This book was unexpected. While the premise was fairly typical of a mystery/crime novel (a group of old friends travel somewhere remote – the Scottish Highlands – to celebrate New Year when tragedy strikes and they’re stranded), the style was very original. Written as a number of first-person narratives, the reader gets to know a few of the characters intimately whether they’re the London guests with relationships spanning up to twenty years, or the staff that work at the gorgeous lodge they’ve booked in the wilds of Scotland. While the tale commences with the tragedy, it then segues back and forth to three days before, to “Now” and then brings the reader ever closer to the moment death strikes.
The combination of first-person POV, which means we sometimes see the same set of circumstances and interactions from completely different perspectives, as well as the shifting time frame, gives such immediacy to the story. I found I wanted to keep reading, even as my eyes grew heavy. Turning the next page, I would experience a chill, a frisson, that made me keep going. In that sense, the book is a real page turner. I have seen criticism of the book in relation to the characters, some readers finding them genuinely unpleasant. There is that – most are not ‘nice’ with secrets and flaws that make them unlikable but never, I felt, unrelatable. They admit to their faults, even try to psychoanalyse themselves. While the this generally fails, it’s the fact Foley gives the reader contexts and other perspectives for understanding certain characters’ actions and motivation that redeems them somewhat. I found it refreshing to have characters portrayed in such shades of grey. It’s also what made the perpetrator hard to pick.
Overall, I thought his a great, escapist read. So much so, I have already bought Foley’s next book, The Guest List and look forward to being chilled by that as well.