"Kreinik effortlessly switches among various accents and emotions, keeping listeners riveted as she reveals the novel's twists and turns." — Booklist
"Kreinik's range is highlighted as she seamlessly shifts among characters' various accents: a Brit's clipped consonants, a charming Australian's broad vowels, and an American's Southern drawl. As relaxation changes to fear, Kreinik deftly reflects the changing mood." — AudioFile
From Rachel Hawkins, the New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs, comes Reckless Girls, a deliciously wicked gothic suspense, set on an isolated Pacific island with a dark history, for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware.
When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Stuck in a dead-end job in Hawaii, and longing to travel the world after a family tragedy, Lux is eager to climb on board The Susannah and set out on an adventure. She's also quick to bond with their passengers, college best friends Brittany and Amma. The two women say they want to travel off the beaten path. But like Lux, they may have other reasons to be seeking an escape.
Shimmering on the horizon after days at sea, Meroe Island is every bit the paradise the foursome expects, despite a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. But what they don't expect is to discover another boat already anchored off Meroe's sandy beaches. The owners of the Azure Sky, Jake and Eliza, are a true golden couple: gorgeous, laidback, and if their sleek catamaran and well-stocked bar are any indication, rich. Now a party of six, the new friends settle in to experience life on an exotic island, and the serenity of being completely off the grid. Lux hasn't felt like she truly belonged anywhere in years, yet here on Meroe, with these fellow free spirits, she finally has a sense of peace.
But with the arrival of a skeevy stranger sailing alone in pursuit of a darker kind of good time, the balance of the group is disrupted. Soon, cracks begin to emerge: it seems that Brittany and Amma haven't been completely honest with Lux about their pasts––and perhaps not even with each other. And though Jake and Eliza seem like the perfect pair, the rocky history of their relationship begins to resurface, and their reasons for sailing to Meroe might not be as innocent as they first appeared.
When it becomes clear that the group is even more cut off from civilization than they initially thought, it starts to feel like the island itself is closing in on them. And when one person goes missing, and another turns up dead, Lux begins to wonder if any of them are going to make it off the island alive.
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press
"Kreinik effortlessly switches among various accents and emotions, keeping listeners riveted as she reveals the novel's twists and turns." — Booklist
"Kreinik's range is highlighted as she seamlessly shifts among characters' various accents: a Brit's clipped consonants, a charming Australian's broad vowels, and an American's Southern drawl. As relaxation changes to fear, Kreinik deftly reflects the changing mood." — AudioFile
From Rachel Hawkins, the New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs, comes Reckless Girls, a deliciously wicked gothic suspense, set on an isolated Pacific island with a dark history, for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware.
When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Stuck in a dead-end job in Hawaii, and longing to travel the world after a family tragedy, Lux is eager to climb on board The Susannah and set out on an adventure. She's also quick to bond with their passengers, college best friends Brittany and Amma. The two women say they want to travel off the beaten path. But like Lux, they may have other reasons to be seeking an escape.
Shimmering on the horizon after days at sea, Meroe Island is every bit the paradise the foursome expects, despite a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. But what they don't expect is to discover another boat already anchored off Meroe's sandy beaches. The owners of the Azure Sky, Jake and Eliza, are a true golden couple: gorgeous, laidback, and if their sleek catamaran and well-stocked bar are any indication, rich. Now a party of six, the new friends settle in to experience life on an exotic island, and the serenity of being completely off the grid. Lux hasn't felt like she truly belonged anywhere in years, yet here on Meroe, with these fellow free spirits, she finally has a sense of peace.
But with the arrival of a skeevy stranger sailing alone in pursuit of a darker kind of good time, the balance of the group is disrupted. Soon, cracks begin to emerge: it seems that Brittany and Amma haven't been completely honest with Lux about their pasts––and perhaps not even with each other. And though Jake and Eliza seem like the perfect pair, the rocky history of their relationship begins to resurface, and their reasons for sailing to Meroe might not be as innocent as they first appeared.
When it becomes clear that the group is even more cut off from civilization than they initially thought, it starts to feel like the island itself is closing in on them. And when one person goes missing, and another turns up dead, Lux begins to wonder if any of them are going to make it off the island alive.
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press
Critiques-
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November 1, 2021
The hope of Lux McAllister, the protagonist of this diabolically plotted nail-biter from bestseller Hawkins (The Wife Upstairs), that sailing the Pacific with her hot new boyfriend, Nico Johannsen, will help put a tragic past behind her stalls in Maui, along with Nico's damaged boat. Then a pair of strangers, college besties Amma and Brittany, offer the couple a huge sum that covers the boat's repair to take them to remote, notorious Meroe Island. Insecure Lux accurately anticipates sexual tension among the four 20-somethings during the voyage; what she doesn't expect is to arrive at their middle-of-nowhere destination to find a luxury catamaran already anchored off the beach, GQ-ready twosome Jake and Eliza on deck. Later, while exploring the island, Lux is alarmed to stumble on a skull clearly too fresh to be from the 1821 shipwreck that gave Meroe its name. As tempers fray and tensions mount, Lux belatedly realizes she has unsuspectingly ventured into treacherous waters indeed. Though several of the startling twists leading up to a killer climax are as arbitrary as those in Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None (itself among Hawkins's apparent inspirations), this thriller still makes for dangerously addictive reading. Agent: Holly Root, Root Literary. -
A fun trip to a remote island in the South Pacific turns into a nightmare in this twisty thriller narrated perfectly by Barrie Kreinik. Lux and her boyfriend are hired to sail two women to Meroe Island, which has a spooky history. The group is surprised to find a couple on the island, but they all become fast friends. A sleazy seventh visitor's arrival causes the group to question their safety. Odd signs of activity have them wondering: Has there been an additional person on the island the whole time? Kreinik's range is highlighted as she seamlessly shifts among characters' various accents: a Brit's clipped consonants, a charming Australian's broad vowels, and an American's Southern drawl. As relaxation changes to fear, Kreinik deftly reflects the changing mood. A.L.C. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
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March 1, 2022
Lux and her boyfriend Nico are hired to sail two young women, Brittany and Amma, to a secluded, supposedly haunted island in the South Pacific. When they arrive, golden couple Jake and Eliza are already there, but the six get along well and settle in happily to enjoy the tropical paradise. Despite its charm, something about the place feels a little off. To make matters worse, a stranger arrives on the island looking frail and acting suspicious. His unwelcome behavior sets everyone on edge, which ultimately leads to the unraveling of the group. Secrets among them begin to surface while the island's grip slowly seems to take hold of their minds. Hawkins (The Wife Upstairs) continues her transition from YA to adult fiction by creating character-driven plot twists, some of which are predictable. Themes about class and social norms address questions of how people will act when social order has been taken away. This suspenseful thriller is like the adult version of William Golding's Lord of the Flies, only with more mature conflicts. VERDICT Recommended for public libraries.--Lacey Webster
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