Now That's How to Write A Thriller - No Exit Review

TITLE: No Exit
AUTHOR: Taylor Adams
PUBLISHER: William Morrow
PUBLISHING DATE: January 15, 2019

FROM GOODREADS: 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 THOUGHTS: Now honestly this is how I wish more thrillers were done.  I didn't know a while lot about "No Exit" going into it other than that a lot of bloggers whom I value their opinions have read and loved it.  I'm so glad I requested this from my library and reading it was a perfect was to spend a weekend.

Darby Thorne is attending college and is prepared to spend Christmas on campus rather than risking another run-in with her mother.  However, news from her sister that her mother is terminally ill leads her to trek across the state in a snowstorm to try to mend fences before it's too late.  The snowstorm, as well as Bing Crosby, gets the best of her and she is forced to stop at a rest stop, where she becomes stuck with four other individuals.  Darby quickly discovers a young girl being held captive in a van outside and then all hell breaks lose!

"No Exit" is like a rollercoaster ride from start to finish.  It also happens to contain one of my favorite settings - stuck in a snowstorm.  Considering there isn't really a large cast of characters, there's really no one the reader can trust.  Except maybe Darby since she DOES NOT fall into the unreliable narrator trope.  I found Darby to be highly likable.  She was flawed and sarcastic and basically puts her life on the line for this kid, all the time questioning why she is doing so because she really doesn't like kids anyway.  There are also some truly despicable characters in this book and I loved to hate them. There's no way I'd really want to run into any of them in a rest stop.

I have to go on record now and say "No Exit" is screaming for a movie adaptation.  If it can work for "Gone Girl" and "The Girl on Train," neither of which I liked, then "No Exit" would be a hit I'm sure.  In fact, in my head I've already cast Darby as Anna Kendrick because that's how I imagined her throughout the whole book.  Seriously, how can you not like a character who in her spare time makes art from rubbings of headstones? 

If you are interested in a great thriller, please give "No Exit" a chance. I honestly don't think you'll be disappointed.

RATING: 5 PAWS