Quick Take
- Narration: Sara Poyzer’s performance holds the dual timeline together, managing the shift between the past backpacker trip and the present twenty-years-later investigation with good instinct.
- Themes: Secrets carried across decades, guilt and witness, the West Coast Trail as crucible
- Mood: Tense and brooding, with a slow build toward revelation
- Verdict: A dual-timeline thriller with a satisfying twist at the end, uneven in its character sympathy but rewarding for readers who trust the slow accumulation of pressure.
I started The Hiking Trip during a morning commute and was far enough in by the time I reached my destination that I sat in the parking lot for an additional twenty minutes before I could bring myself to stop. That is not a statement about exceptional quality so much as about mechanism: Jenny Blackhurst structures her dual-timeline thriller efficiently, and Sara Poyzer’s narration keeps the gap between the past trail and the present investigation feeling taut rather than loose. The premise, a young British backpacker goes missing on the West Coast Trail, and twenty years later a body surfaces and Laura must finally account for what she knows, is a reliable engine, and Blackhurst runs it with discipline.
The novel alternates between the West Coast Trail trip of two decades past and Laura’s present life, which includes a marriage, two small children, and the knowledge that a man she once knew went to prison for something she could have prevented by coming forward with the truth. That setup generates the specific kind of guilt-narrative suspense that domestic thrillers have been mining effectively for years. What Blackhurst brings to it is a willingness to make her protagonist’s choices look genuinely bad rather than sympathetically understandable, which is a braver choice than it might appear and one that the novel’s eventual payoff depends on. Laura is not a heroine with a good reason for what she did. She is a person who made choices she has been living with, and the book takes that seriously.
Our Take on The Hiking Trip
The reviews divide in a way that tells you something useful about what this book is asking of you. One reader found none of the adult characters likable and concluded the investment was not worth it. Another called it excellent with a genuinely shocking twist. A third came away planning to read more Blackhurst. That kind of split is not a sign of poor writing so much as a sign that the book makes demands, specifically, the demand to tolerate significant time with a protagonist making choices you will often find frustrating. Sara Poyzer’s narration handles this skillfully, giving Laura’s rationalizations just enough internal logic that you understand the reasoning even when you do not excuse it.
Why Listen to The Hiking Trip
The West Coast Trail setting is underused in crime fiction, and Blackhurst takes advantage of its particular quality, a defined wilderness route with limited exit options, a self-selected group of travelers, and the specific vulnerability of being young and far from the structures that usually protect or constrain. Those flashback sections have a different texture from the domestic present-day scenes, and Poyzer navigates that contrast effectively. The twist, praised by multiple reviewers as genuinely surprising, appears to be legitimate rather than the kind that requires the author to have withheld information unfairly. Blackhurst reportedly wraps things up cleanly, which is more than many books in this genre manage.
What to Watch For in The Hiking Trip
The novel takes time to develop its central tension. At least one reviewer noted that the real story felt perpetually about to begin for most of the book’s duration before it finally arrived in full. That is a fair characterization of a slow-build structure, and listeners who need momentum established in the first chapter may find the middle sections test their patience significantly. The character sympathy issue is also real: if you need to like and admire the people you spend eight hours with, Laura’s choices will become a genuine obstacle to your enjoyment. The book assumes you can remain engaged with characters whose decisions you disagree with, which is a specific readerly skill.
Who Should Listen to The Hiking Trip
Best suited to fans of M.J. Ford, Susi Holliday, and similar British crime writers who favor psychological pressure over action-plot momentum. Those who enjoyed Blackhurst’s earlier novels, The Girl Who Left and Before I Let You In are mentioned in the review record, will find this consistent with her approach to morally complicated protagonists and slow-building revelation. Listeners who need protagonists they can root for without reservation will have a harder time here. Those who can tolerate moral complexity in the lead character and trust that the slow accumulation of pressure will eventually release in a satisfying way should find the final stretch worth the wait.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the ending twist feel earned, or does it rely on withheld information?
Multiple reviewers describe the twist as genuinely surprising and satisfying, suggesting Blackhurst earns it through the structure of the narrative rather than by keeping information arbitrarily from the reader. The wrap-up is also described as clean.
Is The Hiking Trip set on a specific real trail?
Yes, the West Coast Trail, a defined wilderness route known in the Pacific Northwest, is the setting for the historical sections of the novel. The specificity of the location is part of what gives the flashback material its distinct atmosphere.
How does Sara Poyzer handle the dual timeline in the narration?
The shift between past and present is one of the narration’s strengths, with Poyzer adjusting her approach to each timeline in ways that help listeners orient quickly. The past sections have a different texture from the domestic present-day scenes, and the narration honors that contrast.
Is this Jenny Blackhurst’s most recent novel, and does it work as an entry point to her work?
Based on the available metadata, The Hiking Trip has a 2025 release date, making it among Blackhurst’s more recent work. It works as a standalone and as an introduction to her style, though readers who enjoy it will find earlier novels, The Girl Who Left in particular, worth tracking down.
