Review: Layover by David Bell

Title: Layover

Author: David Bell

Published: July 2019, Berkley Books

Format: Hardcover, 416 pages

Source: Publisher via GetRed PR

Summary: 

In this high concept psychological suspense novel from the USA Today bestselling author of Somebody’s Daughter, a chance meeting with a woman in an airport sends a man on a pulse-pounding quest for the truth.

Joshua
Fields takes the same flights every week for work, his life a series of
departures and arrivals, hotels and airports. During yet another
layover, he meets Morgan, a beautiful stranger with whom he feels an
immediate connection. When it’s time for their respective flights,
Morgan kisses Joshua passionately, lamenting that they’ll never see each
other again.

As soon as Morgan disappears in the crowd, Joshua
is shocked to see her face on a nearby TV. The reason: Morgan is a
missing person.

What follows is a whirlwind, fast-paced journey
filled with lies, deceit, and secrets as Joshua tries to discover why
Morgan has vanished from her own life. Every time he thinks one mystery
is solved, another rears its head–and his worst enemy might be his own
assumptions about those around him.

My thoughts: I am a huge fan of David Bell and his writing. I find that he writes such addicting, thrilling novels, ones that totally consume me from start to finish and I have a hard time putting down. 

This book was more suspenseful than pure thriller and while I enjoyed it, I found it wasn’t quite as thrilling as some of his other books have been. That’s not to say it isn’t good, it just has a bit of a different feel to it. It’s more of a cat and mouse game than a pure thriller. 

Told in alternating points of view, it does get off to a bit of a slow start, but as the story moves forward and you get more involved, you find yourself desperate to figure out how everything is linked – because as you know, nothing is put in these stories by chance! 

While I didn’t necessarily love all the characters, I found myself still consumed by them – kind of like when you are driving by a car crash…you don’t want to look, but you can’t help looking. I needed to see how things would play out and what was driving them to be the way they were. I love characters that are driven by secrets and that is definitely what we have here with Morgan. Joshua on the other hand…he just couldn’t walk away. He is definitely driven by impulsiveness but perhaps he let it go to far?

All in all, this is a good book. It was entertaining and there were a few twists I was not expecting. David Bell is still a favorite author and I will definitely be looking forward to what comes next from him!