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melissasbookshelf's review against another edition
4.0
Loved this latest mystery in the Natalie Marsh series! Based loosely on Hamlet, this mystery has all the elements of a great mystery. From the son who thinks he sees his father's ghost, to several dead bodies, mental illness, and to suspecting literally everyone in the story, this book was hard to put down. The book is also set in a creepy mountain keep. Just when Natalie thinks she is getting away to decompress from the latest mystery involving death and murder, she is thrown right back into a mystery involving her cousin whom she is staying with. It's a great whodunnit that had me guessing right up to the end. I had my suspicions, but there are literally motives for everyone and each character behaves in a suspicious way that offers up several red herrings. Well worth the read for mystery fans!
katiemayveil's review
5.0
Natalie is long overdue for a relaxing vacation after the trying year she's had. She decides to reconnect with a cousin she hasn't seen in 20 years at Ellsburg Keep where Lily works as a nurse. Ellsburg Keep is a remote mountain resort that boasts beautiful views, hiking, lakes, and more. On her way there, Natalie stops to help a driver on the side of the road and ends up getting hurt after her car is hit and pushes her down the side of the road. Her vacation starts out in the infirmary at Ellsburg Keep and only gets more interesting after Henry Ellsburg, the current head of the family, is brought to the infirmary and passes away the same night.
Natalie and Lily are on a mission to discover what really happened and along the way encounter ghost stories, missing doctors, and possibly hereditary mental illness.
Rife with bruises, adventure, gut instinct, and concern for others this is a gripping tale of mystery.
Appropriate for 16 and older. A very fun and engaging read.
Natalie and Lily are on a mission to discover what really happened and along the way encounter ghost stories, missing doctors, and possibly hereditary mental illness.
Rife with bruises, adventure, gut instinct, and concern for others this is a gripping tale of mystery.
Appropriate for 16 and older. A very fun and engaging read.
kookie9200's review
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.
What a twisty, winding road this novel was! When Natalie Marsh goes to Ellsworth Keep to visit her long lost cousin Lily, she is counting on renewing their friendship. She isn't expecting a medical mystery or murder.
While this book is highly illogical for a number of reasons, it's a page turner. The plot is good, and keeps you interested throughout, even when things get nuts.I do feel as though this was a sequel, because there were references to things and people that were never fleshed out. Natalie's relationship with her boyfriend is a little stilted and weird too, probably because of the same reason.
What a twisty, winding road this novel was! When Natalie Marsh goes to Ellsworth Keep to visit her long lost cousin Lily, she is counting on renewing their friendship. She isn't expecting a medical mystery or murder.
While this book is highly illogical for a number of reasons, it's a page turner. The plot is good, and keeps you interested throughout, even when things get nuts.I do feel as though this was a sequel, because there were references to things and people that were never fleshed out. Natalie's relationship with her boyfriend is a little stilted and weird too, probably because of the same reason.
syren96's review
4.0
This was my first time reading a Stephanie Black book, and it will not be my last. Knowing now that this is the third in a series of books, I will go back to the first two to fill in the back story of the MC. That being said, it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the novel at all.
My first inclination when I was in the first 1/4 of the book was that this was following the trend of a modern take on a classic novel/play; in this case Hamlet. Of course the title had already led me down that path.
I don't like to give away a lot in a review about a suspense/thriller but I will say it is more than just a re-telling, even though the lingering feeling of it being a story I had read before stuck with me, which is what took it down in a rating a bit for me.
My first inclination when I was in the first 1/4 of the book was that this was following the trend of a modern take on a classic novel/play; in this case Hamlet. Of course the title had already led me down that path.
I don't like to give away a lot in a review about a suspense/thriller but I will say it is more than just a re-telling, even though the lingering feeling of it being a story I had read before stuck with me, which is what took it down in a rating a bit for me.
melissasbookshelf's review
4.0
Loved this latest mystery in the Natalie Marsh series! Based loosely on Hamlet, this mystery has all the elements of a great mystery. From the son who thinks he sees his father's ghost, to several dead bodies, mental illness, and to suspecting literally everyone in the story, this book was hard to put down. The book is also set in a creepy mountain keep. Just when Natalie thinks she is getting away to decompress from the latest mystery involving death and murder, she is thrown right back into a mystery involving her cousin whom she is staying with. It's a great whodunnit that had me guessing right up to the end. I had my suspicions, but there are literally motives for everyone and each character behaves in a suspicious way that offers up several red herrings. Well worth the read for mystery fans!
lawnchairbookworm's review
4.0
I absolutely loved the setting of a castle-like mountain resort in this suspense novel by Stephanie Black. This page turner has murder, mysterious disappearances, a storm, and a whole slew of interesting suspects. This story was such a fun guessing game of whodunit and I didn’t even guess the right suspect in the end. I loved that it was told from different characters points of view and had plenty of twists and turns to keep me in suspense whole time. Thanks to Covenant Communications for sending me a copy. All opinions expressed are my own.
nicolepeck's review
4.0
3.5 stars
Interesting clean mystery. I did feel a little lost with the main character, Natalie, and her background, as this is not listed here on Goodreads as being part of a series, so I didn't know that this was the third book featuring this character and there are quite a few references throughout the entire book about her past, so I do think it's very helpful to have read the previous two books in this series to feel connected to Natalie and Gideon and the foundation for them as characters and their relationship that was probably laid in the previous two books, that I just didn't feel a connection with in this book because I felt like I was missing out on a lot of their past that was referred to but that I didn't know about.
As far as this book with its story line, it is a bit all over the place, keeping you guessing at the who-done-it all the way to the end, but at times it felt a bit fragmented to me, which, again, could've been because I felt like I was missing information about Natalie and who she is as a person from not having read the previous books. There's a lot going on with the characters who live and work at the Keep and multiple deaths and mysteries intertwined in the book, so there's a lot going on to follow and keep track of. Everything does come together and is explained by the end of the book, but I feel like a second read-through of this book would help me understand things a lot clearer.
Overall, a very clean read -- no strong language. Even with it being a murder mystery, there's not a lot of gruesome details.
***I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.***
Interesting clean mystery. I did feel a little lost with the main character, Natalie, and her background, as this is not listed here on Goodreads as being part of a series, so I didn't know that this was the third book featuring this character and there are quite a few references throughout the entire book about her past, so I do think it's very helpful to have read the previous two books in this series to feel connected to Natalie and Gideon and the foundation for them as characters and their relationship that was probably laid in the previous two books, that I just didn't feel a connection with in this book because I felt like I was missing out on a lot of their past that was referred to but that I didn't know about.
As far as this book with its story line, it is a bit all over the place, keeping you guessing at the who-done-it all the way to the end, but at times it felt a bit fragmented to me, which, again, could've been because I felt like I was missing information about Natalie and who she is as a person from not having read the previous books. There's a lot going on with the characters who live and work at the Keep and multiple deaths and mysteries intertwined in the book, so there's a lot going on to follow and keep track of. Everything does come together and is explained by the end of the book, but I feel like a second read-through of this book would help me understand things a lot clearer.
Overall, a very clean read -- no strong language. Even with it being a murder mystery, there's not a lot of gruesome details.
***I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.***
yetanothersusan's review
4.0
I spent a good portion of my time reading this book wondering exactly how close it was to Hamlet. And while the end result is that it isn't a retelling of that story, there were so many similarities that I got myself a bit distracted. The castle scene, the relationships of the main characters, the death, the ghosts. All things in common with Hamlet. But, it was also very much different and I kept waiting for the one clue that would let me figure out who the villian(s) was. It kept me engaged and reading. The one thing that I felt was missing from the book were the guests at the Keep. It was almost like watching Downton Abbey but only the scenes with the servants. I wasn't able to get a grasp on the size or operations of the Keep or how many people were there. How come none of the guests were suspects? The reader never really reads anything about them. If you are okay with that, then this was a really good read.
Thanks to NetGalley and Covenant Communications for a copy of the book. This review is my own opinion.
Thanks to NetGalley and Covenant Communications for a copy of the book. This review is my own opinion.
bunny7's review
2.0
Murderous doings are afoot in a luxurious, family-owned mountain resort. The book starts out well enough, but there are simply too many twists and turns, and too many characters with too many motives, who repeatedly behave too improbably. (BTW, were we supposed to pick up allusions to Hamlet?) I see I’m in the minority on this one but I can’t recommend it. I probably would have filed it as a DNF had I not felt an obligation in return for receiving an ARC. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
luftschlosseule's review
3.0
trigger warning
mental illness, tampering with medication, inducing of hallucinations
Dr. Natalaie Marsh is invited to Ellersberg Keep, where her estranged cousin works as a nurse in an exclusive mountain resort. After spending their childhood together and then being separated, they want to re-aquaint themselves with each other, and little do they know that someone else has different plans for the next week.
There is this castle in the mountains. It's winter, so of course they end up snowed in, with a murderer on the loose - and slowly they begin to doubt everyone, even their own cousin.
Said castle comes equipped with an infirmary, which is the only place for miles to get wounds fixed or a bug looked after, so there are strangers - but they don't feature much in this novel. It's about Nathalie and Lily, Nathalie's boyfriend and the family who owns the Keep. Their relationships between each other, past grievances, future plans.
Despite having been entangled in a murderous mess once before, as we're told, Nathalie behaves quite confused. She reaches a point at which she doesn't know what to do, whom to trust, and at which she is not in the physical capacity to do much. I think this could get quite repetitive if you take your time with reading this book. Read over three days, it didn't bother me much.
This thriller is not one of my favourites, but it's not badly written or anything I can really put a finger on. It just didn't work very well for me, and that's okay.
I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Dr. Natalaie Marsh is invited to Ellersberg Keep, where her estranged cousin works as a nurse in an exclusive mountain resort. After spending their childhood together and then being separated, they want to re-aquaint themselves with each other, and little do they know that someone else has different plans for the next week.
There is this castle in the mountains. It's winter, so of course they end up snowed in, with a murderer on the loose - and slowly they begin to doubt everyone, even their own cousin.
Said castle comes equipped with an infirmary, which is the only place for miles to get wounds fixed or a bug looked after, so there are strangers - but they don't feature much in this novel. It's about Nathalie and Lily, Nathalie's boyfriend and the family who owns the Keep. Their relationships between each other, past grievances, future plans.
Despite having been entangled in a murderous mess once before, as we're told, Nathalie behaves quite confused. She reaches a point at which she doesn't know what to do, whom to trust, and at which she is not in the physical capacity to do much. I think this could get quite repetitive if you take your time with reading this book. Read over three days, it didn't bother me much.
This thriller is not one of my favourites, but it's not badly written or anything I can really put a finger on. It just didn't work very well for me, and that's okay.
I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.