I can't remember the last time I was this nervous reading a thriller, I actually felt the tension throughout. This was so gripping and had me guessing right until the end. The multiple points of view really did add to the tension and the confusion which made all the twists even more impactful. Usually I struggle with books full of unlikeable characters but this actually didn't bother me in this book and I found myself wanting to know what happened next. This is the first book I've read by Gilly Macmillan but certainly won't be the last.

The Long Weekend opens with three women - the wives of long-time best friends and now, to varying degrees friends themselves - travelling to an isolated holiday cottage in Northumberland on the understanding that their husbands will be arriving the following day. But, on arrival, they find a note indicating that the men are at risk and when a huge storm strands them in the cottage, their paranoia spirals.

I found the first two thirds of this book absolutely gripping; the story skips between the women and the somewhat sinister farmer who is renting them the cottage, alongside his increasingly concerned wife whose previous guests left after being terrified by strange goings-on. A final narrative strand follows the sender of the note in the south-west of England, and it rapidly becomes clear to the reader that all is not well here, either.

For me, the book became less effective when the action switched entirely to Bristol, but the pay-offs are largely satisfying, with enough twists to please the most discerning reader. The perfect book to hunker down under a blanket and read in one go. perhaps on a long weekend away... or better not, just to be on the safe side!

This thriller was so exciting that I finished it at 5am! I just couldn’t wait to find out the ending. It kept me gripped from the beginning and had so many twists and turns. There’s a huge mystery about who the villain is (I loved that!) and I thought I had worked it out but was wrong. The first half is set in an isolated place and is incredibly atmospheric. Three women, whose husbands are lifelong friends, spend the first night of a long weekend at a remote holiday cottage. A surprise parcel turns out to contain an evil threat and the action is fast-paced from then on. Meanwhile, a 17 year old girl is in terrible danger... A brilliantly tense thriller - I found it totally absorbing! Five stars.

Three friends, linked together by their husbands' lifelong friendships, have gone away for a weekend together. Their husbands were meant to come too but each has postponed at the last minute, so for one night it is just Ruth, Jayne and Emily. The cottage is remote, at the end of a long track, and out of signal for any phones.

As they arrive, they find a letter and parcel left on the table with a threatening note addressed to one of them about 'one of your husbands' which sets the cat among the pigeons as they realise they cannot contact their husbands to find out which one the threat relates to.

The weekend brings up lots of home truths and unpleasant realisations to the fore, all against a claustrophobic background of a remote cottage and a raging storm.

A great page turner, I was desperate to find out who was guilty of what, and how the story might play out. Well written with a gripping storyline, well worth a read

i couldn't keep up with this book, it was very difficult to tell which character was speaking it went far too fast, i was dizzy trying to keep up with the pace. i liked the idea of the story though, the plot is good.

3 Ladies joined by the fact that there husbands were at a boarding school together and have been very close plus Edie her Mum was a teacher so she lived in a well. Each year this close net group go away for a weekend as well as spendikids of time together.

The problem this time is only 3 of the wives are going on day 1 the rest are to follow. Jayne and Ruth are good friends but 26th barriers and Emily's the last to join the group and 10 years younger than the other 2 and feels it. The 3 travel up together Emily in the back seat. Things don't start too well when they get a card and a present the card informed them that 1 of their Husbands is dead. The present a bottle of champagne 🍾.

The action starts from the beginning you don't waste half the book getting to set the scene meeting characters you learn about them as you as the action progresses. Each has something that makes this a excellent thriller in my point of view, something that helps this to stick out in a crowded market. I feel this not only deserves 5 stars but it deserves a large readership 5 stars is good this is better.

A very tautly plotted and paced thriller which keeps you guessing until the end. The atmospheric descriptions of inner turmoil are matched by the outer turmoil of the wild weekend location. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Random House UK, Cornerstone, Century and NetGalley for the ARC.

As 3 women prepare for a weekend away with their husbands in a barn at a remote farm another friend is sending a parcel and letter to say one of the husbands will be dead by the end of the weekend. The husbands didn't travel with their wives as all apparently had other plans. As the women debate whether its a hoax or true lots of recriminations and accusations start to fly. Add to the story an anonymous voice is narrating some chapters.
I enjoyed the remoteness of the novel which added to the tension although I found I had to really concentrate on the writing as mid paragraph the narration changed quite drastically but this made it the sort of novel that you couldn't put down
Many thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK for the opportunity to read this advanced copy. This is my honest review which I was under no obligation to leave

"Three couples, two bodies, one secret"
I saw this tagine and thought OK I'll bite, unfortunately the rest of the story didn't live up to it.
The story was longer than it needed to be, dragged in places and there were too many characters (I'm not sure that the separate story about the family that owned the property really added anything)
None of the characters were particularly likeable so I found I didn't much care what happened and it took a long time to get there.
The most annoying and frustrating aspect is that for some reason there are no chapters and the person telling each part of the story chops and changes throughout between known characters and the unknown killer, having to keep re-checking who was speaking made me want to throw my kindle out of the window.
My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for my eARC in return for my honest review.

The synopsis and positive reviews of The Long Weekend really appealed to me, however I found it to be a disappointing read. Three women await the arrival of their husbands for a weekend in a Northumberland holiday let, with no phone signals and a storm approaching they find a note announcing that one of their husbands has been murdered. The novel is told from multiple points of view and although I usually enjoy this I found it to be confusing and disjointed. I found it hard to differentiate between the characters and spent time going back to find out who was who. It is a very slow paced read that did not flow well for me. There are many who loved this book so do give it a try, it just wasn't for me.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

I read The Long Weekend with the movie (and there surely will be one!) running through my head. And incredibly thrilling it was too. All the stuff nightmares are made of ... three women alone in a remote, islolated barn, a massive storm, a farmer suffering from dementia and hullucinations, dead animals and bodies, scarecrows draped with entrails ... and a letter left for the three friends saying by the it's read, one of their husbands will be dead. Gilly Macmillan's thriller is one that's simply unputdownable. You know, of course, exactly who's doing the scary stuff ... until you don't. Twist after twist after twist. Fabulous for those who love a scare!

I loved this book and read it in two sittings .
I enjoyed getting to know the characters and the back ground story.
I wanted to keep reading as it held my interest ,and kept me going.
I like how the ending was done .

A holiday out of town to a remote barn for three couples. The three wives are brought together through their husbands and are quite pensive about this holiday, adding to that they arrive to a threatening letter telling them one of their husbands will be dead by the time the note is read.

The atmosphere of the remote barn and the inclement weather make this a great read.

The Long Weekend - Gilly Macmillan

I thoroughly enjoyed To Tell You The Truth and The Nanny so was looking forwards to this one.

Three couples are off to spend a long weekend at a remote converted barn rental. The three wives - Jayne, Ruth and Emily are heading up on the Friday with the husbands set to join them the next day. On their arrival the women find a chilling note telling them that one of the husbands will be dead by the time they read it.

There are two main strands, the three woman at the remote barn and the other strand follows an as yet unidentified character who has an as yet identified dead body in the car boot.

A promising premise and start, personally I don't really like having as yet unidentified characters, especially when they are a key player, and when, as in this case In is extended through most of the book and various twists, misdirections and the build up of tension rely upon this character's identity. I find it makes it hard to get into the story and works against the reading experience.

I enjoyed the barn scene, cut off from the outside world by no phone signal, bad weather and a harsh landscape but found the unidentifiable character strand muddled and quite confusing.

The characterisation is good around the three woman as well as the farmer and his wife who are renting out the barn, we don't get to know much about the husbands until later on. The plot ties together well eventually, but I found myself quite uninvolved with some of the characters.

Sorry to say this wasn't really one for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK

Former army staff Jayne, doctor Ruth and newly married Emily know each other through their husbands and are not really friends, so a long weekend in remote holiday rental was always going to be problematic. When the three women check in, ahead of their husbands, however, it becomes clear quite how problematic, as a menacing anonymous message awaits them. When a storm draws in and mobile phone reception is interrupted, things get more menacing still. Speeded up by rapidly changing points of views, this is a rollercoaster of a novel that can, at times, be hard to follow. The ultimate revelations make the pursuit of the plot worthwhile, however, and I recommend this book to fans of contemporary thrillers set in isolated locations. Thank you to NetGalley and to the publishers for my free ARC that enabled me to produce this honest review.

It was supposed to be a weekend of fun with good friends. But, first Edie dropped out. She didn’t want to join the annual tradition, the first one to take place since her husband Rob died. Then Paul, Mark and Toby all gave different reasons for travelling to join them the next day. That left just Emily, Jayne and Ruth to arrive at the rural converted barn where they were all supposed to stay, and the only thing they all had in common was that they’d married members of the same group of school friends.

The weekend quickly descends into disaster as the women arrive to find a letter warning that one of their husbands is dead. With a storm coming in and the farm track to the barn impassable in the mud they’re stuck up there, no phone signal, no way to get help, and no idea if the letter is true or just a bad joke.

The action takes place across different locations. The barn and back home where we see what the writer of the letter is up to. We also switch rapidly between the view points of each of the characters. This is sometimes disconcerting as it can happen mid-scene but as all the rest of the character viewpoints are told in third person it’s easy to follow who we’re looking at now.

Overall this is an easy to read thriller. I sped through it fairly quickly, and although there are a number of different threads to the story, it does pull together well.

I’m afraid that I didn’t really enjoy this.
Because it is written in chunks of someone talking and saying what they are thing doing etc, I found I was loosing track of who was doing the talking.
It was a good concept for a book but just not one for me.

Rating: 2.0/5

Three women find themselves in a secluded retreat in deepest Northumberland, with their respective husbands due to be joining them the following morning. But when they receive an ominous message saying, "By the time you've read this, I'll have killed one of your husbands" the mood amongst the group of friends changes very quickly.

The premise sounded appealing - not completely original - but the kind of basis that has formed a solid foundation for many enjoyable mysteries I have read over the years. However, unfortunately, I found this latest offering from Gilly Macmillan heavy going. I didn't really mind that the setting with the isolated location and the group of women with troubled, secretive histories has all been done before - but I have seen it handled so much better. This is clumsy, more than a touch melodramatic, unbelievable and silly.

Shortcomings of the storyline aside, I also found the reading experience hampered by the fact that the book is not broken down into chapters. This seemed like a particularly strange decision when you consider that the narrative is provided from the viewpoints of several different characters. But, not only are there no chapter intervals, but there is also no signposting to make clear whose point of view you are seeing at any given time. This was regularly frustrating and meant that I found myself having to check back or re-read sections to make sure which protagonist was providing the account at that time. I am all in favour of writers challenging a reader's expectations and experimenting with literary devices, but in this instance it really didn't work well.

Ultimately, I was just glad to get to the end, so that I could put this back on the shelf and move onto something else. Sadly, another case of a synopsis that simply flatters to deceive.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

I loved the blurb for this book - a great hook. The story didn’t pan out quite how I expected and I found the first quarter a bit slow. However, things soon ramped up and the tension and intrigue were really well sustained throughout..

There were some good twists and turns with the odd red herring thrown in. Some aspects stretched credibility a little - mainly how the antagonist hid their true selves for so long - and little explanation as to why they changed.

I think the number of characters also made it hard for the author to develop them all, such that some remained a little one dimensional by the end of the book.

That said, overall I really enjoyed the story which generally moved at a decent pace and the plotting was skilfully done.

Well I usually love Gillian’s books but for some reason I found this not her usual flair . I not sure on the pace or where it was going and u find out who it is fairly early like the middle and ruins suspense
I did enjoy the way that all the characters get para due to the letter and the villain and their obsession is creepy ,just somehow there wasn’t enough for me and wasn’t that intrigued and sorta rushed it so cd move on as my curiosity was killed due to an early reveal .
Will read another one of hers though as her past ones have been good