What a fun and fast paced thriller.
The storyline was great, the characters were interesting, and the twists and turns kept me turning the pages from start to finish.
The characters were well developed and portrayed.
Overall, The Getaway is a solid psychological thriller that keeps you guessing and provides a satisfying, suspenseful journey.

Maddie and her long-term partner Tom are enjoying a little relationship reset in a sunny European beach town. There, they meet a charming digitally nomadic couple named Alex and Ed. Soon Maddie's new friends propose an unusual and adventurous idea. Swap houses, and lives, for a week. Excited by the idea of seeing life abroad, Maddie and Tom agree. But no sooner than the keys have been exchanged, it seems that what should have been a dream getaway soon turns into a nightmare. As hidden motives and chilling secrets are revealed, Maddie can't help but question what she stumbled into.

Tense and twist filled, The Getaway grabs you with a seemingly harmless premise but then drags you straight into a spiral of secrets, manipulation, and deception. The atmosphere is staged perfectly, beautiful relaxing beaches slowly turning claustrophobic. Halsall really excels at building up the suspense. Each chapter leaves just enough information off to keep you guessing and flipping pages. Overall, I highly recommend for fans of twisty domestic thrillers and for readers of Lisa Jewell, Daniel Hurst, and Freida McFadden!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Rona Halsall, and Boldwood Books for this ARC!! Publication date is July 25th, 2025.

Such a great summer read I would definitely recommend! This book had several twist and turns that were unexpected!

I was really looking forward to reading this book having loved the authors previous books. I felt it took a while to get going but was a good read & definitely had me wanting to know what happened to Maddie & she certainly goes through it trying to find out the truth. She made a few snap decisions which were frustrating & a lot of descriptive writing but second half of the book kept it going.
Overall a good read & thank you to Netgalley & publisher for the ARC.

3.5 stars 🌟

The Getaway by Rona Halsall is a psychological thriller that keeps you thinking, second-guessing, and questioning every character’s motive right up until the very end. The tension starts building from the very first chapter and never really lets up. It’s one of those stories where you’re constantly wondering what’s going to happen next—and yet, at the same time, you’re screaming internally at the main characters to please stop being so trusting. If you enjoy thrillers packed with secrets, misdirection, and shady characters, The Getaway delivers. But while the ride was gripping, I walked away feeling frustrated by an ending that didn’t quite land the way it should have.

The story centers around Maddie and Tom, an unmarried couple but living together trying to get away from it all—literally. They’ve just had some major disappointments and decide to getaway, a chance to reset. Of course, this wouldn’t be a thriller if things went smoothly. Right from the jump, you can tell there’s something off about their new setup, and the people they meet on their travels raise more red flags than a storm at sea. Maddie is hopeful and maybe a little too trusting. Tom is cautious but oddly quiet when it counts. As a reader, I found myself rooting for them—but also incredibly frustrated with their choices. Time and time again, you just want to shout, “It’s a scam!” or “Why are you trusting this person?!”

What really stood out to me about this book was that it felt like a thriller every step of the way. There wasn’t a slow build—it was one twist, one weird encounter, one unsettling development after another. It kept the tension high, and I will give Rona Halsall credit for crafting a storyline that doesn’t let you relax. However, as the story unfolded, I found myself more and more baffled by how easily Maddie and Tom were manipulated. They’re not new to the world, they’re grown adults with life experience—but the level of gullibility they display is borderline unbelievable at times. It was hard to suspend disbelief when they kept walking into the same traps with wide eyes and blind trust.

Now let’s talk about the ending—because honestly, that’s where the book really lost me. After spending so much time developing both Maddie and Tom as central characters, the final chapters suddenly shift and paint Maddie as the lone hero and victim, while Tom is basically reduced to the villain. It felt incredibly unbalanced. Throughout the story, Tom’s perspective is given almost equal weight, and he’s portrayed as flawed but reasonable, cautious, and even caring in his own way. But by the end, we’re supposed to believe that Maddie was the only one who mattered—that she’s the only one worth rooting for, while Tom’s side of the story gets tossed aside.

It left me wondering: was this supposed to be a statement about female empowerment? If so, it felt forced. It didn’t feel like a natural progression of Maddie’s arc—it felt like a twist meant to simplify the narrative at the expense of the complexity the author had spent the whole book building. Tom wasn’t perfect, sure, but he didn’t deserve to be vilified in a way that erased his development entirely. And if the idea was to elevate Maddie as a strong female lead, I think that could have been done without turning Tom into the scapegoat. I would have much rather seen an ending that acknowledged both of their flaws and strengths, and the very human way they both responded to an increasingly dangerous situation.

Overall, The Getaway is a fast-paced thriller that definitely kept me turning pages. The setting, the atmosphere, and the growing sense of unease were all well done, and there’s no denying Rona Halsall knows how to create suspense. But the characters’ blind trust and the abrupt way the ending rewrote the emotional balance of the story left me feeling let down. If you’re in it purely for the ride and don’t mind a twist that sacrifices character consistency for shock value, this might be your kind of book. But for me, I was hoping for a more satisfying payoff—one that didn’t throw Tom under the bus just to crown Maddie the heroine.

Thank you to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for providing me with a free copy of this book. All opinions are my own because I have freedom of speech.

Imagine you're in a beautiful town in Croatia, longing to stay more than the two weeks you originally allotted, when you're presented with the opportunity to extend your vacation. You and your partner both work from home, so you can work anywhere, your house is company-ready since you cleaned it up to sell, and it wouldn't cost you a dime. Sound too good to be true? Yup - you and I know that, but unfortunately, Maddie just thinks it's good fortune.

And it turns out to be anything but!

I love how Rona Halsall presents her characters and in this story, Maddie is perfect at trusting the wrong person, Tom is sufficiently contrite over his omissions about his background, and Alex and Ed are a perfectly charming...until they're not!

Once again, Halsall has written a book that ramps up the tension and brings it to a satisfying ending!

Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books, and Love Books Tours for an advance reader's copy of this thriller by Rona Halsall.

I really enjoyed this book. It reminded me of a "scary" movie and your yelling at the people to not go that way because they are not thinking properly and lost all common sense. Thats how I felt about the the couple Maddie and Tom in the beginning. It was very easy to get hooked while reading and stay that way all the way to the end.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy! I look forward to more books from this author! Great job Rona!

Thank you to Love Books Tours, Boldwood Books and Rona Halsall for an ARC copy of this book. *All thoughts and opinions are my own*

Whilst on vacation, Maddie and Tom swap houses - and lives - with a couple they meet living a digital nomad lifestyle. However, as soon as Maddie and Tom hand over the keys to their home in London, it becomes clear the couple they met are not who they said they were...

This was a great and fun psychological thriller that kept me turning pages and guessing what was coming next. This was extremely well-written, with Rona perfecting the art of building suspense and revealing small elements of mystery with each chapter. I haven't read a Rona Halsall book before, but after reading this one and reviews on some of her other work she will quickly become a go-to author for me!

Maddie and her boyfriend Tom are on holiday in Croatia when she meets another couple and they hit it off. She is impressed the other couple are living as digital nomads, something she’s been wanting to do. When they offer her the chance of a house swap for a couple of weeks to see if this is the right fit for her, she finds it hard to refuse. But did she too readily accept and is there something darker at play?

Ever since reading my first Rona Halsall book she has been a go to author for me, so I was really excited to read this one. This ended up being another fun, immersive thriller that constantly keeps you guessing. My mind kept changing as to who I could trust, the author did a great job at misdirection. The story carries on at an even pace and I found myself completely invested in the story and characters.

Although the characters were interesting, I did find they were frustrating and over the top at times. Even so, this was entertaining to read and a gripping, twisty tale. Overall another hit by this author and I will impatiently be waiting for the next. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in return for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Boldwood books for an early copy to enjoy.
Once again Rona's writing never fails to grab you in the first chapter! Great sized chapters (sounds daft, but I like to finish a chapter), shocking twists and turns mmake for a really gripping fast paced psychological thriller, never knowing whose guilty and who isn't, until the very end. This a great summer read!
I love every book this author writes, they just seem to get better and better. A guaranteed super addictive gripping pageturner! 5 star read!

The Getaway beds the question...do you ever really know your partner? Your friends or family? What's the lengths you would go for survival. This book explores all of those themes and leaves you wondering "who can we really trust?" I was enthralled and on the edge of my seat as the story unfolded and LOVED that ending. What a great domestic thriller!

The Getaway by Rona Halsall is a tightly woven psychological thriller that takes the seemingly innocent concept of a house swap and transforms it into a nightmare fueled by secrets, lies, and shocking revelations. What begins as a relaxing escape for one couple quickly spirals into a tense and unpredictable journey where nothing is as it seems.

Halsall excels at building suspense, peeling back layers of mystery with each chapter. The pacing is excellent, with a steady drip of secrets that keeps the tension high and the pages turning. The characters are well-crafted, and their motivations are slowly revealed in ways that add depth to the unraveling drama. Just when you think you’ve figured out the truth, Halsall throws in a twist that will leave readers reeling.

With its clever premise, relentless suspense, and a twist that’s sure to surprise, The Getaway is a gripping and satisfying read. Rona Halsall delivers another standout thriller that fans of domestic suspense won’t want to miss.

Would you swap your house with another couple in another country for a vacation, a holiday?

Be careful who you swap with! This starts out so quickly, you feel it in your gut that this is gonna go sideways, wait for it, wait for it! Bam, you don’t expect it to go quite like this! Holy plot twist drop at the end of chapter 6! While far too coincidental, what a way to lay out a thriller!!

I felt like everyone was an unreliable narrator, it was a puzzler of who is telling the truth or are they all variations of the truth?

This is a wild read! I read through this quickly to find out how it was going to end. My only meh would be the epilogue, that was a bit okay really?

Thank you to the publisher, Boldwood Books for E-ARC via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review


Wow, what a wild ride! Rona Halsall is a new author for me, so I was unsure what to expect from the story when I picked it up. I never know what to expect when I come across an author I've never read before. The Getaway surprised me in so many ways; I had trouble putting this book down at times. I was hooked from the first page until nearly the end of the book. There were a few pages in between that didn't capture my interest as much, but those didn't last long. One of my favorite aspects of this book was that there was always something happening on almost every page. One more page usually turned into hours because I couldn't seem to find a good stopping point. The best thriller/suspense books are those that keep you on the edge of your seat.

I had conflicting feelings about some of the characters. I was suspicious of Tom from the moment his secret was revealed. If he kept that secret for so long, what else did he not tell Maddie? I was wary of him and wondered if what he told her was true, or if there was more. I loved the suspense; it was what kept me turning the pages, wanting to know what would happen next. Maddie, I liked her, but I had some conflicting feelings about her, mostly because of some of her decisions. For example, swapping houses with a couple she hardly knew? I knew nothing good would come of that decision. I liked how, despite everything that was going on, she never gave up.

The cover and title are what drew me to the book. I'm extremely picky when it comes to thriller/suspense novels. I'm glad I had the opportunity to read this book; I enjoyed the pacing of the story and most of the characters. This is a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat, with quite a few unexpected twists. I'm excited to check out the other books by the author.

Rona Halsall always delivers a belting good read and this is no exception. Revenge really is a dish best served cold and the ripple effect of the serving here has consequences for more than just the guilty parties.
Maddie our main character finds herself the subject of collateral damage. To say she's a bit impulsive and possibly naive is an understatement but as the tale gets every more twisty, and possibly more unlikely, she's drawn into an impossible situation. A quick, easy and unusual read.

The premise had promise: a couple on vacation agrees to swap homes with two charming strangers. But once they hand over the keys, things start to unravel and not in a very surprising way.

I was intrigued by the digital nomad angle (and the dreamy Croatia setting), but the plot felt slow and too reliant on coincidence. The twist wasn’t much of a twist, and the clues were heavy-handed, Tom lying about Alex was a major red flag from the start.

My biggest issue? The characters. I found them frustrating and hard to root for, which made the tension fall flat. It wasn’t a bad read, just underwhelming. If you want a quick, beachy thriller and don’t mind predictable plots, this might do the trick. Otherwise, there are better domestic thrillers out there.

Quick, page turner read. The chapters are short and the twists are numerous. Who would think that swapping your house keys with someone, you’ve known for only 2 weeks, could possibly be a bad idea???
I like how Rona Halsall writes and always look forward to her new titles.
Thank You to NetGalley, and Boldwood Books for the invitation to read a pre-approved copy of this ARC.

The getaway review

The first I’ve read by this author and I turned the pages at lightening speed. It’s a super-fast read with so much happening from the first page. Maddie and Tom on their idyllic holiday in Croatia are given a ‘too good to be true’ offer from new holiday mates Ed & Alex, to enable them to extend their holiday. From here life changes for them all very quickly indeed.

Whilst I felt frustrated at times by the increasingly crazy turn of events in this book I still felt invested enough in the characters to want to know what happens to them. You know they’re heading for disaster but the route is going to be interesting! I enjoyed the journey and would recommend this to friends. A fun holiday read- albeit a tense one!!

Many thanks to Net Galley for the ARC.

★★★★

Maddie had always dreamed of working abroad, but it wasn’t until more recently (thanks to the rise of remote work) that she realized she and her boyfriend, Tom, could actually make it a reality. After all, if there’s no need to go into the office, does it really matter where she’s working from?

A trip to Split, Croatia, a sunny beach town with plenty to do, seems like the perfect opportunity to test the digital nomad lifestyle. The setting sparks a burst of creativity in the usually reserved Tom, and while he’s in the flow, Maddie explores Split and meets Alex, a fellow digital nomad with plenty of experience under her belt. In a twist of fate, Maddie and Alex agree to swap homes. Maddie and Tom move into Alex’s beautiful apartment in Split, while Alex and her boyfriend, Ed, head to London. Suddenly, Maddie and Tom start to feel uneasy about their decision and when they return to London, everything has changed…

Well done, Rona Halsall! You got me (in the best way possible). I was sure I knew where we were headed, but nothing was as it seemed in this twisty cat-and-mouse tale.

As someone who’s security-conscious, I kept wanting to scream at Maddie, telling her to stop and think—but like dominos, she made one impulsive decision after another. (Why Maddie?!) That is, until she and Tom return to London, and nothing is what it seemed. No spoilers here, just prepare for some unhinged characters and a fast-paced ride!

I would have liked a bit more character development, as I really struggled to connect with Maddie at the beginning. Other than that, the story moves quickly and delivers plenty of jaw-dropping twists to keep you on the edge of your seat!

Thank you NetGalley, Boldwood Books, and Rona Halsall for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

This is a new-to-me author and at the beginning I was interested.Maddie and her long-term boyfriend, Tom,have a lovely vacation in the sunny European beach.When Maddie meet Alex who are living the digital nomad lifestyle,she can't refuse swap houses, it's something she dream about,but can't afford now.It's only few weeks right?
From the time Maggie and Tom agreed to the swap I was shaking my head no don't do it,yes they did it.Without any information about other couple who they know for a week. Few things seems weird,Tom make shocking revelation,and they decide to travel back home separately.
Will they resolve what's going on?

2 stars for me as I like the cover and the twist at the end,but Maggie and Tom were to naive and dumb for me to really enjoy it,I was thinking trough more then half of the book it's time to call police!Didn't connect to the story.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for ARC copy.