Five strangers are selected for a free, all expenses trip to a lush eco-resort in Costa Rica, but when they arrive, their host, Hannah, a wellness influencer, is mysteriously detained elsewhere. Over text, they’re encouraged to start on a wilderness hike to a local waterfall, but it soon spirals out of control when there’s an accident and they also lose the path back. Lost in the rainforest with night closing in, the group find themselves fighting to survive the terrain, and each other.

Nikki Allen is a journalist, copywriter and therapist, who was born in Holland and raised in the UK, where she still lives. This thriller is her debut novel and was inspired by real life cases of tourists disappearing in the Costa Rican rainforest.

The book is in the third person, but the chapters alternate between the POV of different characters, with their names at the top of the chapters. This is so that we can learn a little bit about the secrets and the backstories of each person, and it works OK. I don’t think we really need the names at the top of the chapter when the characters are all in the same place almost always, and the book is written in third person, but it doesn’t detract from the storytelling in any way either. We learn in the early chapters that Hannah, who owns the titular Hideaway, is a wealthy wellness influencer, and they have all been invited as the first guests at her retreat, auditioning with videos about their stories. Each one has some kind of deep damage or trauma that Hannah is meant to help them with, and the retreat is meant to change the course of their lives. They all need deep healing, and this means that as readers, we get little insights into their motivations for being there, what their secrets are, and hints that some of them are there less than honestly. When they’re lost in the rainforest, the things they know and the secrets and lies they told to get there, are slowly revealed or impact their coping skills. I like that the authors didn’t choose stock characters, and they feel rounded and fairly well realized. Enough that we care about them and are curious about what their stories are and why they’re there.

The book opens dramatically, something I really love in a thriller or mystery, with a woman injured and dying in the rainforest, and the nature around her moving towards her, scenting her imminent demise, to pick her bones clean. It sets the rainforest up as a place where the natural world swallows humans whole, where life moves quickly to restore balance, and it also lets us know that a murder has or will occur, raising those stakes nice and high early on. The story gets moving fairly quickly, which is nice too, and soon we’re all lost in the rainforest. There were a few times in the middle where I found them walking around and surviving was a little dull. My interest was more invested in the central mystery of who was secretly a bad guy and what had happened to Hannah, and I wanted to stick with that kind of story more than their survival efforts. It was a hard balance to strike, the realism of being lost and that being the most important problem, and the thriller/mystery plot needing to also blend into that. I think the author did OK with balancing that, especially as a debut novel.

One reason that my interest in their survival journey was flagging was that they just made every dumb mistake that they could. They went on a hike, without a guide and after a huge storm, in a country where they don’t know the terrain, and without phones or checking the satellite phone was charged. When they realise the path back is lost, rather than staying where they are and waiting for help in the place where they said they’d be, they start wondering around, going off the track, and just make every silly decision. It’s not that I felt like people wouldn’t make those decisions, people do these things, but it was irritating to read after a while.

One thing that was laughable: the Australian character. I wish people wouldn’t write Australian characters. They’re always so cringe. This one says “G’day” when he meets people. Like no one back home actually does. But worst of all, he’s a park ranger! So, when they head off, as a park ranger, even as an Australian, he would know this was a bad idea and they’re under prepared. He asks no questions. He doesn’t prevent them from getting lost or anything, and this is explained by him having issues with assertiveness. Which makes no sense. I get that it might be hard to speak up and you might be someone that goes with the flow, but you’re not going to allow people to get themselves killed. You’d say something. It’s written like he doesn’t know that what they’re doing is a bad idea. Also, park rangers help find lost people, so he would have training in this exact situation. But the author explains that the wilderness he works in is a desert. You know, that desert right outside Melbourne. That one. Later, she lets us know it’s the Yarra region… the national park she references is a rainforest. Because funnily enough, we have those in Australia. It’s a huge country and it’s not all desert. This is why you write what you know. And why even though you think you know Australia because you worked in an office with that one tall guy called Matt who told you stories about gigantic spiders in his parents outside dunny, you actually don’t. Rant over.

On the whole, this was a pretty good debut novel, and I do hope that the author writes more. I think the destination made for interesting tension and danger, and the premise and solution to the mystery worked well. I think thrillers in different locations or resort locations, are always appealing, and I liked finding out what each character was hiding. A good thriller read.

Read It If: you’ve ever had to work on a project with people you have nothing in common with! A little laggy now and then, but overall a great premise and location, and some intriguing mystery with a solid solution.

With thanks to PGC Books for the ARC of this book for review.