Review: Shiver by Allie Reynolds
Shiver
by Allie Reynolds
Thanks to Thriller Book Lover for this review copy.
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Publish Date: January 19, 2021
Hardcover
400 Pages
Standalone
Genres: Thriller, Locked-Room Thriller
In this propulsive locked-room thriller debut, a reunion weekend in the French Alps turns deadly when five friends discover that someone has deliberately stranded them at their remote mountaintop resort during a snowstorm.
When Milla accepts an off-season invitation to Le Rocher, a cozy ski resort in the French Alps, she's expecting an intimate weekend of catching up with four old friends. It might have been a decade since she saw them last, but she's never forgotten the bond they forged on this very mountain during a winter spent fiercely training for an elite snowboarding competition.
Yet no sooner do Milla and the others arrive for the reunion than they realize something is horribly wrong. The resort is deserted. The cable cars that delivered them to the mountaintop have stopped working. Their cell phones--missing. And inside the hotel, detailed instructions await them: an icebreaker game, designed to draw out their secrets. A game meant to remind them of Saskia, the enigmatic sixth member of their group, who vanished the morning of the competition years before and has long been presumed dead.
Stranded in the resort, Milla's not sure what's worse: the increasingly sinister things happening around her or the looming snowstorm that's making escape even more impossible. All she knows is that there's no one on the mountain she can trust. Because someone has gathered them there to find out the truth about Saskia...someone who will stop at nothing to get answers. And if Milla's not careful, she could be the next to disappear...
My Review:
Debut novel, my ass! What a fantastic and fun locked-room thriller from Reynolds. This story of snowboard competitors, their various entanglements and the vivid stench of competition leaps off these pages. I felt like I was freezing with them on top of the mountain. I MISS snowboarding! Though I could barely carve properly and I already know I would never be cut out to be their kind of athlete. Holy smokes, y'all....
I legit thought after a few chapters that I knew exactly who the culprit was and how it went down and was so smug and proud of myself. But nope, I was entirely wrong. Absolutely 10000% WRONG. First, Saskia is the most selfish, undermining, relentless character. The things she does to 'succeed' are disgusting and yet it seems she's a person you love to hate and hate to love. But then Milla really isn't much better and this group of "friends" are intertwined in so many ways it made my head spin. AND I LOVED EVERY MINUTE.
Locked-room thrillers are a hit or miss for me and when they work, they really work! Shiver is told in two time lines - present day and then a decade ago when they were all competing and training together. Phew. I really loved both and the suspense really ramps up chapter by chapter. The ending may have been just a teeny bit too much but honestly, it was exactly what I needed at this moment. Crazy upon crazy and I live for crazy. I can suspend all kinds of reality for this one.
★★★★★
No comments
Leave a Comment