Upon entering, she finds three people inside. They seem amiable enough, then seemingly out of nowhere, a fourth individual arrives who instantly puts her on edge. TAYLOR ADAMS delivers a rapid-paced, suspenseful, gripping, well-written and perfectly executed read here that was such a vivid portrayal that I thought I was actually watching a thriller movie unfold rather than just reading it. That is pretty good storytelling to be able to totally immerse me in every little scary vivid detail as I am definitely not a visual reader. On her way to Utah to see her dying mother, college student Darby Thorne gets caught in a fierce blizzard in the mountains of Colorado. With the roads impassable, she’s forced to wait out the storm at a remote highway rest stop. Inside are some vending machines, a coffee maker, and four complete strangers.

The culprit is revealed very early on the novel and it mostly becomes a story about Darby trying to stay alive through the night. I disliked a number of things about this, but I especially didn't like how the villain was so over-the-top, mustache-twirling, muahaha EVIL. Their penchant for showmanship just felt silly and I still don't understand why he would abduct a girl with Addison's disease. It just seemed like extra drama for the plot. Surely he could have found a more convenient target? We read No Exit by Taylor Adams in our Traveling Friends Goodreads Group and this one left us very excited after reading it! We highly recommend not missing this exciting and entertaining thriller! What were the odds of stumbling across a kidnapping in progress? While trapped overnight in a snowy rest stop? It was all too fantastical to be a part of Darby's life." Not one of the 5 stranded travelers has an iPhone charger with them? Really??? Not that it mattered since there was no signal, so why even mention it?It seems that Taylor Adams wrote this novel keeping this idea in mind. But the problem is that he took it too seriously and added all the ingredients in an exaggerated form. The villain is so cruel and manipulative. It will be difficult for us to believe how the villain's character is created. Taylor Adams has brought us a true gem in this pulse-pounding, gritty, and realistic thriller with a one-of-a-kind unique setting. 5 strangers. 1 snowstorm. 1 isolated highway rest stop. 1 kidnapped child. What would you do? Reading NO EXIT feels like a roller coaster ride. It starts slowly, but after you are the past the first obvious twist, you never know how it’s going to twist and turn and there is no exit till the end. No Exit has everything a great thriller needs: a ingenious setup, some edgy characters and some brilliant storytelling, building tension right till the end. The twists and turns are expertly executed at the right time and just when you think you have figured out the rest of it, everything changes.

This is fascinating and unconventional read with its fast paced story development and smartly created twists. Trapped in an increasingly dangerous situation, with a child’s life and her own on the line, Darby must find a way to break the girl out of the van and escape. My dislike for the villain, though, was still secondary to my annoyance with Darcy. She is the only character we're really encouraged to care about and it was difficult when she did so many stupid things. Sending the police to the wrong rest stop was TOO MUCH.Darby passed it, and in it, she glimpsed something pale inside the van. A hand. A tiny, doll-like hand. She halted mid-step, a breath trapped in her lungs. Violence — in all its forms, and especially in its most shameful — beatings, killings . . . . Immortality is as much at home here as noble feelings . . . . There is also love — preferably vile — violent passion, implacable hatred." Darby trudges along multiple times in knee-deep snow during a blizzard wearing Converse sneakers, but only footprints are left behind. Is she somehow miraculously walking on top of the snow? There's no mention of the freezing wet cold or frostbite that would surely result. Darby is the perfect blend of unlikable and heroic. She's not perfect, she's not terrible - but she does feel a sense of humanitarian duty when she discovers the kidnapped child. Darby decides to help her, and we get to experience every high stakes decision with her in the most mundane of settings.

I can't get into any level of detail as to the culprit of the kidnapping - it's definitely spoiler territory. BUT I can say that Adams was able to fool me twice. His antagonist is chilling, off-kilter, and honestly terrifying. nine-year-old Jay is trapped in a dog kennel at the rear of a non-running van with no outdoor winter clothing, yet never seems to be cold? This is the best thriller I’ve read on 2019. But the fact surprised me this book was published on 2017. So I couldn’t understand this amazing thriller got hidden at some shelves so long because it’s really perfectly written with horrifying, disturbing characters . There are 2 main characters around whom the story revolves and how they evolve as the story goes on is a joy to read, especially Darby Thorne. The chapters are short and the chapter numbers are replaced by the time of the events (another nice touch), reading like a countdown to the climax. There are a few minor plot holes but they can be overlooked. The slightly humorous tone at the start may feel out of place but some of it does play into building of an important character. The culprit may seem obvious at first glance, but if thrillers have taught us anything, it's that first impressions are often deceiving. It’s a race to outsmart the dirtbag responsible while keeping the little girl safe and surviving until sun up—a feat that at times feels hopeless.What I really enjoyed while reading this was its cinematic quality. I’m no movie buff but I love a good story in any way it’s told. Sometimes when I’m reading a book that feels really cinematic it annoys me because I felt like it was written with the idea of it being made into a movie, instead of being written for the sake of the story (looking @ you again Rey Frey). However, Adams didn’t fall prey to this at all. I can definitely see it on the big screen because it’s set up in a way that I think it would thrill anyone to read or watch but it wasn’t heavy handed or overwhelming.

There's not much to the rest stop—some coffee and hot cocoa, a few vending machines, and four strangers. Sandi and Eddie are cousins heading to Denver for Christmas; Ashley is gregarious, handsome, and perhaps trying a little too hard to be sociable and funny; and then there's Lars, a rodent-faced mouth-breather who gives Darby the creeps. It's quite a motley crew to pass the time with, especially when there's no real entertainment save endless card games.The fun, edge-of-your-seat, kind of way; not the crawl under a blanket and not leave my house for a week, kind of way. As she rushes home to Utah, she encounters a terrible blizzard in Colorado which makes all roads impassable. This was pretty much the perfect thriller for me and one that totally blew me away. Yup landing into my favourite reads shelf! We all know that rest stops are...well a little creepy...especially a deserted one. I think what made this book just so frightening is the fact that it was so believable. Literally every single part of this story could actually happen in real life. Nothing was far fetched and the details really are a sign of our times. I want to start by saying I don't think I've ever disliked a character in a book more than Ashley Garver. He grins my gears and then some. But a sign of a good book is when an author makes you have an emotional reaction, right? At least for me that's how it works regardless if you like the character or not.