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A review by tessa_talbert
The Retreat by Elisabeth de Mariaffi
3.0
⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Still not totally sure about this one.
The Retreat is a tense, suffocating thriller about Maeve Martin, a woman who desperately wishes for two things: to escape her brutal, violent past, and to open her own dance company. She decides to take a trip to a snowy, picturesque mountain art retreat and at first, all is well and lovely — until the avalanche traps her and her fellow art-lovers in their resort with no way of knowing when help is coming. And there is something, or someone, waiting in the shadows for them all.
I was so excited to read this because I *adore* this trope in thrillers. When it's done well it's tight, breath-stealing, exciting, and has you flipping through the pages as fast as you can possibly go because you simply have to know what comes next.
Unfortunately, this one didn't quite hit that mark for me. While the writing was absolutely beautiful and haunting, the chapters droned on, and the build-up vs execution had me scratching my head more than it had me racing to the end game. As the plot unwound itself I was really just wondering — why Maeve? It just doesn't make as much sense as I would like.
But oh, some of the imagery here was stunning. There was definitely a visceral thread of fear, especially when it came to the actual entrapment. Being stuck with a bunch of strangers is scary enough, and that rise of tension between the other people in the retreat would have been much more interesting to explore as a main focal point, I think.
It wasn't completely my cup of tea, but I did enjoy this novel and anyone who has a soft spot for this series of tropes should definitely check it out come 20 July!
*My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.*
Still not totally sure about this one.
The Retreat is a tense, suffocating thriller about Maeve Martin, a woman who desperately wishes for two things: to escape her brutal, violent past, and to open her own dance company. She decides to take a trip to a snowy, picturesque mountain art retreat and at first, all is well and lovely — until the avalanche traps her and her fellow art-lovers in their resort with no way of knowing when help is coming. And there is something, or someone, waiting in the shadows for them all.
I was so excited to read this because I *adore* this trope in thrillers. When it's done well it's tight, breath-stealing, exciting, and has you flipping through the pages as fast as you can possibly go because you simply have to know what comes next.
Unfortunately, this one didn't quite hit that mark for me. While the writing was absolutely beautiful and haunting, the chapters droned on, and the build-up vs execution had me scratching my head more than it had me racing to the end game. As the plot unwound itself I was really just wondering — why Maeve? It just doesn't make as much sense as I would like.
But oh, some of the imagery here was stunning. There was definitely a visceral thread of fear, especially when it came to the actual entrapment. Being stuck with a bunch of strangers is scary enough, and that rise of tension between the other people in the retreat would have been much more interesting to explore as a main focal point, I think.
It wasn't completely my cup of tea, but I did enjoy this novel and anyone who has a soft spot for this series of tropes should definitely check it out come 20 July!
*My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.*