Kayla Reviews NO EXIT

• Genre: Thriller
• Length: 352 pages
• Buy: Amazon

Summary

A brilliant, edgy thriller about four strangers, a blizzard, a kidnapped child, and a determined young woman desperate to unmask and outwit a vicious psychopath.

A kidnapped little girl locked in a stranger’s van. No help for miles. What would you do?

On her way to Utah to see her dying mother, college student Darby Thorne gets caught in a fierce blizzard in the mountains of Colorado. With the roads impassable, she’s forced to wait out the storm at a remote highway rest stop. Inside are some vending machines, a coffee maker, and four complete strangers.

Desperate to find a signal to call home, Darby goes back out into the storm . . . and makes a horrifying discovery. In the back of the van parked next to her car, a little girl is locked in an animal crate.

Who is the child? Why has she been taken? And how can Darby save her?

There is no cell phone reception, no telephone, and no way out. One of her fellow travelers is a kidnapper. But which one?

Trapped in an increasingly dangerous situation, with a child’s life and her own on the line, Darby must find a way to break the girl out of the van and escape.

But who can she trust?

With exquisitely controlled pacing, Taylor Adams diabolically ratchets up the tension with every page. Full of terrifying twists and hairpin turns, No Exit will have you on the edge of your seat and leave you breathless.

My Take

I’ve taken some time in reviewing this one. The truth is, it’s an amazing rush of adrenaline, and I finally understand what it means to read a pulse-pounding book. It truly made my heart-rate go up. I actually had to put it down a couple of times because I was getting a little too stressed-out.

The only book I really have to compare this to is Riley Sager’s Survive the Night, but even that title gave me a moment to breath–to take account of things. This novel was so fast-paced that I didn’t have any time to breath, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing, but I’m not sure I’d read it again or that I’d watch the show.

That said, the character of Darby Thorne is absolutely perfect. She’s smart, but not so smart that it’s unbelievable. She makes mistakes, but not the kind of mistakes that make me hate her–though screaming at her would be a viable option. She’s appropriately flawed, but even so, I like her. I honestly haven’t liked a fictional character this much in a while.

If you want to know what it’s like to read a heart-racing thriller, pick this one up.