Guilt Trip is a good thriller that takes some very unexpected turns. It starts when the swim team from an elite private school goes missing on the way home from a meet. Parents are called to the school to meet with police as they try to figure out the motive.

The story develops in twin timelines, from the points of view of Emma Smith, a personal trainer and her daughter Olivia, who has achieved a full scholarship to the school. The other parents are all well off, including a property magnate, a social media influences and a government minister. But where does the motivation for the disappearance lie?

The characters, parents and children, are well developed and most seem to be hiding secrets. The story arc is wide and the reader is kept guessing about several characters until close to the end of the novel. Guilt Trip feels a little unrealistic on occasions but overall is a gripping read.

I loved Jo Furniss’s last book, Dead Mile, for its unusual premise, an ingeniously staged and plotted locked room mystery set on a grid-locked mystery. And she’s done it again in Guilt Trip, another transport-related thriller.
Working single mother, Emma, gets a text summoning her to her daughter’s school. Daughter Olivia is a pupil at Saints, an elite private school. The institution is out of Emma’s league, both financially and politically, but Olivia is an outstanding student and talented swimmer on a full scholarship.
On arrival at school, Emma is shown into the Great Hall where four other parents are waiting:
Akin, a consultant anaesthetist.
Jack Kent, a social influencer,
Ayesha, a government minister,
Mariah, Emma’s friend, married to a shady property developer.
The headmaster briefs them that their children’s minibus, due back from a swim meet at midday, has still not returned three hours later. Having had no phone contact with the teacher driving the minibus or any of the five pupils on board, the PR-conscious and scandal-phobic headteacher reluctantly calls the police.
Told from Emma’s viewpoint, the story reveals how each parent and the head teacher react to emerging news from the police search. Naturally because this is a thriller, each adult has something to hide and secrets that may have led to the teenagers being kidnapped. The school setting made me think of Your Time Is Up by Sarah Naughton.
The other viewpoint character is Olivia. Her story starts a few hours earlier at breakfast at home with Emma, moving to the swim meet and then to the ill-fated return journey to school. We meet the teenage children of the four other anxious parents:
Temi, all round good guy, son of the anaesthetist,
Kiran, neurotic geek, son of the government minister,
Alix, bad boy son of the social influencer,
Dixie, Olivia’s friend and daughter of Emma’s friend Mariah.
Their survival attempts put me in mind of The Search Party by Simon Lelic.
Lots of twists and deadpan humour I wasn’t expecting.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
On publication I will post this review on my blog and on GoodReads.

Fabulous read. Really twisty, it was hard to keep on top of who were the villians!
Loved the constant switch between the adults and the children.
Overall a really exciting read.
My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy

I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book, it drew me in from the first page and kept me guessing right up to the end. I will be recommending this book to everyone I know.