While I admire anyone with the guts to self-publish, it does require more of the author in a lot of ways to ensure that the quality stands up to that of commercially published fiction. For me, this one unfortunately wasn't up to that standard. The plot was quirky and fun and could have made for a great story, but there was no real character development and it was really let down by the writing - there were so many exclamation marks that I found it distracting, and the chapters often ended oddly and/or abruptly. Parts of the book moved at a glacial pace, and then others hurtled along, rushing through scenes that would have benefited from more tension or detail - some of the death scenes were so abbreviated it felt like blink and you'd miss them. Also it drove me mad how the characters didn't communicate - you've just almost been attacked by a horde of stuffed animals and you don't say a word about it?! That was more unbelievable to me than the animals coming back to life in the first place.

An original premise that was lacking in execution for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of The Lodge is great, a horror novel about the animals fighting back at the humans who have hunted and eaten them. It revolves around a hunting lodge in the Scottish Highlands where weird murders are occurring. There are flashbacks throughout which lead you very early on to why these murders are happening to characters that are hard to tell apart.

It seemed an original concept and is the reason I picked this book. The book isn't bad but I didn't enjoy reading it and almost gave up a few times. I kept going as its relatively short but it was a slog to finish. It was quite a basic book and really did feel like it should be a movie script rather than a novel. Its difficult to write horror that the reader can visualise and I was reading the horror parts as if they were everyday occurrences, there was no suspense or build up. So not an ideal situation for a horror novel.

Hunting, vacation in the Scottish Highlands, all inclusive B&B...what could go wrong...until someone dies. When the police are called, Andrew heads up to the lodge and then gets snowed in with the other guests. Then some interesting things start to happen....the animals start fighting back.

I really enjoyed this concept for a story. Some things that happened were a little too far fetched but all in all and enjoyable read. I loved the backstories and surprising twist in the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher/author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Beware All You Meat Lovers!

The story takes place in the remote Scottish Highlands while a blizzard is happening during the Christmas holidays. Andrew, a young constable is called to the scene of an accidental death at an exclusive lodge twenty miles away from the village. The lodge is filled with merriment with Christmas lights everywhere and the largest Christmas tree Andrew has ever seen but somehow the scene doesn't appear quite right and not because there's a dead body in the dining room. A hunting lodge with animal heads decorating the walls and chandeliers made of deer antlers and other unusual and disturbing pieces of animal furnishings that were quite odd. Naturally there isn't any mobile service available and the land lines are down because of the storm, so young Andrew will be stuck at the lodge for a day or two until the weather subsides and he begins to think it might be quite nice not to have to spend the holidays alone as originally planned until he notices some subtle changes in the lodge that has him questioning his imagination and as time goes on even his sanity!

This was a deliciously, devilish and quite imaginative horror story where I was squirming and shivering at many of the details of this book. The writing and storytelling were wonderful and I could feel the bitter cold and almost hear the creepy sounds that were prevalent throughout. The story was told with a lightness at times but it failed to shed light on much of the horror that took place which really made it very scary at times and I would be holding my breath at what would occur next. I highly recommend this delectable story to all horror readers and hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I did.

I want to thank the publisher "Troubadour Publishing Ltd. / Matador" and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this marvelously, creepy book and any thoughts and opinions are completely unbiased and mine alone!

I have given this very creepy story a rating of 4 Horrific and Hunted 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Stars!!

The stag on the cover promised a story set at a Scottish Lodge and from reading the blurb, I expected a police procedural. I liked the structure the author chose, which alternated between the main story and the back story of the various characters. In particular, Andrew's back story was well written and would have made a great short story in itself. In the first section of the novel, I felt there was a lot of telling, where it could have been shown through scenes/dialogue. Elena kissing Andrew on the first night felt a bit premature for me.
As the story unfolded, it became clear that there was another level to the narrative. The awful, gory deaths were being executed by animals- both stuffed and real. It was clear that this is where the author's skill lies. The elaborate descriptions brought the story to life and I found the remainder of the book engaging and fast paced. The story came together very well at the end.
Although this wasn't my usual genre, I did enjoy this read . It would make a great horror movie/tv series.

I loved the premise of this book, the “food” fights back. What a terrifying thought!
The story was great but I don’t think I needed all the backstory on the characters as much, at least it could have been shortened.
I didn’t find any character particularly likeable which usually makes me dislike the book but I was actually still intrigued to see what happens and keep reading.
The relationship between Andrew and Elena was a bit weird, it progressed so fast that I didn’t feel any realness to it.
I wish the book would have stuck to the plot of the animals fighting back, it went a bit of a different way and then came back at one point. I was a bit confused of is this the animals doing, the characters doing, or something else all together.

If you aren’t a vegetarian, this book will definitely have you thinking of becoming one.

I loved the premise of this book, the “food” fights back. What a terrifying thought!
The story was great but I don’t think I needed all the backstory on the characters as much, at least it could have been shortened.
I didn’t find any character particularly likeable which usually makes me dislike the book but I was actually still intrigued to see what happens and keep reading.
The relationship between Andrew and Elena was a bit weird, it progressed so fast that I didn’t feel any realness to it.
I wish the book would have stuck to the plot of the animals fighting back, it went a bit of a different way and then came back at one point. I was a bit confused of is this the animals doing, the characters doing, or something else all together.

Overall, I was hooked into finding out what would happen next and how it was going to play out. Enjoyable, thoughtful, and a bit gross to say the least.

Good pieces of horror/thriller literatures. I personally enjoy the setting a lot. The general plot might not have been perfect, some minor flaws here and there, but totally enjoyable le and worth reading! I would recommend it!

The premise of this book and description is one that I have not heard of before and stood out. The author has something original with this story line and it has paid off. The story does get gory at times and has a thriller you need for a horror story. The book did drag I some places and it was hard to keep interested once over the premise of the book. I would recommend and suggest to others.

When I started this book, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I knew it was about a cop at a hunting lodge, some characters died, and I saw someone make a comparison to an Agatha Christie novel. I was hooked for the ride, even if I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen.

This is the story of Andrew, a cop with a dark backstory that gets revealed over the course of the novel. Our story begins in the Scottish highlands. Orphaned as a young child by a fateful car wreck with a truck transporting animals, Andrew doesn’t know why a dark cloud seemingly hangs over him. On Christmas eve, he receives a call while on duty from a remote hunting lodge that offers all-inclusive stays to their guests. A guest ended up dead, so Andrew goes to investigate.

There he finds the knew owners and Elena, the daughter of the previous owners, who explain what happened. They were eating dinner together and the man suddenly collapsed, choking. The death is considered a tragedy with no foul play. Andrew begins interviewing the witnesses as to the events leading up to the death. The whole time a nasty snow storm is brewing outside. Andrew discovers by talking to Elena that the man had choked on a bone, however he wasn’t eating any meat at the time. Andrew thinks it odd, but not terribly suspicious.

That is until everyone gets snowed in at the lodge and the body goes missing. At this point, Andrew understands there is more to the story than everyone is letting on. Then the mysterious events start happening. One of the owners gets surrounded in the basement by taxidermied animals that attack him. The Christmas tree keeps growing, rather aggressively and wounding people. The Christmas geese come to life. And the body appears again surrounded by animals.

It is then revealed that the dead animals don’t like those who kill and eat them. As it turns out, the guests at the lodge all have some connection to Andrew. One guest is a surgeon who killed his high school girlfriend through negligence. Another man covered it up. The last man was the owner of the trucking company that was responsible for the negligent driving conditions that lead to the car accident that killed his parents. And it’s revealed that Andrew led them all there by claiming they’d won the trip as a prize.

In another twist, Andrew once went to a safari themed hotel where everyone ended up dying as well. He allegedly didn’t put the connection together until the events of our story unfolding. However, he was hoping for some revenge on these people who he sees as ruining his life. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the animals kill everyone accept Andrew (even poor Elena who was a vegetarian, thanks to Andrew feeding her meat “accidentally”).

The novel ends once the cops get there, at which point, the lodge explodes. In the epilogue, there is a different hunting lodge, this time in Colorado. They have a similar all-inclusive hunting package for Thanksgiving. At the end, it is revealed that Andrew has signed up for the holiday, thus imply the events will happen again.

All in all, I liked this book. It was a fun and engaging read. While suspenseful at times, the book was not scary. I’d recommend this to anyone who likes murder mysteries, especially classic mysteries like those written by Agatha Christie. I thought the author did a good job of keeping the reader engaged throughout the story. I was consistently excited to see what would happen next and be revealed about a character’s back story. It was a fun and suspenseful book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A quick read that captured you as you flipped the page. I was impressed by the concept as well. I haven’t personally read anything surrounding the concept of animals hunting back.

Andrew is one of two police officers on night shift in a remote town in Scotland when he receives a panicked call from a local bed and breakfast. A guest has died so Andrew heads out as a snow storm begins. Once he arrives he and the guests become stranded by the blizzard ragging outside. Over the course of the next couple of days more of the guests disappear with their bodies turning up in awful state. The Lodge is a retreat for hunters with the house interior reflecting this and it appears that thee animals are fighting back.

Unfortunately this book just wasn’t for me. I didn’t enjoy it and at times it veered into being completely ridiculous. I felt like it was muddled and couldn’t decide if it wanted to be a horror or a thriller. I think the premise was an interesting one that had promise and could have been a good set up for a thriller. If it had been focused on someone carrying out the murders with a mystery surrounding who and why then it think it could have been really good. Alternatively if it wanted to go the horror route it needed more suspension and not have ‘the horror’ element revealed so early.

There were flash backs telling us about Andrew past which made sense in the context of the story and could have really added to the thriller element but i don’t think it did that. There were also flashbacks around the history of the bed and breakfast owners Helen and Leon and I didn’t really understand what they added to. There were just lots of things in the story that didn’t make sense to me. However, I have also seen lots of great reviews for this book so I think this is just one I didn’t gel with.

Thank you to NetGalley and Troubador Publishing for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I never would have thought I could label a book 'cozy horror', but this one fits the description quite well. The setting, ambience and slight romance build an ideal stage for a cozy mystery, while the gruesome murders and the unnatural nature of the murderers put the story into full horror mode. I loved the idea of animals getting back to their human hunters. Intertwined with this intriguing idea was another story altogether, where a man sought questionable justice for some past stroke of fate. However, I could have done without that additional story-line and would have rather enjoyed some straightforward 'animals fight back' splatter horror. Together with the alternating chapters which presented retrospects of the involved people's backgrounds to explain what caused the whole intrigue it could have easily created an interesting book of its own. I enjoyed reading this surprising and original book.

Am interesting premise for this novel - animals that have been hunted seeking revenge on those that did the hunting. The plot almost made me think of something Hitchcockian, like The Birds but set in Scotland. However, the issue for me was the writing itself - I didn’t believe what some of the characters were doing, in that they seemed a lot more forward than you would expect a bunch of strangers to be. Also, the liberal use of exclamation marks brought the novel down for me as well - not everything has to be shocking, especially when it’s just a pie! <—exclamation mark used sparingly. All in all, a short read with an exciting premise let down by character writing for me - recommended if you’re looking for something easy, a little bit horror and a little bit of mystery.

Wow this book is something else, but I really liked it! There is a lot of story in this little book. The characters al get a backstory and it al makes (kinda) sense in the end. I'm a vegetarian and happy they were included in this story.

I think that The Lodge might've worked a lot better as a 75-100 paged horror anthology short story, because even with its current length I found it dragging at parts.

What I did enjoy about The Lodge is it did have this almost familiar feeling at the beginning because the set up almost reminded me of an Agatha Christie. Obviously it isn't a whodunit but I did enjoy the ambiance of the first couple of chapters. But when the body count started to go up and we got a lot more background on the characters I was starting to lose the creepy factor and it all became a little shallow.

Because of how short it is I think anyone can easily dig into The Lodge, I think it just walks the line of being a full-on horror novel and something a little bit more light hearted.

Decent story, easy enough to follow. I would read more books by this author. Overall, I liked the characters, the plot, the dialogue, and the wrap up.

3/5 Stars

All I can say is wow! First of all this book appealed to me because I love Scotland so I naturally gravitate to books that are set there. Horror novels can be a little hit or miss. Sometimes they are just a little too extra. But The Lodge hit all the right notes. Gruesome death, a little humor, excellent setting, and an unusual antagonist. The twists toward the end were amazing. I feel like I can't say enough good things about this novel.

152 pages

3 and 1 / 2 stars

What a fun book. (Its purpose might not have been for me to have a good time with it, but the animals getting back their own was a treat.)

Constable Andrew, fresh out of the academy just seven months earlier, requests an isolated post in the Scottish Highlands. He is not at all sure why; he hates the cold and snow. It is close to Christmas when he gets a call out to a lodge of a death. He drives to the lodge in the middle of a blinding snowstorm.

One of the hunters has died after choking on a quail bone. But he never touched his quail. What is going on? More strange things begin to happen. How will this whole situation turn out?

The book is fairly well written and the plotting is very good. I liked Andrew, in spite of how things turned out. I liked Elena, but was disturbed at what happened to her. The end of the book was simply delicious.

I want to thank NetGalley and Troubador Publishing Ltd. for forwarding to me a copy of this fun book to me to read, enjoy and review.

Interesting and unusual idea,that the hunted animals attack back.
Gory in parts,but also very light hearted.. so not sure what tone it was trying to set.
Short fun read,but I couldn't take it seriously.