A thriller or a love story? This is definitely both. It starts with a tension-fuelled set-up that is carefully drip-fed throughout the novel, while the main character, Kate, reflects on what brought her to be in this situation. I loved the dynamic between Kate and Vic, and her love for her family, and also her clever justification for finding herself in the throes of an affair. The ticking clock siege situation is a clever frame for an emotional portrait of a woman who is just trying to do her best. There were a few loose ends that I had hoped would be tied up but actually the fact that they weren’t left me thinking about this book more. In short, an emotionally wrought slow-burn suspense novel that I absolutely could not put down.

Room 706, the quiet anonymity of a hotel room becomes the stage for a tense, emotionally charged exploration of fate, choice, and womanhood. Kate, finds herself in a place she was never meant to be, at a moment that changes everything. What unfolds is a taut, real-time narrative that fuses suspense with a deeply human core.

The brilliance of this debut lies in its immediacy. The action unravels with relentless pacing, pulling the reader into Kate’s spiraling reality as she confronts moral dilemmas, buried truths, and her own vulnerability. The stakes are high — not just for her safety, but for her sense of self. What begins as a wrong-place-wrong-time scenario evolves into something far more intimate and profound.

Kate is both everywoman and entirely unique — flawed, frightened, courageous. This novel dares to ask bold questions about autonomy, guilt, and what it means to be seen.

The ending? Raw, haunting, and guaranteed to spark conversation.

I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to read this ARC and look forward to future reads. Fans of literary thrillers and character-driven dramas will find Room 706 unputdownable.