead, and the event is quickly covered up as an accident and Lola suspects foul-play and begins her investigations into what happened, discovering conspiracies and blackmail lying underneath the resort’s glossy façade. With almost every guest and member of staff carrying their own dark secrets, each chapter is packed full of dramatic revelations that keep the pages turning. Martin’s writing style is extremely cinematic and skillfully maintains the pace of the investigation throughout the novel by dropping plenty of new clues. While I did predict part of the ending midway through the book, Martin throws in enough additional twists to keep it from being too obvious, with a surprising epilogue that adds an extra layer to the killer’s motivations.

With its fun twist on the ‘death in paradise’ trope, The Getaway is a brilliant sun-kissed thriller filled with enjoyable characters and an engaging central mystery. By blending its investigative story-arc with the mundanities of working in hospitality, The Getaway feels unique in a sea of ultra-dark and gritty thrillers on the bookshelves, to the point where the bright pastel colours of its cover artwork immediately draw you in. Immensely fun and expertly constructed, this is the perfect crime thriller to live vicariously through and imagine life amongst the luxury.

The book combines the addictive allure of a locked-room mystery with the drama of a luxury resort setting. Martin's writing captures the tension between opulence and danger, as Lola navigates a world where everyone has secrets and no one is truly safe. Lola is a sharp, relatable protagonist, and her determination to survive is palpable as she scrambles to figure out who she can trust—if anyone. Her experience with the super-rich reveals both their privilege and their capacity for cruelty, adding an extra layer of social commentary to the story.

Fans of escapist thrillers with a dark edge, especially those who enjoyed White Lotus or Below Deck, will find Getaway both entertaining and chilling. Martin keeps the suspense tight, with plot twists that keep the reader guessing. Getaway is a fast-paced thriller that balances high-stakes intrigue with razor-sharp observations about class and privilege, making it as irresistible as a tropical cocktail—yet as dangerous as the island itself.

This was sooo good! Full of twists and turns and had me guessing til the end. I think it would be a perfect summer read. My only problem was I didn’t really care too much for the characters but the overall plot was fun and had a great ending when it all came together.

Loved this book, just when Lola thinks she can have a fresh start with a nice relaxing holiday she is wrong and must keep her wits about her to survive. Nice easy read but I couldn’t put it down. Kept me guessing until the last second and I really enjoyed it, my first book by this author but I’ll definitely be reading more from her. 4 stars, highly recommend.

Thank you Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for giving me this ARC to review.

Lola has escaped to Keeper Island in the Caribbean after a disastrous end to Hong Kong. But it seems like her bad luck for quite a lot of blood has come back to haunt her when her new boss Mike is found dead less than a day after. Who is the killer? Who can she trust? And who is next?

Now thriller isn't normally my go to genre, so I don't enjoy them or rate them highly as often as I would with romance or fantasy. But I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the Getaway. For those who are lovers of the thriller genre, I feel like this is the perfect holiday read for you that will keep you hooked whilst poolside. It has all the ingredients vital to a thriller, fast-paced, unreliable characters and twists and turns that will constantly keep you guessing. Would definitely recommend!