I do love how Lisa Unger always has some deeper or more serious message behind her thrillers. It makes me feel like I didn’t waste an entire week reading a “popcorn book” with no true substance. (Not flack against these books, I’ve just personally been trying to layer in more thoughtful reads to my TBR.)

This book has a lot of characters. A LOT—I know that was confusing for some of my bookclub pals who listened to the audio.
But you quickly start to learn how they interconnected. The undertone of this story is genetics and what constitutes a family, genes or actions. Is a biological father more of a father than the man who raised his adopted child. Unger doesn’t give any clear answers but her characters come to their own conclusions.
There is a lot of action in this book and some pretty intense violent scenes. It was a fun read and a great one to buddy read.
Idk if this is my top pick of Unger’s (I’ll leave the #authorranking to @emilybookedup) but I was not disappointed!

This was a wild ride from start to finish. I loved the multiple plots strewn together. The characters all had something to add to this dynamic novel and kept me guessing. The setting was meant to be idyllic yet caused such creepy terror. I loved it. I can't wait to read more books by this author - this was the first one I have read.

Lisa Unger slowly reveals the threads to this thriller, but wow-- how she weaves them together! Family drama multiplied: your husband works for your brother-in-law and you rent a house from him, your best friend used to date your brother who is now married, but you are all still friends. Others find out their father was a sperm donor and how many half-siblings do you have? Move this drama to a secluded cabin with a haunting history, throw in a horrific storm, and someone out to get revenge, and you have a book you don't want to put down. Those threads are long, twisted and intertangled and the final tapestry is not what you could have imagined!

Rating: 4/5 stars
Pub Date: November 8, 2022 (Available now!)

Hannah sets out for a weekend getaway with her family and friends. The group is staying in a beautiful secluded cabin, deep in the woods of Georgia. The guests discover the house has a chilling past they can’t seem to forget, but the cabin isn’t the only thing with secrets. They all have secrets to hide and none of them can be trusted. When they realize they may not be alone, what was supposed to be a restful weekend away, quickly turns into a nightmare.

The family drama right at the beginning had me intrigued. It was a bit of a slow start and that helped keep my interest. The eerie woods setting was perfect and I was hooked as soon as they arrived at the cabin. I loved the locked room mystery aspect of this book.

There were many different POVs that didn’t seem connected, but I enjoyed trying to guess how they all fit together. Unger did a great job of weaving together the past and present. Everything came together really well in the end and I always appreciate a closed ending.

This was a major page turner that I couldn’t put down. I was itching to find out more and at times it was incredibly suspenseful and tense.

This was my first book by this author and I will definitely be checking out more of her books.

Thank you to Park Row Books and NetGalley for the eARC!

Wow, what a ride! I loved this book, albeit the plot seeming a bit too far-fetched. I stayed up late into the night reading it and will certainly recommend it to any of my thriller-lover fellow readers. Lisa Unger is great at spinning a tale!

This was a good one. The pacing was great. Not super fast but enough to keep you interested and wanting more This was much more than a cabin vacation. This is one trip the couples won’t forget. The DNA tests were a surprise for sure. I highly recommend.

Lisa Unger is at the top of her game and continues to climb higher in Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six.

Seven words gripped me down to my soul, “I will blow your house DOWN bitch.”

This chillingly suspenseful novel creatively explores her characters’ innermost thoughts with a plot that challenges both the human psyche and morality. Carefully moving the reader to explore motives that go far beyond the real world into an unsettling world of unhinged characters, Unger redefines the definition of family loyalty and love.

The idyllic setting of a luxury remote cabin in the wood becomes the perfect setting to celebrate Mako’s birthday. It provides him a captive audience to boast about his financial success while his sister, Hannah, and their family dangerously relive the sins of their past.

With disturbing relevance to modern-world issues, Unger is not afraid to explore the darkest corners of humanity and the secret workings of the human mind. Reading every chapter with an insatiable desire to learn more about the macabre drama that continues to unfold, the reader will need to strap in. You will find yourself craving to see more of this terrifying scene unfold, with every page.

The final picture Unger paints continues to haunt me, yet it leaves me wanting more.

I went into this one pretty much blind (on purpose), not knowing much about the plot apart from six people go to a secluded cabin! Also, this cover really drew me in and I was expecting a fun time. Did I get it? Well, not really.
When this book started I was invested, hooked and intrigued and was enjoying reading it. The characters were well drawn out and I was never confused as to who was who throughout.
However by 30% of the way in I had figured out where this was going and I started to feel a bit disappointed.
Then by 50% my interest level died off. This was mainly because of the multiple different thriller tropes that were thrown in to this book, none of which worked well with the others. It all became very muddled.
I also felt like the pacing was too slow and it felt drawn out.
On to the ending. I didn't enjoy this either. It felt way too sappy and sweet.
After finishing this book, my overall feeling is of disappointment. I was really looking forward to this one so maybe my expectations were too high? It's a shame because this started off well and could have been so much better.

Unfortunately I didn't really like this book. It was quite confusing but not in a fun way, I didn't understand what was happening the whole time until the very end but it wasn't a satisfying reveal. It was more like the author had to drag me to an understanding of what was going on. It wasn't seemless, it was messy.
I found the whole story quite unbelievable. Some of the characters also just made no sense to me like Cricket and Bracken.

No one is innocent in this twisted tale of family told in multiple perspectives. Very twisty, I didn't get the connections between all the characters right away, but I did enjoy the way everyone was connected. The conclusion, though satisfying in its own way, was also not what I expected. I will say I'm a bit disappointed that the cabins host's story just seemed to abruptly end without much fuss. I was interested in his story too. Hard to believe that this is Lisa Unger's 20th book, and until now I had never read anything by her. Very excited to explore her other works.

Thank you NetGalley, Lisa Unger, and Park Row for the opportunity to read this ARC.

You can certainly guess the plot line based upon this book's title. Stranded tourists, ghost sightings, severe storm raging outside, possible murderer in the group. Sound familiar? Yes, it's all there. But ... there's a nice twist. A separate storyline and character which seems to have no connection to the main plot keeps the reader guessing. If you like suspense, this one is worth a look.

Thanks to NetGalley and Park Row Publishing for the opportunity to read and review.

Secluded thrillers are always a go to for me and this one has a certain creepiness lingering the whole time. It takes a while for this to fully flesh out but once it does you see how the multiple POVs merge all together and interconnect. The characters are unique and I was interested to see how the weekend would end. I would go into this one blind as there is a B plot that you’ll be better off not knowing.

This is a messy book. What I mean by that is that there are too many characters, not enough plot to be even half ways believable, everyone is a suspect, more characters, and then lets throw in DNA.

Overall it was an engaging book. It kept my interest. I kept thinking in the back of my head, ok this person is the killer, no this person is the killer.
Thats what makes a great thriller/mystery book.

However, I didn't care about any of the characters. I felt that the author really could have cut out half of the characters and it would have been a better story. If the characters had been flushed out and more back stories, it would have been better.

I liked the story arc but again, wish I had more backstory on the villians to really fully understand what was going on.

An okay thriller that you will want to keep reading but don't get too caught up on the characters....there are too many.

Lisa Unger does it again!

What defines familly? This is the overarching theme throughout this page-turning thriller.

Hannah, Mako and their family spend a weekend away in a secluded cabin and is met with secrets, forced to face dark pasts and danger from an unknown stranger.

Henry is trying to discover the secrets of who is family is and how he's tied to the world. His discovery leads to Hannah and Mako and everything turns ugly.

If you love a thriller you can't put down, filled with twists and turns, this is the book for you. I found it a bit slow at the start, trying to sort out the two story lines, but as the suspense builds, it becomes more and more captivating. You'll speed read until the end for sure.

One feedback issue - may be technology related! Whereever the letter “f” appears followed by “l” there is a space between the letters. E.g. F lash instead of flash.

Wow - loved this book. Lots of themes - not least “right” v “wrong”. It basically raises the question of whether psychopaths are created by genetics alone or how much impact does their family environment have?

I loved the main steady female character. Solid. The book also highlighted the impact of underlying tensions between many of the book’s flawed characters.

A first class read. Cleverly crafted together by the author and the finish was more than satisfactory!

This was an atmospheric thriller that set the setting and pace very well. From the beginning, there was interest into this novel and the dynamics of the family that we were being introduced to. I remained interested throughout the novel and the general plot. I thought it was largely fun and included some elements of domestic fiction. While I really liked the book, I thought the motive behind the terror was a little too unbelievable. That’s why I have to knock down my rating a bit to 3.5 stars ⭐️, rounded up. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advanced copy for review.

Unfortunately I just couldn't get in to this book. I really wanted to, but it just didn't happen. Some of thr book is sell written and interested, but the most of it just didn't grip me

Straight up, didn’t like this one. I wasn’t a fan of the stranger inside (at all). But I like to give new-to-me authors a chance or two to wow me with at least one of their books. This was not it.

I had the same issue with this as I did her other book. It was slow AF and I really didn’t care for the drawn out motherhood story of what life is like with a young child, who is not a newborn. I’m a mom myself, and when I read, I read to escape. Mommy stories aren’t it. Sorry, not sorry.

The premise hooked me and there were some good ideas. But it was like reading 2 different stories that didn’t go well together.

Others may like this one. So just cause it wasn’t for me. Doesn’t mean someone else won’t love it.

A mysterious set of gifts under the Christmas tree set the story in motion, but the majority of the novel takes place at a secluded cabin in the woods of Georgia. The six guests at the cabin are Hannah, her husband Bruce, her brother Mako, Mako’s wife Liza, Hannah’s best friend Cricket, and Cricket’s boyfriend Joshua. There’s immediate conflict between Bruce and Mako (who had business dealings), with Liza disconnecting from the group due to a sudden illness, and because of Mako’s romantic history with Cricket. A ghost story related to a tragedy at the site, a creepy host, and the point of view of Henry, who initially doesn’t seem to connect to the vacationers, adds to the tension.

The book provides a large number of points of view which made it at times difficult to form deep connections with the characters and made the story feel overly complex. I did, however really enjoy the points of view of the female characters and how Unger tied everything together at the end.

Pretty much everyone in the story has some kind of secret, so there’s plenty of layers and red herrings. I like the way DNA testing and the various characters’ views on it played into the story. I also like how the story opened and ended with a holiday celebration and how the story tackles complex issues around what makes a family and DNA testing. Unger succeedes in crafting robust character arcs for several cast members. All in all, SECLUDED CABIN SEATS SIX, is a book mystery lovers will be overjoyed to find under the Christmas tree.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Park Row Books for providing an Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley.

OMG! My newest favorite read! I loved the characters, the mystery, and the twist! I was eager to pick up my Kindle to read Lisa Unger's newest book. I will be adding this to my recommendation list. Thank you, NetGalley, for sharing this awesome new read with me!