The School Trip by Miranda Smith

Genre: Thriller

Format: Kindle

Pages: 280

Start Date: September 6th, 2023

End Date: September 15th, 2023

Overall: ★★

Character Development: ★★

Ending: ★★

Recommend: Sure

 🚨 May Contain Spoilers, Continue at Your Own Risk 🚨

     I am a bit mixed on this one. I thought that the beginning was slow, but I thought the twist of Katy originally going missing as a distraction to actually abduct Claire was a clever distraction. I originally thought Katy being the child who disappeared was a little bit of a let down, but it also made me feel totally surprised when Claire was actually the one who went missing. I also was a bit surprised by Jonathan/Jack being the ultimate culprit. I don’t know if I loved it, but I thought he was a good suspect. Though, it did heighten a bit of anxiety within myself as this is the first year I have a child going to school. 

Emma struggled finding balance between work & motherhood. In this situation, can you relate? To an extent, yes. Even though I am a stay-at-home mom, I feel like I can relate to the struggle of balancing life in general. 

When Katy was discovered in the corn maze, she had a soda in her hand. Did this detail strike you as odd or did you not pick up on it right away? It did strike me as odd right away. The entire plot of her disappearance, along with no one seeing anything out of the ordinary, seemed like a set up to me from the beginning.

Did Emma’s character come across as unlikeable to you? I’m not sure if Emma’s character hit too close to home or what but she wasn’t my favorite. I felt like she was a bit whiny and always had a “woe to me” attitude. I understood a lot of her feelings she expressed in the beginning of feeling like she was being pulled in several directions, but she just seemed like such a downer.

Did you find that even years after David’s accident, the grief Emma carried would still inhibit her ability to cope with a new normal without David plausible? Originally, I would have said 100% yes. Then, after reading about what really happened the night of David and Christine’s accident, I don’t feel the same way. I feel like it is pretty evident that Emma struggled to balance work, being a wife, being a mother, all while trying to still be who she is. Maybe the grief she was enduring was a final push down, but I feel like it was apparent she had struggles even before David died. 

     Really, I thought this book had potential, but I didn’t fall in love with it. The ending probably helped it for me, personally. I think that Jack ultimately killing himself was a good ending for him, along with Emma and Steven’s reconciliation. I think what I struggle with so much is Emma’s character. As I mentioned above, she just came across unlikable. I feel like her behavior towards the detective in charge of finding Claire wasn’t realistic, either. Why would you feel like you know the situation better than someone who does this for a living? I could understand feeling that way to a certain extent, I understand that feeling of needing to do something to get your daughter back, too. Maybe I’m thinking about it too rationally; if my child was abducted I’m sure rational wouldn’t even be it the same atmosphere for my mentality. 

     Final Thoughts: I never felt like I wanted to quit reading this, but I also wasn’t feeling like I was excited to pick the book back up again.