ARC REVIEW: The Chalet – by Catherine Cooper

Title: The Chalet
Author: Catherine Cooper
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
First published: October 31st 2020
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Finished reading: October 18th 2020
Pages: 400

“For many years I’ve managed to live a normal life, thinking I’d escaped what happened in the past.”

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and HarperCollins UK in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

There was just something about the blurb of The Chalet that made it impossible to resist the invitation to read this debut… It might have been the setting in the French Alps, it might have been the mystery around the missing man and the promise of secrets and a potential killer… But my instincts told me I was most likely going to enjoy my time with this story. Thankfully my instincts didn’t fail me! The Chalet turned out to be a multi-layered and entertaining thriller with a setting that makes for the perfect backdrop for this story. Fans of the genre will have a great time with this one.

The Chalet is mainly set within the La Madière ski resort in France, and the many descriptions of the setting definitely made it come alive for me. The snow, the brutal weather, the chalet, the bars with its mulled wine, the ski resort in general… It almost feels like a little vacation in the form of a book, and I love it when a story is able to make me feel as if I were traveling myself. The cold winter weather is also the perfect backdrop for this story, with a man going missing in the middle of a storm and the bad weather affecting the characters in the present too. It gave the story a hint of foreboding and definitely added to the suspense.

The Chalet uses a multiple POV structure as well as switches between past and present. Not only do we slowly get to see what happened back in 1998, but we also get flashbacks of a little girl with a very difficult home situation back in London as well as multiple POVs set in the present. While initially this might seem a bit of a struggle, it is quite easy to keep the different POVs apart and I liked how the plot itself was developed. While I did see some of the twists coming, I didn’t mind too much as the plot was interesting and layered enough to keep you focused.

As for the characters… I can’t say that I actually liked them, but as a whole they make for an interesting enough cast of characters to follow. The multiple POV structure might also work in favor of the story here, as you never spend too much time with one character to actively feel annoyed by some of the actions and plot developments. The writing itself is engaging and makes it really easy to keep turning those pages. I literally finished this story in less than a day! I will be looking forward to read more books by this author in the future.