The Business Trip

The Business Trip (2025) is the debut novel by American journalist and news director Jessie Garcia. It follows mysteries surrounding Stephanie and Jasmine, two women who physically resemble each other and briefly meet on a flight. Days later, when both women send texts about meeting a man named Trent McCarthy, their friends become worried. Then, both women disappear, setting off a chain of events that opens up a web of mysteries spanning from San Diego, California, to Atlanta, Georgia. Major themes in the novel include Doppelgangers and Identity, The Problem With Male Anger, and The Difficulties of Running a Newsroom.

This guide refers to the 2025 St. Martin’s Press e-book edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death, rape, child abuse, physical abuse, bullying, sexual harassment, gender discrimination, substance use, and cursing.

Plot Summary

Jasmine Veronica Littleton prepares to flee her abusive boyfriend, Glenn, by flying to Denver, Colorado. Meanwhile, Stephanie Monroe, who has been stressed at her job as a news director, plans to fly to San Diego, California, for a conference. The two women end up on the same flight.

The day after the flight, Jasmine’s best friend, Anna, receives a series of angry voicemails from Glenn demanding to know where Jasmine is. Anna honestly replies that she doesn’t know. Furious at the idea of Anna and Jasmine laughing at having tricked him, Glenn imagines shooting the women.

Two days after Jasmine and Stephanie’s flight, Stephanie’s neighbor Robert receives a text from Stephanie. The text says that she’s met a man named Trent McCarthy and is following him home to Atlanta for a week. Robert begs for more information but only receives snippets, like Trent’s address and place of work.

The same day, Anna receives a similar text from Jasmine claiming to have met a man named Trent McCarthy who makes her feel loved and beautiful. Anna hides this news from Glenn, who is becoming increasingly menacing. Glenn sends Anna photos of him shooting at photos of herself and Jasmine, promising to stop at nothing to find Jasmine. Panicking, Anna calls her friend Raven, who promises to take care of Glenn. When Anna tells Jasmine that Raven is involved, Jasmine reveals that Raven is also helping her solve a problem. A few days later, Anna learns that Glenn has been robbed and badly beaten. Jasmine reveals via text that Trent has a temper.

At the same time, Stephanie sends her colleague Bruce a vague text explaining that she will be in Atlanta, Georgia, for the next week. Concerned by Stephanie’s unusual behavior, station manager Dave reaches out to Robert, who admits that he’s spoken to Stephanie without revealing all the details. Stephanie’s colleague Lucy sends her nonsensical texts with fake names to see if it’s really her; Stephanie replies in earnest, troubling the newsroom.

Robert receives a text from Stephanie saying that Trent hit her and that she fears for her life. Robert calls the police and gives them Trent’s address in Atlanta. After exchanging notes with Dave, Robert decides to fly to Atlanta. He is joined by Lucy, who reveals that Stephanie’s iPhone has pinged at Trent’s apartment. On arrival in Atlanta, Robert and Lucy learn that Trent has been taken into custody on suspicion of murdering Jasmine and Stephanie. On the day that Jasmine’s murder is announced, Anna receives the $500 she loaned Jasmine in the mail.

The narrative moves back in time to the beginning of the San Diego news conference when Trent meets and decides to pursue Stephanie. When Stephanie ditches afternoon sessions, Trent flirtatiously offers her a key to his room. To his surprise, she accepts, but she does not appear. Frustrated, Trent masturbates into a towel and decides to forget about her. When he returns to Atlanta on Saturday, he meets a woman named Jasmine at a bar but can’t reconnect with her since he is sick all weekend.

On Monday, Trent is shocked when the police search his apartment following a phone tip. They find nothing. The following night, however, the police return and find Stephanie’s cell phone and unidentified jewelry buried in his backyard. Trent is formally accused of murder, and gossip about his past—including a DUI and accusations of bullying—hits competing news networks. He is fired from his job as a news director. The police inform Trent that blood, hair, and semen-stained underwear connecting him to Stephanie and Jasmine were found in his apartment.

Trent reaches out to his general manager, a friend, and his ex-wife, but no one will post his $1 million bail. Meanwhile, Lucy remains suspicious. With the help of Dorothy, another conference-goer, she realizes that the “Stephanie” who attended the conference might not be Stephanie Monroe.

The narrative shifts to follow Jasmine on the day of the flight. Jasmine is seated next to Stephanie, and another passenger comments that the two women look similar. Jasmine becomes jealous of Stephanie’s life and what she perceives as her superior wealth and begins to fantasize about becoming her. She steals Stephanie’s ID and follows her to San Diego. After cutting and dying her hair to look more like Stephanie, Jasmine uses Stephanie’s ID to sneak into her hotel room. She smothers Stephanie with a pillow while reliving the abuse of her mother, Glenn, and her high school classmate, Allison, whom, like Stephanie, she perceives as privileged and undeserving. She then studies Stephanie’s laptop and phone for information about how to slip into Stephanie’s life for one day at the conference. The narrative also reveals that Jasmine killed Allison due to jealousy and framed Allison’s boyfriend, Drake, for her murder.

When Jasmine meets Trent at the conference the next day, she decides to pin Stephanie’s murder on him. Jasmine sneaks into Trent’s room and uses a soiled towel to plant evidence suggesting that he had sex with both her and Stephanie. She then disposes of Stephanie’s body in a deep lagoon and plants more evidence implicating Trent at the site. The next day, she withdraws $18,000 from Stephanie’s accounts and sends texts to Anna and Robert about meeting Trent. She also uses an artificial-intelligence voice generator to record voice notes in Stephanie’s voice.

Jasmine follows Trent to his apartment in Atlanta, where she meets up with her high school friend Raven. Raven helps Jasmine drug Trent at a bar, ensuring that he’ll be too sick to leave the house. She spends the next day fielding texts from Stephanie’s friends, including a woman named Diana, and planting evidence at Trent’s apartment. Jasmine goes to Mexico.

After three weeks of freedom in Mexico, Jasmine is horrified by news reports that Raven was caught selling fake passports and gave police evidence against her about her part in Allison’s death in order to save herself. As Jasmine tries to flee, the police and Stephanie, who is alive, stop her. It is revealed that Stephanie hired an actress named Diana to impersonate her during the conference; she was under stress and didn’t want to attend the conference herself. Diana is the person Jasmine killed, not Stephanie. As Jasmine is arrested for the murder of Allison and Diana, she accuses Stephanie of helping the “bastards” win.

In the Epilogue, Trent approaches Stephanie and asks her to help him write a book about their experiences, promising that they’ll make millions. Stephanie refuses, calling him a “bastard” and saying that “bastards” never win.