The Business Trip

• Author: Jessie Garcia
• Genre: Mystery/Thriller
• Publication Date: January 14, 2025
• Publisher: St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan Audio

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for providing me with ARCs of the book and audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

CONTENT WARNING: emotional and physical abuse, rape, child emotional abuse and neglect, transphobia, misogyny, racism, sexual harassment, murder

THE BUSINESS TRIP is the gripping, page-turning debut from author Jessie Garcia.

Stephanie and Jasmine have nothing and everything in common. The two women don’t know each other but are on the same plane. Stephanie is on a business trip and Jasmine is fleeing an abusive relationship. After a few days, they text their friends the same exact messages about the same man—the messages becoming stranger and more erratic.

And then the two women vanish. The texts go silent, the red flags go up, and the panic sets in. When Stephanie and Jasmine are each declared missing and in danger, it begs the questions: Who is Trent McCarthy? What did he do to these women— or what did they do to him?

Twist upon twist, layer upon layer, where nothing is as it seems, THE BUSINESS TRIP takes you on a descent into the depths of a mastermind manipulator. But who is playing who?

This book caught my eye, and I was even more excited when I got approved for both the ebook and the audiobook. It allowed me to follow along in both formats, and switch off, depending on my surroundings. I love a good thriller, and I was curious to see what Garcia brought to the table with her debut novel. Since I’m on vacation, I read the audiobook more often than the ebook.

One of my favorite aspects of mystery/thrillers is how everything plays out and nothing is quite what it seems. There were some really great plot twists in the story, especially the last one, although I could definitely predict one twist way in advance. Knowing that one twist didn’t impact my enjoyment of the story, especially since there were more that totally blindsided me.

The book is broken into parts, and each part plays such an important role in the story. I loved the fact that the audiobook has full cast narration, since there’s a lot of characters to voice. It made it easier to keep track of each one, and it felt as though every event and interaction furthered the plot. As for pacing, it was consistent throughout the book, although there was more momentum towards the end of the book. 

Initially, in Part 1, we are introduced to both Jasmine and Stephanie, two women who have a chance encounter that changes their lives. Jasmine is escaping a toxic and abusive relationship, while Stephanie basically has her life together as a news director of a local Wisconsin television station. Jasmine can’t help but be struck by the differences in their lives, and struggles to understand why she was dealt such a bad hand by life. Stephanie is heading to a business conference, when her life is suddenly derailed. Stephanie was easy to like, while Jasmine is a bit more on the morally gray side.

In Part 2, the perspective shifts to the people who are central to both Jasmine and Stephanie’s life and are directly impacted by their disappearance. We don’t hear anything from Jasmine or Stephanie directly, but we see the people closest to them getting texts and voice notes from Stephanie and Jasmine, with both saying that they met a wonderful man named Trent McCarthy, and are extending their trips. Jasmine’s abusive and controlling boyfriend and three friends that she trusts completely react to her messages. We also get to see Stephanie’s neighbor, coworkers, and boss, and how they respond to her not showing up to work. While some of Stephanie’s texts concern the people closest to her, the voice notes reassure them temporarily, until they also leave cause for concern, especially as Steph doesn’t return to work. This part sets up a lot of the action, with inconsistencies coming from both Steph and Jasmine, while no one actually knows what is happening with either of them.

There’s so much going on that I was constantly intrigued. Nothing is what it appears to be in the story, and while the evidence is stacking up pretty high against Trent, I knew it would be too easy to pin everything on him. I found myself wracking my brain to figure out who was the real baddie that murders both women in Atlanta, when neither of them had plans to travel there. Despite all my guesses, by the end of this section, I had no idea who it was, although Trent was certainly looking pretty shady.

In Part 3, we hear from Trent himself, along with two of Stephanie’s coworkers. Trent might be one of the biggest jerks I’ve had perspective chapters of, but by the time I finished this, I wasn’t so sure about my guesses. The last section is where everything gets clarified, and I was so hooked on the story that I couldn’t put it down. Everything speeds up and I was loving the roller coaster ride of the last part. There’s a huge plot twist that I absolutely didn’t see coming, although I was able to recognize that hints were being dropped all along.

Overall, this was a really enjoyable story, but it involved a lot more willing suspension of disbelief as the story got more and more involved and over the top. It didn’t bother me, because by the time the over the top elements came into play, I was already so hooked on the story that I had to find out what actually happened to these two women who coincidentally happened to cross paths. The writing and pacing were great, and although the characters ranged in terms of likability, with a good half of them leaning towards the unlikable side, I was still invested enough to put aside how much I disliked characters like Trent. For a debut, I thought it was done really well, and absolutely surprised me multiple times. I’d recommend this to readers who don’t mind over the top endings, mystery, suspense, multiple POV characters, and especially full cast audiobooks.

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