Device Free Weekend

By: Sean Doolittle

Narrated by: Zachary Webber

Seven friends, one eccentric billionaire, and an all-expenses-paid reunion on a private island: with no technology allowed, it’ll be a weekend to remember—for those who make it out alive.

Ryan Cloverhill, founder and CEO of the world’s most popular social media platform, invites his six best friends from college to his home on his private island near Puget Sound. For Stephen, Emma, Perry, Will, Beau, and Lainie, day one is just what the doctor ordered: amazing food, many drinks, lots of laughter, and a sunset cruise around the island aboard their host’s custom Van Dutch 55.

Day Two, however, takes a bewildering turn when the six hungover guests wake up to find that their host has disappeared, along with all connection to the mainland. A touchscreen tablet of unknown make awaits them, blatantly defying the rules of the weekend with its on-screen challenge: Unlock Me! The passcode to the tablet is hidden somewhere in the group’s shared history. But what seems at first like just another silly game turns deadly serious when the group discovers what unlocking the tablet really means. Is it the key to their futures, a Pandora’s box none of them will ever be able to close, or both?

Only one thing is clear: their old friend Ryan has something unthinkable planned. Now it’s up to the six of them to stop him. And when this weekend is over, the world will never be the same.

©2023 Sean Doolittle (P)2023 Grand Central Publishing

Critic reviews

"Spectacular. Ominous from page one, tense all the way through, explosive at the end, Device Free Weekend does everything a great thriller should—and a lot more, too. It makes us think about how we live now, and the extra dangers we have created for ourselves."—Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Jack Reacher series

“Device Free Weekend is aptly titled. Once I met this rich cast of characters—college friends mysteriously reunited on a rich tech mogul’s private island—I immediately wanted to avoid all distractions and lose myself in this smart, propulsive thriller. Sean Doolittle continues to be one of the most clever and creative crime writers working today.”—Alafair Burke, New York Times bestselling author of Find Me

"If Patricia Highsmith and Nelson DeMille and Alex Michaelides somehow united for a three-way collaboration, Device Free Weekend might be the explosive result. A breathtakingly clever, twist-filled thriller that feels exactly right for a weekend getaway. Sean Doolittle always writes the coolest characters. If it wasn’t so dangerous, I’d want to spend time on a private island with these people!"—Blake Crouch, bestselling author of Dark Matter and Upgrade

Excellent read!

The premise of this book really caught my attention. It wasn't really what I was expecting when I started it. Honestly, I was expecting something closer to Saw. But I really enjoyed the direction it took. Some of the reviews I read before I started the book claimed it was anticlimactic. However, now that I have finished the book, it makes me wonder what those readers' idea of climactic is. I thought the climax was perfect, and until it actually happened, I couldn't figure out how exactly it was going to end. As for the narrator, I thought he was great! He has a great range, and small nuanced changes in his tone helped distinguish which character was talking without changing his voice entirely. For the number of main characters, he did an excellent job distinguishing between the 5 male and 2 female main characters. When you are trying to play all characters as serious and all the same nationally and accent, there are only so many inflections you can make to distinguish them, so without pulling Seth MacFarlane and Dan Castllaneta level voice changes, Zach did an amazing job!

Amazing!

Definitely worth the credit and the story was so interesting that I listened to it all in one day. Get it!

Good book. Great narration

Interesting concept of story. Reminded me of Glass Onion at first. Enjoyed the narration. Great job on all those characters.

Breezy and fun

Great Narration, fun story. This is a great one to break up on drives. Easy to jump back into.

Not what I was expecting…

I’m disappointed to say, I don’t love this. The concept is interesting, but I only made it to chapter 20 before calling it quits. I just cannot get into this and I hate that because the set up is so fun.

There are too many characters and they’re all introduced way too fast with not enough detail to make them stand out. So at chapter 20, I have no idea who half of these people are. This makes it hard to connect with or care about any of them. And the ones I definitely know, I don’t particularly like. This might have been easier to follow in print, but not great for audio.

The subject matter is very relevant to today’s world and while not political per se, it’s still a bit too reminiscent of the 2020 drama to be enjoyable. Especially with references to covid and the storming of The Capitol. It centers around how their version of Facebook, like ours, has big problems and choosing what to do about it. It dives into an ethical discussion of to kill or not to kill. It’s interesting for sure and an important discussion I’d love to have with my friends. However, I read for escapism and the subject matter is too stressful to be consumed for pleasure.

Zachary Webber. Love him. One of my favorite narrators. He’s the reason I even made it as far as I did. He’s just so nice to listen to. That being said, he doesn’t have the range for the amount of characters in this book which made distinguishing them all the more difficult. His female voices have improved so much over the years so no complaints there. Acting wise, he did great.

All in all, it’s a good book so far. I know it probably gets so much more interesting so I’m disappointed that I won’t get to experience it. It’s not my cup of tea, but I can see how other people will enjoy this. Just not what I expected from the description. I’ll try again later and edit this review if I ever get all the way through.

Average

Too far fetched. And very little character development. I never really got into it. And my expectations aren’t high.