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gr8reader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.75
This book was a page turner.....Reynolds did an excellant job with the suspense! The story pivots between current time and 10 years ago chapter by chapter (meaning 1 chapter in the present, the next 10 years ago, etc). Reynolds leaves you with a bit of a :cliff hanger" (no pun intended) at the end of each chapter. The suspense of each cliff hanger is a bit more intense as the story progresses. I found myself debating whether to continue chapter by chapter or read the chapters from 10 years ago and then go back and read the present time chapters or vice versa but didn't give in to the temptation. Not only does the suspense build, but your like or disdain for the characters also grows with each chapter. The chapters about 10 years ago also give insight to feelings/attitudes of the characters now. Definitely recommend.
jerbil's review against another edition
3.0
Not a standout read. There were some twists I wasn’t expecting but it still felt like a lot of work to finish this book. Kudos to the author for writing one of the most unlikable characters in fiction.
simisan's review against another edition
2.0
two stars for brent
book is long
it could be 100 p shorter
first mistery-you can figure it out from the start by rule “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
and author is really not hiding who “invited” characters.
second mistery is so poorly written that when you are told(!) what/who/how, you can’t really do anything,
because author didn’t led up to this slowly, but went from 0 to 100 in 3-5 last chapers.
you can not possibly figure it out, its just fact that happened in the background.
oh well
main character is so not like other “females”
its crazy how many times she refused to use men/women and uses “females” and “male thing”
the romance was unnecessary
they all need therapy (they needed it just by fact that they are sport people, but after that messy dynamics they needed it more (weird that in 10 years none of them are in therapy))
book is long
it could be 100 p shorter
first mistery-you can figure it out from the start by rule “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
and author is really not hiding who “invited” characters.
second mistery is so poorly written that when you are told(!) what/who/how, you can’t really do anything,
because author didn’t led up to this slowly, but went from 0 to 100 in 3-5 last chapers.
you can not possibly figure it out, its just fact that happened in the background.
oh well
main character is so not like other “females”
its crazy how many times she refused to use men/women and uses “females” and “male thing”
the romance was unnecessary
they all need therapy (they needed it just by fact that they are sport people, but after that messy dynamics they needed it more (weird that in 10 years none of them are in therapy))
booksbymonth's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
4.5
Dark and demented. A great thriller that leaves you guessing til the end. I did enjoy the constant time jumps between the present and 10 years prior.
libraryforspooky's review against another edition
3.0
A lot of details for skiing, a good fast paced thriller. I enjoyed it enough.
paulabrandon's review against another edition
1.0
Wow. If I wasn't going to give this 1 star to begin with, that twist ending would have sealed the deal.
I can't believe anybody would give this four or five stars.
I can't believe the author would pull out that ridiculous ending without taking even two minutes to do some rudimentary internet research.
I can't believe that an editor read that twist ending, and didn't send it back, saying, "That is not physically possible."
I am just gobsmacked.
That twist ending was an insult to my intelligence.
That ending alone is worth 1 star, but so is most of the rest of this terrible book.
The plot involves former snowboarder Milla Anderson returning to the French Alps for a ten year reunion with fellow snowboarders Curtis, Brent, Dale and Heather. None of them have spoken to each other in that time, still haunted by the disappearance of Saskia, Curtis' sister, and their possible links to that disappearance. They all had reasons to hate her.
First of all, it makes absolutely no sense that any of these people would attend this reunion considering what went on between them all and the fact they barely like each other, and none of them have spoken to each other. Except maybe Milla, because she's always been madly in love with Curtis.
Secondly, because they all have motives to harm Saskia, we get the standard "then" and "now" chapter set-up as we witness all the ways Saskia was horrid to them back in the day. Heavens above, I am sick of this approach! We get it in EVERY SINGLE THRILLER THAT COMES OUT NOW. Enough already! Try something new!
Once the five friends are in the chalet in the French Alps, and cut off from any assistance, their phones go missing. An "icebreaker" game that has been left for them teases that one of their group knows the truth about what happened to Saskia. Other mysterious incidents occur. Is Saskia back after all this time for revenge? Is it really one of them? Or someone else entirely?
The author pushes hard for either one of the five being the culprit, or Saskia herself. Most of the book is made up of Milla internally musing which of her "friends" could be responsible and why. It got old pretty quickly. Particularly because Milla frequently thinks, "I can't trust what anybody tells me," and yet she keeps on asking questions of her "friends" over and over and over again.
Why do this if you've already acknowledged you can't believe any of the answers?
There is far too much chit-chat about snowboarding and the various moves involved. I got so bored. Every other chapter, I would groan and say, "Ooh, look, more stuff about snowboarding that I don't understand and don't really care about."
The characters are all uniformly awful. Milla is pretty much as bad as the horrid Saskia, and the "then" chapters is an endless tit-for-tat contest that drove me nuts and basically made me hate them both. Curtis, who Milla is hot for and obsesses over the whole damn book, is a violent hothead and not charming at all. These people spent all the "then" chapters sleeping with each other, betraying each other and hating each other.
So, AGAIN, why the fuck would they come to this reunion? (Only one character has a believable reason.)
Oh yeah. And the stuff with Milla being obsessed with Curtis, but having a casual relationship with Brent? So YA. The characters are in their early 20s in the "then" chapters and in their early 30s in the "now" chapters, but I swear they all acted like they were still 16. Milla just can't stop obsessing about how hot for Curtis she is.
Did I mention that in the "then" chapters, Odette fractures her C2 vertebrae and is left paralysed from the neck down?
Yet she apparently recovers enough from this to become an Olympic hopeful and also carry out this revenge scheme.
What. The. Fuck.
If you fracture your C2 vertebrae, you're lucky if you can breathe unassisted. There's no way you would be up and walking and COMPETING IN COMPETITIVE SPORT AND CARRYING OUT COMPLEX REVENGE PLANS.
We then have that tropetastic element of Milla believing she's responsible for Saskia's death and bangs on about it without saying what it was until the end. Of course. As it turns out, she told Saskia she hoped she broke her neck, and also put sleeping pills in her coffee. Except, you know, Brent pushed her over and she hit her head, Heather tried to smother her, and Curtis threw her into the crevass. So, Saskia's responsibility is fourth tier, at least.
Heavens above, this book made me mad!
There's other gripes I probably missed, but I'm a bit worn out. This was alternately boring, stupid and completely f***ing ridiculous.
This was optioned for TV in 2019, two years before it was even released. How is that possible? I imagine they've probably read the thing by now and thought, "Whoops. What do we do this pile of crap?"
I can't believe anybody would give this four or five stars.
I can't believe the author would pull out that ridiculous ending without taking even two minutes to do some rudimentary internet research.
I can't believe that an editor read that twist ending, and didn't send it back, saying, "That is not physically possible."
I am just gobsmacked.
That twist ending was an insult to my intelligence.
That ending alone is worth 1 star, but so is most of the rest of this terrible book.
The plot involves former snowboarder Milla Anderson returning to the French Alps for a ten year reunion with fellow snowboarders Curtis, Brent, Dale and Heather. None of them have spoken to each other in that time, still haunted by the disappearance of Saskia, Curtis' sister, and their possible links to that disappearance. They all had reasons to hate her.
First of all, it makes absolutely no sense that any of these people would attend this reunion considering what went on between them all and the fact they barely like each other, and none of them have spoken to each other. Except maybe Milla, because she's always been madly in love with Curtis.
Secondly, because they all have motives to harm Saskia, we get the standard "then" and "now" chapter set-up as we witness all the ways Saskia was horrid to them back in the day. Heavens above, I am sick of this approach! We get it in EVERY SINGLE THRILLER THAT COMES OUT NOW. Enough already! Try something new!
Once the five friends are in the chalet in the French Alps, and cut off from any assistance, their phones go missing. An "icebreaker" game that has been left for them teases that one of their group knows the truth about what happened to Saskia. Other mysterious incidents occur. Is Saskia back after all this time for revenge? Is it really one of them? Or someone else entirely?
The author pushes hard for either one of the five being the culprit, or Saskia herself. Most of the book is made up of Milla internally musing which of her "friends" could be responsible and why. It got old pretty quickly. Particularly because Milla frequently thinks, "I can't trust what anybody tells me," and yet she keeps on asking questions of her "friends" over and over and over again.
Why do this if you've already acknowledged you can't believe any of the answers?
There is far too much chit-chat about snowboarding and the various moves involved. I got so bored. Every other chapter, I would groan and say, "Ooh, look, more stuff about snowboarding that I don't understand and don't really care about."
The characters are all uniformly awful. Milla is pretty much as bad as the horrid Saskia, and the "then" chapters is an endless tit-for-tat contest that drove me nuts and basically made me hate them both. Curtis, who Milla is hot for and obsesses over the whole damn book, is a violent hothead and not charming at all. These people spent all the "then" chapters sleeping with each other, betraying each other and hating each other.
So, AGAIN, why the fuck would they come to this reunion? (Only one character has a believable reason.)
Oh yeah. And the stuff with Milla being obsessed with Curtis, but having a casual relationship with Brent? So YA. The characters are in their early 20s in the "then" chapters and in their early 30s in the "now" chapters, but I swear they all acted like they were still 16. Milla just can't stop obsessing about how hot for Curtis she is.
Spoiler
Of course, the plot then descends into evil lesbianism. Saskia is bisexual, Odette is a lesbian. They're revealed to be having a relationship. Milla has a lesbian tryst with Saskia as part of their one-upmanship. Odette turns out to be the one behind everything, because of course, lesbians can't handle any hardships, such as being dumped.Did I mention that in the "then" chapters, Odette fractures her C2 vertebrae and is left paralysed from the neck down?
Yet she apparently recovers enough from this to become an Olympic hopeful and also carry out this revenge scheme.
What. The. Fuck.
If you fracture your C2 vertebrae, you're lucky if you can breathe unassisted. There's no way you would be up and walking and COMPETING IN COMPETITIVE SPORT AND CARRYING OUT COMPLEX REVENGE PLANS.
We then have that tropetastic element of Milla believing she's responsible for Saskia's death and bangs on about it without saying what it was until the end. Of course. As it turns out, she told Saskia she hoped she broke her neck, and also put sleeping pills in her coffee. Except, you know, Brent pushed her over and she hit her head, Heather tried to smother her, and Curtis threw her into the crevass. So, Saskia's responsibility is fourth tier, at least.
Heavens above, this book made me mad!
There's other gripes I probably missed, but I'm a bit worn out. This was alternately boring, stupid and completely f***ing ridiculous.
This was optioned for TV in 2019, two years before it was even released. How is that possible? I imagine they've probably read the thing by now and thought, "Whoops. What do we do this pile of crap?"
bookaholic_jasmine's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ramshajamil's review against another edition
1.0
I wish I had just borrowed this book. What a waste of time and money.