No Exit by Taylor Adams

Author : Taylor Adams
Title : No Exit
Published : 2017
Publisher : Joffe Books
Pages : 416
Genre : Mystery / Thriller

     A kidnapped little girl locked in a stranger's van. No help for miles. What would you do? 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.

Desperate to find a signal to call home, Darby goes back out into the storm . . . and makes a horrifying discovery. In the back of the van parked next to her car, a little girl is locked in an animal crate. Who is the child? Why has she been taken? And how can Darby save her? There is no cell phone reception, no telephone, and no way out. One of her fellow travelers is a kidnapper. But which one? 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. But who can she trust?

     Whilst I am a great fan of thrillers I seem to be stuck at the moment in an endless loop of plots that all sound so very familiar, so when this book was suggested to me I thought why not give it a go. Whilst still in the same genre it sounded like a very different breed. The basic plot I think is something we all have some deep fear of, being trapped somewhere we don't know with a bunch of strangers. With the weather closing in there becomes no hope for escape. In the case of No Exit, we are given Darby as our surrogate. She is someone who is trying her best in a very bad situation. We would all like to think we would help in such a situation but I feel until you where truly faced with it we can never know. For her part, Darby seems very convincing as a college student and never felt like she was becoming some grand hero coming in to save the day. She will do everything in her power to try and save this girl but having to deal with her own fear and fend off the kidnapper that can rip you apart you can only do so much right? 

     The book is very well plotted and it keeps you on your toes throughout the course. When certain key facts are revealed very early on the worry is that it will all become a bit stale by the time you are halfway through. But here the author manages to keep the tension high as we get a blending of cat and mouse plus and something that delves deeper into the reader's subconscious fears.  I really enjoy books like this that give me a very claustrophobic feeling. It brings a sense of hopelessness to the story. Being trapped in a location I suppose means that you can either lay down and accept your situation or you can fight with everything at your disposal.  And with this book, it is the latter you get. But while for some that means a physical thing with Darby you get a lot more of the cerebral. If who you are up against could easily overpower you, you must find new ways to outsmart them. And for me, this is a great bonus. I like books that make you think no matter the genre. They ask what would you do in any given situation and you get to see how the hero might differ in there approach. In part, this book reminded me a lot of the John Cusack film Identity, which is not to give anything away as these two go in distinctly different routes. It is more the initial premise of a  stranger trapped in one location. Add on top of this just the right amount of twists and turns, and the ending this book truly deserved. 

     This book kept me tied to its pages in a thriller up there with the best. you find that you are holding your breath as you race to see how she will adapt to each new problem thrown at her. And by the time the final few pages turn you feel like you have traveled a great distance with our heroine without ever having left the same location. With a great blending of nail-biting tension and the odd moments of humor being trapped at this rest stop will certainly be an experience.