A nail-biting, intense thriller which has so many twist and turns, it’ll keep you on your toes – check out The Chalet by Catherine Cooper.

The plot:

French Alps, 1998

Two young men ski into a blizzard… but only one returns.

20 years later

Four people connected to the missing man find themselves in that same resort. Each has a secret. Two may have blood on their hands. One is a killer-in-waiting.

Someone knows what really happened that day.

And somebody will pay.

If you call yourself a thriller fan, you’ll like The Chalet

Boooooooooooy is this book fast-paced. You can honestly read this in one-sitting – I wish I hadn’t started it late at night because it was a toughie to put down, and I sacrificed sleep in the morning before work to pick it back up again. And that’s saying something!

I find it so rare nowadays to have a thriller which is just genuinely enjoyable and doesn’t need too much analysing. I love getting stuck into a thriller which gives you fantastic small twists throughout and doesn’t drag – The Chalet definitely delivers on these aspects.

The plot itself is entirely unpredictable – you’re given the news early on about the disappearance, and then you’re pretty blind until maybe 70% of the way through, when you can start to piece things together.

I loved how it played out and I wouldn’t have changed a thing, albeit how annoyed I was mid-way through after something happened. Incredibly inventive and believable, and I felt a bit like Poirot working it out.

I did find it confusing at times, as you’re following multiple character across different timelines. The dual timeline was fine, but I’m generally not a fan of multiple narratives – The Chalet wasn’t complicated, but I did find myself having to stop and think at a twist and connect the dots. Some may like this, but I know I’m not a fan of the formatting. Apart from this, it was really well written; each character had their own voice, and they have been described to the point that you’re placed in the chalet with them.

It appears to be a long thriller based on the pages, but don’t be put off by this, because each chapter starts on the right-hand page for formatting, which means there’s quite a lot of blank pages. It also doesn’t feel like a long book; the pages turn very, very quickly, and you’re often left on edge, so you just have to read that next chapter (and the next 20 after that).

If you call yourself a thriller fan, you’ll like The Chalet, especially if it’s cold outside and you’re wrapped up in the warm with a few hours to spare.

A book with multiple small twists, fast-paced and incredibly (cannot stress this enough – I am IMPRESSED) well thought-though – a 4-star read which would’ve been a 5-star if only I didn’t face some confusion due to the narrative.