Two brothers disappear in a snowstorm, and only one is found the following day. Twenty years later, when a body is uncovered during an avalanche, the occupants of a ski chalet all have connections to the past. But who is harbouring thoughts of revenge?

The Chalet is a book that needs concentration - flitting between the events of 1998 and the present day, there are many characters to keep tabs on. At the start, there are two separate stories, which are quite straightforward, but then as the two converge into the final showdown, things get a little more complicated. I’m not sure I totally understand all the plot twists, and the links between everybody involved, but it’s a good story. The final unravelling of the secrets was fast paced and entertaining.

Overall a good story, well worth a read.

A chilling, shocking and nerve-twisting page-turner, The Chalet heralds the arrival of an exciting new thriller writer: Catherine Cooper.

In 1998, brothers Adam and Will are on holiday at a French ski resort with their girlfriends and are having the time of their lives. The two siblings are always up for an adventure on the slopes – which is why they had no qualms about throwing caution to the wind and skiing in terrifying conditions. It was meant to be a bit of a lark, however, it soon transpires that Adam and Will have danced a little bit too close to the edge this time. As events spiral out of control, one of the brothers dies and his body is never found. Everybody assumes that this death was a result of a tragic accident. But nobody knows what really happened that night. However, it soon transpires that secrets can only stay dead and buried for so long…

In 2020, Ria and Hugh are at the same ski resort. They are entertaining a potential client they hope will invest in their company. Ria and Hugh will do whatever it takes to convince Simon to come on board and it is of paramount importance that nothing goes awry during this trip. However, the past does have a habit of rearing its head when one least expects it as they discover when a twenty year mystery comes back to haunt Ria, Hugh, Simon and his wife, Cass. As the past and the present begin to blur into one, it soon becomes evident that each one of them has a deadly secret. A long-suppressed secret that refuses to stay hidden.

Which one of them is a killer? Who has blood on their hands? And who is waiting for just the right moment to strike again? The time has come for somebody to pay for what happened at this ski resort twenty years ago – and this time there is simply no going back.

A twisty tale of vengeance and retribution, Catherine Cooper’s The Chalet is a tense, atmospheric and absorbing thriller Lucy Foley fans are going to love. A deftly crafted and beautifully plotted page-turner where the pages just turn themselves, The Chalet will keep readers riveted to the page and on the edge of their seats throughout.

An intoxicating blend of glamour, suspense, intrigue and tension, Catherine Cooper’s The Chalet is a superb chiller thriller fans are going to lap up.

Really enjoyed this. There's 2 stories and they are connected although 20 years apart. Tragedy on the alps when 2 brothers and their girlfriends go on a ski holiday. 20 years later 2 couples go on a ski holiday to the same place. While there a body is discovered after an avalanche.

I loved finding out how they were connected.

Definitely recommend.

Thanks to netgally for a copy of this arc in exchange for my honest review.

An atmospheric and descriptive story. A good debut but i found i was not involved with the characters as much as i hoped, they all seemed very unlikeable. This in itself is fine but i could not fathom upon any character to like one bit to be redeemed hrough the story. Good parallel time lines and you are kept guessing for the part where they intersect. Read it and enjoyed it as a book different to what i normally read. Would be interested to see what the authors next book is.

A quick, easy and enjoyable read. Well plotted and well written. Great to read on a miserable day to forget the world outside

This is a book with a dual storyline running. you are trying to second guess how they will be connected. The first storyline is a tragedy on the ski slopes, the second involves 2 couples on a luxury ski-ing break, who are all nursing secrets. Some of them are quite selfish characters which leads you to draw all sorts of conclusions . You are left to wonder who is hiding the crucial secret and what might happen to them all, whilst we are waiting for it all to unravel.
The ski lodge sounded wonderful and someone to cook for you at the end of the day... Bliss! I enjoyed this and would look out for more by this author.

Anything with dual storylines and a secret from the past is sure to grab my attention straight away, but unfortunately I felt underwhelmed by this book. The writing was fine, and I did like the different perspectives and jumps in timelines, but I figured out the identity of the 'mystery narrator' from the get go. The pacing was slow, the characters were all a bit 2D, predicatable and unlikeable/unrelatable, and I just didn't click with it at all throughout. It also felt like there wasn't the climax in the plot that I was waiting for... everything just seemed too gradual and there wasn't that big reveal/aha moment that you need with a thriller. It felt pretty one level throughout, and I was so disappointed by the ending. There was no action, no drama, and unfortunately it all felt pretty lack luster. Unfortunately I wouldn't recommend this book, and can't see myself reading more by Catherine Cooper in the future.

Thank you so much NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

As soon as I started this book it reminded me a little bit of One By One by Ruth Ware.

The vibes were there, as one of the storylines is set in a Chalet in a ski resort and soon enough drama started!

I really liked the different storylines intertwined and how they all come together at the end, how they were all connected and the role some of the characters played in them!

I also appreciated that, despite there being quite a lot of characters, it was very easy to follow who was who and in which storyline they were!

There weren’t many important plot twists but the plot itself was interesting enough to keep me intrigued and wanting to keep reading and turning pages!

I did like the end, the twist that I didn't see coming and how the story was wrapped up!

It's the first book that I read by Catherine Cooper but I really enjoyed it!

An easy to read thriller that had me guessing to the end. Deceptively simply written, but very well plotted and with good characters. Recommended.

As usual with my reviews I will not rehash the plot (plenty of reviews like that out there already!).

This was quite an interesting read, with multiple timelines and narrative voiced by several different characters. The settings were evocatively written (I actually felt chilly reading some of the snow scenes!). The characters are well written and believable on the whole, but I didn't actually like most of them (apart from Will); the cast includes several bullying types (a deeply unattractive trait IMHO!) and others who have plenty to hide...

The plot was quite suspenseful up to a point, but I'm afraid that I guessed the "twist" quite early (I have read a lot of novels in this genre) - nice "red herring" or two though.

This would be a great book to read on a journey, or on a wintry day armed with hot chocolate or mulled wine!

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

Intriguing from the start!

Well written with brilliant descriptions really bring the snowy environment to life.

Brimming with tension and nasty characters you easily become invested and you'll end to know exactly what is really going on.

I felt the twists were too convenient and definitely push the boundaries of believability. But if you can suspend belief The Chalet is certainly a fun way to spend a chilly winter afternoon.

A huge thanks to Anne Cater & Harper Collins for gifting me a copy in return for an open & honest review.

⭐⭐⭐

This is a quick and easy read set in the French Alps over 2 time zones, 1998 and 2018. It is a story of secrets and revenge. The book is nicely paced and the story is interesting. However none of the characters are particularly nice, and I didn't care much about them. The setting of a ski chalet cut off by an avalanche felt claustrophobic and tense.

I might have enjoyed this book more if I hadn't just listened to a different book by a different author which was also set in a ski resort and which is far superior.

I have been hearing good things about The Chalet long before I read it and I was really curious to see what everyone was raving about, but I never imagined that I would read it in one sitting, on a rainy and cold Saturday afternoon, curled up in front of the fire (which, incidentally, is the right backdrop to read this book).

The Chalet is not the first book I read this year where luxury ski holidays turn dark and deadly, but it is one of my favourite. On a luxury resort on the French Alps, a group of people is keeping secrets about a tragedy that happened there twenty years before. Some of them want to forget, some of them want their secrets to remain hidden, and some of them just want revenge. And that’s all I am going to say about the plot because I don’t want to risk spoiling it.

The characters are quite interesting, and you never know what to expect from them. I must admit that I didn’t particularly liked any of them. Most of them are arrogant, entitled, and narcissistic, but they are also dark, multi-layered and full of surprises.

The plot is clever, fast-paced, and chilling (not only for the weather). I loved how the author structured the novel, setting the story on different timelines and switching from one perspective to another and ending with a twisty conclusion and a last line that made me hold my breath. The vivid and beautiful descriptions made me feel like I was there on the Alps. I could imagine the elegant and luxurious chalets, the ski slopes, the off-piste, the claustrophobic atmosphere of a chalet during a snowstorm…the perfect setting for a fantastic holiday turning murderous!

Catherine Cooper is an amazing storyteller and she knows how to keep the reader on their toes, so don’t miss this terrific and suspenseful read!

It's a tour de force of characterisation as each of the multiple narrators tells of their part in the Apls of 2020, and of their role in the disappearance of skier in 1998. They are all mutlifaceted and not immediately likeable-Ria, the opportunist, Hugo, Ria's husband and desperate businessman, Simon, the lech who Hugo is schmoozing for financial support and his wife Cass, a waif of a woman struggling after the birth of her baby Inigo. Add in the chalet staff, Millie and Matt, lodge owner Cameron and nanny, Sarah, and you have a perfectly toxic mix of people whose confined, close quarters become a pressure cooker set on high.

Catherine takes risks with her characters, making them flawed makes them interesting and keeps us readers, armchair detectives, on our toes.

Each of these people have a link back to the late 90's where 2 brothers went skiing one day, but only one returned. In a twisting storytelling arc, it is nearly half way through the book before you find out which brother, and begin to piece together these seemingly disparate people and their secret connections. And even then, when you think you know where Catherine is taking you, she makes a sudden swerve and suddenly you are off the nursery slopes and barrelling off piste,, straight into a blizzard.

The environment of the ski lodges is beautifully rendered , you can almost taste the hot chocolate and feel the steam off the hot tub-make no mistake, this is a vacation for the super rich who enjoy a life a luxury. But being affluent does not excuse you from the trajectory of a killer who has been waiting a very long time to wield a brutal justice.

Thrilling, breathtaking and wholly immersive, this is a stand out debut novel and I cannot wait to see what Cathering Cooper does next!

Title: The Chalet
Author: Catherine Cooper
Pages: 400
Publisher: Harper Collins
Rating: 5/5

A huge thank you to Catherine Cooper, Harper Collins, Netgalley and Random Things Tours for letting me read and review The Chalet.

Synopsis:
In 1998, two brothers on holiday at a Ski resort in the Alps take on their trickiest slope yet with help from two guides. The weather takes a turn for the worse and the two brothers end up skiing into a blizzard, only one returns. 20 years later, a group on vacation, who are all connected to the missing man find themselves in the same resort. When the body of the missing, dead brother is uncovered, so are the secrets of the past. Two people have blood on their hands and one is a killer in waiting. Someone knows what happened that day, someone wants answers and someone is going to pay the price.

Review:
The book description of The Chalet was short and sweet, it hooks you in and leaves you wanting more. The little review on the front cover states this could be a twisty thriller and I really hoped this book would deliver and it did. The eye-catching front cover and the reviews already written lured me in and I just couldn’t wait to get stuck in.

My first thought when reading The Chalet was that it was quite a cosy read for this time of year, I was able to visualise everything the author wrote. It is safe to say I was hooked in instantly, I connected with the writing style and tone and struggled to put this book back down once I had started.

The book jumps in time perspective and from the character’s points of views, these were all easy to follow and made clear. The perspectives and flashbacks gave us a few stories in one book and I loved it. Some of the flashbacks were quite powerful and emotional, The Chalet definitely was a rollercoaster of a read.
There were interesting characters in The Chalet, some I was able to connect with deeply, others I really felt for and some were obnoxious and really got under your skin. There was definitely a mixed bag of personalities which kept the storyline interesting.

The pace of the book was perfect and I was eager to get to the climax, to see how this clever plot would come together. Some of the twists were definitely unexpected and this was another bonus for me because I love unexpected reads.

The Chalet was atmospheric, I was hooked on every word right up to the last page and then we were hit with a suspenseful ending, I wanted more! This was honestly a thriller that did its job because I was thrilled throughout. I would definitely read more books by this fantastic author.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review. I can honestly say this is one of my top Reads for 2020! I really enjoyed the book it was such an easy read and I found the mix of characters interesting and diverse. I loved the Parallel telling of the 2 main stories. One follow a group staying in the chalet now when a body is discovered which relates to the 1998 story. We also have another story weaved in with an initially an unknown time frame. As you progress its clear all 3 stories are linked and how the author merges them is great. I wont go into spoilers but its certainly worth reading this book and I will be on the look out for more from this author!

Don’t you just love a twisty, pacey, perfectly plotted chiller thriller? The Chalet certainly ramps up the tension as the reader is pulled into a 20-year old mystery; soon dark secrets begin to become exposed and, like snow thawing: it cannot stay hidden forever.

This story of revenge told via multiple perspectives, and a dual timeline, is a great narrative mystery thriller. The hooks, twists and turns work incredibly well as the reader works to discover how the various plot threads and timelines will come together.

I really enjoyed this character driven thriller; there’s a great setting for the backdrop. It’s about the complexities within relationships and old injustices needing reparation. I have never wanted to go skiing, and after reading this absolutely nothing has changed.

A recommended read if you’re looking for a tense thriller with depth, and it’s a great book for the escapism that’s definitely needed this year.

An atmospheric Alps setting for a story of mismatched couples, secrets, relationship dramas, murder, and revenge.

This book reminded me of Lucy Foley's books, with the multiple viewpoints and the movement from the present to the past. I enjoyed the setting. As someone who has never been skiing it was an interesting look inside the world of chalets and excess lifestyles.
I shall be recommending this to our staff book group as I know they will enjoy it as much as I did.

This is the author’s debut. I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to see what she writes next. I’ve read books with a similar premise, so I was in safe hands. The blurb make me want to read The Chalet. I love book where secrets from the past cause explosions in the present. They have such potential. I enjoyed the two timelines the book is split into, 2020 and 1998. The chapters alternate between both until all the little story threads come together. I enjoyed the fast pace and well developed characters. This was a dark delight.

The Chalet is a dual timeline psychological thriller, one timeline set in early 2020 and the other in 1998. Along the way we meet two sets of characters but it's all about figuring out how these people are linked.

The story overall was fast paced and well written. I enjoyed the who can you trust aspect of the story and there were plenty of twists and turns along the way.

The setting was one of my favourite things about The Chalet. The chalet and snowy mountains were vividly described and really added to the tension in the story.

I really liked the first part of the novel and the ending but it was just part two that almost made me give up on the book (I'm glad I didn't). I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe it was because the characters were even more unlikeable than the others or maybe it was just the change in timeline going back to 1998 but it didn't hold my interest like the rest of the story. Saying all that, I would definitely read another book by this author.

If you love revenge, wintery scenes and unlikeable characters, then I'd recommend The Chalet.