When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Stuck in a dead-end job in Hawaii and longing to travel the world after a family tragedy, Lux is eager to climb on board The Susannah and set out on an adventure. She’s also quick to bond with their passengers, college best friends Brittany and Amma. The two women say they want to travel off the beaten path. But like Lux, they may have other reasons to be seeking an escape.

Shimmering on the horizon after days at sea, Meroe Island is every bit the paradise the foursome expects, despite a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. But what they don’t expect is to discover another boat already anchored off Meroe’s sandy beaches. The owners of the Azure Sky, Jake and Eliza, are a true golden couple: gorgeous, laidback, and, if their sleek catamaran and well-stocked bar are any indication, rich. Now a party of six, the new friends settle in to experience life on an exotic island, and the serenity of being completely off the grid. Lux hasn’t felt like she truly belonged anywhere in years, yet here on Meroe, with these fellow free spirits, she finally has a sense of peace.

But with the arrival of a skeevy stranger sailing alone in pursuit of a darker kind of good time, the balance of the group is disrupted. Soon, cracks begin to emerge: it seems that Brittany and Amma haven’t been completely honest with Lux about their pasts—and perhaps not even with each other. And though Jake and Eliza seem like the perfect pair, the rocky history of their relationship begins to resurface, and their reasons for sailing to Meroe might not be as innocent as they first appeared.

When it becomes clear that the group is even more cut off from civilization than they initially thought, it starts to feel like the island itself is closing in on them. And when one person goes missing, and another turns up dead, Lux begins to wonder if any of them are going to make it off the island alive.

Set on a beautiful, remote island, with unforgettable characters, Reckless Girls is the kind of book that goes down like one smooth sip. In it, Rachel Hawkins proves yet again that she is a master of suspense, plotting twists that you won’t see coming with the skill and assured hand of a true artist. But here, she has painted something truly sinister.

Lux McAllister wants nothing more than to ditch her dead-end job and leave Hawaii to travel all over the world. When two women approach her boyfriend, Nic, about chartering a boat to the remote Meroe Island, known for its shipwrecks and rumored murders, Lux joins the group and becomes instant friends with Brittany and Amma. Meroe Island is everything they hoped it would be—it’s beautiful and off the beaten path—a chance to disconnect from the real world. But they soon find out that they are not alone. As bonds of friendship begin to fray and people start to go missing, the group starts to question whether or not they will make it off the island alive.

Rachel Hawkins’s latest thriller is an instant favorite. It has everything you could want: paradise, adventure, friendship, and murder. I anticipated enjoying this book but not this much. If you love stories that are propulsive and leave you guessing until the end, then your next read must be Reckless Girls.