Jessie Garcia’s debut adult thriller novel THE BUSINESS TRIP brings a lot of heart-pounding suspense with a good amount of believability until the very end. Justine is fleeing a violent partner, and Stephanie is on her way to a work conference for news directors. They get on the same flight, and then they can’t be found after except for clues that lead them to the same man. Were they both victims at the hand of a serial killer? 

I thought this novel had a nice balance of action and getting into the head of the “bad guy.” As a reader, I don’t always see that a complete confession happens, so I did like that we got a rationale and play-by-play. It did get a little implausible at the very end (at about 90%), which is a lot longer than I usually go before rolling my eyes at a popcorn thriller. I was hopeful to get through the whole novel without an eyeroll, and, while that didn’t happen, I did get through the vast majority of the novel before it occurred.  

There are ten audiobook narrators for this novel, one for each perspective. However, each perspective doesn’t have the same amount of “air time,” so to speak. Don’t feel pressured to be able to identify each of their voices. I thought all the narrators did a great job. I’d recommend taking in this novel on audio.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advance listener copy in exchange for an honest review. 

THE BUSINESS TRIP publishes January 14, 2025.