• The Vacation

  • By: John Marrs
  • Narrated by: Peter Noble
  • Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (106 ratings)

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The Vacation  By  cover art

The Vacation

By: John Marrs
Narrated by: Peter Noble
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Publisher's summary

For eight strangers in a Los Angeles hostel, even the other side of the world isn’t far enough. The craving for a new identity and the desire to start again is something they have in common. But they discover that it doesn't matter where you are or who you are - if you can't lay the past to rest, fate and coincidence have a way of catching up with you.

©2015 John Marrs (P)2018 W F Howes Ltd

What listeners love about The Vacation

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I just couldn’t get into this one.

The narrator’s voice got on my nerves. The characters (and there are many) go back and forth in time and, to tell the truth, confused me. When I get to a point that I lose interest, it’s time to return said book. Maybe it was just not for me as there are a lot of positive reviews, both on Audible and Good Reads.

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3 people found this helpful

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Not for Me

This book just isn't for me. The summary sounded interesting and it could have been an interesting story, but the whole time I'm reading, I'm thinking...so, what's the point? As I usually try and finish what I start, I'll finish the story, but... This was a waste of a credit. The book's only saving grace was the narration, which was generally pretty good, except for the fact that the narrator makes southern white men all sound like Bill Clinton... Annoying.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

good in the end

takrlea a few minutes to get into but over all as good as his others. narrator's accents a little rough.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Loved this book.

Many interesting stories woven into one book. Loved it. Southern accent of reader sounded a bit like Bill Clinton though. lol

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not my favorite but enjoyable

I love John Marrs and I am reading his entire catalog! This book was not my favorite not but know that he is still one of my favorite authors, and so happy that I discovered him this year

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Alot going on

I usually like John Marrs books and I did for the most part but I got confused who was who at times. Also I only really cared about two of the stories the rest I didn't really care about.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Twist and Turns

Loved the story. Full of multiple twists and turns you never see coming. Narrator did well doing different voices for each character.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Good read!

Each chapter wants the reader to want more. More is not delivered immediately, but successfully, in a subsequent chapter. This hopscotching manner kept me wanting to pick this book up, whenever I had a few free minutes.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Another great book!

I truly enjoy John Marrs suspense thrillers! This started a little slower, but it grabs you in the end!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Another great Marrs book

Took me a minute to keep characters straight, but loved how their stories wove together.....lost and broken souls finding their way intermixed with a few unsavory sorts. Peter Noble narration 5 star.

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  • Lee
  • 07-17-18

A mixed up tale of travel, lies, murder and more!

Mr Marrs hits the sweet spot again! I really enjoyed 'The Good Samaritan' but I hated 'When You Disappeared' and went into this one with my fingers crossed but I needn't have worried as it blew my socks off.

It's a tale of many parts which contains the back stories and the present going on's of a rag tag group of people who converage on a run down hostel located in Los Angeles. The story starts off slowly and the chapters are quite small allowing the book to flow along nicely.

The narration is excellent with each character given their own voice, although there is one that sounds slightly like Sean Connery! I did start off disliking a few characters but by the time their stories were told my opinion had changed. That is down to the skill of the author.

Well worth a credit!

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9 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • The Glamizon
  • 07-12-20

Another stormer of a book by Mr Mars.

I am a huge fan of John Mars and his kaleidoscopic way of story telling. Each book breaks off into a multitude of differing possibilities and outcomes, where no one fails to come under the scrutiny of the reader as being responsible for something!

Beautifuly written, engaging and atmospheric. 4 stars for this book only because although I still very much enjoyed it, I just didn't enjoy as much as his other books, but hey, when you set the bar so high that really doesn't even count as a criticism xx

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6 people found this helpful

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  • Alison K
  • 09-01-20

Amazing storytelling

Just love all John Marrs’ books, each one so different. Wasn’t sure if I could cope with all the different characters in this one, however the constantly developing plot all fell into place eventually with many twists along the way. Well done Mr Marrs, can’t wait for the next book being released in September

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5 people found this helpful

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  • Deirdre More
  • 01-19-19

John Marrs is a Great Storyteller

I only discovered John Marrs recently and have already read all his books. His storytelling is superb and the narration has always been spot on. This book contains a wide range of interesting characters with a diverse range of back stories. I love John Marrs and I'm looking forward to The Passengers.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • D Jacobs
  • 07-25-18

Disappointing

I’ve read a couple of books by John Marrs, I like his fast pace, no nonsense story telling, but Welcome to Wherever You Are was long and slow. In the end ( after restarting three times) I forced myself to get to the finishing line with a big sigh of relief. It picked up a little towards the end but not sufficiently to counter the boring beginning. Too many characters, too many past and present stories made it difficult to follow. Oh and the narrator - not a good choice, monotone and again boring (great if you want to be put to sleep) perhaps would’ve been better if a woman was used to do the female characters. To sum up disappointing, not to John Marrs usual high standards.

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  • Marion G.
  • 03-21-23

This is 'Welcome to Wherever you are'

Come on Audible. How could you not know - and let us listeners know - that this novel is a duplicate of Welcome to wherever you are but is now being advertised and reviewed as a new novel!!!!!! I read it's predecessor some time ago, didn't like it then and most certainly am not going to try reading it again. I will return forthwith and can only hope that some of you who have enjoyed many of this authors novels will take note of this duplication

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  • Sigrin
  • 12-27-20

Turbulent lives

I enjoy a John Marrs book, however this was not his best. The storyline was based in America but thank goodness it had a British narrator, or I might have had issues finishing it. Good plot line and as always very complex and interesting characters, however I personally felt something was missing. I would still recommend the book asJohn Marrs is a writer who thinks out of the box making his books quirky and different. Personally I think he has s lot in common with the writer Luke Smithered both writing strange but excellent story’s .

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  • Melanie McQueen
  • 10-12-20

hooked right away

love the way you get to know all of the characters well. I found myself laughing at some of the antics they all got up to, feeling stunned at the twists and turns, and toward the end I wept for some of them. loved this book.

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  • Sue Le Heup
  • 11-18-18

A great book.

I will be honest, I did struggle to cope with so many characters and the time changes but I am so pleased I stuck with it as I really enjoyed it. I loved the twists and the narrator really made it work for me.

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  • ASO
  • 09-01-18

An Amazing Read

Loved it!
Why did this book have to end??
John Marrs has a seriously good mind. He has the ability for you to personally get to know each one of his characters, with interest despite how ttoubled some of them are.

Peter Noble, I feel, was the perfect Narrator. In my opinion, he literally brought John Marrs' words to life.

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  • Craig Punshon
  • 08-17-23

A good holiday read

Not a bad read sitting by a pool .
A tale of incredible coincidences awaits you

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  • samantha
  • 04-08-20

Meh

Listened to this on audible. If you’re patient enough to get through the first six hours the story finally gets interesting. I felt let down after finishing it as this is my 4th John Marrs novel and the 2nd one that left me disappointed. I must have started on the good ones and went downhill from there.

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  • Therese Tucker
  • 04-29-18

another great Marrs book

loved it. the second Marrs book I've read and both were fabulous. narrator excellent. well done audible

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