Another great book from John Marrs, he manages to make thrillers which great characters that you really feel connected too!

This book is told over a dual timeline. It feels a bit disjointed in places. There are some good twists and turns. The short chapters made this a fast read

I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide a review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

Absolutely superb novel from the absolute master storyteller.
Of all of John Marrs' exceptional novels, I suspect this one is my favourite. For some reason, one of the characters also reminds me of my daughter when she was back packing too.
I've already recommended it to several friends and always with a smile reserved for those books that I know will astound.
Not sure how he does it, I'm just so glad he does.
Easy Peasy 5 stars from me.

I have seen a lot about this author on various book groups and recommendations for his books so when I saw this one I knew I had to give it a try.
It did not disappoint, the surprises just kept coming, from start to finish I was hooked, and the twists!
I will definitely be checking out more from this author.

John Marrs always writes books that make me want to compulsively read them and this wasn't too different. however, the plot line and the characters of this book just didn't end up doing much for me. i found myself craving what he did with The One, What Lies Between Us and the Passengers. This was fun but just not fun enough for me to find it to be a book I can wholeheartedly recommend.

It is with huge regret for me to write that I will not be reviewing this book as unfortunately this book was a do not finish for me.
I really struggled to connect to the book and found myself unable to continue to read
This is a huge huge huge shame as I am a big fan of the authors work and have loved all the other books I have read by him
However; this felt very flat for me and did not hold my attention.
I will not be posting a review on this book

I really loved John Marrs' other book 'The One' and it was one of my favourite reads of 2020, so when I saw another book by him I was really excited to read it but this one just did not excite me as much as The One did.
I think the plot of this book was well thought out and was well executed but something about the whole book just fell flat for me and I felt myself having to push through in order to finish this book.
It was simply a good read, nothing too overally exciting and not very memorable but was definitely a fun time whilst reading.

Another great read from the author. I was swept along and desperate to learn all of the many secrets of the guests. Gripping and very tense at times. Can't wait for more!

I love love love John Marrs books!! I love all the different characters, the drama that each story has! And this one was absolutely no different! The links between all the characters are so interesting and intriguing and I just had a great time reading this one!

The Vacation is a real twisty read that I found very compelling. The chapters are short and there are lots of cliff hanger endings, all of which makes this hard to put down.

The book started relatively slowly as we are introduced to all of the main players but it soon starts to pick up pace. There are a lot of characters in this book but it is so well written that they are all easy to keep track of. They each have their own back story and as with all good books as the stories start to unwind the characters lives begin to merge.

I liked the way that all the stories were tied up properly at the end, some with endings I didn’t see coming and some with endings that were just heartbreaking. Throughout the book my views of each of the characters had kept changing and this continued right to the end.

I would recommend this great read for all fans of a twisty well written tale.

This was my first John Marrs book and I will definitely be looking to read more of his work! A very interesting read that I couldn’t put down!

This was my first book by John Marrs and it won't be my last. Very enjoyable, thrilling and intense. Would definitely recommend.

This book was everything I look for in a book. It was so exciting. The plot was fantastic. It really had me on the edge of my seat, and my heart racing. It was very well written and flowed well.

This wasn’t my favourite of John Marrs. I couldn’t really connect to the characters and didn’t find it as tense and fast-paced as his others.

He does, however, know how to build a back story really well and combine everything together towards the end nice and neatly. There were some right shady characters - all a bit suspicious - but I felt I wasn’t really connecting to any of them.

The whole hostel / motel situation didn’t quite appeal to me. I had ideas in my head how this book was going to be, and I was just a tad disappointed.

It’s not going to stop me from reading any more of his books as I’m a massive fan of his. It just wasn’t my favourite.

I think the original title of this book 'welcome to wherever you are' was a lot more fitting for it. 'The vacation' made me think it was going to be a very generic 'murder on holiday' kind of story but it was totally not what I expected at all.

The story follows the lives of 8 different travellers so many different sub plots which intertwine together. It was very well done and I found myself wanting to read on and find out more about each character. Some of the sub plots had better endings than others but all in all I really enjoyed the book. The ending was all very neatly tied together so that may put you off if you don't like that type of slightly unrealistic ending.

I would thoroughly recommend giving it a read.

The Vacation was not the first John Marrs book I have read but it was the first ARC.

I am always grateful for the opportunity to read a book in return for an honest review and mines below the Books synopsis


How far would you run to escape your past?

Venice Beach, Los Angeles. A paradise on earth.

Tourists flock to the golden coast and the promise of Hollywood.

But for eight strangers at a beach front hostel, there is far more on their mind than an extended vacation.



If the synopsis sounds familiar it may be because the book was originally titled Welcome to Wherever you are and has since had a change of title.

As with previous books I was gripped from the beginning, there are a number of characters to keep track of but as previously John makes each one unique and compelling bringing warmth and humanity to them.

Each chapter is from a different characters view point which gave a great variety of content and kept the story fresh. They were easy to read and I found I struggled to put it down as I wanted to see what happens next for each character.

I don't like to leave any spoilers so wont discuss any of the characters individually but as the book progresses the twists and turns are a real surprise and there are some thrills and heart warming moments.

Fabulous read
All of them are running from something. And they all have secrets they’d kill to keep…

Originally published as Welcome to Wherever You Are, The Vacation is another outstanding novel from John Marrs. I found it a bit daunting at first as there are a lot of characters but oh my word, I enjoyed every second of it.

Set in Venice Beach, Los Angeles this is a brilliant character driven novel with a whole range of colourful characters who are thrown together in a rundown hostel. They all have different reasons for staying there and I devoured each and every one of their wonderful stories.

With short, punchy chapters written from a particular character's perspective, The Vacation is a real page turner as something might happen to that character at the end of the chapter and you can't wait to continue their story but it's time for someone else's perspective to take over. It definitely exercised my speed reading muscles as I just couldn't read it fast enough.

I loved each and every character and I couldn't pick a favourite as I was deeply affected by many of their stories. John Marrs' wonderful writing brings the characters to life and the way that their stories ebb, flow and intertwine is sublime.

Completely addictive and filled with suspense, The Vacation is the perfect holiday read for 2022, although it's so addictive that you're sure to finish it well before your holiday ends. An easy five stars from me for this highly recommended book.

I received a digital ARC to read and review for the blog tour; this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙫𝙖𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙗𝙮 𝙅𝙤𝙝𝙣 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙨

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, John Marrs is my auto-buy author and I’ve loved all his books so I was super excited to have this title granted. In typical Marrs fashion, there was a lot going on in this book and a LOT of characters (plus it’s a pretty long book at 496 pages) which could have been confusing but it was so wonderfully written— everything tied together and all of the characters had such a strong, unique voice and storyline that I found it easy to keep track of who’s who.

I LOVE the short snappy chapters in all of Marr’s books— these were particularly easy to follow as each chapter was a character’s present then an extract from their past. I found the concept engaging and well executed— having done the backpacker experience in Australia and New Zealand, I really related to the hostel based storyline and the setting was realistic and entertaining. This was an adrenaline-fueled, absorbing and disturbing ride of unexpected twists and I really liked the clever, accidental mixing of paths to link all of the characters.

I didn’t realize this was one of Marr’s earlier releases republished and I’ll be honest, for me it didn’t compare to his more recent work which I’ve just adored— however I did really enjoy the book and think it showcased his talent; if you’re already a fan of Marrs this probably won’t absolutely WOW you but if you’ve just discovered him as an author this is a great indicator for what’s to come with his later works of art. P.S my top recommendations are WHAT LIES BETWEEN US and THE PASSENGERS— both five (ten) stars from me!

𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ (4/5)

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫 + 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐀𝐑𝐂!

Several misfits, all with secrets, find their way (at the same time, conveniently!) to a rundown hostel in Venice Beach, LA. The chapters are short and snappy with “today” and “some time back” as each one’s personal story is told. Some are intermingled too. Some characters are totally unnecessary and bring nothing to the book. It takes a while to get used to the irritating format. This was an ok read, nothing too taxing but not one of my favourites as it was too disjointed and there wasn’t anyone to be invested in nor did I like any of the numerous people very much. I would’ve preferred more of a plot and less characters!