The Getaway
The annual Hamptons getaway at billionaire Lincoln Foster’s lavish Villa is usually an escape for three long-standing couples. For years, it’s been a perfect façade of luxury, friendship, and unspoken pacts among the elite. But this year, the party takes a sinister turn.
Anonymous blue cards appear in each bedroom, systematically tearing through their curated lives. These aren't party favors; they are revelations. Secrets of betrayal, dark deeds, and hidden truths are laid bare, targeting Lincoln and his new wife Hazel, along with Marley and Marshall Foster, Suzy and Sean McTeague, and Juliet and Josh Jacoby. Even uninvited hopefuls find their pasts exposed.
With a hurricane rapidly closing in, The Villa transforms from a gilded cage into an inescapable trap. As the storm rages outside, the exposed secrets turn deadly inside. Friendships crumble, alliances shift, and everyone becomes a suspect. No one is getting out, and the cost of their lies might just be their lives.
- Marley - Marshall’s wife
- Marshall - Marley’s husband, Lincoln’s brother, lawyer
- Lincoln - Lily’s ex-husband, Owner of Home Team Hotels
- Hazel - Lincoln’s wife
- Thomas - Lincoln and Hazel’s son
- Ben and Liz - Hazel’s children
- Lily - Lincoln’s ex-wife
- Suzy - Sean’s wife, Interior designer
- Sean - Suzy’s husband, Lawyer at Home Team Hotels
- Juliet - Josh’s wife
- Josh - Juliet’s husband
- Beckham - Juliet’s son
- Tini - Nanny
- Wintour - Suzy’s chihuahua
- Gemma - Grant’s wife, book reviewer
- Grant - Gemma’s husband
- Florence - Grant and Gemma’s daughter, Vienna’s twin, 16
- Vienna - Grant and Gemma’s daughter, Florence’s twin, 16
- Trevor - House staff
- Candice - House staff
- Magdelena - House chef
- Cole - Music promoter
- Daisy - Lily’s sister
- Lily is in rehab while the rest of the friends go to Lincoln and Hazel’s house in the Hamptons for a week-long vacation.
- Grant, Gemma and their daughters are staying in the guesthouse.
- Grant is hoping to get the chief counsel job at Home Team Hotels.
- Several guests find notes waiting for them on their pillows at Lincoln’s house.
- Marley’s note says, ‘Lincoln is the reason Marshall no longer wants to adopt a baby.’
- Suzy’s says, ‘No more blackmail income from you. Lincoln is cutting you off.’
- Suzy finds Sean’s note which says, ‘Lincoln is going to replace you and you are going to jail.’
- Juliet shares her note with Suzy. It says, ‘Lincoln did a paternity test and he is the father of Beckham.’
- Lincoln sleeping with Juliet is what Suzy has been blackmailing him about.
- Josh’s note says Juliet has been sleeping with Lincoln and that Beckham is Lincoln’s baby.
- Josh attacks Lincoln for sleeping with Juliet.
- The morning after Lincoln throws a huge party at the house, his body is found floating in the pool.
- Police cannot come to the house due to a rapidly worsening hurricane.
- Josh is missing.
- Marley calls to inform Lily that Lincoln is dead but is told Lily checked out of rehab the prior week.
- The group find Cole who crashed in the house instead of going home after the party ended.
- Trevor is found dead beneath some construction equipment in a room being renovated.
- Daisy appears and tells the group that she met Cole and forced him to bring her to the party so she could tell Lincoln to stop calling and talking to Lily so that she could move on from their divorce.
- Gemma admits that she is Lily’s oldest friend who lives overseas and that Lily wrote the notes and asked her to put them on everyone’s pillows because she was mad they were all going to the annual Hamptons party without her.
- Hazel reveals that she got a note too stating Lincoln never changed his will and that Lily would get everything if he died.
- Juliet falls from her balcony and dies.
- Josh shows back up to the house and Lily is with him.
- Lily had been staying in town for the past week to be nearby during the Hamptons party and Josh crashed at her rental when he got stuck in town during the hurricane.
- Marshall tells Marley that Lincoln wanted them to stop trying to adopt because he could see how much it broke them each time an adoption fell through and he didn’t want them to keep getting hurt.
- Vienna and Florence were outside during the storm and got video of Suzy and Juliet fighting because Juliet stole some of the notes that Suzy was holding onto.
- Suzy lunged at Juliet to grab the notes causing Juliet to fall off the balcony.
- Gemma tells everyone else that Suzy is responsible for Juliet’s death.
- Marshall tries to stop Suzy and Sean from leaving so Sean shoots Marshall in the leg.
- Grant, Gemma, Florence and Vienna leave.
- Gemma receives a text about Marley being found unconscious and that Grant was the last person seen with her.
- Gemma demands Grant stop the car, and when he refuses, she grabs the wheel, making them crash.
- Grant tells Gemma that Lincoln didn’t invite them to the Hamptons; they just showed up and Lincoln allowed them to stay. Grant went to help Lincoln clean up after the party and try to pitch himself to Lincoln for a job at Home Team Hotels. Lincoln took a swing at Grant, so Grant swung back, and Lincoln fell, cracked his head, and fell into the pool. Grant threw a speaker into the pool, electrocuting Lincoln.
- Afterwards Grant realized Trevor saw him kill Lincoln so he killed Trevor.
- Three months later: Marley and Marshall adopt Beckham.
- Lily inherits everything from Lincoln but she gives Hazel the Hamptons house because she knows Lincoln loved Hazel and thought it was the right thing to do.
Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for an advanced copy of this title.
I was very excited for the premise of this locked room mystery, but this story struggles to find its footing early on. The beginning drags while attempting to introduce the sheer number of people involved. While it is established quickly that everyone has a motive for murder, the pacing remains sluggish well into the narrative. There is a heavy focus on the characters being shocked that Hazel changed the decor in the house Lily initially designed, and this specific detail becomes repetitive rather than revealing.
Because of the slow momentum, I remained disconnected from the cast and indifferent to their fates. The writing lacks the sharp edge needed to elevate the tension, leaving the high-stakes situations feeling flat. I never felt the stress or urgency that should accompany a group dealing with a potential killer. To make matters stranger, the side story involving Wintour the dog feels out of place and distracts from the core mystery. By the time the climax arrives, the execution reveals a few noticeable plot holes and leaves far too many questions unanswered.
If you like large suspect pools and remote settings, then you will may enjoy this book.
#NetGalley #TheGetaway
- Lincoln - Dead - Electrocuted by Grant
- Trevor - Dead - Crushed by construction equipment By Grant
- Juliet - Dead - Fell from her balcony
- Grant - Alive - Unclear if he was charged with Lincoln and Trevor’s murders
- Marley - Alive - Happy being a mother
- Hazel - Alive - Became friends with Marley
- Blackmail
- Domestic violence
- Murder
- Drug use
- Car accident
ISBN: 9781662538520
Publication Date: September 1, 2026
Note: Details are for the original edition. Other formats, editions, and audiobook versions may be available.
