No Exit by Taylor Adams

Carbondale, Colorado

I could not find the actual location of the visitor’s center mentioned in the novel, however, this town was mentioned as being one of the closest.

I picked up this book to satisfy the PopSugar Reading Challenge of “A Book Becoming a TV Series or a Movie in 2022,” but I’m also fairly certain Taylor Adams wrote this book in hopes that it would someday become a movie. And honestly, those are my least favorite types of books. No character development, no inner dialogue, nothing that makes a book, “booky.” That being said, I read this book in three days and could hardly put it down. It accomplished the task of keeping me engaged, and I enjoyed the book the whole time.

The book follows the story of a snowy night in the Colorado Rockies. Darby Thorne is a college student traveling home to Utah to see her dying mother. She’s forced to stop for the night at a Colorado rest stop, where she meets four people: Ashley, Lars, Ed, and Sandi. While looking for cell service, she sees a young girl locked in the back of a van in the parking lot. Darby decides she has to rescue the little girl, and a lot of violence and chaos ensue.

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I am not an avid thriller or mystery reader, so this may just be me, but I honestly did not see a lot of the twists happening. I was so excited when Ashley was going to help Darby rescue the little girl, and I was heartbroken to find out he was the mastermind. Then Sandi’s involvement threw me for a loop as well.

My favorite part of the book was when Darby was shot by the police officer. What an amazing story that would have made if Ashley and Lars were able to get away because of the (understandable) mistake of the officer. Having Darby survive that seemed quite improbable, and it also made the story a little boring. And I’m not just saying that because of my ACAB agenda.

I re-read the ending of the story several times and was very confused. The author specifically mentioned a group of three people (Jay and her mom and dad), but then the twist is that Darby is also there with them. Does anyone else understand this?

Anyways, the book wasn’t bad. It’s a good beach read or weekend read. I don’t think I’ll watch the movie (because there’s not much to this story beyond its twists and turns). They also randomly made Darby a drug addict from what I’ve read. I don’t understand the point there.

Review by the Numbers

Overall: 3/5

Writing: 3/5

Message: 2/5

Plot: 3/5

Character Development: 2/5

Challenges Satisfied:

- Colorado (Reading My Way Around the World Challenge)

- A Book Becoming a TV Series or a Movie in 2022 (2022 PopSugar Reading Challenge)

- A Book You’ve Seen Someone Else Reading (2022 Fully Booked Reading Challenge)

- Thriller (2022 Gotta Read ‘Em All Challenge)