No Exit

September 1, 2018

Waiting out a Colorado blizzard at a rest stop, college student Darby Thorne is horrified to discover a little girl locked in an animal crate in the back of a parked van. Film director Adams has published ebooks (e.g., Eyeshot); this hardcover gets a 75,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 5, 2018
College student Darby Thorne, the heroine of this nail-biting thriller from Adams (Our Last Night), braves a Colorado blizzard to try to reach her mother, who’s in the late stages of pancreatic cancer. But the weather is too much for Darby’s aged Honda Civic, and she’s forced to spend the night at a rest stop visitor’s center. The volunteer-run facility is nearly empty, except for four other stranded travelers—a quirky, but seemingly harmless group of strangers. That is, until Darby goes to the parking lot, in search of a cell signal, and finds nine-year old Jamie “Jay” Nissen—mouth duct taped, in a dog crate, locked inside a van. With no cell service and no prospect of the roads being cleared until dawn at the earliest, Darby has to figure out a way to save Jay. The only problem, she doesn’t know which traveler is the kidnapper or who can be trusted. The action drives to a climatic and emotionally charged ending. Only a predictable twist and moments when Jay’s maturity feels beyond her years mar this otherwise satisfying page-turner. Agent: Lorella Belli, Lorella Belli Literary.

November 15, 2018
Adams' latest thriller opens with a young woman, Darby Thorne, racing through a snowstorm to see her dying mother. She's forced to give in when the roads are shut down, though, and what was shaping up to be a tiresome night at a rest stop turns suddenly into a twisting tale of kidnapping and violence. The unfolding details of why a little girl whom Darby finds trapped in a van in a parking lot came to be there, who is responsible for her situation, and how the various travelers who are thrown together spend the night prove both gripping and terrifying. Adams peppers the tale with twist after twist; these hairpin turns, coupled with a cast of devious characters, drive the narrative and build suspense. At times, one wonders if Darby really can possibly survive yet another perilous situation, but, overall, this is an enthralling tale that features a wonderfully relatable and gutsy heroine. Give it to readers looking for a female-led drama in the mode of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? and its sibling works.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)