I went into this book blind and was pleasantly surprised by the book. I really liked it and now have another author's backlog to add to my TBR! I also love a good, strong, kick-ass woman as the lead problem solver and this book really gave you all of that! You could really feel the sadness from the characters from their communal loss, but some of them were really a bag of dicks as humans.

#TheSnowstorm
#NetGalley

I had trouble staying engaged in this story. I found it a little confusing on who was who and keeping up with the history of everyone. The overall story was interesting, but I didn’t think anything was very memorable.

This is a good little thriller. If you are looking for something that takes you to a small Irish island where Gaeilge is spoken and everyone knows everyone plus a little murder or two, this may be for you.
On an icey New Year’s Eve on a small Irish island six friends come together. It’s been ten years since a terrible tragedy tore them all apart. A lot of things have changed over the years and the bonds that held the group together have become lifelong secrets. What should have been a happy reunion is shattered when a dead body is discovered.
Not long after the friends start to celebrate one of them goes missing and as the weather worsens the body is discovered. Then the storm really hits and everyone is trapped with no way out, no phone signal, and no electricity. Now, no one is sure who to trust and no one is who they seem to be because among the group there is a killer and another death may not be too far off.
This was good. It’s well written and the story keeps you pulled in the entire time right up to the very end. The end isn’t easy to figure out and when the “big reveal” comes you’ll be on the edge of your seat waiting for it.
I would highly recommend this book on audio if you get the chance. I received a copy from NetGalley and I loved it! When you have a narrator reading the story in the accented voice that the characters in the book have, it really gets you set up on that small Irish island with the group of friends. It brings the story to life. It’s terrific!

This book is going on my shelf. I am so excited to own it. Thank you so much netgalley. This was a good read.

I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. Surprised because although I love thrillers and mysteries, locked-room style thrillers are something I don’t generally enjoy. While this wasn’t a true locked-room it was more a locked-on-a-remote-island-in-the-the-middle-of-a-blizzard but I’m going with it.

It’s New Year and Cara and her friends reunite to celebrate and remember the passing of Cara’s husband who died tragically ten years earlier.

Set in a remote part of Ireland in what seems like a seriously insane place to spend winter there is a mysterious death and Cara as the closest thing resembling a law official is tasked with trying to determine what happened. Unfortunately, when she realises the body is one of her closest friends things take a dramatic turn and fingers are pointed around what was once a close-knit community.

While a little slow to start the story line definitely built as it went along, and I was totally invested in the story and had to find out who the murderer was. And nope, I didn’t guess it, but then again, I’m always useless at guessing who the culprit is.

There’s a few annoying characters thrown in, secrets are revealed, red herrings are cast and while I did have a little trouble keeping up with who was who in the zoo, this was a solid stuck in a blizzard thriller.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Bookature for another great read.

I picked this up because of the atmosphere and it did not disappoint. Set in the Aran Islands off the coast of Ireland we are snowed in with an old group of friends who have gotten together after many years apart to remember and celebrate the life of of their friends who pasted away 10 years earlier.

I had the chance to visit the smallest of the islands a few years ago on my honeymoon and to say that I was living for all the little details of life on the Inis Mór is an understatement.

I think for the seasoned thriller reader you will find this fairly predictable, but that didn’t take away from my experience of reading it. It’s a solid thriller, with a slow reveal of many secrets and many twists. Highly recommend to anyone who enjoys locked room/trapped on an island mysteries or has an interest in the Irish setting.

Audiobook was great. I’ll definitely be keeping an ear out for more narrated by Jacqueline Milne.

***Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the audiobook ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

This is a general fiction/mystery thriller set in Ireland, which I really enjoyed. The audiobook narrator had a lovely irish accent, which suited the book perfectly. She was perfect for the job, and she had a lovely voice.

The story is about six friends who gather together in memory of their friend who passed away years ago in a fishing accident. Everything is going well until one of the friends goes missing, and then their body is found. A big snow storm comes and stops everyone from leaving the island, so there is much stress for the group.

One of the six friends is called Cara. She is a policewoman and she investigates the death of her friend. She has to work fast to find out who the killer is. It is especially tense for her, as she knows the killer is trapped on the island with them all.

I enjoyed the setting of this book, and everything Irish. It was a really great read, which was full of tension, suspense, secrets and family drama.

If you love thrillers and mysteries such as those by Agatha Christie, or by any other author who writes locked room mysteries, then you will love this book. Highly recommended!

Many thanks to the author, narrator, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

Narrated by Jacqueline Milne
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I love love love this narrator!! I could listen to her read me a shopping list and come out thinking it was the most brilliant thing ever.

Author Tríona Walsh ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I thoroughly enjoyed this story and the characters. It had me guessing until the end how this was going to play out. Definitely an author I'm going to follow.

This novel’s creepy and isolated setting had so much potential but the plot didn’t interest me enough.

Read it if: you like your characters to be trapped and unable to escape danger.

Don’t read it if: you’ve read a lot of gritty crime thrillers recently and your appetite for creepiness is now at a Level 95.

I liked the idea of this book’s premise, a reunion of friends trapped on an island whilst they figure out who’s to blame for one of the group’s murder. This isn’t badly written at all, and I liked the protagonist, who’s also a police officer as well as being in the party of reunited friends. However I just couldn’t fathom much interest in the story – it felt a little predictable and I wanted more twists and shocks. The audiobook version is beautifully read.

With thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You know how sometimes a reader just doesn’t mesh well with a book that seems right up their interests? That has happened before and sadly it happened with The Snow Storm as well. The premise intrigued me but I just couldn’t get into the novel. It comes off similar to Ruth Ware novels, but it just dragged for me.

I don’t know what it was: Was it the unusual names for this American reader that I would have had no idea how to pronounce if I didn’t listen to the audiobook? Was it the narration? Possibly, with the Irish accent I had issues understanding the narrator. Was it a mix of the above and just not the right type of format for me. Maybe. The Snow Storm just did not keep my interest. Maybe it just came at the wrong time for this listener.

Though this one did not work for me I would give the author another chance, just not an audiobook next time around!

**Many thanks to the publisher Bookouture Audio for granting me an audio copy to listen to and review. I just wish I had enjoyed this one much more.

A great locked room thriller set on New Year's Eve on an isolated Irish island which has been cut off by a storm

The plot revolves around a group of childhood friends reuniting after 10 years, during which time their lives have taken quite different paths. Although superficially they still seem the same friends as before, many secrets are now festering beneath the surface, and when one of their group is found murdered, it falls to Cara to investigate as the only Garda (police officer) on the island, with reinforcements days away due to the storm.

Predominantly focusing on Cara and ber relationships with the people around her, this is an emotional page turner with plenty of twists

Engaging, atmospheric and expertly narrated. A recommended purchase for collections where thrillers are popular.

With thanks to the author, publishers Bookouture Audio, and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

A remote island locked down by a snow storm on New Year’s Eve … what better setting for a murder mystery!

Six old friends gather on a windswept Irish island, to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of another friend from their childhood group. Three of them still live on the island, including Cara, the only serving Garda (police officer) on the island, while the others have gone off to make new lives for themselves in London and California. When one of the six is found dead in suspicious circumstances, it is left to Cara to untangle the web of lies and deceit spun by those around her to find the culprit!

In a really impressive debut from the author, she builds the tension through a relatively slow and low-key start, before unleashing a seemingly never-ending series of twists and turns that really kept me guessing as to how the story would end up and who the killer would ultimately be revealed to be.

Narrator Jacqueline Milne also did a fantastic job of telling the story, and bringing the characters to life.

Recommended!

Although as usual I will not be retelling the synopsis as I believe that the professional blurb writers do a better job.. This is similar to a lock in mystery, which is a popular genre at the moment. However, the difference is that it is set on an island which has become isolated by a winter storm. There are various inconsistencies or coincidences throughout the book put in place to make the plot work. One of these is the mass of people arriving on the island when apparently it was too stormy to leave! I would give this 5 stars if it was more consistent as
this is otherwise an enjoyable and well narrated audio book mystery.

This was amazing. The twisted plots will keep you thinking. You will never believe the ending. I recommend you read it and find out.

This was a good audiobook! It did take a bit to really take off. I think it had a bit of unnecessary parts in the beginning, however once it picked up it definitely picked up.

At one point, I was blaming everyone and trusted no one. So many twists! I did really enjoy Cara and her character. At first, she seemed super naive, but she was not what she seemed!

Worth the read or listen!

This book was so fantastic, it was so fast paced and twisty. Every time I thought i knew the truth a different characters motive was thrown into the mix. This book is fantastically written with vivid descriptions that make you feel like you are there. I love the mixture of characters with their own dark motive for murder. I never expected that ending and it wont be one i will easily forget. If you like a locked room mystery and an atmospheric thriller then this is perfect and please purchase the audio if you can afford too.

Narrated by Jacqueline Milne, The Snowstorm takes place on an Irish island around New Year's. Six friends come together for the 10th anniversary of the death of one of their own. When one of the six goes missing, it does not take long for the others to turn on each other. As a storm rages on outside and the power goes out inside, will the tensions and the long held secrets rip the group apart?

The story is mainly told by Cara, who is Garda (police) and the widow of the man for whom the whole group came together. As Cara investigates, without the help of the mainland as the storm cuts off communications, she soon realizes that not everything is how it appears.

I had two issues with the story. The first is that Cara has the police station, yet she only utilizes it near the ending of the novel. It would make more sense for her to use the station as a base of operations, only spying on her friends when she needs. The second issue is with the narration and Cara's dialogue towards the end of the novel. She comes across both hostile (which she has every right to be, given the circumstances) and snarky, which I assume is more apparent because of the audiobook. This is a big change in character and does not come through as genuine. I also find it hard to believe that an island with around 600 inhabitants would have only one police officer, but a whole brigade of firefighters.

The plot was transparent, in a lot of ways, and the twist at the ending was what I was expecting. Though the audiobook made the story more enjoyable, I hesitate to recommend it to other readers.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Audio Copy of The Snowstorm by NetGalley and the publisher. The decision to listen to and review this book was entirely my own.

"It’s an icy New Year’s Eve. Snow blankets a windswept Irish island as the wild Atlantic Ocean rages.
Six friends gather. It has been ten years since the tragedy that tore them apart. A lot can change in a decade…
Childhood bonds are now lifelong secrets.
Dear friendships have twisted into deep jealousies.
A happy reunion is shattered by a dead body."

This was a fun isolated murder mystery. As the story unfolds we learn more about the six friends, their history together, and the secrets that they've kept. I enjoyed the setting and characters in this story but the pacing felt a little slow. I found myself solving the clues in this story chapters before the main character. I did still enjoy the story, I just think that it could have been paced better to allow the reader to walk along with the characters instead of ahead of them. If you like an isolated murder mystery, this is a quick read with a nice cast of characters.

⭐⭐⭐💫 (3.5)

Thank you to @netgalley and @bookouture for the gifted copy of this book.

The Snow Storm by Triona Walsh
Many thanks to Netgalley and to Bookouture audio for the audio ARC of this awesome read! Wow what a book thank you ever so much for the opportunity to review. I could not put it down. Would definitely recommend to others!