Reviews

The Couples Trip: A Novel by Ulf Kvensler

Only show reviews with written explanations

calmcelebration9888's review against another edition

3.25

Trigger warning on this book for SA.

This was a nice debut. I would definitely read another book from this author. The book is a little too one note, but of course it’s a wilderness backpacking trip. I wished for more of a backstory that built better towards the ending. When you read the jacket, I think you will anticipate a serial killer who has hooked up with Milena and it wasn’t that at all. The book is kind of a slow burn and the ending not what you would expect. Also I wished for some perspective from Henrik, but the story was only told from Anna and Milena’s perspective. Probably the best part of the book was the beginning, when Anna is trying to figure out who Jacob’s identity.

Also one thing did bug me. If Henrik was really that bad off, the whole point of the beacon is so you can message for assistance. While he is correct that you pre-program contacts, it would send the contact coordinates which are then used to locate you in an emergency. The idea that Sweden would not have wilderness emergency services is a joke. They wouldn’t want people hiking in there if they didn’t offer emergency services.

lindsey_reads_alot's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

This started off ok but seemed to drag at some points. I thought Jacob was a psycho throughout the book and was abusing but I figured when something seems too obvious it’s probably not. I was excited for the crazy ending I’d heard about but it wasn’t really.

idoreadbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Spannend en origineel verhaal

kellishinn's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

bookwormfr_t0's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

This book was 75 - 100 pages too long. I found it became a little repetitive near the end of the book. The ending was pretty underwhelming, but I did enjoy the descriptions of the hiking and camping. The first half of the book dragged for me, but at halfway the tension definitely increased and it had my attention.

I know this is translated from Swedish, and I feel this could have gone through another round of editing. My edition had some grammatical errors and typos scattered throughout.

The map at the beginning has spoilers in it for what happens to some of the characters, and I wish the mountains were labeled on the map.