Another good thriller. I have to say I didn’t see the twists coming and thoroughly enjoyed trying to work it out.

I was so excited to receive this review copy of The Chateau, especially as I had read the authors previous book, the Chalet, and absolutely devoured it in one sitting.

This book kept me guessing until the end, so clever, and the perfect holiday read. Loved it!

Heart-wrenching and perfectly plotted thriller!

I called it after reading Catherine Cooper’s debut novel, The Chalet, that she is a 21st century Agatha Christie. The Chateau confirms this! It’s a fantastically tense novel that I hurtled through and absolutely loved. It’s a dark and compelling mystery that, whilst reading, could be going in a number of directions. I couldn’t predict what was going to happen and I really didn’t want to put this one down until I’d consumed it entirely. It’s a heartbreaking story in some ways and yet it also has a sense of retribution. It’s morally thought-provoking and a completely compelling read.

The Chateau is a plethora of rich themes and even more intricate tapestry of characters. At the heart of the narrative are Aura and Nick, who are navigating a complex marriage and are rarely truly likeable characters. However, one of Cooper’s talents as a writer is her ability to constantly shift the reader’s sympathies between them both. They are both very relatable, despite their flaws and questionable decisions and the exploration of parenting and the strain this can put on a relationship prevents them from ever being completely reprehensible. They are both incredibly real and this was a strikingly affecting portrayal of both mother and fatherhood. There was so much else to sink my teeth into too and I particularly enjoyed the explorations of obsession, lust, revenge and privilege. All if these tropes lead me to think that the narrative was heading in a certain direction, but I wasn’t able to piece everything together to see the full picture until exactly when Cooper wanted me to.

I also found the format of this novel really engaging. Split into three distinct parts, each served a different purpose to progress the narrative and keep readers guessing. In part one, the underlying suspense of finding out what happened to make Aura and Nick leave London, plus the introduction of odd occurrences happening in France builds suspense and a subtle sense of dread from Aura’s point of view. Part two is about finding out what happened in London and the development of Nick and Aura’s dysfunctional marriage, predominantly from Nick’s point of view. It also about trying to work out how it may relate to what is starting to unfold in France. Finally, part three is where the puzzle pieces start fitting together and the big reveals come to weave the multiple storylines into a satisfying and clever conclusion! The reality of this mystery is strikingly plausible and really intelligently straight-forward. This is how Cooper’s writing echoes Christie, because despite the seemingly simple motivation this puzzle will still keep you guessing until the end and have you mulling it over for long after you turn the final page.

This is a cleverly twisted tale with early leads coming to a satisfactory ending. Aura and Nick have left his teaching job in London with their two small boys but why? That have bought a chateau in need of renovation to make it into a business but what have they left behind. They allow a film crew to follow their transition but are the two filters anything more than just extras to the move? Why does on of their few early expat friends end up murdered? Then it begins to become obvious that the theme of all the stories is revenge. The book is well thought through and well written. It is an easy read. I recommend it.

I read Catherine Coopers previous book The Chalet which was brilliant and this was definitely on a par. Nick and Aura bought a Chateau in France to forget about an incident in England, after all what happens in England stays in England! Or does it? While happily renovating their newly purchased run down Chateau seemingly getting along better and forgetting the incident somebody somewhere is watching and has not forgot about the incident! The book is well written again with great characters who come to life for the reader while also transporting you to France. The way the books written makes you both love and hate the characters and l found great satisfaction at the outcome of the story. I will definitely be recommending this to others and would like to say thank you to Harper Collins and Netgalley for the advance copy of this book 👍🏻

I was quite looking forward to this book. I enjoyed The Chalet, because it was quite pacy, easy to read and with a twist I didn't see coming.
This one however I'm not sure worked quite as well, I understand why it was felt the author had to write a similar book, with similar title and similar storyline etc. But then it seemed to end up just being quite similar to everything else... This was a very simple book but with quite a lot of unnecessary detail (such as the school friendships) but not really thrilling or inventive.
Because I knew the style of The Chalet I knew I was on the lookout from someone unknown from the past coming along to wreak revenge, fine. that's part of the fun, but to have two murderers with axes to grind? Well that's just unfortunate and seemed to tip the whole thing over the edge into silliness.
Also everyone was quite unlikeable so I didn't really care what happened to any of them and the whole set up - basing it in a Chateau because it sounds like Chalet - was really contrived.
Sorry, not for me this one.

Escape from the chateau? In this novel Aura and Nick move from England to France in pursuit of a fresh start in a musty old chateau. The reason for needing a fresh start is explored in the novel with more and more revelations, building to a series of climaxes worthy of an orgy! Aspects of French life such as the 'chasse' are well described, usually starting with a stiffener and sometimes ending with a shooting, maybe a boar or the occasional bore! Catherine Cooper explodes the myth of the chateau which many TV programmes try to glamourise. There's a reason why Dick Strawbridge presents Escape to the Chateau, it's because said building is a money pit. Yes, the sale of the average semi in London could fund one but just renovating the roof would cost you your pension. Anyway, this partially renovated chateau becomes a handy pyre for the victim of a revenge killing.
A very entertaining novel but the whole teacher / pupil relationship was overly lengthy and naturally juvenile in the dialogue. That somewhat bored me. I don't know if the expat community hosts soirees in the style of Thea but we were approached in a bar once which led us to conclude they do! It obviously gets very boring in the countryside. On a technical point the preferred weapon for boar shooting is a rifle which fits with the dying experience. Later we read about a shotgun which doesn't.

The Chateau by Catherine Cooper is another compelling read by the author. I have read her previous novel The Chalet, which I loved. So, I was interested to know how it would pan out.
Couple Aura and Nick have left their troubles behind in England and decide to move France and renovate a crumpling old chateau. They have two young boys Sorrel and Bay. They start moving into a more upper-class social circle, a life far one they left behind. They also have a film crew filming their everyday life at the chateau. Everything was going smoothly when things start to go wrong. Their old life seems to be catching up with them.
The story goes back in forth in time showing us what happened to them both to make them up sticks and move to France.
Thanks, Harper Collins for a copy of The Chateau by Catherine Cooper. What can I say about this book? I did enjoy this compelling story of Aura and Nick even though neither of the characters where that likeable. I did find it quite peculiar. With the two timelines it was like I was reading two different books until the end it came together. For me personally though, I found the ending to be a bit far fetched for me. 4 stars from me.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. It’s a bit like Escape to the Chateau with an air of mystery. My opinions on the characters changed throughout, quite rightly so though. I loved the setting, which did resemble Dick and Angel’s chateau in my head. I love trying to work out the endings as I read, well I got this one totally wrong. Well worth a read.

Having read ‘The Chalet’, it was great to receive ‘The Chateau’ for review. The twists and turns in this story, and the fact that you get to read the back story as almost a different story that comes together at the end, made it an extremely cleverly written and enjoyable book. I would recommend this book, even though I disliked some of the characters, and found it a compelling read. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review.

Having loved The Chalet, I was so excited to read The Chateau by Catherine Cooper. I hoped it was going to be twisty and it gave me all the twisty thriller vibes I wanted.

After unspecified issues back in the UK, Aura, Nick and their young sons Bay and Sorrel relocated to France to renovate a chateau whilst being filmed for a tv show.

As their fresh start begins they are welcomed by the local expat community who seem to be an interesting cross-section of people. When one of them is murdered at a Halloween party things really start to ramp up.

There were so many twists and turns that I was completely fooled by who was the killer and the reason behind it. I enjoyed the fact that I felt so completely blind-sided throughout the story. Writing this review has been so difficult, because how can I possibly do it justice without dropping any spoilers? I can’t, this is a spoiler-free zone! My lips are sealed, just trust my word for it, you need to read this book!

There were multiple storylines woven seamlessly together to make this a very entertaining psychological thriller. It was such a gripping page-turner and I did not want to put it down. I could really see this visually working as a tv drama and I really hope that happens one day soon.

The Chateau was such a brilliantly paced thriller with plenty of incredibly flawed characters that will make you want to keep turning the pages.

Explosive ending to an otherwise tame book, really enjoyed the writing style and kept me wanting to find out more. Highly recommend

The Chateau
Wow, how awesome was this book? I thoroughly enjoyed Catherine Cooper’s first offering, The Chalet, but The Chateau really pushed the envelope.
I’m not a massively fast reader, but this book only lasted one evening and the following morning. I simply couldn’t put it down.
So many twists and turns, kept me guessing to the very end.

I am giving this book 4 stars because it was a quick and reasonably entertaining read but having said that, I found it rather superficial with characters who were difficult to relate to. Even the denouement of the plot seemed contrived.
The story is about Aura and Nick who move to a French chateau to start a new life, escaping some difficulties at home. Nick is an ex teacher and Aura appears to be a new age hippy sort of person.
The book moves between two time frames as many novels do nowadays so that the reader can find out first hand what happened to the couple to instigate the move in the first place.
Their two young children, Sorrel and Bay- yes these are their given names- are in my opinion the nicest people in the book. The couple also invite a Tv company into their new home who are filming the renovation project for a Chateau Tv series. Aura is hoping this will give her good publicity for her future chambre de hôtes business.
As they get to know the local ex pats and hire, Helen to help with the children, things start to come together. However some strange happenings occur including ultimately a murder and everything starts to fall apart.
I’m not sure why the book irritated me, but it did. Maybe it was the characters who were difficult to like or some of the rather strange decisions they made in the course of the novel which ultimately leads to their downfall.
I really enjoyed Catherine Cooper’s previous book, The Chalet, so am hoping that her next one will appeal to me more than The Chateau.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my arc in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book very enjoyable and especially liked how it was almost two books that came together for part 3 . This gave a far more comprehensive back story than the usual alternating chapters between timelines would have done.

Nick and Aura are a young English following the Escape To The Chateau expat dream to relocate to and renovate an imposing chateau in rural France. There are secrets left behind in London, where Nick was a teacher.

There is a murder early on in the book, and Nick and Aura's previous life in London is smartly interwoven with the present with plenty of tension, cliffhangers and unseen threats.

It's an entertaining story, moving along at a good pace, the characterisation is really good. I especially liked the sections covering their life in London, told from Ella's point of view, Ella is a teenage pupil, Nick is her teacher.

There are good original angles throughout and I really enjoyed it. I'll add The Chalet to my list and look forward to whatever Catherine Copper writes next.


Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins

I felt as if I was reading several books at once as many of the strands of the story feel separate until you get towards end where everything ties in. I wasn’t sure what genre of book it was until things start to happen when Nick and Aura move to France. I also felt that the characters changed over the course of the book so Nick, who is one of the main characters felt like a different person when he was a teacher in the UK to the Nick that lived in the chateau in France. Other than that, I did quite enjoy it. Most of the characters were fairly unpleasant though and I felt and it was difficult to empathise with any of them. I did read the Chalet by Catherine Cooper and felt similarly about the characters in that book. In the Chateau I quite warmed to Nick in the beginning and felt he was trying to help Aura with her slightly strange ideas about child care, but his behaviour was not impressive as the book went on. On the plus side there were lots of twists and turns in the book. Sometimes when something happened the reader was left dangling not knowing what the outcome would be. I thought the ending was enjoyable because all the loose ends were tied up and it would have been difficult to predict, so there were a number of surprises as the book came to a conclusion. Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

A great story with some very good twists that you really don't see coming! Well written and hard to put down

I enjoyed The Chalet by this author and was super excited to get this book. This book definitely didn't disappoint me. It kept me fully engaged from the start to finish. This is a fast paced, gripping and brilliantly written. I definitely recommend.

A cleverly plotted story of new beginnings as the past unfolds. Not always likeable characters but well written and a plot filled with twists and turns. I enjoyed this one.