Super fast paced thriller that included lots of twists and turns. The description of the location made this story feel immersive and is a a perfect holiday read!

Simon McCleave takes the classic “friends’ reunion gone wrong” setup and turns it into a tense, atmospheric thriller in Five Days in Provence.

Steph has meticulously planned her 50th birthday celebration—a dream holiday in Provence with her four closest friends. The picture-perfect setting of lavender fields, sunlit vineyards, and leisurely poolside afternoons feels idyllic… until the group’s hike up Mont Ventoux is cut short by raging wildfires. When the smoke clears, one of them is dead, and the once-tight group of lifelong friends quickly fractures under suspicion.

McCleave excels at balancing the beauty of Provence with the claustrophobic tension of mistrust. Lazy lunches and crisp wine are soon overshadowed by police interrogations, whispered accusations, and decades of buried secrets resurfacing. The dynamic between the women—petty rivalries, simmering resentments, and fragile loyalties—feels razor-sharp and real, making every character a possible suspect.

The short chapters keep the pace brisk, with multiple POVs offering just enough to hook you without ever giving too much away. I particularly enjoyed how the lush, almost postcard-perfect setting becomes a stark contrast to the darkness creeping in among the group. By the time the final twist arrived, I was fully invested in not just the mystery, but in watching these friendships unravel under pressure.

This is an engaging, twisty whodunit perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell or Lucy Foley. McCleave’s vivid sense of place and ability to dig into the messy complexities of long-term friendships make Five Days in Provence both suspenseful and emotionally gripping.

Thank you to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was my 2nd book by this author and while not as good as his last, it still entertained me!

Five friends reunite in Provence to celebrate a 50th birthday in a charming farmhouse, surrounded by lavender fields. The morning after a late night of partying and drinking, they decide to take a hike up Mont Ventoux. Once up the hill, wildfires begin surrounding the mountain below them. Once the smoke clears, one of them is dead.

There is not one likable character here. These five women were all bitchy, self-absorbed narcissists. It’s very House-wifey. There is lots of drinking, partying and petty fights. There is one character in particular who is especially obnoxious. She’s a 50+ year old influencer trying to act like she’s 25 - which is super cringe to me. At 55 years old myself, I cannot relate!

Despite the unlikeable characters, I did really enjoy the short chapters, decent twists, and multiple POV’s. I think the author purposely made everyone detestable to add to the “whodunit”. Everyone was a suspect. It’s a decent mystery and I look forward to his next book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for my advanced copy to read and review.

This is an ok read, but it took me time to get interested in it. I tried a few times to read it.I finally forced myself to read three chapters and then three more. By then I finally kind of liked it. Anyway, the story is about five life long friends that go to Provence together one celebrating her birthday, the others celebrating their friendships. The one thing they don't know about each other is all the secrets they have kept from one another.

This is, as I said, an ok book, I think it took me time to get into because I was expecting it to move more rapidly. With that being said I hope you will give it a chance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the early read.

I liked this one much more than I expected! The French setting was vivid, and the tension between friends kept the story moving quickly. While I guessed the twist before it landed, it still had me on the edge of my seat right through to the end. A fast, suspenseful read for fans of friendship dramas with a dark edge.

Just some friends traveling to Provence together... Nothing bad can happen, right?

Oh, boy! This book had some STUFF going on straight from the very beginning. The ladies are off to celebrate one of their 50th birthdays in Provence. They have a little cottage reserved with a handy man right across the street. But they also have so many secrets. And everything begins to unravel in such a short amount of time.

This book by Simon McCleave took me a little while to get into, but once I was committed, I couldn't wait to find out what exactly was going on. I would give it a 3.5 to 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What better way is there to celebrate your 50th birthday than with your friends who have been there for you, through thick and thin? Steph has planned her birthday celebrations with her best friends in Provence, staying in a gorgeous farmhouse where they'll spend days by the pool sipping wine, eating glorious food and enjoying a few days together. They even have a hike up Mount Ventoux planned.

The women head off on their hike after their first night partying, regretting their heavy drinking the night before with the two handsome strangers staying close by. When they are forced to turn back on their hike due to forest fires, they realize someone is missing and when police suspect murder, suspicions are raised as to who might be responsible. With several potential suspects, the women must do what they can to protect themselves until the police allow them to leave.

A psychological thriller exploring long term friendships and the consequences of secrets we keep. I struggled with the unlikeable, superficial characters and while there was a hint of tension between some of the party, it wasn't explored in detail to give the book the depth it deserved. There were a number of twists along the way but I correctly guessed most of them by the middle of the story. While this book was entertaining, I didn't find it anywhere near as enjoyable as Last Night at Villa Lucia.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book. ⭐⭐.5

This is a tragic story of a group of friends who go to France to celebrate many years of being friends and the Birthday of one of them. There are undercurrents within the group which eventually leads to the death of one of the group. This was a very gripping story with a lot of high tension. Great read!

I thought this book would possibly be a bit chick lit but it is deeper and more well plotted. I didn’t particularly like all the characters (which isn’t important) and some of the women initially blurred together so I had to make a note of which one was which. I would definitely read another Simon McCleave book as I found his style fluent and I liked the alternating points of view.

A fast moving thriller set in Provence. It was a good quick read but I found the characters a bit shallow but a decent novel for a holiday.

Took me a while to get to this but I’m glad I did, although it was a quick read and quite predictable, I did enjoy the story and the format it was written
First from this author but not my last

Five Days in Provence was a middle of the road book for me. I enjoyed the location and how the author described the surroundings. It took awhile to keep all the characters straight, at one point, the author compared them to Sex and the City characters (which actually helped a lot).

I will never fault a book for having characters that are bad people but one of them was bad and annoying to follow. Parts of the book felt too predictable.

Thank you Storm Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I thought this was an interesting and fast paced thriller. It was easy to read and pulled me in from the start. I would read this author's work again

Absolutely loved this book, a gripping thriller that kept me guessing until the very end. I would definitely read more books from this author

Usually I am a big fan of Simon McCleave's books but this one just didn't fully hit the mark with me. I didn't like the way the timeline was done - I don't like spoilers before I read how we got there and there was a few times this happens and it distracted from it getting exciting to get to that spoiler point. There seemed an awful lot of waffle too that I found myself skimming through instead. I did like the twists and turns in the book though, that is what really keeps you reading rather than giving up.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #StormPublishing for the book #FiveDaysInProvence. Five friends, Stephanie, Darcie, Katie, Ruby and Abi, all gather for Steph’s 50 birthday. They decide in a hike but as tensions grow, four return and one is dead. Secrets are revealed and trust is broken. You will never see this twist ending coming.

Five lifelong friends, five days, one murder, & many secrets. I was intrigued from the very beginning. It's decently fast paced. It was a little predictable for me, but it was still good. Maybe I read too many thrillers/mysteries.

Thank you to NetGalley, Storm Publishing, and the author for this ARC.

Steph plans a birthday getaway with her closest friends at a villa in Provence. The weekend getaway transforms into a nightmare when one of Steph's friends is found dead on the mountainside. Was it a random killing? Or is one of the friends hiding a secret?

This was an easy read. I really enjoyed the imagery of the French countryside. The author did a great job with character development, but, some of the characters were insufferable. Overall, this was a predictable read and did not offer anything new to rank it above other similar reads. I found it lacked a good level of suspense to keep me fully invested.

Thank you Storm Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Five longtime friends stay in Provence for birthday celebrations. It's a close-knit friendship group despite their diverse lives, but from the outset, it's clear most of them are unhappy. Shaun oversees the property the women are renting, and lives nearby. The toxic relationships, both within and outside the group, increase the tension, and the reader is hooked, wanting to know what's next. I enjoyed the believable tension between the characters and the suspense building. It's a perfect book for the beach, an escapist and immersive read.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Firstly, the synopsis is what attracted me to this book. I love my destination thrillers and this one had me guessing. Brilliant ending and one that I will be forever recommending.