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.

I love Gilly Macmillan as an author and devour her novels. I really enjoyed this novel.

We meet three women, Jayne, Emily, Ruth, who are going ahead of their husbands to fit in a girls night. They are off to the remote Dark Fell Barn (which in itself sounds scary and dark). On arrival the women discover a note saying that one of their husbands will be murdered. The note is signed from Edie, one of their old friends, who's husband had died and is no longer a part of their once close knit group. The women assume that it is just a very unfunny joke but all equally worry that it may not be.

As you can imagine this sets off a trail events that is so gripping.

The ladies break away soon turns into something unimaginable and scary.

Thanks to NetGalley, Gilly Macmillan and the publishers for allowing me a copy in exchange for my honest review.

3 friends go away for a weekend at a remote cottage. Their husbands are due to join them the next day. But everyone has secrets that they hide from their friends.
I usually like stories told from multiple points of views. However I found the constant switching between characters, sometimes between paragraphs, got annoying at times and interrupted the flow.

Yet another smash hit of a book!
A read in one go, page Turner that is a book you definitely don't want to miss ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Yet another smash hit of a book!
A read in one go, page Turner that is a book you definitely don't want to miss ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I've read and enjoyed books previously from Gillt Macmillan but unfortunately this latest book wasn't for me.

The synopsis sounded very intriguing. Although, not original I've read other thrillers which a very similar synopsis which I've gone on to really enjoy.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case with this book. I found the characters and the plot just simply okay.

I found myself quite bored throughout reading this book. The plot wasn't as interesting as the synopsis made it out to be.

Another reason I did not enjoy this book was there was no chapter breaks nor did it indicate when the characters perspective had changed. I found this incredibly confusing to read and it made the plot difficult to follow.

Overall, this is certainly not the worst thriller I've ever read and I would be happy to read more from this author in the future but unfortunately this book was a miss for me.

A group of six, three couples, plan a trip to the Northumbrian moors. They will stay at Dark Fell Barn the women, Jayne, Ruth and Emily, arriving first, the men will be turning up the following day as they have work conflicts and other demands on their time. However, when Jayne, Ruth and Emily land at the off-grid retreat they find a present with shiny wrapping and ribbons on the kitchen table, alongside a note saying that when they get to read the note, one of their husbands will have been killed...

Told via multiple viewpoints, one of which was an unknown narrator until near to the conclusion Gilly Macmillan's tale is tense and complex. I had no idea how things would pan out and spent many a minute pondering over the finer details whilst reading. Intense and dark, obsession and a menacing atmosphere assist the clever plotting. 100% recommended I'm left eagerly awaiting Gilly Macmillan's next novel.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Random House UK, Cornerstone/ Century via NetGalley and this review is my unbiased opinion.

I found the premise of the story was engaging, and I read to the end to find out what had happened (and who did what!). I did, however, find I lacked sympathy for most of the characters, and the one I found most interesting (Emily) had the lightest touch. I also found the last part of the book tedious, and long-winded, dragging out who was behind all the things that had gone wrong.

Claustrophobic and tense. Fast paced.

The chapters are soooo long and change perspectives continously without telling you who is who, which is confusing but once youre used to it adds to the fast paced and tense nature of the entire thing.

EXCERPT: Behind her, something approaches, not quickly, but deliberately. She swings the torch wildly in its direction but sees only foliage, teased by the wind. A shudder ripples through her. Lightning strikes, but it only confuses her, white light glancing off every tree trunk, picking out every leaf and thorn and bramble.

She feels spotlit by it, intensely vulnerable, and takes off down the hill, running as quickly as she can, not caring what she steps on, or whether she risks falling. She feels possessed by fear, driven by it. The torch beam bounces, illuminating things at random. A tree, the ground, a face.

Emily doesn't see the log across the lane. Her toes hit it, hard, and she falls heavily. Her phone flies from her hand. For a moment, the large puddle it lands in glows, lit from within, before reverting to oily black. Emily lies still, wet, shocked, cold to her bones, and in the deepest darkness she's ever been alone in. She begins to push herself up and her whole body starts to shake.

A few feet from her, a hand reaches towards the puddle where her phone has sunk, dips into the water, and removes it.

ABOUT 'THE LONG WEEKEND': Three couples. Two bodies. One secret.

Dark Fell Barn is a “perfectly isolated” retreat, or so says its website when Jayne books a reservation for her friends. A quiet place, far removed from the rest of the world, is exactly what they need.

The women arrive for a girls’ night ahead of their husbands. There’s ex-Army Jayne, hardened and serious, but also damaged. Ruth, the driven doctor and new mother who is battling demons of her own. Young Emily, just wed and insecure, the newest addition of this tight-knit band. Missing this year is Edie, who was the glue holding them together until her husband died suddenly.

But what they hoped would be a relaxing break soon turns to horror. Upon arrival at Dark Fell Barn, the women find a devastating note claiming one of their husbands will be murdered. There are no phones, no cell service to check on their men. Friendships fracture as the situation spins wildly out of control. Betrayal can come in many forms.

This group has kept each other’s secrets for far too long.

MY THOUGHTS: I raced through the first two thirds of The Long Weekend by Gilly Macmillan, the story tautly paced, compelling and atmospheric. But then . . . (my hand is doing that wavering thing here) the author started to lose me. It started to get messy and disjointed and, frankly, more than a little unrealistic. Melodramatic is another word that comes to mind.

None of the main characters are particularly likeable. We initially meet only the women: Ruth, a doctor, alcoholic, increasingly paranoid new mother, married to Toby, and whose life is rapidly unraveling; Jayne, ex-army, suffering from PTSD, married to Mark, also ex-army; Emily, the newbie in the group, younger than the others, and married to Paul. The women are together because of their husbands longstanding friendship. These are not women who would ever have been friends otherwise. They are not particularly close and now find themselves in a remote and hostile environment without the buffer of their husbands, recipients of a strange and threatening letter, signed 'E'.

Edie: the only woman in the men's longterm friendship group; at school with them all and married to the fourth of the men, Rob, recently killed in an accident, and struggling to adjust to life without him. Toby, Mark and Paul have formed a protective circle around her, dropping anything and everything to be at her beck and call. Edie is the only one of the wives not going on the retreat. She is upset that the group is continuing with the annual tradition so soon after Rob's death, not even skipping a year. Is that why she has written the vitriolic and threatening letter? Or is there a completely different reason for it?

I loved the first two thirds of this read, and tolerated the remainder of it. Overall it's a good read, just not great like I have come to expect from this author.

⭐⭐⭐.1

#TheLongWeekend #NetGalley

I: @gillymacmillan @randomhouse

T: @GillyMacmillan @randomhouseuk

#contemporaryfiction #crime #domesticdrama #mystery #psychologicalthriller #suspense

THE AUTHOR: Gilly Macmillan grew up in Swindon, Wiltshire and also lived in Northern California. She studied History of Art at Bristol University and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.

Gilly lives in Bristol, UK with her family and writes full time.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Random House UK, Cornerstone, Century via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Long Weekend by Gilly Macmillan for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

Who wouldn't love to get away from the weekend? A break in the country sounds lovely. But when Ruth, Jayne and Emily head off to Dark Fell Barn in Northumberland, a remote barn and the weather changes, no-one is enjoying the turn of events that happens once they arrive.

The story is told from the point of view of the characters, and theres a fair few to keep up with. the main one being Ruth, Jayne and Emily though, with their husbands - Mark, Toby and Paul. But also Edie and Imogen. Edie and her husband Rob used to be friends with the others, until Rob died. And now it’s just her and Imogen, their daughter. She didn’t want to go away on the weekend, but she also doesn’t want the others to enjoy it. The boys and Edie are old school friends, well Paul was their rugby coach and Edie's parents taught at the school too.

Emily is the reluctant one of the bunch, being the late comer to the group, she's younger and finds it hard, with the in jokes and knowing they have a shared history she finds in hard to fit in. But to keep the peace and Paul happy she goes along. As soon as the three women arrive at the barn, escorted by the Farmer who owns it, John Elliott. They know it was a mistake going. No phone reception, the husbands are due to arrive the next day. And when then find a package left by Edie, is when it all really starts to break down.

Superbly atmospheric, scene setting, dark and thrilling, what ever you think might happen, won’t. Gillian Macmillan builds tension using the characters, whose combined lives can’t help but thrust the story along. Which all adds to the story and pulls the reader in.