No Exit

I don't read many thrillers, and when I do I rarely love them. [b:Gone Girl 19288043 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1554086139l/19288043.SY75.jpg 13306276]? More like, I didn't like it. [b:The Woman in the Window 40389527 The Woman in the Window A.J. Finn https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1528225499l/40389527.SY75.jpg 52941950]? More like, I also didn't like it. No Exit was a huge surprise, the type of book that makes me reconsider an entire genre. No Exit's protagonist, Darby, is a college student who just learned her mom has late-stage pancreatic cancer. She drives through heavy snow, desperate to reach her before she passes away. An imminent blizzard descends in full, and it's futile. She's snowed in at a rest stop with a handful of strangers. As if that's not bad enough, Darby notices something suspicious in one of their cars. A pretty strong indicator that while the rest stop provides shelter, that doesn't mean it's safe.Adams strikes the perfect balance between “reading this is very stressful” and “I can't put this down.” He includes some surprising commentary about how humor and media can be (though obviously are not inherently) used to normalize and glamorize violence. He looks at how “bad guys” don't necessarily think of themselves as such, treating patterns of behavior as outliers where their hand was forced.It's hard to compare this to books or movies without risking spoilers, but if you're seeking some dark, terrifying entertainment against the backdrop of a lot of snow, pick up No Exit. And realize how good it is when you become anxious about YOUR phone battery dying before Darby can call for help.

went a lil bit off the rails at the end there but still a really good edge of your seat thriller!

I'm always intrigued by thrillers, especially this one since it was so hyped up. I expected to love this book based on the premise....Girl gets stranded at a rest area during a snow storm, notices a kidnapped girl in a van....you see where this is going. Most of this book had kept my interest, however there were a few parts that just felt like they could have been left out. How many times can they mention her cell phone battery percentage? Little things like that were why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. I've heard that this is going to be adapted into a movie. I'm looking forward to see how the adaptation is. Overall, if you like thrillers you'd probably enjoy this one.

Such a good book. Stranded a rest stop in Colorado. When it's discovered that there is a kidnapper among the group. The child is in a dog crate in a mini-van,but who does the van belong to? This is an action packed thriller. I don't think you will be disappointed.

Thrilling, suspenseful – and completely over the top


No great quotation comes to the rescue in this case which could actually be good because “No Exit” promised to be a fast-paced thriller with a highly interesting premise: Darby, a college student takes refuge in a rest/service area during a blizzard. There she meets four other travellers who are stranded. When she finds a girl, Jay, in a van in the parking lot, she knows she's going to have an interesting night ahead of her...

“It was all really happening, right now, in vivid color, and a little girl's life was really on the line, and tonight's title match would be between a sleep-deprived art student and a human predator.”

This outset got my hopes up high – after several books that taxed capacity for prolonged complexity (especially during a holiday!) I just wanted some action-flick-look-alike of a book. And, admittedly, I got one. So, why only three stars out of five?

Well, worst of all: Pretty much every single plot twist was foreseeable. Early on I guessed at two completely different possible story lines but once the first “big revelation” about a certain relationship has occurred, it was rather obvious in which direction we were heading. Not that it was a completely bad idea but it has been used so often before, I was slightly disappointed.

My next gripe is with Darby, our “sleep-deprived art student”, herself: Not only is she fairly sporty, ingenious with improvised weapons, full of wild ideas (in the vein of “if I mix this, put something in the toaster and run fast enough...”), no, she is willing to sacrifice herself for a complete stranger. Oh, and she's really fast or so she thinks:

“She wondered — if he went for the .45 under his jacket, could she yank the Swiss Army knife from her pocket, retract the blade, and cross the room quickly enough to stab him in the throat with it?”

Riiight...

Which leads me to another huge issue: Especially towards the end of the book, Adams goes bat-shit insane with his story. While I'm absolutely willing to suspend my disbelief there are so many totally crazy things happening that I just can't help it and think it might have been better to just let the book end.

Last but not least, the gore: It was just as over the top at times as those crazy ideas I mentioned before. Yes, the perpetrator is a sadistic psychopath but there's no need to describe in gruesome detail how he kills a certain person.


It's sad so much went wrong with this book because at its core, it was a decent thriller and could have satisfied my needs for some shallow fast food entertainment. As it is, I'll have to “cheat” and read another thriller before moving on towards deeper waters again.

It's a quick read but pretty gripping

I can't gush enough about this book.
I bought it on pure chance after reading the blurb and OMG! I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.

The plot twists keep coming over and over again and for someone who can usually pick them a mile away, I didn't see them coming.

The writing is fast-paced and Darby is a ballsy heroine with the kind of snark I love to write and read.

If this is an example of Taylor Adams storytelling, I'll be glomming his backlist.

A sensational story I highly recommend!