The Vacation: A Novel

I normally get the kindle version of a book, along with the audiobook so that I can listen at work, and read at night. That was almost impossible to do with this book because the audiobook and the kindle book were different from one another, which was very frustrating. Given the fact that I was already invested, I ended up still trying to do both because I was curious about the differences, so I feel like I actually read this book twice.This book is a re-release of Welcome to Wherever You Are and I wondered if the audiobook was that version, not updated and the kindle book is the updated version. There were major differences between the two, so I would recommend picking 1 version and sticking to it. There were chapters that were in the audiobook that weren't in the kindle book and vice versa. A lot of character names were different between the two, which was really odd. One version gives you something that happened to Ron, that didn't happen in the other version. One version gives you a different update to Nicole in the epilogue that the other version didn't give. Again, I find this frustrating and odd.Aside from the frustrations with the differences between the audiobook and the kindle book, this was a good story. There were a ton of characters to keep track of and what felt like way too many storylines going on, but John Marrs amazingly weaved them all together in ways that I didn't expect. There were many characters that I just didn't like, and many characters that I grew to love and care for. Because of all the different characters and storylines, it took about 50% of the way through before I found this book to really grab me and become unputdownable...but the second half of the book was so good! I know this is one of Marrs' earlier novels, but he's done it again for me. I haven't met a Marrs book I haven't enjoyed yet!

Sometimes when I begin a book with a lot of characters, I have a favorite or two and read quickly through the others. But not in this book. I enjoyed every character in this novel. Even when we found out their bad choices, there was still something to root for.

Okay so does this author do his research?I am on p. 47. He writes about a nurse in current times shuffling patient clipboards on the hospital desk. I’m pretty sure most hospitals have electronic records today. And he writes the nurse is ordered by her charge nurse to cover a wound on her cheek. So the nurse pulls out foundation, which she powders with. Isn’t foundation a liquid?

This book was good. Easy read hard to put down. Wishing it hadn’t ended so soon. If that makes sense.

John Marrs has got me in a chokehold. This is book 8 since Dec and each time there is a twist I don’t see coming. I love this because it makes his books more enjoyable. Definitely recommend.

As an avid reader, nothing makes me happier than discovering a new author. This is my second Marrs book and I'm SO excited knowing that i have a pile of his books to lose myself in.The Vacation was a fun, fast read. I cared about the characters, even the few that I didn't care for when they were first introduced in the book. I won't give anything away other than to say by the end of the book you'll know what happens to each person.Can't wait to dive into my third Marrs book!

So many twists and turns left he always waited to see what was gonna happen next. I almost put it down but so glad I didn’t.

This book had a very slow first half. It jumped between past and present too many times and that kind of confused the story for me. Great second second half and ending though.

Great summertime read!

same experience as Jan, bought it, discovered I had already read it !

I was so excited when this came out I love John Marrs’ books! I didn’t even know it was an updated version of Welcome to Wherever you are - which I hadn’t read yet!~5 ⭐️ review -The story follows the lives of 8 strangers based within a Hostel in LA, each with a deep story and dark past. Tommy, Jake, Savannah, Eric, Nicole, Ruth, Matty and Declan each have their own reasons how they ended up there, all with a twisted tale including death, trauma and obsession. All their stories unfold, interlock and create an exciting dark adventure where their pasts are only a piece of what’s to come…LOVED this book! Love John Marrs books, my favourite ever being The One. I was gripped from the beginning and enjoyed learning more about every character. I found all of theirs backstories enthralling and I could hardly put it down. Incredible writing, connecting all their stories and genius plot twists. It was a thrill to read and I loved it, fantastically written. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a clever twisty book with extensive deep-seated characters. There were so many cleverly written characters, where most would produce superficial insincere characteristics and histories, but within these pages it felt like you knew them personally.An incredible read, highly recommended to all! This book got me out of such a reading slump!

Loved all the twists and turns in this one. Kept me up a few times because I couldn’t put it down.

I do enjoy Mr. Marr's books. Good character development, intriguing plots although a little far fetched near the end