I loved the cover and was intrigued and eager to read this. However, I'm at the point now where I have more books available than I can ever get read, so I've become a little choosey. I'm grateful to Goodreads for the opportunity to choose for myself, but this just didn't make the five star list. In fact, I had a hard time maintaining interest. I did want to know if Tom's death was really accidental, but it took so long to find out.

2* Such an irritating plot revealed at the last minute. Waste of my time reading.

What was good about this tale was that it's set in England and written in British English, not American English. And that a traumatised 53yo woman who'd cut herself off from life for about 26 years, finally pulled up her big girl pants and found herself again, when she needed to, and that going forward, I could see her living again.

What wasn't good about it is how much of my time I wasted on this tale, which flashes constantly from the present to the past (2007-2008) and which ended with one of the biggest suspension-of-disbelief endings ever. I should have realised that Zoe begging Ivy to come with her had to have an ulterior motive. I should have not wasted my time with this, and then to find out that the 'victim', Ivy, was in fact a murderer and had gotten away with it, was an utter wtf??? moment.

I'd say avoid this, if you din't want to be so irritated that you might just want to chuck your phone or Kindle at the wall.

ARC courtesy of HQ and NetGalley, for my reading displeasure.

Wow! I did not see that coming. What a gripping book full of twists and turns. I read this book over the course of three days. I keep wanting to get back to it to solve the mystery. This one kept me on my toes. These college friends had a lot of secrets and some came out early like breadcrumbs leading up to the rest of the loaf. This book definitely broke through the mediocre suspense I have read recently. I will definitely be reading Ms. Clarke previous work. Well done!

This book was a quick read and the plot moved along which I really appreciate in thrillers. I did enjoy the book, but there were some far fetched twists at the end. Thank you for the opportunity to read this arc!

Such a clever and gripping story. Ivy has bit been in touch with her university friends for years until her best friend Zoe get back in touch and rekindles their friendship. She calls upon ivy for support when her husband Tom dies in a tragic ski accident in France. Ivy can’t understand why Zoe asked her to go with her to collect Tom’s body. After a tense few days where Ivy suspects the other members of the ski party the real reason becomes apparent. There were so many twists and turns but also a lot of grief with Zoe and Ivy having lost their fathers at a young age. I really warmed to Ivy’s Mum Linda she was so vulnerable and brave. Seeing her shift at the end of the novel really warmed my heart. I enjoyed all of the characters and and the secrets they held making many of them suspects in the accident. A throughly enjoyable read.

The ski trip is the first novel I read by Sarah Clarke. I love a good thriller and this novel did not disapoint.

The ski trip was supposed to be a get together with good friends,drinks and relaxing but sadly it made a nasty turn for the worst.
A husband accidently falls to his death but was it an accident? Or wasn't it?

This novel kept me on my toes. I couldn't put it down.

A holiday read - I enjoyed this and stayed up late to find out whodunnit. A group of uni friends back together on a ski trip when tragedy strikes. Everyone seems to be a suspect but local police are happy to close the case. As it is slowly revealed that there are histories with this ground and a lot of secrets. Zoe accompanies Ivy, the grieving widow to collect Tom's body from France, and doesn't want to let it rest, but she has quite complicated secrets at home and her mum is worried someone is following her and Zoe's 18 month old son. Another snowy mystery set during a storm which cuts them all off, but exactly what I needed - easy, fun and dark

This was a decent read but I felt it was just too, too, too over the top, and so unbelievable that the word silly springs to mind. Would someone with (or without) a baby really set off at a moment’s notice to spend time with ‘friends’ she’s barely seen in 15 years? I don’t think so. Too many lies, too many secrets, too many twists, and a plot that defies belief. Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the advance copy but I’m sorry it wasn’t for me.

Although an intriguing read and some great twists and for me a good ending I really didn’t like the characters so made it more difficult to keep my concentration on the plot and be overly worried what happened to them all,atmospheric though and well written

I give this book 3.5 stars. Though this really only applies to the last part of the book. This is when things finally started to kick off and happen.

Zoe’s husband Tom has died on a skiing trip with his three friends, Julian, Rob and Harry. Tom was an accomplished skier so it makes no sense that it happened.
Ivy was best friends with Zoe throughout university, but they felt out massively many years ago. Having rekindled their friendship, Zoe begs Ivy to come with her to retrieve Tom and deal with the police investigation.

The potential for the plot is great and it should be a great read. But it just isn’t. There are so many characters and other than Ivy, none of them are remotely likeable or interesting. At one point I had the thought that I didn’t actually care what happened to Tom or why!

But, like I said, it picked up in the last part, even though it was kind of dragged out longer than it should have been and none of the unearthed secrets where that shocking or interesting really.
I loved the final chapter though, it was a fantastic plot twist.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for the ARC in return for an honest review.

3.5 Stars

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for my ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is a new author to me but the cover and title hooked me straight away so was eager to try it. It reminded me of The Chalet by Catherine Cooper.

The setting of the book was fantastic. Even though I've only been skiing once before, the descriptions and story came alive and brought me into the moment.

There were quite a few characters to follow but only 3 POV to start with. So some of the characters didn't feel as developed as the others.

I was intrigued as the story developed and some of the twists began to reveal themselves. I did feel that maybe there were too many by the end (the epilogue felt like it was only there for shock factor and didn't feel in keeping with the character). Also, a lot of the story and plot felt too convenient.

Overall, a decent thriller and I did enjoy it. I'll be checking out Sarah's other books too.

I loved the blurb of this book and was not disappointed!

Four old friends go on a skiing trip together but only 3 survive the weekend.

Ivy is living with her baby son, her university friends left in the past. Until she rekindles her friendship with Zoe, a friendship Ivy thought was irreparable after what happened at Zoe’s 21st birthday. So when Zoe turns up on Ivy’s doorstep with bad news, Ivy is compelled to help. But what has happened to Tom, Zoe’s husband and old uni pal of Ivy? And who is alive who knows the truth?

Loved this book, lots of twists and turns.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review.

The Ski Trip is a four star book. I love murder mysteries set in snowy scenes, so the author gets bonus points for that. It’s a twisty thriller straight through to the last chapter. Just when you suspect you know what’s happened, guess what? You don’t. A great read.
⭐️⭐️⭐️❤️

This was a brilliant read, a page turner that you can’t put down. The twists and turns were suspenseful and the ending was fantastic. The characters were great, the story was exciting and the style of writing was perfect. I have ready many books by this author and I have throughly enjoyed them all.. I can’t wait for the next one out. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading psychological thrillers.
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this in exchange for a honest review.

The annual lads ski trip is looked forward to by three best friends, Tom, Rob and Julian. Like every year, there’s a lot of rivalry and boastfulness amongst the three, but this year the atmosphere is strained, not least due to an old friend, Harry, tagging along. Apart from seeing Tom occasionally, Harry has been out of the loop with the friends and his presence is not particularly welcome.

When Tom makes a fatal error on a run, the tragedy does not draw the friends any closer. Zoe, Tom’s wife, begs Ivy, another one of the old clique, to fly out to the resort to deal with the aftermath of the accident. Once there, things develop very quickly.

I like Sarah Clarke’s writing and thought My Perfect Friend was 5*. This one I didn’t feel was as good. Despite it being a quick read and fast paced, it somehow missed the mark for me. There are a few good, if outlandish twists and it was all neatly tied up, though not too predictable. The fact that any of these characters remained friends after so many years was implausible, as they were all pretty awful!

The first half of the book was more interesting than the second, but I did enjoy the Epilogue.

Thank you NetGalley and HQ.

Really enjoyable book with some great twists and turns. Easy to read and kept my attention the whole way through. Would defo recommend

This was a very enjoyable book and lots of unpredicatable plots developing with some quite complex characters. Will be looking out for this authors books.

The Ski Trip by Sarah Clarke is the story of Ivy, a new single-mother, friend-ish of Zoe, Zoe’s husband, Tom, and several other friends from their long-ago university years. Ivy receives a somewhat out of the blue call from Zoe requesting/begging her go to France because of Tom’s death on ski trip with several other of their mutual friends. Being a new mother, and Zoe being a somewhat estranged friend, the request is awkward. Ivy’s anxiety-ridden mother isn’t really in a good shape to look after Ivy’s son, but Ivy is insistent, desperate and…
In France, Ivy doubts and then questions most of what has happened, who was involved and why. Tom was an excellent skier; could he really have skied off a well-marked cliff? The slope wasn’t dangerous and relationships within the group of friends were strained in the days before his ‘fall’. Ivy suspects foul play and so does the police chief, but there’s no evidence. Ivy is torn between justice for Tom and getting home to help her son and her anxious mother.
This is a crisply-written story, broken into well-structured chapters that kept me reading quickly. The characters’ back stories (their university and early career years) are credible and interesting; and flawed. Everyone is a suspect.
I really enjoyed reading this; it was a cut-above the rest of the simple, present-day whodunit genre. And I LOVED the twist at the end, followed by the extra twist in the last page.

Rating: 2.3/5

I find it a frustrating experience reading Sarah Clarke's work. Having been impressed by her debut novel, "A Mother Never Lies", all of her subsequent three books have flattered to deceive to varying degrees.

Her latest offering "The Ski Trip" shapes up promisingly enough in the early stages. It has some familiar characteristics that, although not groundbreaking, have formed the bedrock of a number of appealing mysteries and thrillers. Ski resort settings have been popular with a number of writers in recent years and offer a backdrop that is not only appealing, but that also conjures up a counterintuitive sense of oppressive claustrophobia in spite of the wide open spaces. Add to the mix a cast of long-standing friends who are on their annual jaunt together, although each of them has secrets that they would prefer to keep hidden from the others. Finally, there is a dramatic death - but is it the accident that it appears to be, or the result of foul play?

For the most part, I enjoyed the first half of the book. Sarah Clarke set the scene well and the characterisation was pretty solid. There were a couple of elements of the plot that I was not entirely convinced by, but I was happy to grant the author the necessary artistic licence. However, even dramatic licence needs to remain within certain boundaries in order to maintain credibility and, as the narrative progressed, so I felt that Sarah Clarke crossed that line. The whole scenario became too contrived, to the point of being silly at times, and relied on too many convenient developments. However, worst of all - and probably the biggest sin a mystery writer can be guilty of - is to start pulling rabbits out of the hat. That is simply unforgivable!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

When an old college friend is killed on his annual boys' ski trip, meteorologist Ivy accompanies his distraught wife to France to help her with the arrangements, reluctantly leaving her baby son with her anxious mother. An able but thrill seeking skier, his death is quickly deemed to be a tragic accident, but his friends seem to be acting suspiciously and there is an unexpected addition to their usual ski-ing group. Chance comments by the chalet girl and the local funeral director leave Ivy unconvinced, especially when all the characters seem to have something to hide, including Ivy herself....
An exciting page turner set in the Alps with the weather closing in, against a background of past tragedy, broken friendships and changing relationships, this is a thoroughly engrossing and enjoyable read.