Publication: 26th July 2018 by Bantam Press
We can’t choose the strangers we meet.
As the guests arrive at beautiful, remote Mitchell’s Inn, they’re all looking forward to a relaxing weekend deep in the forest, miles from anywhere. They watch their fellow guests with interest, from a polite distance.
Usually we can avoid the people who make us nervous, make us afraid.
With a violent storm raging, the group finds itself completely cut off from the outside world. Nobody can get in – or out. And then the first body is found . . . and the horrifying truth comes to light. There’s a killer among them – and nowhere to run.
Until we find ourselves in a situation we can’t escape. Trapped.
You can almost imagine it. An isolated inn with no phone signal. A snow storm that traps the guests inside the inn. A group of people who don’t know each other and don’t trust each other. And a dark and suspenseful atmosphere worth of an Agatha Christie’s novel. Mix it all up and you have the gripping new novel by Shari Lapena.
Told by many points of views, the protagonists of this novel are a group of completely different people. From a journalist back from Afghanistan and suffering of PTSD to a defense attorney looking for rest. From a newly engaged couple happily in love to a woman trying desperately to save her marriage. Add a writer looking for inspiration, a young man trying to make some money, a woman worried about her friend, and a husband who doesn’t know how tell his wife he’s not in love with her anymore. What all these people have in common? They are all trapped in the beautiful and isolated Mitchell’s Inn, in the state of New York, and they are all hiding a secret.
One morning, they wake up to find that there is no electricity in the inn and that there is a body at the bottom of the stairs. Nobody can’t get in and nobody can’t get out, so the killer is one of the guests. And as the body count raises, the guests start to suspect each other and I found really intriguing to see how each character reacted in that situation of danger and suspicion.
As a fan of Agatha Christie (And Then There Were None is one of my favourite novel), I really enjoyed this novel (I almost expected Hercul Poirot to turn up and solve the case). The author doesn’t give anything away and I couldn’t figure out who the killer was until it was revealed. The slow-paced narration and the different points of view fit perfectly in the story and I really didn’t expect the ending.
It wasn’t only reading about snow storm during a heat wave that made me completely engrossed in the new novel by Shari Lapena. It is unpredictable, full of twists, with a claustrophobic atmosphere and the author’s unique writing style and I’d like to thank Thomas Hill and Transworld for providing me with a copy of this thrilling and engrossing novel.
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