pages: 290
heard/read: 2/28 to 3/1 2019
rating: i LOVE Shari!!!!
book: 24 in 2019
Love is harder to understand --and predict-- than hate.
It's winter in the Catskills and Mitchell's Inn, nestled deep in the woods, is the perfect setting for a relaxing--maybe even romantic--weekend away. It boasts spacious old rooms with huge wood-burning fireplaces, a well-stocked wine cellar, and opportunities for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, or just curling up with a good murder mystery.
So when the weather takes a turn for the worse, and a blizzard cuts off the electricity--and all contact with the outside world--the guests settle in and try to make the best of it.
Soon, though, one of the guests turns up dead--it looks like an accident. But when a second guest dies, they start to panic.
Within the snowed-in paradise, something--or someone--is picking off the guests one by one. And there's nothing they can do but hunker down and hope they can survive the storm--and one another.
So when the weather takes a turn for the worse, and a blizzard cuts off the electricity--and all contact with the outside world--the guests settle in and try to make the best of it.
Soon, though, one of the guests turns up dead--it looks like an accident. But when a second guest dies, they start to panic.
Within the snowed-in paradise, something--or someone--is picking off the guests one by one. And there's nothing they can do but hunker down and hope they can survive the storm--and one another.
MY THOUGHTS
SHORT VERSION
i love Shari!!! always and forever. loved this read.
LONG VERSION
ahhhhhh!!!
i didn't know she was this far into the game. i knew of her second book and that's how i learned about this one. and that there's another one on the way!!!!
definitely picking that one up too!
i was supposed to take this with me when i went to Sky Forest up by Lake Arrowhead.
thank God, i left this at home because i would have had a heart attack (im a HUGE chicken so don't read too much into that). the first night we were there, we didn't have great electricity so the power kept going out. the upstairs rooms were kinda creepy and we couldn't go downstairs unless we went outside in the snow and the dark....everything that this book has. ahh!
this book gave me Bad Times at The El Royale vibes right from the beginning. Just the set up and the idea-ish. i knew it was going to be good.
AND IT WAS!!!!!
i heard this as an audio book but i had the actual book as well, so I'd listen at work getting stuff done and then read along when i got home.
i think this might be my new fave way to get through a book!
so
good!
the premise and everything! ahhh!!
guys!, you know I ALWAYS CHEAT and look for spoilers and i don't care that i know them and the more i know the better but this was the first time where i was suuuuper bummed out that i knew the ending. which is kinda saying a lot because while i do love this story and everything about it was soooo good and now im never staying anywhere in the winter other than my house, the reveal of the who did it was a biiiiiiit anticlimactic. i obvs knew who it was but the reveal left a little bit to be desired. it was one teeeeeeeny tiiiiiiny little mistake that got the killer caught and it wasn't even that knowing killed it but it was just how fast it was discovered who had done it when that piece of evidence was found.
i will say though, knowing the spoilers made me more alert in regards to finding the clues along the way.
there are a lot of characters that you get introduced to so it can be a bit before you get a hold of everyone and who's who. i wrote notes all over Starbucks napkins and stickies because a) you meet a lot of people and b) a lot of their truths come out. i wanted to make sure i had all that down to spoil it later but also to refer back to.
also, because I've been reading more than typing these out, I've been really shitty about information and names and i didn't want to miss anything with this one.
anyway, good read!
i will also be purchasing this book for my collection as soon as i find it out on paperback.
if you like mystery/thrillers, i definitely recommend this one.
its not too long and its a pretty good read.
also, i definitely recommend the audio book. i wasn't TOO crazy about the narrator BUT she did such a good job in giving no one extra emotions that might have given it away that they were the killer. she kept a straight voice through it all and i think that really helped out a lot. i feel like if she had given emotions to characters as she read them, it might have been figured out right away who it was.
and just when you think you know who the killer is at the end....tun, tun, tun......do ya really know?!!!
ahhh!!!
spoilers as always! down below.
thx!
SPOILERS
right of the bat, the killer is Lauren.
and Beverly.
.....i'll break it down for you.
CHARACTERS
it starts with GWEN & RILEY.
they've been friends for a good while. since college i believe.
Riley was a journalist with the NY Times. she's seen some shit so she has hella PTSD. Gwen knows this but not the extent of it.
Gwen books this trip for them to reconnect.
David Paley is a attorney or something or other. something with the law (apparently, i didn't take THAT great of notes.) who cares.....he knows the law.
Lauren Day & Ian Beeton are driving up to the INN when they notice a car in a ditch.
turns out it was Gwen and Riley. they skidded because the road was bad. they save them and they drive up to the INN all together.
Beverly & Henry Sullivan.
she books a romantic weekend getaway for the both of them because their marriage is suffering. she knows she needs to do whatever is possible to save it.
he hates that he's there.
Dana Hart & Matthew Hutchinson.
they are engaged and away at the inn for some them time. and i believe they are the last to arrive.
Candace White
an author with a need to get away from her ill mother so she could write her book. she was the first one there and was asked to be left alone.
SECRETS
GWEN & RILEY
GWEN:
Gwen & Riley went to a house party...Gwen went to a room to rest cause she felt sick. she was laying down in bed (i think. im not 100% sure where) when 3 guys came in after another girl and they raped her.
Gwen did absolutely nothing to try to stop them.
she runs down to tell Riley and they go up to check on the girl. the girl is begging Gwen to help her turn them in because she knows they wont believe her. Gwen tells her no. that she doesn't want to be involved with any of it.
years later, the girl commits suicide.
RILEY
Riley became a journalist and she wanted to travel the world and tell stories. she went to Afghanistan and saw more than she could handle.
she was held hostage for 6 days.
she hasn't been the same since she came back (understandable).
DAVID PALEY
David's wife was murdered in their own home.
he was arrested and blamed but let go because there wasn't enough evidence and that's haunted him ever since.
(honestly, idk if it was him or not. its up in the air. i didn't really read too much into it. BUT idk man...he would know what to do to cover it up. and they never find anyone so...maybe, idk)
BEVERLY & HENRY SULLIVAN
they have an unhappy marriage and he wants a divorce.
its not until they are at the inn and she goes through his phone that she finds out that he has another woman on the side.
IAN
found his brother drowned in the lake or reservoir or something like that.
in reality, they were both there but got in a fight so Ian left him there. he knew his brother did not know how to swim and he still left him there.
when he didn't show up for supper, everyone was worried and set off to look for him. Ian knew exactly where he was at.
to this day, he had never told his parents the truth.
LAUREN & DANA
they knew each other from childhood when they used to live in a home.
they were on the roof at the home when some kid came along and called Lauren fat or ugly or something like that.
she reacted and pushed him off the roof. he of course passed away.
Dana was all wtf and then left a few days later.
when Dana walked into the diner room, Lauren couldn't really place her but then snow fell off an awning and Dana said something along the lines of it sounding like a body off the roof and that's how Lauren knew she did remember her.
STORY
everyone is at the inn just for a vacation.
that's it.
just timing was horrible.
everyone arrives.
the dinner thing above happens.
everyone is in their rooms.
Lauren wakes up the next day and finds Dana dead at the bottom of the stairs.
(after dinner and everyone had gone to bed, Lauren walked over to Dana's who was already waiting for her. they go to the stairs to talk and they get in a fight. Lauren pushes her. she then proceeds to smash her head on the stairs just to be sure.) she yells and everyone comes out one by one.
she makes a scene of making sure she touched her to check her pulse.
dead victim #1: Dana.
everyone suspects Matt
things happen.
power goes out.
more things happen.
Lauren gets her book to read and in there she finds a note that says they know it was her that killed Dana.
she freaks out and thinks that it was Candace because she saw her looking for paper earlier.
(Candace did not witness anything at all. she was just looking for paper to continue writing her story since her battery died and they were still out of power.)
she creeps in on her in her room and she kills her by suffocating her with the scarf she was wearing earlier.
they don't find Candace until Bradley goes to look for her. i believe it was Bradley & David that were there. i forgot who else was there too but i think they trickle in one by one. once again, Lauren makes it a big deal to go touch her to make sure that she didn't have a pulse in front of everyone.
dead victim #2: Candace.
everyone still suspects Matt.
now there is a dead body at the bottom of the stairs and another in the 3rd (?) floor.
the guys set up to search the inn to see if they find anyone and they go into a room and notice that the bed has been used and the sink in the bathroom as well.
they all lose their shit and meet back downstairs in the lobby and all agree that they need to stay together. Beverly swears she sees a rat on Dana so they move the body to the ice house.
they all sit by the fire.
shit happens.
Matt has a gun and decides "fuck it ima find the killer myself!" David goes after him.
they play hide and go seek.
Matt somehow ends up outside and he shoots at something.
Riley hears it, freaks the fuck out and runs out into the forest. no proper clothing, no sense of direction.
Gwen goes after her.
then Bradley and his father.
and eventually David goes.
so do Lauren & Ian.
they're all looking for her to no avail.
suddenly,
dead victim #3: Bradley.
(Bradley was the one who left the note for Lauren. the only reason he got caught was because he left the notebook he used to write the letter on, on his desk. Lauren could CLEARLY see the indentations. she knew she had to take him out.
they eventually retreat back inside to take Bradley to the ice house as well. Riley is left all alone.
still a few hours to go and by now they're all completely mind fucked.
then the power returns.
and eventually the cops make it to the inn.
they interview everyone and take statements.
they find Riley completely frozen in a hunched position.
then, where bradley was killed, they find a diamond earring.
they talk to Ian and they basically verify that it was Lauren who did it because of that one little thing.
they arrest her and David tells her not to say anything until she has an attorney.
she thinks he will represent her but he doesnt.
and this is where she delves into the why's of all those shed killed and apparently, this wasnt the first time for her.
as they all get ready to leave to go give their official statements down at the station, Beverly is thinking about how she's going to break the news to her kids that their father is dead.
then when she's far away, she smirks.
she killed her husband Henry. she stole some of Lauren sleeping pills while they were searching everyone's rooms themselves. when everyone ran to go look for riley, she slipped them in his drink. she wasnt sure it would work but it was more than enough plus he had been drinking.
perfect crime. Lauren cant say she didnt exactly kill Henry without sort of admitting to the other 3.
and das it.
but truuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust me, i still left out A LOT!
like how David and Gwen hooked up on the first night.
B O O M ! ! ! !
so good!
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