I’m the kind of person who sees a book by a favorite author and is compelled to read it. I don’t look at the description of the book, I just see a beautiful cover and jump right in!

Would you stay at an extravagant cabin, in the middle of nowhere, with your family and friends? Of course you would! Would you still stay after hearing ghost stories about a man who killed his entire family on the property years ago? You find out that the ghost story is true and see a ghost of a woman trying to find her daughter who was killed in a nearby lake. I would be running 🏃🏼‍♀️ far, far away.

Mako, a man that can can do no wrong, invites his family and close friend to a secluded cabin for a fun getaway with him and his wife. His sister Hannah and her husband Bruce have an 18 month old daughter and are having a hard time leaving her but decide to join anyway. Mako also invites his high school girlfriend, Cricket, and her mysterious new boyfriend.

Mako has gone all out to make his friends and family comfortable; stocked cabinets full of food, a person chef, and a steaming hot tub. The guests are having the time of their lives until Mako’s wife, Liza, turns up missing. When blood is found on her sheets, they get a feeling that some unwanted guests have followed them and are watching their every move. The guests have been keeping secrets from one another and death is waiting for them around every corner. Who will survive?

This was a dark, psychological thriller that pulled me in with its creepy, secluded atmosphere and the ending left me numb.

There were so many characters and multiple timelines that seemed confusing at first but everyone eventually tied together for a jaw dropping ending.

Hello Lisa Unger, here you come again with another delicious, edgy and compulsive thriller. I must say I was eagerly awaiting this book, and I was very excited to be on the receiving end of a DRC, from NetGalley. The title alone “Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six” was enough to place it on my list. Upon further reading of the blurb, the locked room mystery approach was titillating too. Overall, cover, title and blurb had me sold.

Six couples, secrets, mistakes and DNA? Yes, I said DNA. Is technology dangerous? Away we go…

Told from first and third person narration, the story cover multiple POV’s. Now, usually, I like my narration in first person only, as with third person I feel the story loses something when you are trying to relate to feel for, and connect to a character. I sort of felt that way at various points in this story, as I lost my connection with a couple of the characters. It will make sense though, so if you feel like I do, stick with it.

Unger’s writing is always fast paced, each closing chapter leaving you wanting to start the next one straightaway. There was a bit of repetition, no problem, the characters, although not all likable, we’re
all tolerable. The place setting, the cabin in the woods, further accentuated the creepy feel of the novel. My only dissatisfaction came with the end, as it was to prettily wrapped up.

However, overall, I read this one very quickly, enjoyed the read, and as with most of Unger’s books, had a lot of fun! Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an eARC, in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
What do I say about this one.
I had really high expectations after reading the summary and also seeing so many advertisements for this book. Plus I’ve enjoyed other work by the author.
The novel itself just didn’t quite live up to my expectations. A few too many links and confusion from one character to the next. Way too many points of view that weren’t needed. Many points of view that eventually connected but too way too long too.
I was super excited when I got approved for this one but disappointed it just wasn’t what I expected.

This was a good twisty book that leaves you wondering what in the world is going on! Overall I felt it was a little hard to connect with some of the characters but still a solid book.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. I could not get into this at allllll. It felt like it went on and on and on but nothing really happened. Not for me. Sorry.

This is a slow burn of a mystery but very well done. I "guessed" the plot a couple of times and then was trying to think how you got from point a to point b...turns out, I was on the completely wrong map! It takes a while for all the pieces to come together but the payoff is worth it. It's nice to read something that kept me guessing.

I received an advance copy from the publisher and Netgalley to review.

This is a psychological thriller about three couples renting a luxurious but creepy cabin in the woods. The story was perfectly paced and I was engrossed by it immediately! The descriptions are spot on and you get invested in the characters lives from the very beginning.

The first half of the book is about the relationships and secrets between the characters as they arrive at the cabin. The second half is a bit more chaotic and involves violence and acts of revenge. It's suspensful from start to finish and you really start doubting the characters throughout the read.

I can appreciate reading a story from more than one person's point of view, but 6-7 different perspectives were a bit confusing. Even more so as they follow two different storylines that don't intercept until the end of the book.

I still really enjoyed and recommend this read!
3.5/5

Let me start by saying I'm a HUGE Lisa Unger fan. Everything I've read from her is fantastic and keeps me on the edge of my Seay!

That being said, as excited as I was for this book, it missed the mark a bit for me. Told in dual timelines, the story starts on Christmas evening with Hannah and her family. After all the festivities, her father discovers one last gift behind the tree; Origin DNA test kits for the family.

A family with so many secrets, they all decide not to do the test. But when they change their minds, events are set in motion and the consequences won't be revealed until it's too late.

While I love the locked door trope, almost all of the character are unlikable. Almost all of them have a devastating secret. And Hannah calling her brother "virile" so many times was WEIRD.

But I flew through it in a day and the ending left me feeling satisfied with all the loose ends being tied up. You certainly won't regret reading this, even if it's not quite as thoroughly enjoyable as other works by this author.

"Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six" was super compelling! Who doesn't want to read about a group of three couples vacationing to a deluxe cabin in the middle of no where?? I, for one, could not resist.

In addition to being clued in by the title and the fact that this is a thriller book, you start to suspect things might go a bit wrong when learning that the only reviews of the secluded cabin in question are glowing ones posted to the company's website that all sound a bit too similar and robotic. But you have no idea the extent to which everything will unravel!

I saw some reviewers mention that they weren't a fan of all the different perspectives, and although at first it was a bit jarring, I didn't mind it as much once I got used to it. It still wouldn't be my favorite way of consuming a story--I would have been fine with maybe 1-3 perspectives from say Hannah, Liza, and Cricket's point of views--but it didn't detract too much from my enjoyment of the book.

Overall, I would recommend this to most thriller fans--4.5 stars rounded up!

Thank you to Legend Press, Lisa Unger, and NetGalley for this eARC!

I absolutely devoured Confessions on the 7:45 and Last Girl Ghosted by Lisa Unger. Which made me extremely happy to be picked for an ARC of her latest book from NetGalley.
Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six. True Lisa Unger style, she hooks you in immediately. 3 couples head out for a weekend getaway to a very secluded cabin in the woods. High flying gaming entrepreneur Mako and his sweet yogi wife Liza. Hannah, his sister & mighty defender plus her straight arrow husband Bruce. The third couple is Makos ex high school girlfriend/Hannah’s long time best friend Cricket and her new flame, Joshua. But there’s more to this getaway that any of them know. Things & people aren’t aren’t what they always seem and sometimes turning a blind eye isn’t the answer. I give this book a 3.5/4⭐️

Do you like isolated environments? Yes? Hello, nice to meet you. We have that in common!

As you can guess from the title, the premise is six guests, one secluded cabin; a big storm is coming, and roads might become impassable. The premise is so right up my alley that I got a bit too excited with too high of expectations.

This book shouldn't be 400 pages. It is two books and a short story mixed. And in parts, it was a bit repetitive and overexplaining (like the whole Hannah's flashback chapter, we figured out what happened already).

Story one: the cabin. A family with dark secrets. Something should go wrong on this trip. The host is a creep; the chef is a creep; probably, there are more creeps in the woods. The haunted house (or not haunted?). But then it becomes a clichéd horror movie (in a "we should stay together, but let's split anyways" way).

Story two: Henry. First, you are a bit annoyed by the unrelated plot interrupting story one, but you hope it all will be connected most shockingly later, so you keep reading. Henry's line is a great journey on its own with deep topics of family, finding your roots, and yourself. I would enjoy it as a separate literary fiction with a dark side. It just doesn't fit well into this book. It all connects, of course, but did we need this many unrelated pages to add to "the main" plot?

A short story bonus: struggles and decisions of another character. It doesn't add anything; it is irrelevant. I didn't care.

Overall, it was entertaining. I like how some topics are explored. But the next time, can we please focus on one story and not try to go exploring everything remotely related in such great depth?

Thanks to NetGalley and Legend Press for the e-ARC of this book!

I loved the first few chapters of Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six, but it quickly lost me. Not only were there too many perspectives, but they were ordered in such a way that it was impossible to get engaged with any of them. There were very few perspectives that interested me, and I think some editing could have really helped here.

Three couples head to a secluded luxury cabin for the weekend. Unfortunately, they’re not the only ones invested in what happens over the course of the weekend.
While we spend some time with each of the couples, this only served to help me realise that none of them were particularly pleasant people. Every single one was hiding something, and some of these secrets were dangerous in the way they impacted on others.
We follow them through their trip, and as we start to unpick their secrets a storm closes in and the power goes out. Before we know it, people are injured and we start to realise that this family trip away is going to be of significance for other reasons.
While the general idea was interesting, it just didn’t hang together well. Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this prior to publication.

This is my 3rd book from Unger and i feel like her books always end up the same way for me - super intriguing synopsis and strong start, but quickly becomes really convoluted to the point where the main plot seems to get lost. this one was a bit more focused than Last Girl Ghosted (which completely went off the rails), but there were SO many characters/names to follow and we got lots of backstory on a certain character that really added very little to the plot in the end. although we’re following a group of people being stalked in a cabin, it never really seemed tense or high-stakes. overall a fine and quick read, but less enthralling than i wanted it to be.

This is the first book I've read by this author, and I have mixed feelings about it. The book jumps around a lot between the present day and the past, with each chapter being from the POV of different characters. I don't think the "twists" were all that surprising in this one, I think it was pretty obvious where it was going for most of the book. I will say, that it was a quick read, and I liked the setting of the secluded cabin. I also appreciated that it wasn't just a standard, locked room mystery, and that there was definitely more to the story than just that.

Thank you to Netgalley and Legend Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the ARC. I desperately wanted to read this one. This was so good and so creepy. I loved the information on genealogy, Henry's fight against eugenics, and the creepy, uber creepy, host.
This was even better than I expected. I found it relatable too. How much of who we are is genetics and how much is a choice? Also how much comes from your environment?
I have a dozen "bad guys" in my family. I have opted to cut off all contact for life. But I wonder often if some of this is genetic and it terrifies me.
Anyway, I won't ever go to a cabin the middle of nowhere and be cut off like that. No thanks.

This was a great book and it gave me a lot to think about.

Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six
Thursday night at midnight I finished “Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six,” by author Lisa Unger who I was delighted that I was able to do a Q&A with this past summer which you can read here https://booknotions.com/qa-with-lisa-unger/ . “Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six,” is about three couples who spend a long weekend at a luxury cabin not realizing that someone is watching them from the woods, someone who has an ax to grind. The novel comes out on November 8th. If you haven’t requested a copy from Netgalley like I did, preorder the novel now or put it on hold at the library.

Pros
I like the setting of the cabin in the woods in Georgia. The story reminded me almost of “And Then There Were None,” since many people had secrets and they were trapped somewhere only this time it was a cabin. Whether the cabin is luxury or not it gives the sense of it being haunted. I also liked reading points of views of the many characters. While some books don’t always do a good job of so many characters and how their stories intertwine, Lisa Unger did a good job of that without it being overwhelming. You don’t know how the characters stories would intertwine but of course towards the end the light bulb in your head will tell you, “Oh! I see how the stories connect now!”


Cons
I did feel like everything was tied up too neatly. I also felt the character of Bracken was out of place for this story, I liked him but he felt out of place. I caught an error of when Spongebob first was on tv. A chapter from Henry’s point of view in 1997 had him watching Spongebob. Spongebob came out in 1999. I remember because I was 7 years old in 1999.


Overall
Overall my first time reading a novel from Lisa Unger was wonderful. I can’t wait to read more from her especially “Confessions On The 7:45”, which will be a Netflix movie starring Jessica Alba. Thank you Netgalley for the early copy of this novel, and thank you Lisa Unger for writing it preorder the novel so you can get it on November 8th or put it on hold at your library.

Release Date: Feb. 16, 2023

*Thank you to @netgalley & Legend Press for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review*

"Three couples rent a luxury cabin in the woods for a weekend getaway to die for."

👍 What Worked For Me:
- Locked room
- Twisty
- Multiple viewpoints
- Satisfying ending

👎 What Didn't Work For Me:
- Way too many storylines going on.
- Too many names. I couldn't keep up.
- I had no sense of how old anyone was, other than they were adults. So when Henry's timeline was happening, I was like .... okay but.... how old is everyone else??? 🤨 Because that would matter to some of the twist guesses. Which, I guess, is a strategy in keeping me guessing.
- I felt like one whole storyline was unnecessary. But could have also been used to throw me off? I dunno, man, I was stressed trying to understand how things were lining up.

It was a good locked room read. I loved the setting, kind of disliked all the characters, but also that works in the subject of the stories.

*sigh* This isn't a glowing review, I realize. I liked it... it just was so much happening. It needed to be reigned in a bit... that's my final answer here. 🤣

1 star. I didn’t enjoy this book at all and parts of it made me angry. Not the fun, popcorn thriller I was expecting to read. Very unpleasant.

I hated how the thematic content was incorporated into the story and repeated over and over again. Family, parents and children, pregnancies, rape and victim blaming. None of these were well handled and I was surprised that this was even what the book was about! The blurb gave the impression of a story about three couples and their friendships. This is not that book. A strange importance was put upon blood relations and children being a vital part of a complete and happy life. I didn’t enjoy that at all. And everyone had either tragically lost their parents or couldn’t connect with them. Everyone.

I also hated all of the characters and disliked spending time with them. They were all miserable. The gender dynamics weren’t great either, with all the men obsessed with work and all the women only caring about family and children. And those are the only character traits they possess.

A large part of the book deals with the results of DNA testing kits. Which isn’t even hinted at in the description. Not a word about ancestry research, even though it is a topic that’s brought up in the very first chapter!

On top of all of that, it takes forever for anything to happen once they’ve reached the cabin. Some characters are off on their own for large sections of the book and because they don’t have a POV, they disappear until they are needed again for the story to progress. While other characters, whose POVs we are reading from, are completely inconsequential to the story. It’s incredibly clunky and the book overall is very boring for a thriller. And so repetitive!

This is the second book by the author that I have read (“Confessions on the 7:45” being the other and 4 stars) and both have a strange subtext of disliking social media and technology without reason. It’s very odd.

I had been looking forward to reading this book a lot, but was sadly very disappointed.

Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six explores family and the lengths they will go to to protect them, but also what it means to be family. Siblings Mako and Hannah take a weekend away together along with their spouses as well as Hannah’s best friend (and Mako’s ex) and her new love interest. In the secluded cabin, dark secrets are revealed, a member of the group goes missing, and subterfuge is afoot.

Good storytelling and plot. Characters weren’t particularly lovable but I don’t think they’re meant to be. They were developed well enough to have an opinion about them and care about the outcome. I had an idea where the story was going just after halfway through, and while I wasn’t completely right, I was close. I still enjoyed the way the author wove her story. I have one complaint and it’s in the spoiler below.
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***spoiler***I really didn’t understand the need for Bracken and his little side story. It didn’t add anything to the story and he wasn’t really relevant. The whole spying thing was initially portrayed as creepy but suddenly at the end we are supposed to have sympathy for him because he doesn’t know how to have human interaction? Also it wasn’t pertinent to the story.