It’s one that’s difficult to review without spoilers. I found the actual weekend away part to drag, not a lot happened aside from people unwisely stomping off out of the house in search of phone signal. When the story started to be revealed, the twists and turns kept me interested, but having finished it there were parts that I felt didn’t add up. Overall it was a decent read for a long car journey, but not one that I would rave about to others.

I enjoyed this book, it was easy to read and held my attention. I will be reading more from this author :)

A psychological thriller that keeps your interest with all the twists and turns of a really good thriller.. Based in Northumbria it follows 3 couples who have rented a barn for a long weekend. Story was great with a fab twist will definitely read more from this author..

Although this is a stereotypical thriller, full of suspense and excitement, this is my least favourite by this author. Her earlier work was better, and I was left entertained but deflated. I was expecting more.

Mystery that had you hooked from the off. The book was very well written. Great plot. Very exciting. Fast paced to get your heart racing. Loved this book

I really enjoyed the first half of this book. The setup is amazing, with three women trapped by the weather in a remote farmhouse. We don't know very much about them and it's exciting to unravel their secrets and the links between them. There's a great atmosphere of menace with the storm outside making it impossible for them to leave. So, five stars for this part of the book.

But then we get to the second half. This is where the story started to unravel for me. I mean, I expected one of the characters (amongst the three women trapped, and the three men and another woman who did not make it on the trip) to be a depraved killer, but <spoiler>several of them?? </spoiler> That really got too much for me and it tipped the story into the unbelievable.

For this reason, I didn't like the second half nor the ending and it gave me an overall dissatisfied feeling, which is why I gave it three stars overall. It was a shame the story went this way, because the writing was really good.

Separated into sections - days of the weekend making chapters/parts a bit lengthy at times! Overall a very good read but not my favourite by this author. Would recommend :)

Imagine you’re going on a weekend away with your husbands best friends and their wives, but all the husbands suddenly have excuses for not coming the first night and you arrive to a gift with a card saying:
“By the time you read this, I’ll have killed one of your husbands.”
This was a dramatic way to get the book going, got me intrigued and immediately guessing with the wives as to who’s husband it could be.
The women were not very likeable to be honest, I actually don’t think I liked any of the characters which is probably why I found it hard to persist and finish the book quicker as I didn’t have motivation to read on to hope for my ‘favoured’ character but I did indeed persevere as I was determined to find out who the hell had been killed and what had the other husbands been up to?
I am glad I continued as it was quite a blooming journey we went on! Plenty of unexpected twists as to who’s actually telling you the story, constantly leaving you second guessing who the killer is.
This story was a rollercoaster of mystery, I think it was worth it in the end but I personally found it had to stay motivated and took a very long time dipping in and out of this book. But I’d still recommend as a good mystery.

Gilly Macmillan can always be relied on to deliver a great thriller, The Long Weekend does nothing to ruin that record. Three women alone in a secluded country cottage receive a note telling them one of their husbands will die. Jayne, ex military and ever the pragmatist is sure it's a sick joke. Ruth, a supposed high flying doctor and new mother takes solace in vodka. Emily, younger and newer to the group is convinced it's true and panics enough to make rash decisions. They're stranded by nasty weather and with no way to contact the outside world things begin to fall apart.

So if you want gritty realism walk on by. The author throws every type of secret and drama into this she could possibly thought of and runs with it. And whilst occasionally a bit mental it's highly enjoyable. It's a bit like a Christmas soap opera episode...everything happens! I read this during a bout of illness which stopped me from reading much and oh my god it was frustrating. Under normal circumstances this would have been a one sit read.

This was a creepy tension building novel set in a vast desolate landscape with no phone service....what could possibly go wrong?

I didn't like the characters, but I think that's the way the author meant it to be. There was a lot of extra detail that prevented the book from being as page turning as it could be.

That said, there were twists and turns that left you wanting to know more. I would have liked the POV switching to have been more cleat though...

*Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.*

Right. Where to begin?

The initial plot behind this was solid. Three women go to a remote barn for a weekend away, expecting their husbands to come and join them the day after. These wives don't know each other all that well so expect some arguments and fallings out.

The farmer and his wife who own the barn seem like a lovely couple, but the farmer has a degenerative brain disease and his wife is struggling to deal with it and his mood swings.

There is a fourth wife who doesn't attend; her husband died a while back and she isn't really a part of these gatherings due to that (all four husbands were best friends). This wife has apparently sent a bottle of fancy champagne to the farmhouse for the wives to receive on arrival, along with a note saying that she'd killed one of their husbands (but not which one).

Cue madness.

It felt like every possible secret a person could have was crammed into this book. One wife is a secret alcoholic, one has PTSD, and the other is quite sensible but is painted as the silly naïve younger wife. One of the husbands *could* be a paedophile, one is perfectly "normal" and one is older than the others and is therefore suspicious because he could be having an affair with a wife who is closer to his age. The farmer kills himself to end his suffering (this came so quickly and out of nowhere that I read back a few pages, convinced I had missed something). There are also red herrings all over the shop, including a historic burial sit that you *think* is going to have more significance. Oh and the farmer's son is a policeman who happens to be able to travel over and solve the mystery ... Sure thing.

Reading through the end of this book, where all the explanations are tied up, was confusing as all hell. I definitely lost the plot a bit as to who was who, and was hoping against hope that nothing would happen to Izzy, the 17 year old daughter of one of the wives who is definitely treated younger. She was completely innocent in the whole thing and the scenes between here and Mark (one of the husbands) made me feel sick.

Overall, it wasn't a bad book, just super unbelievable. Some plot lines could have been taken out, it was a bit messy, but I did enjoy it.

First read of this author and won't be my last.
Read it at a pace as I was keen to get yo end. Would definitely recommend.

Wowser! You certainly had to concentrate on this one to work out what was going on and who was doing what, but having said that, it was a great read, full of intrigue, deception and tragedy. Very entertaining, very fast paced, but as I said, if you don´t concentrate its very easy to get confused and lose which character is currently being described as it jumps from character to character a lot.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange of an honest review.

This thriller almost gave me a heart attack! I was so scared for the characters. The twists and turns I never saw coming kept me hooked till the end.

After reading The Long Weekend and one other book by Gilly Macmillan, I really don't think she's an
author for me. The premise of this book sounded fantastic to me, as I really enjoy thrillers about groups
of friends going away on holiday. It's a niche I didn't realise I loved until recently.

Unfortunately, something I really don't like in my thrillers is a plot line that is ridiculous, verging on
nonsensicle. I didn't get much out of this book because I wasn't made to care for any of the characters -
apart from maybe Imogen - before they were thrown into the plot.

I didn't like the setting, either, because despite what the synopsis implies, it's barely set during the
weekend away trip in the farmland. It goes back and forth between what's happening in the barn (not
much), and what's happening elsewhere (most of the plot).

I certainly didn't hate The Long Weekend, but it wasn't what I was expecting at all. I feel really let down
by it, and I think I might be done with this author.

I struggled to finish this book as I felt it dragged a lot and I prefer fast paced thrillers. There are no chapters and the different POV the women use is confusing, as they run in to one and other.

Just OK for me.

My first Gilly Macmillan book and I can’t help wondering why I waited so long.

This was a fast paced, engrossing psychological thriller that had some great twists and turns. There was one moment in particular that completely threw me, and it’s moments like that that make a book memorable.

It’s refreshing to read a book that utilises its non-visual medium to create subterfuge and subsequent revelations to such brilliant levels. So often books are written with the intention of a hopeful movie adaptation. The Long Weekend, however, drew on the factors that simply couldn’t work in a movie and used them very well.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for a Review Copy.

You definitely need to be paying attention and be fully concentrating to keep up with this book. The book starts as a basic thriller set up type of book but then everything gets turned on it’s head. I was left guessing the entire way through this book and thoroughly enjoyed it, although it did get a tad confusing jumping from character to character.

This novel starts with the three women arriving early at Fell Barn, an "specifically isolated" retreat which is booked by the husband's who are lifelong friends only they are missing the four couple after a recent death. What was expected to be a retreat turns into a horror when they receive a beautifully wrapped gift but it turns out to be a note saying one of there husband will be murdered. Is it a hoax ,there is no phone service so they are completely cut off. Things all go downhill from there for this group of dysfunctional group of friends.

I struggled to finish this book as I felt it dragged a lot and I prefer fast paced thrillers.
There are no chapters and furthermore the different POV the women use is confusing, as they run in to one and other.

Thanks to Netgally and the publishers for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for a full,crank and honest review

Oh boy I love unlikeable characters when they are written that way.
Let me root for their destruction!

The more you read the less you care about what happens to the characters and more about the HOW.
A REALLY fun thriller with a brilliant atmosphere. My enjoyment of this outranked my problems with the logic of what was happing, or the pacing of the story (quite slow at times).