The Business Trip: A Novel

Stephanie Monroe, a TV news director, boards a plane for a work conference while Jasmine Littleton secretly boards the same flight to escape her abusive boyfriend. After the trip begins, both women start sending strange texts to their friends about a man named Trent. Soon, Stephanie and Jasmine suddenly disappear, and their friends and coworkers grow worried. As investigators and the people close to them search for answers, the mystery deepens around Trent and what really happened to the two women. Holy plot twists! I have no clue why I took an eternity to read The Business Trip, but I’m so happy I finally did. The best part about this book is that the entire time I was completely confused about what could have happened and had absolutely no idea what the truth would end up being. I was caught off guard, surprised, and genuinely jaw-dropped. After so many chapters of wondering what the heck was going on, one chapter finally put everything into place and my mind was blowwwwwwn. I absolutely loved the first part of the book, as it introduces you to Stephanie and Jasmine. There is so much going on with their characters and you can literally feel the emotional weight of it all. Garcia did an excellent job curating their narratives. Such a great read. If there’s one book you need to pick up, it’s this one. It’s a WILD RIDE.

This book was one of those, where you will think about these characters even after you put the book down.

We are following Jasmine who works in a bar and is in an abusive relationship and is fleeing the situation. Then we meet Stephanie. She is a TV station director. When they meet on a flight to San Diego.

The book switches points of view between the two women and other key secondary characters. Which keeps a great flow throughout the book.

This was a 4 star read for me. I really enjoyed it. In this review, I don’t want to share too much. I would hate to spoil anything, as there are twist and turns, I did not see coming. I would say, read this book, and you will not be disappointed. Unreliable characters, twisty plot and revenge. This book has it all.

Thanks to St Martins Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

You know how sometimes you read a book and think, ”Wow, that plot twist just blew my mind!?“ Yeah, this wasn’t one of those books.



Let’s start with the zip heard ‘round the world. Our opening character spends FIVE WHOLE MINUTES zipping a suitcase of dirty laundry. First of all, why are we narrating this like it’s the climax of Mission: Impossible? Second, go zip it in another room like a normal person and spare us the unnecessary tension of… luggage. It was at this point I knew this “gripping, page-turning debut” was gripping only in the sense that I was clinging to hope that it might get better.

Spoiler: It didn’t.

Every character is a cartoonish sketch of a person. Trent McCarthy is less of a person and more of a walking Reddit comment section. He’s the cartoon villain you get when someone loses a bet and has to create a character based solely on every Facebook argument your neighbor’s racist uncle has ever posted. He’s a liberal-hating, misogynistic, womanizing narcissist who thinks toxic masculinity is a compliment.

Then we meet the rest of the cast: a traveling circus of cardboard cutouts with names. Every single character is an over-the-top caricature. They weren’t so much written as Mad Libbed into existence.

But wait! It gets better. Each one gets their own first-person POV. Yes, reader, you too can experience the internal monologue of eleventy-three hundred characters who all sound the same. It’s like they all share one brain cell.

As for the “twists”? Oh, they’re there. Layer upon layer of what now?, topped with a generous drizzle of no one would do that ever. It’s like the author put the plot in a blender, added some cheap wine, and said, “Let’s go!”

If you’re looking for a thriller with substance, logical character behavior, or literally anyone talking like an actual human being, this ain’t it. But if you enjoy rolling your eyes so hard they threaten to detach, then congratulations—you just found your next read.

Final verdict: An engineer couldn’t build a bridge strong enough to suspend my disbelief for this one, but I respect the author’s commitment to chaos.

First 50%: 4+ stars!
50-90%: 2 stars
Last 10%: 1 star
Overall rating: 2.5 stars

I got through the first couple chapters of each character before giving up. I don't know how to describe the writing style beyond maybe calling it 'elementary'. It felt like the author didn't think readers were capable of interpretation or nuance so spelled EVERY thing about everyone out as if we wouldn't be able to figure them out on our own. I'm also really confused about whether this book might be a paid ad for several brands? The repeated references to (and description of) "prescription sleeping medication, Ambien" was bizarre. The general American population knows what Ambien is and if you were concerned about international readers not recognizing it, just use a commonly recognized descriptor like "sleeping pills". There were several other odd brands just stuck in here unnecessarily (Delta, Uber, Kate Spade, clothing brands) that I really felt like I was reading an AI book where the prompt had been "write a mystery about 2 women living different lives who both go missing, plug in lots of brand references for promotional options, and include excessive explanations of everything so the reader doesn't need to draw any conclusions".