A Stranger on Board is an enjoyable easy read, set onboard a luxury yacht. It's a perfect Summer and holiday read actually. Slow to get going initially but I stuck with it as I liked the characters. It was predictable in parts and you definitely need to suspend belief as it gets a bit outside the bounds of realistic.

Ex Marine Mitch ,founder of a specialist security agency asks his old colleague Sarah to act as Security Officer on a new Superyacht which is going to the Caribbean for its owners to collect . Sarah has problems getting over the death of her boyfriend . Mitch thinks that this supposedly easy trip will help her get over her guilt about this and do her good. Once on board it becomes obvious that all is not well with the crew, old quarrels start to resurface as the trip gets underway. The captain is hell bent on making the fastest progress possible to get the delivery done but is slowed down by what appears to be sabotage starting with the pure water tanks being left to run almost dry and then engine and electrical problems. Sarah takes control and then finds out the radio equipment has been broken so they have no contact with the outside world. One of the crew disappears overboard and the Captain and Mate set off in the Rib tender to search for him but they also disappear without trace. It then seems that they are being followed by a larger boat but why? It appears the other boat is out to sink them, but Sarah has other ideas and creeps onto the other boat under cover of darkness and reduces the danger before returning to the Superyacht. It becomes apparent why this was happening towards the end of the book with a surprising twist.

This was a strange book. I wasn't really that interested in the story or the characters but I wanted to know the conclusion so I kept reading. Usually I would have given up and put in my dnf list, but for some reason I kept reading in case I missed something. Even though I was a bit bored I still wanted to see how it unfolded. It was the slowest burner I've ever known, but it really raced towards the end. Did I enjoy this? After around 60% yes, would I read another by this author, yes one more but if it's anything like this I'd leave it there

A Stranger on board is a tense thriller. The setting is a luxury yacht with only two guests. Sarah, the main character is an ex marine who is employed as security for the sailing. Right from the start, there are tensions and it is obvious that things are not what they seem. One of the crew goes missing, quickly followed by another and then it becomes a battle for survival.

It’s action packed and will appeal to readers who enjoy a fast moving thriller.

My thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I'm left disappointed with this book. The premise is something I usually like which is why I was so interested in the book. However this just didn't work for me.
The book despite having action felt too slow paced to keep me interested. The narrative felt a little repetitive at times. The book also felt too long. Which for a book around 400 pages probably shouldn't feel this way.

I really enjoyed A Stranger On Board, it was gripping from the very start, intense, thrilling and intriguing. Would definitely recommend.

What a great thriller, a sort of female Jack Reacher character, which I very much enjoyed. The book has a great plot as you try to follow Sarah on her journey and work out who to trust and who has an ulterior motive!

This book just wasn't for me. The description promised alot but delivered very little. A "closed room" type of thriller can make for the classic page turning thriller and this seems to have it all. A luxury yacht pushing hard to reach its destination, a skeleton staff, last minute guest and a storm on the way. But for these genres to work there must be an element of reality about the set up and this was so shaky right from the start the book became infuriating.
Sarah, an ex Royal Marine naturally with issues of her own, sent as security by an insurance firm. But yet she had no say in anything and in fact no clue as to why she was there. A Captain who sacked a staff member over a personal issue insisting on leaving before the proper fitting out and checking of the ship, pushed at a high speed straight into a storm and all to get a life changing bonus. Might happen I guess if money involved was genuinely life changing not the relative pittance later mentioned.
Alot of characters but no development of these other than to make them all suspicious.
I won't go on as I said just was not my thing but the pity is there was a good story here maybe if told from the criminals port of view.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for this very honest review

Thank you to Netgalley, Penguin and Cameron Ward for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I loved this book from start to finish. I adored the female lead. I read this book in one sitting as I was utterly gripped. Thoroughly recommend.

Great plot to get yourself lost in. This book has everything. A real fast paced thriller. Will get your heart racing on more than one occasion. Very well written. Highly recommend this book

This book started off as a really slow burner for me. I enjoy a book that sets the scene in detail, but this took that to the extreme, with nothing really happening until at least 50% of the way through. Had this been any other genre other than a thriller, I probably would have DNF’d by half way. BUT I love thrillers and worry that I’ll miss a really good twist if I don’t finish the book so I carried on.

Just over halfway the story really does pick up and become quite fast paced. I enjoyed getting to know more about all the characters as time went on, and enjoyed watching the dynamic change as each round of ‘bad luck’ happened.

I didn’t really see any of the twists coming, which is always a bonus, but some of it felt unrealistic. I’m no expert on the Royal Marines so maybe I’m wrong, but parts just felt very unrealistic. I also think some of the clues should have been more obvious to someone who is indeed an ex marine, as a few things happened that she shrugged off that could have alerted her to something being off long before she noticed.

All in all, a thriller that provided some shocks, but also some questions!

A gripping read with a twisting plot. Imaging Bravo TV's 'Below Deck' series with a murderer on board, Super fun and well written. Highly recommended for fans of Clare Mackintosh's 'The Hostage'.

Cameron Ward draws out each character, keeping the reader guessing until the end!

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

This was a completely bonkers, insane, unbelievable escapade from start to finish and yet I quite enjoyed it! There are some not-great bits - for example, the repetitive incidences of Sarah's PTSD were getting irritating by the end, and the escape and sabotage of the other ship towards the end read as being ripped from a Jason Statham film - but it was overall enjoyable and pretty intense in places.

The review might not sound that positive but I look forward to reading something else by Cameron Ward.

At first this book started off a bit slow but then it really stepped up! There were plenty of twists and turns and it kept me gripped. Just stick with it and it will be worth it in the end!
Thank you to Cameron Ward, NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph UK for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to @netgalley for allowing me an ARC of this book.
Ex-marine Sarah French takes a job as on-board security on a luxury super-yacht to try to get her life and career back on track. The crew all seem nice enough with most of them working together previously, except Sarah. The atmosphere soon turns sour between the crew and Sarah is faced with uncovering a killer and returning the remaining crew and boat back to safety.
I really enjoyed the setting of the super-yacht for this mystery and the terminology used to make it as though I was in the environment with the crew. Although it is set on the yacht, the plot has several strands running through it making it feel much deeper than you’d initially think. Sarah’s backstory is hinted at throughout but is slowly revealed towards the end creating the tension of why Sarah left the marines and why she has flashbacks. There are many twists and turns building excitement along the way with lots of characters to keep you on edge and wondering what might happen next and the overall ‘whodunnit’.
An engaging mystery in a unique setting.

Sarah, an ex Marine, is recruited as security for a luxury yacht crossing the Atlantic.
The boat gets underway and then one of the crew goes missing and things start to go wrong. Can Sarah work out what's going on in time before they make it to their destination?

A very slow start, but the scene is set in great detail and around half way through things pick up and the action starts in earnest. Red herrings galore and I'm pretty sure I suspected every character at least once.
I loved the setting and especially the main character was female and also ex military, which gave it a strong hook for me.

What a fantastically gripping book this was. I loved it from the very start. I loved the main character, Sarah was a strong capable ex marine who had a vulnerable side due to things that had happened during her career. I loved the slow reveal of what had happened in her past that had shaped her and caused her to be on this yacht.

The description of the yacht was insane, I can't even imagine being on board such a masterpiece!

There were twists and turns galore and I loved that I couldn't trust a single character!!

This was a very very slow start but once it got going (about 60% of the way though) it was gripping.

I found it hard to visualise the characters and that may have been due to the slow start, I found myself skim reading a lot.

Easy to read but don't expect much from the beginning!

A slow burner, pretty slow start and then once things starts going awry hard to put down as I wanted to know what would happen.

Considering Saran is an ex-marine I did find a bit annoying how she missed some pretty big clues at the start.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for letting me review this book in exchange for an honest review.

Slow to start.
Sarah is an ex marine who finds herself in the middle of a murder mystery aboard a yacht.
Lots of twists and who dunnit moments