BLOG TOUR: The Hike by Lucy Clarke

“THE PERFECT DAY FOR A HIKE
THE PERFECT PLACE TO DISAPPEAR”

Published in April 2023, The Hike by Lucy Clarke follows four friends who, leaving behind their everyday lives, hike out into the beautiful Norwegian wild – nothing between them and the mountain peak but forest, sea and sharp blue sky. But there’s a darker side to the wilderness. A woman went missing here one year ago, scarring the mountain with suspicion and unanswered questions. Now, the friends are hiking into the heart of the mystery. And waiting on the trail is someone who’d do anything to keep their secrets buried – and to stop the group walking away alive . . .

Rating:

Today is my stop on the InstaBookTours blog tour for this book. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m always excited to pick up a new Lucy Clarke book. She’s always great at creating strong characters and a tense atmosphere, and that’s exactly what you get with her latest gripping thriller, The Hike.

A suspenseful adventure, The Hike is an immersive read that kept my intrigue building throughout. The setting is described beautifully, and I got a vivid picture of the surroundings that stimulated all of my senses.

Each character has a strong and distinctive personality which meant that I was able to engage with them all individually and easily form conflicting opinions about them in the opening chapters. This also allowed me to start theorising early on, which I always enjoy doing with a thriller about a group of friends who you know are going to reach breaking point at some point on their journey.

I was eager for the secrets and lies to start spilling, and the cracks soon began to appear. I always enjoy it when an author is able to explore the dynamics of a long-distant friendship group well, and Clarke certainly knows how to vamp up the excitement when it comes to personal drama.

As the group are on the verge of giving up halfway through, I was cautious of how the story would continue, but there’s a great twist that ensures the group can’t find an easy way out and for the danger to keep building.

Personally, I don’t tend to enjoy thrillers that veer in the direction that this one went in. I prefer more psychological twists to criminal ones so the ending was a tad underwhelming for me. But I absolutely loved the build-up, and definitely had a lot of fun trying to figure things out.

Details:

The Hike by Lucy Clarke
Release Date: 27th April 2023
Print Length: 384 pages
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Harper Fictiony

Synopsis:

THE PERFECT DAY FOR A HIKE

Leaving behind their everyday lives, four friends hike out into the beautiful Norwegian wild – nothing between them and the mountain peak but forest, sea and sharp blue sky.

THE PERFECT PLACE TO DISAPPEAR

But there’s a darker side to the wilderness. A woman went missing here one year ago, scarring the mountain with suspicion and unanswered questions.

Now, the friends are hiking into the heart of the mystery. And waiting on the trail is someone who’d do anything to keep their secrets buried – and to stop the group walking away alive . . .

About The Author:

Lucy Clarke has a first class degree in English Literature, and is a passionate traveller and diarist. She has worked as a presenter of social enterprise events, a creative writing workshop leader, and she is now a full-time novelist. Lucy is married to James Cox, a professional windsurfer, and together they spend their winters travelling and their summers at their home on the south coast of England.