Reviews

Natasha Preston’s latest entry has the hallmarks of a locked-room mystery. Seven high-school graduates embark on a debaucherous weekend to a secluded cabin and wake up to find two of their friends dead, stabbed to death on the kitchen floor. With no signs of forced entry, suspicion turns to the five survivors. As Mackenzie Keaton, the arguably endearing protagonist, resolves to clear her name and those of her cohorts, she soon discovers that none of her friends are above reproach—except, of course, for Blake, the enigmatic dreamboat and estranged brother to one of the recently deceased.

The Cabin relies on the well-worn ploy of the local constabulary being too inept to solve crimes, thereby prompting the central characters to seek out this phantom killer with a penchant for sending cryptic text messages. Mackenzie is loyal albeit naïve, an insipid heroine and a tad too wishy-washy for most tastes. Her fierce allegiance and rose-colored outlook blinds her to the possibility that any of her friends is capable of double-murder. Kenzie’s insta-lust relationship with Blake and Nancy Drew-esque sleuthing may appeal to readers in the young-adult market, other readers not so much.

The supporting characters are outlined only enough to lend depth to the main character, and yet there’s a striking lack of intimacy in spite of Mackenzie’s first-hand account. If that’s not bad enough, by the time the murderer is unveiled the reader’s interest has waned, if not vanished altogether.

Choppy writing, leaden dialogue, and cardboard characters make this superficial YA thriller a hard sell. And just when you think the dust has settled, Preston makes a last-ditch effort to shock readers with a gratuitous twist that leaves the door open for a sequel. Let's hope it never comes to that.