I really hate books with no chapters. I'm hoping this is just because it's not a final copy. If not that decision was wrong in my opinion.
I found this jumped around too much. Mainly because there were too many stories trying to get time. There were one side plot that I felt wasn't needed at all. More focus could have been on the main story if it wasn't included.
When it comes to POVs there were too many but also because of format it always took me a second to figure out which POV it was now.
All of this took me too out of the story and I kept getting lost trying to keep up with everything and everyone.
This just didn't work for me.

I enjoyed this book - it was very twisty and I enjoyed the conclusion. I do agree with other reviewers that it was a bit confusing at times as to who was narrating and I never really got my head around which husband belonged to which wife so that was a bit difficult at times and I had to keep referring back. I also thought that it was a bit stretched out. That said, it was interesting enough to keep me reading and I didn't guess who the baddy was at all. I would recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC.
I have not read any of Gilly Macmillan's books before. I requested this book because of the gripping title: 'by the time you read this, one of your husbands will be dead.'
The concept is great, I am just not convinced that the execution was effective. This is going to be a mixed review because whilst I enjoyed it, I struggled with a few of the aspects.

It was a gripping story, as there are three women who go away for the weekend, expecting their husbands to join them the next day but they receive the death threat the minute that they arrive. There is no signal, so they cannot check on their husbands. Plus none of them really know each other very well, so they all turn on each other at different points.

The weekend is spent trying to find signal in a wilderness whilst trying to work out if the other is lying to them.
There was a brilliant twist set up but it was revealed 30% of the way through the book, which I've never understood, as this could have easily been revealed towards the ending of the novel.

There are no chapters but the story is told from multiple locations and viewpoints. Therefore, you spend the first part of any paragraph trying to work out who is talking and where you are in the storyline. However, the descriptions of the locations and the characters are clear and detailed. Some of the details included in the story are really strange choices. There were three scenes of peeing characters, for example.

If you can keep up with the multiple points of view then this is a good thriller, just one that feels unfinished in places.

‘The Long Weekend’ has the perfect premise for a claustrophobic thriller where an imminent and unseen threat lurks just around the corner.
The plotline kicks off right away, which I love for this genre, as three women are away for a weekend on the moors but once at their retreat they find a note which threatens the life of one of their husbands. The realisation that a potential murderer may lie within their close social circle quickly dawns upon them and of course fractures relationships quickly.
I really enjoyed the originality and intensity that Macmillan creates within this novel and the twists were brilliantly crafted; so in that sense it was a very successful and thrilling read. However for me the lack of chapter breaks did throw me off when I tried to follow the rapid narrative changes. I usually enjoy stories told through different perspectives and alternative writing styles but I did struggle to follow this one and unfortunately that did take away from enjoying the story as a whole for me.
Despite my personal opinion on the flow of the book I cannot deny that it is a well paced mystery whose conclusion I really didn’t see coming.

This was an okay book but I found the lack of chapters annoying and had very little sympathy for any of the characters

The premise of this book was intriguing. I really looked forward to starting it. Although the start was great it very quickly descending into a chaotic jumble of characters and different people’s stories. It became extremely confusing and not a little irritating. My old plea for some straight narrative still holds here and a clean directive of who is “ speaking”
The implausibility of the plot really irritated and I could not wait to finish it.

This review will be posted with Waterstones

For me this was the longest most amped up book I’ve read with a really disappointing ending.
It took me a while to read as I couldn’t get into it.

I don’t know if it’s just how it was formatted on the kindle, but the storyline kept switching from one character to another, but it wasn’t clear who it was referring to at certain points which was confusing and frustrating.

The ending was poor, do we know who Imogen’s real father is? To go through all that and for it not to be confirmed was just annoying. What was the point of them all going to the farm? It seems irrelevant.
What did John and his family bring to the story? Nothing really.

Sadly, this was a no from me.

WOW this was insanely amazing and soo crazy in the best way!!!! The twists and turns this book and it's characters take will blow your mind. You have to read this book even if you're new to this author. Trust me it is worth it.

On my goodness this book was so exciting right from the start I was hooked. I read this one in a day as I found I couldn’t put it down. It’s was twisty and creepy and very atmospheric. Set mainly in Scotland with lashing rain and high winds and, of course, no mobile signal. This book kept up a fast pace all the way through. I loved it. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily.
The sense of menace and dread are conveyed well throughout this novel, and this makes it likely to appeal to many readers so I have given it 3 stars. However, I disliked the narrative style which consisted of pages and pages without a chapter break, and movement between each character's viewpoint without any indication the change was coming; I thought this made it slow and disjointed. Each character has flashbacks and thoughts of worries around past events then the story swaps to the present time making the group of women seem to have nothing in common but their husbands, rather than being the 'tight knit' group described in the blurb. Everyone, including John and Maggie have their secrets and lies, but the tale seemed so slow in the telling that I didn't find it suspenseful or thrilling and stopped reading at 52% when the story had only reached 18 hours through the weekend.

An intriguing read. The blurb had me hooked. I was convinced I knew who the culprit was but how so wrong I was . An isolated farmhouse, a raging storm, 3 females and no mobile reception. The letter awaiting them on arrival sets the scene and their nerves on edge. A mystery with suspects and motives . A compelling read

An intriguing book will lots of twists and turns. It was very atmospheric and kept the reader guessing. The characters all have issues to deal with, either from their past or present lives and this weekend away brings them all to the surface, triggered by a letter left for the three wives at the isolated barn they have rented for the weekend.
I loved that this book kept me guessing and at times turned things upside down. I truly did not know how it would end.
The style of the book took some getting used to, there were no chapters or indicated breaks, the narrative just changed from one person to another with no warning. I understood why there was no indication as to who was narrating as that added to the mystery and intrigue but it was disconcerting when the POV just changed. I would have appreciated some kind of advance warning like * * * between paragraphs.
Apart from that it was a good read.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC for my honest review.

I was a little gutted that I could not get into the flow of this book. The premise sounds amazing; the multiple POVs and extremely long chapters (190 pages!) made it really difficult for me to get into the flow of this one. I’m gutted, but will definitely re try soon!

This was my first Gilly Macmillan novel, and also a much needed respite from the madness of the world, psychological thrillers being my go to escape.

Time was the only factor that stopped me from reading this in a non-stop frenzy, so it was split over a few days, but I binged 70% of it over c.24 hours.

The novel grips you early, and it was nigh on impossible to stop until the satisfying conclusion.

The schizophrenic flipping between different narratives is a tad disconcerting, but I suspect reading a review copy pre-publication makes it harder to delineate between voices owing to the layout, which is not yet final nor clear.

The story itself is perfectly captivating, and I have to say, I hoped the protagonist was not the final reveal, but that actually made the book more intriguing.

And one can already envisage the Netflix mini-series...

I’m a great fan of Gilly Macmillan’s books and was thrilled to receive an ARC of her latest novel, THE LONG WEEKEND. Despite a great atmospheric setting and a premise that immediately drew me in, I struggled to follow the narrative. POVs and time frames change without headings or prior warnings, which made the tale disjointed and I was never sure which character’s head I was supposed to be in. I soon lost track of who was who and how these people fit into the story, and after skipping back and forth between the pages to find what I had missed, I finally decided that the book wasn’t for me. Perhaps this is just a formatting issue with my ARC, so I will look up the book once it is out in the world and perhaps try again to see whether this will work better for me.

I loved this book, it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. But all the same it was fab. Lots of twists and turns which kept me right on the edge of my seat.
9/10

I struggled with this book as although I really enjoyed the story in the book I just couldn’t bring myself to like most of the characters. It is quite a dark and twisted story and all of these friends are at risk from their secrets and lies and no one comes out of this as innocent I would say but also I would not be booking a trip to that lodge any time soon either lol.

Incredibly compelling. It’s atmospheric and claustrophobic. It explores the politics and nuances of the friendship group in a really interesting way. There is a cunning and shocking revelations that comes quite early on in the book and makes you desperate to read on and find out what happened. It’s a tense and thrilling story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. It’s a good premise and well written. Good characters and the story is told from different points of view. The tension is built well, though towards the end it was a little too drawn out. An engaging read though and very well told!

A premise with potential that ultimately failed to deliver on the expected tension. Initially I was caught up in the set-up but the story quickly spiralled into unbelievable territory and the changing perspectives were irritating instead of gripping. I found I was having to reread paragraphs as I was confused about which character was telling their part of the story. And I quickly became disinterested in the characters that became more and more unlikeable as time wore on.

Sadly this wasn’t a hit with me but maybe the author’s next novel will make more of a positive impact.