The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia

Hey, it’s Diego.

This week, I finished reading The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia. *

And this one is kind of crazy.

Let me give you my spoiler-free, unbiased review.

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The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia – Review

Jasmine is running away from a toxic relationship, and Stephanie is on a business trip when they both board the same flight. Both women disappear shortly after landing, and their loved ones and acquaintances scramble to figure out what happened.

This book is a psychological thriller spanning multiple locations.

I’m still shocked at how this book is so different once we reach the middle point.

This is the second book ever published by Jessie Garcia, and unfortunately, it shows. The writing is comically riddled with cliches and walls of exposition.

During the story, we end up reading from the point of view of 10 (!) characters in multiple timelines. Each is introduced in a “dear diary” style where they tell us what they look like, their whole backstory, what they had for breakfast, how much money they make, their flaws, and insecurities. This gets old fast. And even though I believe it’s done so we don’t confuse characters, they all come across as too introspective. There is no nuance, no subtext, they just say what they mean.

To add insult to injury, all characters are made up of cliches. You have the gay sidekick, the alpha macho man who is insecure deep down, etc. It almost comes across as fan fiction at times.

As such, it’s a slow read at the beginning. I ended up skimming through most of the initial chapters to get to the meat of the story.

But oh boy, does it pay off in the second half. Once the story picks up pace, I was fully engrossed. We follow 8 characters as they receive parts of the puzzle of how two women just up and vanished. And they share information!

The thrills ramp up as the story progresses. It starts as an investigative thriller: trying to figure out the mystery. Once we reach the middle point, the story becomes more active, and we embody a proactive main character as they drive the plot in more tense situations.

There is no romance, no explicit scenes, and no scenes of graphic violence. There is, however, a lot of swearing.

So, what about the ending? (No spoilers obviously)

The ending wraps up the story well. A bit of an ask to suspend my disbelief in some areas, but overall, I walked away with the sense that the story was well plotted. We do have a denouement as well, where we find out how the characters fare after the story comes to a close.

If you are willing to get past the amateurish writing and can suspend your disbelief, The Business Trip is a great popcorn thriller to pick up and read in a couple of days.

Similar Books to The Business Trip?

• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

• The Risk (Mindf*ck, #1) by S.T. Abby

Check This Out

I came across this newsletter from Thomas, and I thought you’d appreciate it:

• Cultural Reads is a bi-weekly newsletter with book, movie & music tips from countries all around the world. If you’re interested in culture, learning, and broadening your horizon – this is for you.

That’s all for this week.

See you next time.

— Diego Dunne

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