These novels follow nightmarish journeys, from an African safari with a high body count to an earthquake-destroyed Caribbean vacation.
Skyrocketing gas prices, National Park traffic jams, rail strikes, canceled flights and lost luggage – can travel this summer get any worse?
Yes he can. At least in fiction. As long as writers have been writing prose, they’ve reveled in sending their heroes to postcard-worthy places that aren’t as dreamy as they seem.
“There’s something darkly fascinating about a bad vacation – all the effort involved in planning, the idea of getting away from your stress and being able to relax, only to have everything go horribly wrong in a place where you don’t may not speak the language, know the laws, and have no way to get help,” says novelist Greg Herren, executive vice president of Mystery Writers of America. escape in these books.”
Think Homer’s Odyssey, where the Greek isles turn into a monster-filled maze for a returning Trojan War hero, or Agatha Christie’s 1920s Egyptian cruise whodunnit, Dead on the Nile. More recently, novelist Lucy Foley (The Paris Apartment, The Hunting Lodge) takes her alluring young characters to an equally alluring place and lets the bodies pile up.
This summer, when you’re wondering if your misdirected bags are having a whole lot more fun than you are, turn to these novels to help you out.
Hellish journeys
Great Circle, by Maggie Shipstead, 2021Amelia Earhart-esque aviator Marian Graves sets off to circumnavigate the globe via the North and South Poles. But storms, dwindling fuel – and doubt – plague his daring journey. See the article : 10 Sad Video Games With Happy Endings. Woven through this quest is an epic family drama that moves from the wilderness of Montana to WWII-era London, full of ambition, resilience and a romance that spans decades.
Portrait of a Thief, by Grace D. Li, 2022A quintet of Chinese-American students turn visits to museums in Amsterdam and Paris into art heists in Li’s anti-colonial adventure. Attempting to return antiquities to the China from countries that previously plundered them, the unlikely criminals clash with Interpol and, sometimes, each other. The Nail Biter also delves into what it means to exist between two cultures.
L’Anomalie, by Hervé Le Tellier, 2021You won’t complain about the turbulence and cramped middle seat of your next transatlantic flight when you read what happens to Air France 006 passengers from Paris to New York, in this stunning novel. Let’s just say that none of their lives are the same anymore. The consequences of this fateful escape range from murder and divorce to fame and career-defining success.
The Forgiven, by Lawrence Osborne, 2012After a boozy lunch in Tangier, British couple Jo and David Henninger travel to the Moroccan desert for a decadent party at a friend’s weekend compound. On a dark, dusty road, they accidentally run into and kill a young local Berber, sparking a chilling story of haves and have-nots, guilt and redemption. Osborne summons the disturbing simplicity of the Sahara and a rich cast of characters, from the boy’s bereaved father to the drug-addicted party host. (A film version starring Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain has just been released.)
The Lioness, by Chris Bohjalian, 2022Lion attack. Millions of stinging ants. Kidnappers with elephant guns. The wide open spaces of the Serengeti are full of peril and beauty in this gory tale of a 1960s Tanzanian safari gone horribly wrong. Centered on an Elizabeth Taylor-like starlet and her entourage, the travelogue begins glamorously (there’s a generator-powered ice maker and plenty of chic outfits) and quickly slides into a man-vs.-horror story. stupid.
(Find out why bad trips make for good memories.)
Two Nights in Lisbon, by Chris Pavone, 2022 An American woman on a weekend trip to Lisbon with her much younger new husband wakes up in her lavish hotel to find that he has disappeared. The ensuing mix of spy thriller and travelogue is set in the pretty, gritty streets of Portugal’s seaside capital, filled with the smell of cinnamon and pastel de nata pies and the clic-clac of its vintage cable cars.
Beach vacations gone bad
Saint X, by Alexis Schaitkin, 2020 Schaitkin uses multiple narrators to tell the story of a wealthy family whose teenage daughter disappears and dies while vacationing on an unnamed Caribbean island. The event reverberates for years with the girl’s younger sister and resort worker accused of murder. Read also : OHA: Climate change anxiety plays a big role in a youth mental health crisis. Ultimately, this dazzling debut novel is less a missing person mystery and more a reflection on how luxury tourism obscures the true culture of a place.
The Garden of Broken Things, by Francesca Momplaisir, 2022 Distressed by her young son’s behavior at school, a Haitian-American mother takes him back to her native Caribbean island to emphasize how privileged he is. A devastating earthquake ensues, throwing the family heritage trip into a nightmare of destruction and death in a country “that expected disasters descending from the sky”. Momplaisir’s prose is as sharp as his ideas, and while it’s not a feel-good story, it’s a moving examination of family ties and poverty.
The Disaster Tourist, by Yun Ko-eun, 2013In this satirical eco-thriller, Yona Kim works for a dark tourism company that takes visitors to areas ravaged by hurricanes, floods and other natural disasters. When a predatory co-worker threatens her job, she flees on a business trip to review the company’s least popular tour package – a yawning desert island in Vietnam. But what initially seems like a chance to boost her career quickly turns into a moral crisis, tangling Yona in a plot to orchestrate a headline-grabbing global catastrophe that risks hundreds of lives, including her own.
(Here are 13 exciting real-life stories of trips gone wrong.)
The Ruins by Scott Smith, 2006 In this horror/sci-fi parable, a hike to an unknown Mayan temple in Mexico’s Yucatán jungle feels like an unmissable dream for four American tourists. But deadly clashes with arrow-wielding locals and sinister vines plague them in a tense read that suggests thinking outside the box — or touching sacred antiquities — isn’t worth the Instagram shot.
Rotten road and rail trips
Nevada, by Imogen Binnie, 2013Dumped by her girlfriend and adrift in a boozy haze, trans woman Maria Griffiths steals her ex’s car and drives it from New York to Nevada. To see also : 6 reasons to use a travel agent when planning your next family vacation. Along the way, she becomes an unlikely mentor to another trans woman and discovers both the brighter and snarkier sides of downtown Reno and early 2000s Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The Boys, by Katie Hafner, 2022Anyone who has ever felt uneasy on a group tour will identify with Ethan Fawcett, a young father who takes his twin sons on a guided bike trip through Italian Piedmont. His bizarre children – and his clumsy attempt to retrace his honeymoon itinerary (without an ex-wife) – make him unpopular with his traveling companions. But there is humor and hope in these misadventures amid lavish hotels, libidinous guides and ancient churches.
This Train, by James Grady, 2022 On a passenger train rushing between Seattle and Chicago, Grady riffs on Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express with a host of characters (a coder gone wrong, a corrupt billionaire, a widow in grass) and crimes (burglary, murder) in a confined space. Though set in the present day, the thriller’s depictions of ramshackle Amtrak stations, sleazy criminals, and lonely Western landscapes smack of classic noir.
Jennifer Barger is National Geographic’s Travel Editor and read dozens of Agatha Christie novels as a child. Follow her on Instagram.
