I enjoyed this thriller by CL Pattison but also found it frustrating, because it's very much a game of two halves. First to Fall follows an aspiring figure skater, Libby, who is invited to train in the Bavarian Forest with skating legend Lukas along with eight other hopefuls. But when one skater dies in mysterious circumstances, the others start to wonder if they are in danger. The first half of First To Fall is great - Pattison's writing here is a notch up from most commercial thrillers I've read, reminding me of early Ruth Ware, and it really makes a difference. I immediately sympathised with Libby and loved the material on professional ice skating, as well as the atmosphere of the isolated schloss where the skaters are staying. Indeed, I was enjoying the skating competition so much that I felt the book derailed when it hit more traditional thriller territory. The two halves of the story feel quite disconnected from each other, as the unfolding of the threat in the second half is just not prefigured at all in anything that happens in the first half. While there's a good, if very brief, set-piece when our characters skate for their lives along the frozen Danube, after the midpoint this novel becomes yet another 'group of people isolated in the snow' thriller and the fact they are skaters is almost immaterial. The final twist is also dazzlingly pointless and the newspaper interview format to explain the motives of the killer incredibly clunky. I'd definitely read more by Pattison, because I (mostly) liked her writing, but it's a shame that everything that made this thriller unusual and original at the start is abandoned at the end. 3.5 stars.

Lukas Wolff, an ex-Olympic figure skater, invites a group of young skaters to his house for training/competition. None of them knew others would be there, or that they could be sent home if he doesn't like them. All of a sudden, bad things start happening, and people start drying. Can they get out of the castle in the middle of a blizzard to get help? I thought the book was pretty good; it held my attention. I just feel the ending was rushed and not thoroughly developed. Not so much as the explanation, but they were skating and boom here is the killer. But a good book for sure!