A review by miranda_graham
The Chateau by Jaclyn Goldis

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? It's complicated

4.75

A murder mystery, where a group of friends reminisce about their past excursions in France at this same location? I’m interested!

The good
-I think the author did a good job keeping me guessing about who did what
-Our characters were fairly well-written
-One of my favorite story-telling elements was present, where the author utilized changing perspectives as a way to provide introspection, thoughts, and a flawed perspective of events
-LOVED our narrators! Excellent for an audiobook.

The less good
-I think some background from Jade’s character was jarring and didn’t flow well with the rest of the story.
Could we have involved her motives earlier on in the book so her revelations/thoughts are seen as a piece to the puzzle? Ex: could we have had a chapter about the Holocaust or antisemitism aside from Jade’s inner thoughts and rants about what happened to her son at school? Or even have her rant about it to a person rather than think through this monologue to the reader?

-Our killer’s true motives and thoughts were so…I don’t know, mid? It just didn’t feel realistic or like a good enough motive for me. I would have preferred if
Arabelle was trying to get revenge for her grandmother or something related to her true parentage, or maybe she discovers the truth regarding Seraphine and the Holocaust in Jade’s revelation, giving hurler further fuel to think her parentage was covered up by both her and her deceased husband.
It just felt a bit forced.

On the whole, a good mystery novel! 
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