The co-owners and executives of Snoop, a social media music app, are attending a corporate retreat at a resort in the French Alps. Their administrative assistants and a former employee have also been invited. They arrive in the middle of a raging snowstorm and the resort isn’t easy to reach, its elevation so high and isolated they have to travel by funicular railway for the final stretch. On the surface, it all looks like the typical corporate offsite. But, there’s much more at stake as the two co-owners aren’t in agreement about the direction of the company. She wants to accept an extremely lucrative offer that’s on the table; he wants to take it public and they’re both lobbying hard to have the executives who own shares pick a side. Things take a turn when they’re trapped by a monster avalanche and one by one, people start dying.
I’m back in another story where the setting is in extreme winter weather but at least the venue is luxurious and beautiful this time. The Snoop folks are hosted by two representatives of the chalet and they’re just as much at risk as everyone else. It’s a motley assembly of personalities and I like how the Snoop app was used as an integral part of the mystery. I paid careful attention to the clues and deduced the culprit very early on, having an “aha” moment because I assembled a couple of details that were illuminating. It changed how I consumed the story, surprisingly making me even more attentive to confirm my hypotheses.
One of the author’s trademark elements is a locked room mystery. There’s something very Christie-ish about her stories, nicely meshing character and plot driven narratives. You have to pay attention to the small stuff that seems like extraneous information but are much more substantive. I love the style and this time I have to admit feeling a bit smug about having solved they mystery so early. It was still exciting and I enjoyed the contrast between the two characters who provided the narratives. Imogen Church is so skilled in her audio performance that I honestly thought there were multiple narrators. She’s just that good and she provided excellent character distinctions. I always knew who was talking. I very much enjoyed this story, even with its slower build and my early solve.
Book Info
- Release Date: September 8, 2020
- Narrator: Imogen Church
- Audio Length: 13 hours, 8 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
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(Thanks to Simon & Schuster Audio for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.)
Blue Mood Café 
Wonderful review Jo I must read or listen to more of her books!
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Thank you, Nicki💜 Ware never disappoints!
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Great review and detective work! I enjoyed this one too!
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Thank you, Inge💜 So glad you liked as well! Yes, I was rather pleased with myself for a change😏
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I so want to read this one after reading your splendid review, Jo! It’s on my list.
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Thank you, Marialyce💜 I hope it lives up to my hype!
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Wonderful review Jo. It sounds like you enjoyed this one more than I did. I enjoy Ware’s books, but couldn’t connect to this one for some reason. Glad you loved it.
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Thank you, Carla💜 The audio narration made a difference but figuring things out so early made it a lot more interesting in an odd kind of a way. And, I love locked room mysteries.
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Great review Jo. Glad to hear that you enjoyed it!
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Thank you, Jacob💜
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I enjoyed this one too. Fantastic review! I am trying to read more of this author’s backlist.
Anne – Books of My Heart
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Thank you, Anne💜 I’m trying to catch up, too. Three more to go.
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Loved reading your thoughts on this, Jonetta! I’ve only read one of her books (the cruise ship one?) and have meant to get back to them!
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Thank you, Jennifer💜 That would be The Woman in Cabin 10, which was my first by Ware! I’m slowly working through her backlist.
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I thought I had read this one because I do enjoy Ruth Ware’s Christie-ish style but reading your review I realize I must have somehow missed it. Another one for my TBR. Excellent review!
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Thank you, Tessa💜 I’d forgotten about this one until Ware was selected as author of the month in one of my groups.
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I always enjoy how Ware has her mysteries unfold and 100% agree that it’s reminiscent of Agatha Christie, another favorite of mine. I really liked this one too, although it took me a lot longer to solve it than you did, lol.
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Suzanne, it was so bizarre how I figured it out so early. I got hung up on a very innocuous description that ended up being a valuable clue. Go figure!
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I was in the minority with this one, I think. I was left quite disappointed. Especially after The Turn of the Key and The Death of Mrs Westaway, this felt like such a let-down.
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Eva, I’ve seen other reviewers express the same opinion so I think you’ve quite a few in your camp. I think this is one of those books where there’s no middle ground.
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