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.

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.

I really enjoyed this book it was a classic mystery where I just couldn't work out who was who and what the connections were. A very captivating & well thought out story.

Thank you to Netgalley & publisher for the copy in exchange for a honest review.

This book is set mostly at a ski resort in the French Alps, in 1998 and the present day.

In 1998 two young brothers, Will and Adam, are on a skiing holiday with their girlfriends. The weather is terrible and Will and Adam get separated from their guides. One of them is found, the other isn't.

In 2020, Hugo and his new wife Ria go on a business trip to a luxury chalet to schmooze a potential new client. Everything is very cosy and luxurious, until a body is found.

The story alternates between these two timelines, and the point of view of someone else, entitled 'before'. It's not revealed who this is for some time, and all my guesses were wrong!

There are quite a lot of characters in this book but I found it easy to keep track of who was who. The main characters are well developed and you can picture what they're like. I found most of the characters were awful and smug, so I didn't find them very relatable.
However, I still enjoyed the story.

It's very easy to read and I'd finished it within a couple of days. Just as you think you know what's going on, something else is revealed.

There are plenty of twists and turns in this book and the setting is very ominous at times. Despite the luxury of the chalet, something isn't quite right, and everyone is trapped there due to the weather.

I really enjoyed this book and would definitely read more from this author. I'm surprised it's her debut novel.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for a copy of this book for review.

A mystery death in the Alps, a ski resort accident caused by carelessness and brotherly rivalry.. A clever storyline, very readable and a page turner. Though I had guessed a couple of the outcomes before the very end. The death of a skier happened over 20 years prior to present day, the writer has set the chapters going back and forth between 1998 and 2020, with the chapters being written from the point of view of the different characters in the novel. Easy to follow. A sad outcome for certain characters, but not for all.

Good read, flew through the pages and kept me guessing, kept thinking I’d figured it out and then there would be another plot twist - would recommend!

I was attracted to this book by the description, four guests in a luxury ski chalet, none of who really want to be there. Hugo and Ria a mismatched couple, Hugo has brought Ria along to smooze Simon who he wants to do business with. Simon is there with his poor wife Cass who has recently had a baby and is suffering with what appears to be post natal depression. They have brought along a Nanny and the four are very incompatible . Ria appears to only be with Hugo for his money and gets really drunk on several occasions and then Hugo finds out that Ria is hiding secrets from him.

At the chalet is Millie who looks after them all cooks, cleans and Matt who is the Rep in the resort.

The second side of the story is at the same resort twenty years earlier when two brothers Will and Adam and their girlfriends are staying a chalet. Will’s girlfriend Louisa is very insecure as she is from a working class background and is trying her best to fit in. Adam is a really nasty piece of work and he commits the most hideous act and then tragedy strikes.

The two stories collide and a lot of secrets are about to be revealed !

This is an extraordinary debut I absolutely loved it and read in two sittings, the cleverness of the stories woven together and as the story progresses the secrets begin to be uncovered. I was convinced that I knew what was going to happen how wrong I was ! It has a cracker of a twist that was hidden so well.

I loved the setting in the Alps, the snow, the mystery and the pace of the writing. I am really looking forward to what comes next for this new author. An absolute stunner of a read.

5 Stars *****

This was a humdinger of a story. Kept me gripped till the end. If you enjoy a good thriller you will love this book

This book captured my attention when I first saw it. It's a crime story based on an accident on the ski slopes 1998 and also present day. I thought the story was very clever the way it linked together and I had no idea where the story would go. The story is told from multiple perspectives which I liked and added to the story and kept me guessing what was going to happen. The story had a good pace and I wanted to keep reading what would happen and who was involved. I loved the twists and the turns in the story. I'll definitely be looking out for more books by the author.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Harper Collins UK and Catherine Cooper for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So it’s 1998 and two competitive brothers Will and Adam are on holiday with their respective girlfriends. Skiing in hazardous conditions, with a guide who hates guests, only one makes it out. Fast forward twenty years and we have Ria and her husband Hugo, entertaining guests in the hope they will invest, Simon and his wife Cass who have brought along their young child Inigo and their child’s nanny to the same resort, when a blizzard unearths a body.

Confession time…… I hate the cold and all that comes with it. So snow and skiing is my idea of infernal hell, although hell would certainly be warmer. But damn this was good and perfect for a winter read tucked under a blanket with a nice cup of hot chocolate. No Millie to bring me champagne unfortunately.

Set over a dual timeline this pulled me in with its heady tale of arrogance, wealth and the trappings that come with opulence. Skiing features heavily but as someone who has never been and never will go I can still see the attraction. The adrenaline, the luxury lifestyle and the showing off was written with such indulgence that you can’t help but see why people do it.

The characters ranged from downright sleazy, insufferable and pretentious to gold digging, sly and quietly mysterious. Big characters with even bigger egos. All the time I was reading I was trying to work out how the two time lines would link and looking for connections. You are left in the dark for the majority as the author never makes things entirely clear and the ambiguity is what makes this very clever indeed and a real guessing game for armchair detectives.

This had everything I wanted in a thriller, a tight multi structured plot, a setting that can be both beautiful and dangerous and characters who make you feel uneasy and unsure if they are as they seem. An outstanding debut and an author I will be looking out for in the future.

When four very different guests gather in a luxurious chalet in the French ski resort of La Madière they have little idea of what is about to creep up on them. There are dangerous undercurrents festering in the pristine snow and pretty soon, thanks to some clever flashbacks, we learn just what happened on the mountains twenty years ago. At first it’s not obvious just what this disparate group of people have in common with the events of 1998, but once the story gets underway so a mystery of epic proportions is gradually revealed.

I loved the way the author gets right into the very heart of the mystery, bringing both place and people alive in a very special way. There is a definite sense of tension and, as the weather starts to close in and the snow gets deeper, we start to see cracks developing in these complex and fractious relationships. There is a great sense of atmosphere in The Chalet and the author certainly knows how to crank the tension up to high, but there is also an insidious creepiness which starts to move in especially when an unexpected character shows up in the resort bringing a whole new dynamic to this compelling psychological drama.

This clever debut novel has a wonderful air of sophistication and whilst it's a bit of a slow burner at first the action certainly picks up as the story progresses and I found that there were times when I couldn’t put the book down, turning the pages in eager anticipation of what was going to happen next. Secrets, lies and deceit smolder away in this classic story of revenge which is made all the more chilling by its setting in the ice cold and rather dangerous French Alps.

The story runs in the past and present day and retells the story of two brothers who go out on a guided ski run, but where one brother doesnt come back. The book is very cleverly written, linking both timelines. I was hooked from the beginning to the end.

Having recently read and LOVED Ruth Ware’s One by One I was eager to return to the Alps for more mystery so jumped at the opportunity to dive into Catherine Cooper’s The Chalet.

Set in the atmospheric resort of La Madiere in the French Alps, the novel alternates between 1998, when two brothers go missing whilst on a guided off-piste run, and 2018, when two couples arrive at a luxurious ski chalet for a few days of soft powder and après-ski networking. Wealthy businessman Hugo desperately needs to get boorish Simon to invest in his travel company – even if that means a week of schmoozing on the slopes. Hugo’s wife Ria, meanwhile, is questioning the wisdom of her marriage – and of choosing La Madiere, a place with too many echoes of a past she’d rather forget.

Along with Simon’s wife Cass, chalet girl Milly and manager Matt, and chalet owner Cameron, Hugo, Simon and Ria’s plans are thrown into disarray when a body is pulled from the snow – a body that may well be connected to the high-profile tragedy of the Cassiobury brothers twenty years before. It swiftly becomes apparent that there may be those amongst Hugo & Ria’s group who know more about the Cassiobury disappearance than they are letting on – and it isn’t long before further bodies start piling up.

As with One by One, the claustrophobic atmosphere of isolated mountains is used to great effect in The Chalet as the isolation of luxury ski lodge becomes a threat to the characters seeking shelter within it. Catherine Cooper has perfectly captured both the beauty and the danger of the mountains, and of the way that softly powdered snowfall can rapidly develop into a whirling blizzard. It’s wonderfully ominous and really helps set the tone for the action that follows.

I did struggle to associate with the characters in The Chalet. With the exception of baby Inigo, they’re a fairly horrible bunch with few redeeming features. Hugo, whilst shy and reserved, was unpleasantly misogynistic at some points whilst his wife Ria came across as shallow and self-absorbed – spending time in their heads was quite tough at times. Personally I do tend to prefer a novel where at least one of the characters is, if not nice, at least easier to empathise with – and I did find that almost impossible here. However, the blistering pace of events and the grim satisfaction that came with seeing some of these unpleasant people get their much-needed comeuppance did help to offset this disconnect!

And the pace really is blistering once the main premise and characters have been established. Cooper utilises the dual timeline to great effect to keep the plot moving forwards and the pages turning and, after a slightly slow start, the tension just keeps building until the explosive conclusions when all the secrets are revealed and the connections between the two groups of skiers becomes apparent.

Overall The Chalet is a fast-paced page-turner ideal for fans of Ruth Ware, B. Louise Candlish, and J P Delaney. It’s a pacy, atmospheric and thrilling read that, if you’re okay with unlikeable characters, makes for a great book to curl up with during these cold, dark nights!

Unfortunately I don’t really get into this book. I felt like it was missing something. Didn’t connect with the characters.

A riveting mystery. Set today and in 1988 in the same cabin. Four people, two couples in each stay. Seemingly nothing in common but an incidence brings the two trips together with secrets and connections coming out. I thought I had guessed a few times where it was going but was wrong. A great domestic mystery. A good, fast paced read.

Set in La Madiere France, this story evokes the ski resort ethos to create a believable setting with the author using sensory imagery well to create a claustrophobic atmosphere with a hint of menace. Multi-points of view highlight significant events and character motivations in this dual timeline story.

Set in 1998 and 2020 the story focuses on two groups of skiers' stay in La Madiere. They have little in common in terms of age and financial status, but something sinister connects them. In 1998, a skiing trip ended tragedically for four young people. In 2020, The Chalet's occupants lives unravel with the discovery of a body.

As dangerous secrets emerge, someone is seeking revenge creating a menacing ethos amongst the group of self-serving individuals in the Chalet. This an atmospheric story which makes a simple plot effective. The characters are hard to empathise, and whilst the outcome is guessable, it is relatable and resonates.

I received a copy of this book from Harper Fiction via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

A brilliant winter read, I defy you not to get sucked into this story. Running a dual timeline from multiple characters viewpoint means you get drip fed all the information, you just need to put it all together, but even then there are wonderful twists & turns to keep you on your toes. The scene setting is fantastic, the ski slopes, the champagne & roaring log fires as well as some decidedly darker elements to this tale.

Grab a blanket & some snacks & get comfy because when you start you'll not want to stop, just one more chapter...

WOW WOW WOW

This book flips between 1998 and 2020. It has a lot of twists and turns and it is brilliant.

1998 and brothers Adam and Will head to France for a skiing trip which goes sadly wrong. Did resort owners Andy and Cameron do everything correctly. Not so much.

2020 and Hugo, his wife Ria head to France to try and sign up new business clients. Whilst they are there a body from 1998 is unearthed. Events from 1998 unravel, lies are uncovered and exposed and peoples true identities become apparent.

This book is up there as one of my top reads of 2020. It is fast paced, dark, full of lies and deceit. It is brilliant and an absolute must read.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I have always felt that skiing was for a very different breed of people to me - people with money, balance and the ability to look stylish while dressed like the Michelin man. This book has confirmed my suspicions as well as leaving me addicted to the twists and turns of a dark thriller set in motion when two brothers go on a ski break in the 1990s. Adam and brother Will visit La Madiere in France with their girlfriends Nell and Louisa. Louisa and Will met at university, and she’s delighted to be asked to go on holiday but skiing isn’t something she’s done before. Will and Andy’s parents are middle class and the boys were on skis as soon as they could walk. They also have the sort of money that allows for quick ski breaks while at university whereas Louisa doesn’t. When Will says he will pay for it as her Christmas gift she starts to look forward to lazy mornings in fur covered beds, hot chocolate, plenty of sex and beautiful, romantic snowy views. What she gets is a more like a wooden dormitory with stodgy food and the boys bouncing out of bed at 7am in order to ski. Yet something terrible will happen on this holiday, that reverberates through the next twenty years.

The narrative zips back and forth between the 90s and the present day when a different group are on holiday in La Madiere. We meet Hugo, the slightly awkward owner of a travel company who has brought his wife Ria and friends to try out a luxury ski lodge, before adding them to his portfolio. In this narrative I was suspicious of everyone. Hugo’s wife Ria is more attractive than he is and knows it. She’s targeted him and accepted his marriage proposal on the basis that it’s better than living in poverty. She can think of worse men to be with and the lifestyle is exactly what she wants. We know that they’ve agreed to have children, but does she really want a family and what was she running from when they met? Their friends Simon and his wife have a small baby, but this first time Mum seems to be struggling and even disappears one morning. Hanging around are the staff from Powder Puff: Cameron the boss; Matt the lusty ski instructor and Millie the chalet girl with great cooking skills who caters to their every whim. There are simmering tensions between each couple, and possible diversions from both the skiing and their partners. I found myself unable to resist these chapters when I went back to them because I kept waiting for things to implode.


Finally, there is the interspersed narrative of a lonely little girl. She has been left alone by her Mum and is getting her own breakfast and holding tightly to her teddy for comfort. It’s clear that her mother isn’t coping, but this little girl’s distress is hard to read. I found myself wondering about what might have brought her mother so low. Even more addictive was trying to work out which character this little girl might be in the future. I jumped from one character to another and only fixed on one towards the end when a particularly big clue was dropped. I can honestly say I didn’t see every twist coming and I didn’t make every link from past to present. The author really did keep me guessing. The catalyst that brings past and future together is a huge storm, which closes the ski lifts and keeps everyone in their lodge, ratcheting up the tension. When the weather clears, a body is found. Disturbed by a fall of snow from a ledge, the body appears to be a man and has been buried under the snow for many years. This could possibly be the body of one of two brothers, missing since they were lost in a storm back in the 1990s. Past now meets up with the present as his brother is jetted in to identify the body. Who is going to recognise who? Finally, what of the ski guides employed to look after these brothers when they decided to ski off piste? Were they fired and if not, where are they now?

Cooper really does keep the tension throughout this complex narrative; handling several time frames and various narrative voices with ease. The luxury setting is lush, full of delicious descriptions of food, and lashings of alcohol that loosens tongues and possibly morals. The men are largely rich, arrogant and stupid. The woman more quietly manipulative, such as using a seemingly subservient position to assert power. There’s a lot of passive aggression here. I felt most for Louisa in the past narrative, she’s unsure, feels inferior in terms of money, status and looks. I also felt for Hugo who is a quiet man, ruled by his personal assistant Olivia and terribly awkward with customers. He has no idea that his wife engineered their meeting, or that she’s still taking her pill while he thinks they’re trying for a baby. He’s thoroughly decent and this book is about what happens when decent people come up against the unscrupulous and immoral, but in a thoroughly glamorous setting. Great, escapist reading.

Debut novel by Catherine Cooper, which is set in a ski resort on the French Alps. with such a setting it does have quite a bit about skiing, which may appeal to some but did have me skipping onwards in the book at times. In what seems to be a current trend in some books I have read of late this one keeps switching between the past and present, as well as telling the story from various characters’ points of view.

Plot wise is it not bad, nothing to convoluted or outlandish, and certainly a book you want to keep on reading. However, the main characters are almost all obnoxious and you don’t really feel empathy with any of them. Being honest I think if you have ever been skiing you would enjoy this more!

A solid debut and an author to keep add to your reading lists.