Name: Adwait Kulkarni's review of Hairpin Bridge by Taylor Adams
Item: Hairpin Bridge
Rating: 3.5
Author: Adwait Kulkarni

Taylor Adams

From the author of the "full-throttle thriller" (A. J. Finn) No Exit--a riveting new psychological page-turner featuring a fierce and unforgettable heroine. Three months ago, Lena Nguyen's estranged twin sister, Cambry, drove to a remote bridge sixty miles outside of Missoula, Montana, and jumped two hundred feet to her death. At least, that is the official police version. But Lena isn't buying it. Now she's come to that very bridge, driving her dead twin's car and armed with a cassette recorder, determined to find out what really happened by interviewing the highway patrolman who allegedly discovered her sister's body. Corporal Raymond Raycevic has agreed to meet Lena at the scene. He is sympathetic, forthright, and professional. But his story doesn't seem to add up. For one thing, he stopped Cambry for speeding a full hour before she supposedly leapt to her death. Then there are the sixteen attempted 911 calls from her cell phone, made in what was unfortunately a dead zone. But perhaps most troubling of all, the state trooper is referred to by name in Cambry's final enigmatic text to her sister: Please Forgive Me. I couldn't live with it. Hopefully you can, Officer Raycevic. Lena will do anything to uncover the truth. But as her twin's final hours come into focus, Lena's search turns into a harrowing, tooth-and-nail fight for her own survival--one that will test everything she thought she knew about her sister and herself...

Hairpin Bridge

As utterly areligious person this is a question I've asked myself more times than I'd like to admit. 

Leonie

And worse, it’s a pretty shitty faith dilemma to have. If their God exists, their daughter is burning in hell. If He doesn’t, she’s gone entirely on a cellular level. Which is worse?

"[...] Unless you can shoot my heart or my brain. Think about it, Lena. Can you hit a moving target, that fast?” 

“They’re both pretty small targets,” Lena said.

“It’s you I have a problem with, Ray.”

She didn’t suffer was a new one, too. Because when someone decides to jump off a bridge, no one has the audacity to claim they weren’t suffering.

Michelle Xu

Hairpin Bridge is the 4th book of author Taylor Adams and the next book in line after the success of his last Mystery-Thriller book - No Exit. I stumbled upon No Exit and really had a great time reading it. So I was excited for the author to come up with a new book based on similar style of storytelling.

We follow a story of twin sisters Cambry and Lena set in different timelines. Lena is calm, disciplined person who works at an electronic store and has her own blog as well. Cambry is adventurous, living life on edge and being in relationships with terrible guys. They both are completely different from each other and are not on talking terms. So when Lena receives a text message from Cambry, following the shocking news of Suicide by Cambry, the alarm bells start ringing in Lena's head and she decides to visit the infamous Hairpin Bridge and find out the truth behind Cambry's suicide.

What follows is a game of cat and mouse between Lena and Police Officer Raycevic (who was the last person to see Cambry before she died) with both trying to gain upper hand over each other. Did Cambry commit Suicide? If yes, then why? Or was it a Murder? If yes, then who killed her? We'll find the answers when we find out who wins the battle at the bridge!

1) Intense Storytelling: Most of the story takes place at one scene and in one day. This setting makes it a very claustrophobic environment which works out perfectly for any book in Mystery-Thriller genre. The life and death battle between Lena and Raycevic is told grippingly with each having their own ups and downs. 

2) Awesome Car Chase: The car chasing scene described in the book (between the two main characters) could rival some of the best car chase scenes from movies. It is that good! I was on my toes throughout that scene. For me, it was the best part of the book!

3) Multiple timelines: It is always difficult to nail down the story when it is being told in parallel multiple timelines. The similarities between Cambry and Lena's survival at the Hairpin Bridge calls for this kind of storytelling and the author has done a fine job of juggling this difficult act.

1) The lack of suspense: The book is thrilling, no doubt. But there is barely any mystery. It was easy to figure out the ending of the book after spending some time in this world. I had big expectations that this book will have an awesome twist similar to No Exit. But the twists that we got were bit underwhelming.

2) The never ending ending: Minor negative point. The book should have ideally ended 3 chapters early. But it kept on going. The story felt complete towards the end but there had to be further twists which were just not interesting and unnecessarily stretched the story.

It wasn't as good as No Exit but it had its moments. I feel Taylor Adams is great at writing these thrillers set at one location and taking place in single day. The car chase scenes, the one on one battles of both mental and physical strength and skills between Lena/Cambrie and Raycevic were nail biting. The only missing ingredient for this book to be a great book was that one 'no one saw it coming' twist that was there in No Exit but was unfortunately missing from here.

Adwait Kulkarni

Hairpin Bridge is the 4th book of author Taylor Adams and the next book in line after the success of his last Mystery-Thriller book - No Exit. I stumbled upon No Exit and really had a great time reading it. So I was excited for the author to come up with a new book based on similar style of storytelling.

Summary:
We follow a story of twin sisters Cambry and Lena set in different timelines. Lena is calm, disciplined person who works at an electronic store and has her own blog as well. Cambry is adventurous, living life on edge and being in relationships with terrible guys. They both are completely different from each other and are not on talking terms. So when Lena receives a text message from Cambry, following the shocking news of Suicide by Cambry, the alarm bells start ringing in Lena's head and she decides to visit the infamous Hairpin Bridge and find out the truth behind Cambry's suicide.

What follows is a game of cat and mouse between Lena and Police Officer Raycevic (who was the last person to see Cambry before she died) with both trying to gain upper hand over each other. Did Cambry commit Suicide? If yes, then why? Or was it a Murder? If yes, then who killed her? We'll find the answers when we find out who wins the battle at the bridge!

What I Liked:
1) Intense Storytelling: Most of the story takes place at one scene and in one day. This setting makes it a very claustrophobic environment which works out perfectly for any book in Mystery-Thriller genre. The life and death battle between Lena and Raycevic is told grippingly with each having their own ups and downs. 
2) Awesome Car Chase: The car chasing scene described in the book (between the two main characters) could rival some of the best car chase scenes from movies. It is that good! I was on my toes throughout that scene. For me, it was the best part of the book!
3) Multiple timelines: It is always difficult to nail down the story when it is being told in parallel multiple timelines. The similarities between Cambry and Lena's survival at the Hairpin Bridge calls for this kind of storytelling and the author has done a fine job of juggling this difficult act.

What I Didn't Like:
1) The lack of suspense: The book is thrilling, no doubt. But there is barely any mystery. It was easy to figure out the ending of the book after spending some time in this world. I had big expectations that this book will have an awesome twist similar to No Exit. But the twists that we got were bit underwhelming.
2) The never ending ending: Minor negative point. The book should have ideally ended 3 chapters early. But it kept on going. The story felt complete towards the end but there had to be further twists which were just not interesting and unnecessarily stretched the story.

Conclusion:
It wasn't as good as No Exit but it had its moments. I feel Taylor Adams is great at writing these thrillers set at one location and taking place in single day. The car chase scenes, the one on one battles of both mental and physical strength and skills between Lena/Cambrie and Raycevic were nail biting. The only missing ingredient for this book to be a great book was that one 'no one saw it coming' twist that was there in No Exit but was unfortunately missing from here.

Denaiir

It was unfortunately repetitive, quite confusing (with the fact that "cambry's story" is not the actual story of what happened to Cambry, but Lena's account of what happened to her sister), and I hated all the characters. Lena was the most annoying by far, but Cambry was not very endearing either. I think my favorite character was Kitty, the snake... It picked up a little in the last 20% (I skimmed-read huge chunks before that) and I was going to give it another half star, but then the very ending was completely unnecessary, convoluted and didn't fit at all with the dark tone, so back to 2 stars.

When I say I RAN to the bookstore, as soon as Hairpin Bridge hit the shelves I’m not even exaggerating (much) – Taylor Adam’s previous publications have held my heart in their ironlike grip, cackling madly while the heart rate spiked up and I never was able to put any of the three previous books down, as soon as I started them. To say I enjoyed them might be a bit misleading, but those were some of the best thriller I’ve ever read, so twisty-turny that I never anticipated the next move or even the final outcome. If someone asks me for a thriller recommendation that keeps them on the edge of their seat for hours, Taylor Adams is my recommended choice.

Imagine my utter disappointment when it took me so much longer to finish Hairpin Bridge. It still is a good read, though compared to previous publications of the same author? Not even close. It never had the same effect on me, feeling the physical involvement in a fictional story by my own heartrate spiking, gripping the pages tight and reading in a hectic manner because I NEEDED TO FIND OUT how this story continues. That was most definitely what I expected Hairpin Bridge would make me do, but it didn’t. While having those twists and turns that kept me engager, it just did not drag me in the same way.

The female MC tended to get on my nerves, the antagonist annoyed and disgusted me (as expected), both lit up through moments of sass and savagery. I had the odd chuckle here or there; I was never bored but Hairpin Bridge to me just lacked the special something. If you plan to read Taylor Adam’s works for the first time maybe start with this one and leave the others for last, because to me this was definitely the weakest link of the chain so far.  

When I say I RAN to the bookstore, as soon as Hairpin Bridge hit the shelves I’m not even exaggerating (much) – Taylor Adam’s previous publications have held my heart in their ironlike grip, cackling madly while the heart rate spiked up and I never was able to put any of the three previous books down, as soon as I started them. To say I enjoyed them might be a bit misleading, but those were some of the best thriller I’ve ever read, so twisty-turny that I never anticipated the next move or even the final outcome. If someone asks me for a thriller recommendation that keeps them on the edge of their seat for hours, Taylor Adams is my recommended choice.

Imagine my utter disappointment when it took me so much longer to finish Hairpin Bridge. It still is a good read, though compared to previous publications of the same author? Not even close. It never had the same effect on me, feeling the physical involvement in a fictional story by my own heartrate spiking, gripping the pages tight and reading in a hectic manner because I NEEDED TO FIND OUT how this story continues. That was most definitely what I expected Hairpin Bridge would make me do, but it didn’t. While having those twists and turns that kept me engager, it just did not drag me in the same way.

The female MC tended to get on my nerves, the antagonist annoyed and disgusted me (as expected), both lit up through moments of sass and savagery. I had the odd chuckle here or there; I was never bored but Hairpin Bridge to me just lacked the special something. If you plan to read Taylor Adam’s works for the first time maybe start with this one and leave the others for last, because to me this was definitely the weakest link of the chain so far.  

Jasmine

Lena Nguyen by no means believes that her twin sister has committed suicide. Cambry exists by her own set of rules, but there’s no good reason she’d drive to Montana just to die. Plus, there’s the issue of 16 attempted calls to the police for help and other suspicious instances that don’t add up. Lena decides to take matters into her own hands by meeting up with the last person to see her sister, Corporal Raymond Raycevic. Raycevic seems to be hiding something and Lena is determined to find out what that might be. 

Hairpin Bridge is most definitely one of the more thriller-y thrillers I’ve read in a long while. I think the mark of a good book coincides with how difficult it is to put down (amongst other things but that’s neither here nor there at the moment) and this book is impossible to put down. It isn’t a perfect story, but it is so entertaining that some of the smaller issues fall to the wayside. I think if you dug No Exit, you’ll probably love this one too. It’s 4 stars from me! 

Thanks so much to NetGalley, HarperCollins Publishers, and Taylor Adams for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

McKenzie McWhorter

3.5 - I enjoyed this fast paced thriller and major plot points but there was too many instances of things working out a little too perfectly to be realistic. The format was a little confusing too with the different povs and some being unreliable.

From the author of the “full-throttle thriller” (A. J. Finn) No Exit—a riveting new psychological page-turner featuring a fierce and unforgettable heroine. Three months ago, Lena Nguyen’s estranged twin sister, Cambry, drove to a remote bridge sixty miles outside of Missoula, Montana, and jumped two hundred feet to her death. At least, that is the official police version. But Lena isn’t buying it. Now she’s come to that very bridge, driving her dead twin’s car and armed with a cassette recorder, determined to find out what really happened by interviewing the highway patrolman who allegedly discovered her sister’s body. Corporal Raymond Raycevic has agreed to meet Lena at the scene. He is sympathetic, forthright, and professional. But his story doesn’t seem to add up. For one thing, he stopped Cambry for speeding a full hour before she supposedly leapt to her death. Then there are the sixteen attempted 911 calls from her cell phone, made in what was unfortunately a dead zone. But perhaps most troubling of all, the state trooper is referred to by name in Cambry’s final enigmatic text to her sister: Please Forgive Me. I couldn’t live with it. Hopefully you can, Officer Raycevic. Lena will do anything to uncover the truth. But as her twin’s final hours come into focus, Lena’s search turns into a harrowing, tooth-and-nail fight for her own survival—one that will test everything she thought she knew about her sister and herself...

A Novel

Cheri McElroy

This book about Lena, seeking the truth about her twin sister’s death, starts out at 60 mph and never lets up. It’s a thrill ride of adrenaline, through and through.

Thank you, #NetGalley, for the Advanced Reader Copy.

Samantha Bowes

Let me first say that I LOVED No Exit by Taylor Adams and I wanted to love this one just as much. I just...didn’t. It felt disjointed. It went back and forth between 3 different perspectives/times. Firstly, Lena in the present, her former blog posts and a book she’s writing, guessing what happened with her sister, Cambry. It was confusing and didn’t ebb and flow well. The story had potential at first, but it became far fetched.

Madhuri Sridhara

Thanks to Netgalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy of this ebook.

Firstly, I'll admit that I wasn't a huge fan of 'No Exit', my first Taylor Adams book but the premise combined with the reviews made it seem like compulsive read. And I'll admit this was a step up. 

The first half of the book had me hooked. It seemed it Adams had redeemed himself by creating if not a psychological thriller, an action thriller with better characters than the last time. BUT it didn't last. In the second half, the flaws I found frustrating in 'No Exit' started to show up and I'm really sorry to say that the last quarter was a slog to get through.

My issue was the repetitive action sequences, the dragging storyline simply because everyone just manages to somehow live and the frustrating dialogue. 

But if you, like most people, enjoyed 'No Exit' you'll definitely like this book too. It just wasn't my thing.

2.5/5

KADY BURNS

Trying to get back into thrillers so picked up this new release. I would say the first third of the book hooked me in, but by the time end I was powering through and basically skimming. I found it pretty repetitive and unbelievable and not really caring about the characters. But points for a badass POC female character.

Nash

When I heard that Taylor Adams had a book new book, I lost my shit. 
I’m not even joking.

Reading No Exit was one of the best reading experiences for me.
I was in so much tension while reading that book. The kind of suspense that I look forward to when watching a scary movie or reading a thriller. 

I know that many people didn’t like the book because of the characters or whatever reason they had. I understand that, luckily Im not one for character driven stories. I’m more into the plots and that one delivered for me. 

When I started reading Hairpin Bridge I went open minded because well… I didn’t know what to expect.
 I only knew that it was going to be good. 
I cannot deny that at a certain point I was confused as hell. 
Like, What was the real story?
What the hell happened to Cambry? 
Is Lena losing her mind? 
What the hell is going on with the freaking state trooper?


Holy cow, talk about a freaking roller coaster. 
I think I yelled at Lena about a hundred times. 

I must say that this book became another favorite and Taylor Adams an official favorite author.

Hannah

Melea Mullican

2.29 on CAWPILE

Wow this one was a struggle to get through for me. I know I'm in the minority, but this author and I may just not jive. This book is full of one convenience and eye roll moment after another. The amount of times a character does something "unexpected" at the EXACT right moment to avoid sure death is just astounding. I don't think the author bothered to research on even the simplest of scientific facts. Even the plot for a thriller was either monologues on monologues of the characters discussing what happened like the reader can't pick up on it or (view spoiler)[ car chase and gunfight after car chase and gunfight (hide spoiler)]. ] It just really didn't work for me at all.

With that said, I know a ton of people loved this book. If you enjoyed No Exit or are looking for a fast paced thriller this might be for you.

Jessica De Hoyos

Twin sisters, a cop, and a bridge....other than that, I have no idea what this book is about. I listened to the audio and had such a hard time differentiating between the sisters because their story was so similar. This book could not keep my attention as hard I tried to focus. I tried and I tried so desperately to enjoy it but I just couldn't.

Denise B.

Triggers: Suicide, Death of a Child

I went into reading this book blind. No ideas or notions of the plot line or genre - strictly cover pick. This book was fantastic until it wasn't, unfortunately. It started out very gripping & attention grabbing but just took a turn towards the ridiculous & unbelievable at the end. It reads very much as an episode of Criminal Minds you would watch with an unrealistic turn. There are twists & turns along with shocking reveals that I did not see coming. It is worth reading though because as a whole, the story and events leading up to the ending are well written.

Michelle Xu &
Hairpin Bridge by Taylor Adams

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