Published by HarperCollins, HarperFiction
Publication Date: 31st October 2020
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
Book Description:
Four friends. One luxury getaway. The perfect murder.
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.
An exciting new debut for anyone who loves Ruth Ware, Lucy Foley, and C.L. Taylor
As with many thrillers at the moment this book is set over two time frames - 1998 when two brothers and their partners take a skiing holiday and 2018 when a larger group has the same idea. The weather is a huge player in this story causing the brothers to make a fatal error of judgment back in the day and exposing long buried secrets in the later time frame. Was it the brothers' competitive spirit which caused the accident or were their instructors negligent in allowing them to attempt the run they did that day? Someone knows more than they're letting on - but who? And do they know what actually happened or are they making some dangerous assumptions?
The atmosphere is tense and fraught with suspicion in the later setting, with hidden friendships threatening to become public knowledge as the group is locked down during an intense snowstorm.
None of the characters is particularly likeable and some are not who they first appear to be but this just adds to the intrigue as the story unfolds. The reader is privy to some insights between the different camps but even with this extra information the plot twists still took me by surprise and I was left shocked by events on several occasions.
A great holiday read - although if you're tucked up in a ski chalet in the Alps at the time maybe you'll want to wait and take it with you to the beach instead!
My thanks to the publisher for the advance opportunity to read this book via NetGalley
About the Author:
I am a freelance journalist living in the South of France with my husband and two teenage children. We moved from London in 2009 so that the children could grow up bilingual and we could all ski more, and to enjoy a more relaxed pace of life.
I learned to ski on a school trip when I was 14 and have loved it ever since. The Chalet is set in a fictional ski resort in the French Alps which is a kind of amalgam of some I have been lucky enough to visit over the years. Many design aspects of the chalet itself are inspired by some of the luxury hotels I have reviewed - though obviously it is entirely fictional!
I'm an avid thriller reader and have been since I discovered Agatha Christie as a child.
The Chalet is my first published full-length novel, though I have also written several (unpublished) thrillers for teens and a (what used to be called) chick lit novel set in TV production.
Other than skiing and reading I love travel, theme parks (the pic on this page was taken on a rollercoaster in Spain) and I spend far too much time on social media. Some of my other favourite things include Alan Partridge, sparkly flip flops and salt and vinegar crisps.
Social Media Links:
Twitter @catherinecooper
Instagram @catherinecooperjournalist
Facebook @catherinecooperauthor
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