The vacation A novel

When four old friends arrive at a French villa with their families for a vacation, things are fraught. The women have begun to drift apart, the children can't get along, and a wealth gap among the families is glaring. Kate, the main character, is determined to make the best of it until she finds texts between her husband, Sean, and someone else in the house that point to an affair that will be revealed in the course of the vacation. In the pages that follow, readers are taken to the edge of several possible reveals, only to have Logan veer off toward a different rival for Kate and further reasons for fear. The tantalizing twists, enjoyably written from various characters' viewpoints, culminate in an unexpected ending that will leave readers thinking about their own relationships and what they would do to save those they love. Logan (29 Seconds, 2019) specializes in portraying the lasting effects of split-second decisions; his fans will enjoy another take on that theme here; recommend also Laura DiSilverio's That Last Weekend (2017).

Kate, Jennifer, Rowan, and Izzy, best friends since their university days in Bristol, England, gather with their families for what promises to be the holiday of a lifetime at a private estate in the south of France, but instead proves quite the opposite, in this erratic page-turner from British author Logan (29 Seconds). For Kate, a crime analyst with the Metropolitan Police, the spell is broken within hours of arrival when she snoops on husband Sean's phone in hopes of getting a clue as to why he's been so secretive of late--and finds messages that suggest he's been having an affair with one of the three friends at the gathering. But is it gracefully athletic Jennifer, his initial college squeeze? Or elegant celebrity publicist Rowan? Or adventurous Izzy, the only one of the gang to have stayed single? Preoccupied with trying to suss out Sean's paramour, Kate pays less attention than she should to the dangerous dynamics among other members of the party, until it may be too late. The twists come fast and furious toward the end, but not especially convincingly. Fans of plot-driven domestic thrillers won't be disappointed. 100,000 announced first printing. Agent: Camilla Bolton, Darley Anderson. (July)