Thank you to netgalley, the author and the publisher for early access to this ARC !

This story is set on the Greek island of Inios and follows the main character Juno on a journey to find her father whom she has never met. The way in which this book is written keeps you hooked and makes it very easy to binge !

I loved the island setting of this book and it made you feel like you were really there. I would give this book a 3.5 🌟

The Island Escape is a captivating summer read that blends a haunting mystery with the beauty and secrets of a Greek island. Juno arrives on Inios searching for the father she’s never known, armed with letters from the 1980s that hint at a tragic past involving her mother Estelle and the enigmatic Zimiris family. As Juno digs deeper, the idyllic island setting becomes claustrophobic, with old-fashioned attitudes and buried secrets adding tension.

Jess Ryder masterfully weaves together past and present through gripping flashbacks and twists that kept me guessing until the very end. The vivid island atmosphere contrasts with the complex emotions and relationships, making this both a scenic escape and a thrilling family drama. Fans of emotionally rich, suspenseful stories set in sun-drenched locales will find The Island Escape a truly satisfying read.

When Juno’s marriage is not working out, due to unsuccessful attempts at starting a family, she decides to try to track down the father she had never met. Using postcards and letters she found when clearing out her grandmother’s house, she realises he came from a Greek island, rather than Italy, as her mum has always told her. However, when Juno reaches the island she is mystified to find he is never mentioned by his powerful family - it is as if he never existed. With chapters from the 80s written from Estelle’s view interspersing with Juno’s story, this is an excellent book. A highly recommended 5 star book.

The Island Escape follows the story of Juno... a woman who finds herself embarking on a journey to a Greek Island in search of the father she has never known, the father her mother Estelle refuses to tell her anything about..

I enjoyed this read I must say! the way in which its written keeps you invested, and the plot itself is well paced. An intriguing read!

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Publishers and Jess Ryder for providing me with an ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

Having read a fair few of Jess Ryder’s books previously, it was a no brainier to want to read her latest book, especially given the blurb of the book sounded so good.

So The Island Escape is a pretty darn good thriller, I was captivated throughout. I thought the story was well written and parts of the story cleverly done, the way all the pieces intertwine to give us clues and the final result come the end.

The story plot certainly has me guessing at times, trying to figure out in my head as to what was really going on, hard to know who to trust and who to believe.

So another well done to the author.

Juno is in her late thirties, and she arrives on the Greek island of Inios to find her father, whom she has never known.

After her gran’s death, while she was clearing her house, Juno found letters from the 1980s. Letters from Estelle, her mother, to her parents, detailing her summer at Inios and her deep love for Nico Zimiris.

Armed with this information, Juno confronts her mother, who tells her to stay away from the island and the Zimiris family.

This, obviously, doesn’t work, and Juno arrives at Inios and finds work as a wedding planner for none other than the Zimiris family!

She soon discovers that nothing is as it seems…

I loved the author’s previous book, The Villa, so I jumped at the chance to read her latest work, and I wasn’t disappointed.

This book had me from the gripping prologue of the events from 1985, where Estelle and Nico have done something terrible and departed the island, vowing to never contact each other again.

I was racing through the story, trying to find out what really happened back in 1985.

I loved the idyllic, scenic setting of a Greek island. However, upon closer inspection, the island was claustrophobic, with everyone knowing each other’s business. Also, I didn’t like how the Greek men treated their women; such old-fashioned views!

This book offers some delicious twists and turns. I definitely recommend it.

Many thanks to Penguin for my NetGalley widget.

Juno has always had a fractured relationship with her mum who left her with her grandparents to go travelling and now lives in Portugal. When she and Luke are trying to start a family, she becomes interested in who her father is. But her mum is not telling. When she was clearing her grandmother's house, she finds a packet of letters written by her mum from a Greek island, the summer she was born and mentioning someone called Niko. Could this be her dad? When her mum will not explain, she has no choice but to go looking on Inios.
This had all the promise of a destination thriller. An estranged family, beautiful island, a mystery, duel time line between Juno and her mum. I loved the insight into how the island changed between the two time lines and the plot was good, if a little predictable. But somehow, for me, it was a little flat and didn't grip me to keep turning the pages.

Juno arrives on Inios wanting to find the father she never knew. Her mother Estelle won't tell her anything and then she finds letters and discovers his names Niko and his family own a huge hotel. Her marriage with Luke is in trouble and she hopes coming here will help her.

Juno arrives on the Greek island of Inios for a summer with a mission. She needs to escape what's happening with her own relationship and also finally find her father.
She has a plan but nothing turns out quite as she expected it to. There's no sign of her father, no one remembers him, even his family act like he never existed. Her mother refuses to give any more details so Juno, desperate for answers decides to stick it out on the island to try to uncover what happened that summer when her parents met.

Jess has done a wonderful job of giving us a beautiful island setting with a haunting mystery. This is a perfect summer read!
I really enjoyed the glimpses into the past that we got through Estelle's story and trying to put together the hints that we gather along the way.
Safe to say I didn't see it all come together until near the end and found it very satisfying.

Thank you to Netgalley and Randomhouse UK Cornerstone for providing a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I had high hopes for 'The Island Escape' based on the premise, but ultimately the book felt a little flat and failed to draw me in. The setup is a classic for a destination thriller - a gorgeous, sunny island, a family mystery, and secrets galore, however, the story felt thin, lacking that 'something' to really get me caught up in the story.

I struggled to connect with the characters which made it hard to care about their fate or the stakes involved. Even the big reveal and plot twist didn’t impact me. It landed with a bit of a thud and felt like a bit of a let down.

Overall, it’s beautifully set and is a solid premise, but it never quite delivers on its potential. A decent summer read if you’re after easy escapism, but if you want some real suspense this one may leave you underwhelmed.

Juno visits Inios, a Greek island to find Niko, the father she has never met and who her mother Estelle is reluctant to tell her about.
Told from Juno’s POV whilst she tries to find out more and Estelle’s POV when she first visited the island nearly 40 years ago.

Estelle’s warning to Juno sets the book off with a mysterious undertone and then when a body is found the story takes a dangerous turn and the tension on Juno is ramped up.

The description of the setting makes the book feel immersive and definitely a good summer/beach read.

Overall great read which I really enjoyed.

This is the second book by Jess that I’ve read and I’m so eager to read more as this was a fast paced, twisty thriller that had me hooked immediately just like The Villa. It’s a destination thriller set on a Greek Island, which despite the happenings has made me want to return and spend some time island hopping, the scenery and location just sounds incredible.

I don’t think I saw any of the twists coming in this, I was properly blind-sighted as was Juno but really loved it. There’s an undercurrent of tension throughout the whole book and it gives that sense of unease because you don’t know who to trust.

Because of this there were points where I was like noooo, that’s going to end in trouble , but then had to read on to find out what was going to happen.

This had been hooked from the start to the finish, with chapters alternating between Juno in the current day and Estelle’s letters from 40 years ago it gave a great depth to the book and it really did feel like I was uncovering things alongside Juno. Another fabulous read!

I really enjoyed this book. A gripping fast paced, suspenseful mystery. I couldn’t put it down. You’re immersed into the story right from the start.
Juno goes to the Greek island of Inios to find her father she’s never met. But nothing is as she expected. And a buried family secret is uncovered.
The chapters alternate between dual timelines adding depth to the story. The intriguing storyline and well written believable characters make it easy to read. I loved the Greek setting. It’s so atmospheric. I liked the authors writing style as it’s engaging and suspenseful. With plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing and turning the pages. Look forward to reading more from @jessryderthrillers
Definitely recommend this one. It well worth the read.
With thanks to #NetGallery #RandomHouseUk #Cornerstone for an arc of #TheIslandEscape in exchange for a honest review.
Book publishes 3 July 2025

I really enjoyed this book.
It was an easy book to get through, and had enough of a mystery to keep me reading.
It all got a bit 'gangster' towards the end but the resolution was worth while.

I'm not sure this book will stay with me, but it was a nice read nevertheless.

I really enjoy this narrative style and find it so intriguing to pull the story together through the past and present. Both POV's I found to be entertaining and compelling all the way through even to a point there was a couple of places I have to flit back to the beginning to remind myself of the prologue.
I really like the end and found all the twists to be satisfying - really good ending
This isn't the first of Jess Ryder's books that I've read and I loved them both so far, definitely interested in what comes next!

A good holiday story especially if you are heading to a Greek island !! Starts off with shades of "Mamma Mia" however it soon descends into a much darker tale and one which isn't solved until right at the end along with another good ending too.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC to review.

Really enjoyed this book. Sucked me in from the start, easy to read, set in Greece so lovely descriptions. Felt like i was there.
Enjoyed the plot, wasnt sure which way it was going to go. I had lots of guesses but none were correct.
A good holiday read.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Island Escape by Jess Ryder was a story full of twists, turns and red herrings! I think I changed my mind about events in the book many times because of those!!!
Juno leaves her husband for some time alone to think about the state of her marriage. She decides to go to the Greek island of Inios, to search for her father who has been missing from her life with no convincing explanation from her mum for all of her life. She wants to find him and see if they can have a relationship. She really wants this
After hearing from some locals that Niko’s family are not a family to be messed with, Juno decides that it’s safer to keep her identity to herself for now. They have a reputation for being hard and rumoured to be merciless to enemies. They are rich and powerful family., and her mother is horrified she’s there and begs her to go home. She tells her she could be in danger but won’t tell her why.
The story goes between Juno’s current journey, and her mother’s, twenty odd years earlier. It flows easily and I was hooked from the first page!!
I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was brilliantly written. The ending is an absolute masterpiece!! Fantastic!!!
Many thanks goes to Random House for the opportunity to read this arc copy via Netgalley. My opinion is my own.
#Netgalley, #RandomHouseUk, #JessRyderThrillers.

This is a great read.
Juno heads to the Greek island of Inios to try and find out more about her father as her Mum, Estelle won’t tell her much. Finding some old letters and photos from her Mum, Juno starts her search.
Her relationship with Estelle is distant but when both her husband and Estelle find out she has gone to Inios they’re far from happy.
Estelle tells her to come home immediately as she’s not safe but when she asks why, Estelle won’t say.
We then have chapters from Estelle when she met Juno’s father and we are able to start to fill the gaps.
This was an intriguing story with a few surprises in store.
Thanks to Random House UK for the opportunity to read this book.

I found this a very enjoyable read, written over two timelines, 1980s by Estelle and present day by Juno, her daughter.
Juno Curnell knew that she needed space, she loved her husband, Luke but the constant stress of trying for a baby and failing, the endless ovulation charts, temperature reading were bringing her down.
Juno had been raised by her grandparents from the age of eleven, her hippy mother, Estelle, was living in Portugal. Estelle refused to tell Juno who her father was but Juno found out that his name was Niko and her mother had fallen in love with him when she had spent her summer vacation from uni on the beautiful Greek island of Inios.
Juno was going to use her time out to try to find Niko, she travelled to Inios and managed to get a job as a wedding planner working for Nikos brother Andreus, she didn't tell anyone who she was, at the back of her mind was her mothers warning "please don't go the Inios, your life will be in danger".
As this story unfolds, people disappear, bodies are found, identities uncertain, the Greek islanders have their own strict codes of conduct, they welcome tourists for their money but not into their families.
Will Andreus discover Juno's secret ? Will Juno find Niko ? Why is her life in danger, who can she trust ?
This story transports me back to happy holidays on the Greek islands, the author obviously knows the islands well. The story does drag on a bit but it has an unexpected but great ending.
Thank you Net Gallery for this ARC, my review is totally voluntary.