Synopsis
At a secluded luxury resort on the shores of Thailand, guests come to escape reality and indulge in paradise. But when a dive student is found dead, the illusion of serenity shatters. This isn’t the first unexplained death on the island—and it won’t be the last.
Cass, an expat dive instructor, came here to escape her past in upstate New York, but she can’t outrun her secrets forever. Someone knows who she really is, and they’re determined to make sure justice is served. Set against the backdrop of a remote island, The Resort is a gripping vacation thriller that unravels the secrets of two enigmatic women, a tight-knit group of expats, and the murder that threatens to destroy their paradise.
My Final Thoughts
What did I just read?
The story is told from the perspectives of Cass and Brooke. Cass, an expat dive instructor, has spent the last two years in Koh Sang, running from a past she’d rather forget. With no real family of her own, she clings to the makeshift one she’s found on the island. Then there’s Brooke, a travel influencer who quickly befriends Cass but struggles to find her place among Cass’ tight-knit group of expats. Brooke has her own reasons for being in Thailand—secrets she keeps close to her chest while searching for the answers she came for.
This book dragged. The plot stretched itself so thin that at one point, I had to stop reading and make a shaken brown sugar espresso just to stay awake.
Cass and Brooke? Neither are remotely likable. I wasn’t rooting for them—I was rooting for the bartender at Tiki Palms.
The timeline is chaotic. Over the span of maybe a day or two, two murders rock the island. Add in another one from a few weeks before Brooke’s arrival, and you’ve got a pattern. Once is an accident, twice is suspicious, three times… we’ve got a serial killer on our hands. But the local police? Useless. Borderline incompetent. Instead of an engaging mystery, we get a tangled mess of too many characters and too little payoff.
Speaking of the misfit crew: Logan, Cass’ boyfriend, is another expat, mildly attractive, and someone Cass is way too dependent on. Greta, the resort’s yoga instructor, plays the group’s self-appointed mother. Doug is just… weird. And Neil? I guess he’s the heartthrob? This group needed each other the way we all apparently need high fructose corn syrup—unnecessarily and to their own detriment.
The extra star is because I did enjoy the epilogue. I didn’t expect that and actually enjoyed it. At the end of the day, I have nothing productive to say about this book. I try my hardest not to DNF books, but this one? I should have.
whitneydaniell 
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