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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
This was a fun whodunnit! I enjoyed the ride even though I knew who the murderer was. I'd like to read some more of Shari Lapena's work. Still searching for my perfect murder mystery though!
The best of shari lapena that I have read! This plot was more fleshed out and the characters had actual character in this one! All of her others I have read were rushed and so poorly written. I do feel like this one could have gone more in depth and had potential to be a more complex whodunnit however much more enjoyable than her others!
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
No idea. I didn’t have a clue who did it until the very last minute!
This book was so good up until the end ☹️ it was so suspenseful and mysterious and then I felt like the ending was rushed and not really thought out. However, I still love this author and will always read any book she puts out!
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
adventurous
mysterious
tense
It was 3 mediocre stars until the end, when it dropped to 2.
A bunch of people are snowed in an old hotel in the Catskills with no way to call for help.
Ian and Lauren — seem like a normal couple
Gwen and Riley — Riley has ptsd from working the field as a journalist. Gwen is her old college roommate who didn’t become the successful journalist, and is tormented by something she did (or didn’t do) in college.
David Paley — lawyer there by himself who was accused of killing his wife
Dana and Matthew — the beautiful newly engaged couple. She is stunning, he is uber rich. She’s also found dead in the first few chapters.
Beverly and Henry — Henry announces on the first night of their vacation that he wants to end their marriage.
Candice — author there by herself to finish her novel
Bradley — 22 year old smug guy who runs the hotel with his father, James.
James — hotel owner and chef.
Dana dies first
Then Candice
Then Bradley
Riley freezes to death out in the woods
Then Bradley is killed
And Henry dies on the couch
Its a fun, easy to read Agatha Christieish book, but the “who” in the whodunnit is impossible to discover as the reader, which knocks a star off.
Spoiler : Lauren killed Dana because they were in foster care together 15 years earlier, where Dana (then Dani) tormented Lauren. She is also the only one who knows Lauren pushes another foster kid off the roof, killing him.
The reader is not privy to any of this info until it’s spelled out at the end. Lauren then kills Candice because she thinks she saw. But then, oops, Lauren figures out it was actually Bradley who knew, so she kills him, too. Riley ran into the woods, panicked because she was trapped in a hotel with a killer, and freezes to death. And Beverly swipes some of Lauren’s sleeping pills and put them in her cheating husband Henry’s drink, but the autopsy would just trace the pills back to Lauren, so she’s all clear. The end.
Problems :
* it icked me out how they just left Dana’s body at the foot of the staircase and walked by her on their way to TEA and LUNCH like nothing happened. On Vacation — must continue with tea and nibbles as usual.
* Lauren got an “I know what you did” note in her book, and saw Candice with her book so immediately decided Candice write it and kills her. Then, she sees a notepad at the front seat with the same words imprinted on a pad of paper so then assumes it was BRADLEY, not James, or really anyone else in the hotel that could have stood behind the unmanned desk and written it, so she kills Bradley. Really? Bradley is the only one that could have possibly written the note? No. But kill him on a hunch.
* Lauren’s earring is found in the snow under Bradley so therefore she is ARRESTED and accused of murder. I’m not a defense lawyer, but I’m pretty sure the case could easily be made that her earring fell out while out looking for him and then later he was killed and fell on it. I mean, she DID do it, but that’s some flimsy evidence.
* Beverly was able to open a childproof cap, pocket a handful of pills, and close the cap with everyone standing there by her?
Reading link: snowed in group of people just like The Guest List and One By One
A bunch of people are snowed in an old hotel in the Catskills with no way to call for help.
Ian and Lauren — seem like a normal couple
Gwen and Riley — Riley has ptsd from working the field as a journalist. Gwen is her old college roommate who didn’t become the successful journalist, and is tormented by something she did (or didn’t do) in college.
David Paley — lawyer there by himself who was accused of killing his wife
Dana and Matthew — the beautiful newly engaged couple. She is stunning, he is uber rich. She’s also found dead in the first few chapters.
Beverly and Henry — Henry announces on the first night of their vacation that he wants to end their marriage.
Candice — author there by herself to finish her novel
Bradley — 22 year old smug guy who runs the hotel with his father, James.
James — hotel owner and chef.
Dana dies first
Then Candice
Then Bradley
Riley freezes to death out in the woods
Then Bradley is killed
And Henry dies on the couch
Its a fun, easy to read Agatha Christieish book, but the “who” in the whodunnit is impossible to discover as the reader, which knocks a star off.
Spoiler : Lauren killed Dana because they were in foster care together 15 years earlier, where Dana (then Dani) tormented Lauren. She is also the only one who knows Lauren pushes another foster kid off the roof, killing him.
The reader is not privy to any of this info until it’s spelled out at the end. Lauren then kills Candice because she thinks she saw. But then, oops, Lauren figures out it was actually Bradley who knew, so she kills him, too. Riley ran into the woods, panicked because she was trapped in a hotel with a killer, and freezes to death. And Beverly swipes some of Lauren’s sleeping pills and put them in her cheating husband Henry’s drink, but the autopsy would just trace the pills back to Lauren, so she’s all clear. The end.
Problems :
* it icked me out how they just left Dana’s body at the foot of the staircase and walked by her on their way to TEA and LUNCH like nothing happened. On Vacation — must continue with tea and nibbles as usual.
* Lauren got an “I know what you did” note in her book, and saw Candice with her book so immediately decided Candice write it and kills her. Then, she sees a notepad at the front seat with the same words imprinted on a pad of paper so then assumes it was BRADLEY, not James, or really anyone else in the hotel that could have stood behind the unmanned desk and written it, so she kills Bradley. Really? Bradley is the only one that could have possibly written the note? No. But kill him on a hunch.
* Lauren’s earring is found in the snow under Bradley so therefore she is ARRESTED and accused of murder. I’m not a defense lawyer, but I’m pretty sure the case could easily be made that her earring fell out while out looking for him and then later he was killed and fell on it. I mean, she DID do it, but that’s some flimsy evidence.
* Beverly was able to open a childproof cap, pocket a handful of pills, and close the cap with everyone standing there by her?
Reading link: snowed in group of people just like The Guest List and One By One