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clalaure's review
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
swestlake's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
bookward's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
beccaglasserbaker's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
rita_reads_books's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
thephdivabooks's review
4.0
If you’re looking for a psychological thriller that transports you to a beautiful French chateau in Provence that has some fairly dark secrets, look no further than The Chateau!
About the Book
Long-time friends Darcy, Jade, Vix, and Arabelle are reunited for a girls getaway in Darcy’s familial Chateau located in the French countryside. Darcy’s grandmother Seraphine has invited them to visit her at the Chateau nearly twenty years after they first visited her during their college studies abroad in Paris.
Their friendship has stood the test of time, but they are looking forward to their reunion and seeing Seraphine, who has a special connection with each of them, though Darcy is her granddaughter and Arabelle is the daughter of one of her staff and grew up at the Chateau.
Seraphine has also made it clear she has something to reveal to them. But before she is able, to she is stabbed to death. The four girls are reeling from the attach, and they are even more troubled when an anonymous social media account begins to contact them, claiming to know more and with photos of the women on their visit at the Chateau.
Worse, it soon becomes clear to both the police and the four women that someone at the Chateau must have committed the murder. That leaves quite a small suspect list, including the four women and a few staff members.
As suspicion grows, secrets the women have held from one another for decades begin to come to light and all of their friendships are called into question. Could one of them be behind the murder? And what exactly was Seraphine planning to reveal?
My Review
A true locked room mystery, the cast of characters present in the novel is relatively small. Every character has a secret that is revealed throughout the book. There is a surprising amount of deception going on here!
The audiobook helps a lot because it can be hard to keep the characters straight when there are so many rotating narrators across chapters, but this was a full cast recording and I was able to keep track of the changing narrators much more easily than I think I would have in physical book format.
The setting was well-done—I loved hearing about the Chateau and both Darcy and Arabelle’s memories from childhood there.
The number of secrets these characters are holding was shocking—and they were good secrets. Like juicy, jaw-dropping secrets. They get revealed throughout which adds to the twists and turns because people I thought would definitely not be responsible suddenly had a motive that absolutely made me suspect them.
One thing I’d warn readers about is that the characters get fairly unlikable towards about 30% through the book as we learn about their secrets, hidden jealousy, or ways they may not have been as supportive as they could. What I’ll say is to stick with it! For the most part they all come back around as we learn a lot more about them. By the end I found the book was full of people who were just dealing with the messy parts of growing up and how to include one another in the parts of their lives they may be scared to show others.
A twisty book with a great setting and a compelling mystery!
About the Book
Long-time friends Darcy, Jade, Vix, and Arabelle are reunited for a girls getaway in Darcy’s familial Chateau located in the French countryside. Darcy’s grandmother Seraphine has invited them to visit her at the Chateau nearly twenty years after they first visited her during their college studies abroad in Paris.
Their friendship has stood the test of time, but they are looking forward to their reunion and seeing Seraphine, who has a special connection with each of them, though Darcy is her granddaughter and Arabelle is the daughter of one of her staff and grew up at the Chateau.
Seraphine has also made it clear she has something to reveal to them. But before she is able, to she is stabbed to death. The four girls are reeling from the attach, and they are even more troubled when an anonymous social media account begins to contact them, claiming to know more and with photos of the women on their visit at the Chateau.
Worse, it soon becomes clear to both the police and the four women that someone at the Chateau must have committed the murder. That leaves quite a small suspect list, including the four women and a few staff members.
As suspicion grows, secrets the women have held from one another for decades begin to come to light and all of their friendships are called into question. Could one of them be behind the murder? And what exactly was Seraphine planning to reveal?
My Review
A true locked room mystery, the cast of characters present in the novel is relatively small. Every character has a secret that is revealed throughout the book. There is a surprising amount of deception going on here!
The audiobook helps a lot because it can be hard to keep the characters straight when there are so many rotating narrators across chapters, but this was a full cast recording and I was able to keep track of the changing narrators much more easily than I think I would have in physical book format.
The setting was well-done—I loved hearing about the Chateau and both Darcy and Arabelle’s memories from childhood there.
The number of secrets these characters are holding was shocking—and they were good secrets. Like juicy, jaw-dropping secrets. They get revealed throughout which adds to the twists and turns because people I thought would definitely not be responsible suddenly had a motive that absolutely made me suspect them.
One thing I’d warn readers about is that the characters get fairly unlikable towards about 30% through the book as we learn about their secrets, hidden jealousy, or ways they may not have been as supportive as they could. What I’ll say is to stick with it! For the most part they all come back around as we learn a lot more about them. By the end I found the book was full of people who were just dealing with the messy parts of growing up and how to include one another in the parts of their lives they may be scared to show others.
A twisty book with a great setting and a compelling mystery!
shaleyflowers's review
3.0
This book I didn't mind at all was a lot of fun could have used less things for lengthwise it was kind of giving us a little reminders about what was going on in the book and that I'm grateful for but you don't need every time but other than that yeah there are things I didn't see coming things this all coming it was kind of like knives out needs the real housewives of LA so other than that I did enjoy it
waclements7's review
I didn’t give this one much of a chance, but the writing style turned me off from the beginning — all of these friends personalities summed up by their age, what they look like, whether or not they have kids, what they wear…