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Bad Tourists by Caro Carver

Thriller

Bad Tourists

by Caro Carver

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Quick take

White sand beaches and luxurious villas turn out to be dangerous distractions in this deliciously dark island thriller.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Multiple_Viewpoints

    Multiple viewpoints

  • Illustrated icon, Nonlinear_Timeline

    Nonlinear timeline

  • Illustrated icon, Female_Friendship

    Female friendships

  • Illustrated icon, Glamorous

    Glamorous

Synopsis

Three tight-knit friends embark on an extravagant divorce trip to the Maldives where they can unwind and celebrate a new chapter in midlife—until they realize the resort of their dreams is harboring a killer.

Best friends Darcy, Camilla, and Kate escape for a post-divorce retreat in the Maldives, the perfect place to relax, reset, and embrace a fresh start in life. Darcy is learning how to be a free woman at forty-two. Camilla has found the perfect calling as a fitness and wellness influencer with a devoted following. And Kate is finally working on the book she was meant to write after years of telling other people’s stories.

Their dream getaway? The exclusive and isolated Sapphire Island Resort. With luxurious private villas, crystal-clear waters, and sun-drenched white sand beaches, relaxation is guaranteed. But this is no ordinary friendship, and they’re not the only guests on the island with secrets. Who left the body on the beach—and who’s next?

A propulsive and deliciously dark tale about female friendship, loyalty, and lies, Bad Tourists is a white-hot thriller from the first page to its mind-blowing finish.

Content warning

This book contains scenes that depict domestic abuse.

Free sample

Get an early look from the first pages of Bad Tourists.

Bad Tourists

We’ll begin with the Indian Ocean. Night has transformed its ultramarine waters to shades of bruise, a navy lick shimmering with the reflections of a billion dead things. Stars, in other words, for dead things can also be beautiful.

Like the body in the water, bleeding into the reef. Even in death, the man is beautiful—especially so, his black hair visited by yellow and silver fish, severed tissues billowing in the current, as though he were an oceanic element. A rare anemone. Everything is more graceful underwater. Even murder is a ballet.

Night brings predators here. There won’t be much left by morning, the human distinction of his corpse erased. Unsuspecting resort guests might take a kayak out, its fiberglass belly slicing over a dark secret.

I relish the thought of that. The drama that lies in the possibility of discovery. It’s a gift of sorts, a sudden treasure I can reward myself with again and again.

All it takes is the flick of a knife.

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Why I love it

For a thriller that lives up to all the hype, look no further than Bad Tourists. All the buzzy words apply here (propulsive, tense, smart, exquisite, twisty, et. al.), and Caro Carver’s dark tale about midlife turmoil and female friendship delivers both style and substance.

When best friends Darcy, Camilla, and Kate retreat to the Maldives to commemorate Darcy’s recent divorce, their shared connection to a gruesome mass murder twenty-two years ago is really all they still have in common. Kate was the sole survivor, Camilla lost her brother, and Darcy lost her boyfriend. Shaped by this unforgettable past tragedy, their luxurious girls’ getaway quickly devolves into something sinister. First, the women befriend Jade, a newlywed trapped in a terrible situation with her not-so-doting groom. Then a body turns up on the beach and this psychological thriller really takes off. It appears nothing is quite what it seems at the exclusive Sapphire Island Resort.

Carver’s characters are complicated and nuanced, and the plot is packed with plenty of suspense, some shocking violence, and a creative twist that is guaranteed to leave your jaw on the floor. Bad Tourists is, quite simply, the perfect white-hot summer read—an unputdownable trip to paradise whether you read it on a far-flung beach or in the comfort of your own backyard.

Member ratings (1,329)

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New and recent add-ons
View all
Intermezzo
The Stone Witch of Florence
What Does It Feel Like?
The Last One at the Wedding
The Book of George
We Solve Murders
The Bog Wife
Here One Moment
The Night We Lost Him
The Crimson Crown
Someone in the Attic
Middle of the Night
A Sorceress Comes to Call
Four Weekends and a Funeral
The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love
The Seventh Veil of Salome
Leather & Lark
Hum
The Life Impossible
Vilest Things
The Love of My Afterlife
Home Cooking