Caro Carver | BAD TOURISTS Spoilers

Book spoilers ahead–if you haven’t yet read Bad Tourists, I suggest you turn back now.

The first reveal is how Kate, Darcy, and Camilla know each other: they’re not lifelong friends as the reader believes. Rather, they’ve just gotten to know each other recently, through an online support group for the families of the victims of the guesthouse murders in the prologue. Kate is the lone survivor, Camilla’s twin brother was murdered, and Darcy’s boyfriend was murdered. The three only met in person two weeks before their trip. It’s not just a divorce trip but also coincides with the anniversary of the murders. (I’m sorry but I would not travel internationally with people I had only met online once, and that’s coming from someone who went to the wedding of one of my Bookstagram friends without meeting her IRL before the wedding! International trips require the exact right mix of personalities, and someone I’ve only known for a few months would be way too big a risk. I guess Darcy was paying, though, so maybe I’d take a free trip from an internet friend.)

A journalist was looking into the killings again and had hypothesized that there was more to the story. At the time, pedophile Hugh Fraser came forward and admitted to the killings, and the police didn’t look further. The reporter thought there might have been a second killer.

The Reveal:

On the island, strange things start happening right away. The woman notice Jade, who is supposed to be on her honeymoon but is clearly being abused by her husband Rob. Camilla hooks up with a man called Antoni, who is found dead the next day. There’s also something going on with Darcy’s ex Jacob and their children–the reader doesn’t really know what, but we get chapters from Jacob’s POV so it must be important.

Finally, Darcy admits that the trip had ulterior motives. Her PI Adrian had gotten a lead that Rob knew Hugh Fraser. He was looking into it further, but Darcy found out that Rob would be on his honeymoon at the resort and booked the trip to follow him there. (This somewhat explains why Darcy would drop 50k on a trip for these women!) The women Zoom with Adrian the PI and he gives them evidence that Rob was the killer. Darcy, Camilla, and Kate make a plan to confront Rob (uh, why? just give the info to the police FFS) and get Jade to help them get him alone.

Darcy was the killer. Her son was afraid of her because she almost let him drown in a hotel pool. He had also seen her cutting up small animals in their garden shed. Jacob was involved because Darcy stole his company’s AI program to fabricate “Adrian”. Adrian wasn’t real, just a powerful AI creation able to impersonate an individual well enough to pull off a convincing video call. Darcy had stolen the proprietary program and used it for evil. (But also what possible use could that program have that isn’t malicious? AI has gone too far.)

Darcy had been at the guesthouse hooking up with Hugh Fraser, who I guess was grooming a lot of kids her age. Hugh admitted he was dying and Darcy went into a rage and killed everyone. It wasn’t really explained other than that she was a psychopath. She fabricated her relationship with Elijah to get into the support group, after finding out that the journalist was looking into the possibility of a second murderer.

Darcy picked Rob as her scapegoat because he had been Hugh’s golden boy and she had been jealous. She had killed Antoni just because she could.

The Ending:

When Darcy, Kate, and Camilla confronted Rob, Kate and Camilla could tell Rob was innocent. Darcy stabbed him for no reason, Rob fought back, everyone was injured but only Rob died. Eventually Kate and Jade overpowered Darcy and were able to get help from the resort staff. Darcy went to prison and thrived in prison. Kate, Camilla, and Jade stayed friends.

I hope these Bad Tourists spoilers were helpful.