What is this about?
Five friends return to a resort where a decade before one of their group disappeared. Once there, they discover someone has stranded them there, and it just might be the sister and friend they thought was dead.
What else is this about?
This is one where the author focuses on her mystery and suspense, and knows it doesn’t have to be anything else
Blurb
In this propulsive locked-room thriller, a reunion weekend in the French Alps turns deadly when five friends discover someone has deliberately stranded them in a deserted mountaintop resort
When Milla is invited to a reunion in the tiny resort that saw the peak of her snowboarding career, she drops everything to go. While she would rather forget the events of that winter, the invitation comes from Curtis, the one person she can’t seem to let go.
The five friends haven’t seen each other for ten years, since the disappearance of the beautiful and enigmatic Saskia. But when an icebreaker game turns menacing, they realise they don’t know who has really gathered them there and how far they will go to find the truth. In an isolated lodge high up a mountain, amid a looming snowstorm, the secrets of the past are about to come to light.
Imagine Agatha Christie set in the Alps and you have Shiver, a spectacularly sinister psychological debut.
Shiver was an unexpected treat.
It started off a bit slow for me, but once it got going a few chapters in, I was pretty hooked.
Milla is one of five friends invited to return to a tiny resort where a decade before she and the others had competed in a snowboarding competition.
However, right from the very beginning Allie Reynolds makes it clear something is wrong, Then they discover they all thought their invitations came from another member of the five – only it didn’t. Not to mention, they can’t leave the resort bc the snow lifts aren’t running, and their phones and laptops have been stolen. Reynolds keeps that suspense going through the novel, and will leave you wondering what’s next.
The book is in two timelines – the present and 10 years ago when Saskia, a competitive, talented and ultimately the most petty member of their group disappeared. She is the type of person who knows her allure to others around her, and will draw them in before she destroys them – loved and hated in equal measure.
Milla is our POV into both these timelines, and readers are given a taste of her as a young competitor and an older, jaded former athlete. The young version of herself is confused at her feelings for Saskia and her brother, Curtis, while the older version is scrambling to find out what is going on – and to protect her secret from years before.
I think it’s pretty clear what her secret is once you get into the book, but I will say Reynolds manages to twist everything around – and then does it again by then end. I was impressed at her excellent pacing and a reveal of the truth of what happened 10 years ago.
Not to mention, who is playing this murderous game with these five.
