The Perfect Escape is one of the first books I read for my 2024 Netgalley challenge (a challenge where I am attempting to reduce the number of unread ARCS to 10). I requested this back in 2022, and while I remember being excited for this read, I never found myself in the mood to pick it up. There were always other, newer thrillers I gravitated towards.

While I was on a plane back home last week, I saw this on my Kindle app and thought, “What the heck!” And wow. I am so mad at myself I did not read this one earlier.

As always, a huge thank you to Netgalley and the publishers to releasing an ARC of this book to me. I am forever grateful I get opportunities like this to review books.

Basic Info

Genre: Thriller, Adult

Publishing Date: January 4, 2022

Pages: 357

Average Rating on Goodreads: 3.81

Spicy rating: 🌶

SYNOPSIS (FROM GOODREADS)

A girls’ weekend to die for.

New friends Sam, Margaret and Diana are thrilled to be getting out of the city for a girls’ weekend—they’ve bonded over their messy divorces, and every mile on the odometer feels like another step towards putting their exes in the past. But when car trouble halfway into their trip strands them in the most unlikely of mountain towns, they come face-to-face with the hurts and betrayals they were so desperate to leave behind.

When Diana doesn’t return home after a night out, Sam and Margaret’s search for her reveals just how little they know about their friend. As eerie coincidences and secrets begin to pile up, and an ex-boyfriend arrives in the tiny town, the women realize that their detour may not have been a mistake…and that someone wants to guarantee that they never make it out.

The Characters

The novel is told from the perspective of two women: Sam and Margaret. Both of these women have their flaws and kept their fair share of secrets, but what I loved about this story was that the flaws–and secrets–seemed realistic. My biggest pet peeve in thrillers is when the character is hiding something absolutely ridiculous from the reader, but in this case, the way the information was revealed made sense.

The characters were greatly developed. Anytime they did something, I thought to myself, “Yeah, they would totally do that!” Leah Konen did a wonderful job at making the two women realistic, which in turn made the whole story more enjoyable.

The Plot

While the characters and writing are important, the plot is what really makes or breaks a thriller. I have to admit, I was not expecting a lot out of the plot, because I really did not think the book could go further than what seemed obvious. While one of the twists is very obvious, there were aspects of the twist that I did not expect.

“What people didn’t get about tragedy, people who hadn’t yet had the privilege of going through it, is that it could be so casual. When bad news came, it was never like the movies. No dramatic score building to a crescendo. No slow pan of the camera.”
Chapter 26

The author did a phenominal job of leaning into the reader’s expectations before revealing the whole thing. The twists made sense to me, which is not very common in thrillers lately (I’m looking at you Riley Sager).

Did I mention I read this book in one sitting? Seriously. I could not put it down!

Overall Thoughts

Overall, I am really glad I finally picked this one up. I don’t know what I waited so long (two years!), but I regret not reading this one sooner.

Leah Konen is now a thriller author I will be on the look out for in the future. I saw that she comes out with a new book next month, and I have already requested my library purchases a copy!

Final Rating: 4/5 Stars

Highly Recommend

Those are all of my thoughts on The Perfect Escape by Leah Konen. I would love to know your thoughts if you have also read this book. Be sure to also answer the question of the day! I love seeing what you guys are loving in the book world!