“What a box of tricks! This full-throttle thriller, dark and driving, rivals Agatha Christie for sheer ingenuity and James Patterson for flat-out speed. Swift, sharp, and relentless.” — A. J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the WindowA brilliant, edgy thriller about four strangers, a blizzard, a kidnapped child, and a determined young woman desperate to unmask and … 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.
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I couldn’t put it down. A thriller in every sense. It would make a great movie.
I was tempted to skip writing a review about this book at first, but the more I thought about it and after seeing even more people call it “the best thriller”, I realized some things definitely need addressing, so here we go…
The whole story had potential, I was really, REALLY excited to read the book, I was even more hyped when people started reviewing it and saying it was the BEST thriller they had ever read, etc. But here’s the thing… I’m a huge fan of thrillers, this one is not even in my top 100 of crime/thriller/mystery books and after finishing it the only way to describe how the story felt is, well, the word trainwreck comes to my mind.
Original read date: in January 2019
Update as of 29.03.21: This book still haunts me with how bad it was and I absolutely wish I didn’t read it. It definitely gave me trust issues when it comes to thrillers and mysteries.
Here is why.
Things that bothered me, I’m sure more would come to mind later, but for now:
– 80% (the other 20% are easy to predict) of the whole mystery is revealed literally on the first page of the book through an email, you just need to pay little attention and you would get it.
– The story/fight between the heroine and the bad guys keeps going and going and going to a point it just gets repetitive and annoying. No joke, the whole time all we hear about is how lucky Mr. Magic Man and how much he loves gore and hates people mistreating Mr. Obvious Killer, and that the heroine is such a bad daughter. *not gonna say any actual names, so I don’t ruin the ‘surprise’, I will leave that to the book.*
– The fact that the story was in 3rd person, especially when we had the POVs of the bad guys.
– The author kept repeating the last names of the characters through the whole book, it was so randomly placed too, like the last names at that point would make any difference to us, when all that did was take away from the reading.
– Things like that:
“But she’d have to shoot the Beretta left-handed. She had never fired a gun before, and she was right-handed. She hoped she could still hit her target. She only had one bullet.”
Not even gonna comment on how annoying this is written, let’s focus on how bonkers it is: I know that almost anything is possible in movies/books, but in what world did these four sentences sound right and totally not ridiculous to anyone/the author reading them?!
– The fact that the heroine wanted to stop Mr. Magic Man but in the end was oh so inconsistent about actually doing it, the CHILD had to do it for her!
– The last few moments of Mr. Magic Man before his death and his “maybe I will become a president thoughts”, like just WHAT?!
– The non-stop repetitive action and descriptions with too much unnecessary details.
– The part with Darby’s mother felt so rushed and improperly finished. Also, I still can’t over that last text message from Darby’s sister… (view spoiler)
Final thoughts on the book:
If you’re still on the fence about reading ‘No exit’, even after seeing all of these great reviews about it and you’re looking for a good thriller, with unpredictable twists and turns and well-constructed characters, that would leave you wanting to read more, that’s NOT the book for you.
10/10 would NOT recommend.
What a ride! This book was filled with so many twists and turns and I loved every page! Highly recommend it!! I am looking forward to reading other books by this author!
I LOVED this book! All the twists and turns were perfect. I was a little questioned by the ending, but if you like edge of your seat, chew your fingernails suspense then this is definitely the book. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did.
This was a great read it was suspenseful and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time while reading this book
”We’re the cats on the clock. I’m Garfield. You’re my Arlene. And hold on tight, because this is our whirling, dark dance.”
OMFG! This book was a wild ride!
In like the first hundreds of pages or so, trying to find out who the abductor is but if you pay close attention to the conversation going on between the 4 characters I’m sure you’ll have at least an idea who it is (it was obvious to me because of a sentence I read and then I was like yep it’s that person but there are a lot you won’t see coming ) However, you’re not ready for the twists and turns OMG I feel like I was on a rollercoaster all along this book.
I feel like it’s a thriller and horror book(more horror towards the end) cause wow after finding out who is who, that’s when the horrific things start to happen. Really graphic and gruesome Goshhhhhh! This book was INTENSE! Really. I must also admit wow Darby is clever, brave, and tenacious cause who would be able to think during all this chaos? nope, not me Hands down. Even though she made some bad decisions that frustrated the hell out of me.
This book is a MUST READ for thriller and horror fans(even if you’re not, just give it a try). My heart kept racing so much. In some parts, I was so freaking anxious God. It’s like I was in this rest area too and trying to survive my heart I love this book. Some parts of this book will make you laugh, not the kind of ”Omg that’s so funny ” laugh but a nervous laugh ”wth? Delusional huh?”( I hope you guys get it)
This book is a page-turner, will keep you on the edge of your seat and it’s nail-biting. This book isn’t for the light-hearted, it’s also fast-paced. Suspenseful and full of action.
4.5 stars
No Exit is intense! It is full of twists and turns. It is well written and impossible to put down! This is, by far, one of the best books I’ve ever read!
A blizzard, a little girl locked in a stranger’s van, a deserted rest stop and one young woman’s attempt to save the girl and herself. One of my favorites of the year!
All my friends loved No Exit by @Taylor.adams.author I hesitated reading it until all the hype quieted down. No Exit lived up to all the hype. I hated putting this crazy thrill ride down. I quickly flipped the pages as the plot slowly builds and just when I thought I had it figured out, Adam’s throws in a twist. I was invested in the characters and was satisfied with the ending . I don’t think I will ever be comfortable going into a small rest stop again!
Excellent read.
I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into when I started No Exit by Taylor Adams, but now all I have to say is I can’t believe I waited so long to read it!
This book is a wild, nonstop ride and I wouldn’t start it unless you have time to finish it in one sitting. I started on the audio which was really good. I liked the narrator, Sarah Naughton, a lot and thought she did a really great job. I quickly realized that I needed to switch to the book though because all I wanted to do was speed through it and see what was going to happen! So I listened to about 3 hours and 45 minutes of the audio and finished with the physical book. There are triggers galore and it does get gory, so this isn’t for the faint of heart.
I love that No Exit is set during a snowstorm in Colorado and that really amplified the tension for me. Everyone being stuck in a rest stop with a little girl locked in an animal crate in one of the vehicles? Truly the set up for something terrifying and that’s what it was. The surprises just KEEP COMING in this book and besides how gory and horrifying it got, I loved it! Can you really love gore and horror? I don’t know, but I did with No Exit. It was unlike anything I’ve read, although it did give me some Karin Slaughter vibes which made me love it even more.
If you want an unbelievably wild thriller with nonstop action and you can stand gore and triggers then I HIGHLY recommend doing the book or audio of No Exit. It is really fast-paced, and I just could not put it down. I really hope Adams will be coming out with something else soon now as well!
OH MY GOODNESS!!! Taylor Adams is a stellar writer! They weren’t kidding when they said he “diabolically ratchets up the tension with every page.” This was a book that was FANTASTIC from start to finish. This book pulled me in at page one and I could not put it down until I finished. Each time I thought I had figured out who the kidnapper was and how Darcy was going to save herself and the little girl, Taylor Adams would throw a wrench in my predictions taking the tension up notch after notch until I could not turn the pages fast enough!! There were so many twists and turns to this book that definitely left me on the edge of my seat. Taylor Adams writes in such a way that allows you to feel the stress of the situation and the stress of the characters. In addition, there were places in the book where I felt myself holding my breath wondering what turn the story would take next. This book was incredible! I cannot recommend it enough!!!
OMG. That’s it. That’s the review.
A very interesting premise, but I was very disappointed with the one dimensional cliched characters, and the inconsistent plot line. After a third of a way in, it become too predictable and more action than suspense.
Couldn’t put it down. Loved the tenacity of Darby’s character.
This was a truly satisfying thriller – read Eyeshot next!
OMG what a ride, it’s so intense I read it in a day! Thank you to the author for writing a strong, female main character in a psychological thriller! There’s not many of them and this MC is kickass, her actions and thought process is very much relatable – like I would do the same in her situation. Did I just read that this is in the works for a movie? Yes! In the mean time I will be reading more of this author’s books!
Hmmm.
Grisly, gruesome, compelling and violent, all of which are plusses in a thriller for me as I tend to like gritty.
There just weren’t enough characters in this book to accomplish the author’s objectives though.
Wow! What a fantastic read! So many twist and turns. I had my suspicions about some of what happened, but the way everything unfolded was great.
This book grabbed and held my attention. It was, for me, a page turner. Was there anything annoying? Yes, a couple of things were. That was how we went to four stars. Was it true to life? No but, if I want true to life, I am educated enough to know you need to leave fiction behind and look in nonfiction or possibly true crime. I wanted to escape into a fantasy. I like to suspend reality and dive into a world where anything is possible..even bad things. If I’m going to read fiction hoping for a white knuckle thrill or hard to breathe, edge of the seat scare, then I’m leaving reality for another book.
Monsters can be scary because you recognize them right away. They are off enough for you to see it but normal enough for you to think you could be wrong. Sometimes normal hides abnormal. Sometimes people make mistakes because they believe they are incapable of making them. Sometimes people make mistakes, a bad decision or two, and it changes things. People do, say and think in different ways. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.
This book had me scared for Jay, for Darby. Heck, possibly for other characters, at one point or another. Did I like them all? Not really. But that’s the thing about being trapped with strangers. You don’t get to pick strangers you like and immediately trust. You get what you get. I love the twists that came, even when I suspected where it may go. I didn’t have it exact so I was still surprised. There was a lot of action and a fair bit of waiting. It worked for me. I was tense. I was anxious. I was glued to the book. Even when I took a breather, I was anxious to get back to the story. Don’t start this book without the time to finish it, just in case you find yourself like me.
I’d also like to thank the author for the teaching moment. I really love when I learn something new. I can’t go more into that, as it’s a twist for you to discover.