Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six

I liked the mystery, however felt that we didn't spend nearly enough time with the antagonist to even understand how they ended up at the point they did. Henry, who was meant to be a foil, was given too many pages in comparison, and seemed like a waste in the end. The innkeeper's POV added nothing but a layer of disgust, but was in no way integral to the plot.

Sidenote: I couldn't picture anyone else as Mako but Forty from You lol.

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bpezzuti's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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julienicole1106's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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reader_rediscovered's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

📚 Book 9/25 of 2023 📚

⭐️ 2.5/5 stars!

This was a recent Value Village thrifting find for me! Unfortunately, this thriller was a huge slog for me to get through. I usually zip right through thrillers because I'm usually dying to figure out what's happening. Even in the MIDST of the drama popping off, it was hard to pick up the book. I didn't like the vast majority of the characters, making it ultimately hard to care about where the plot took them.

I ended up checking out my local library for the audiobook and listened to the book simultaneously while I read my physical copy in order to try and keep my attention. It's the first time I've ever done anything like that, and I found that it did work pretty well.

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honey_coated_chapters's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

°:. *₊ ° . ° .•
𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈: 4.5/5
𝑵𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔: 392
𝑸𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔:
•multiple (like 6 people deep) POVs
•cinematic
•dual/converging timelines
🚨TW: rape, suicide, violence, abortion, infertility, killing of an animal, child abuse🚨
🌲🧬
First and foremost, this book had so many main characters and side characters to keep up with I literally had to drew a map and take notes. It was well written and well constructed - the tension was palpable and I felt the urgency and fear of everyone in the cabin. It’s definitely a rollercoaster of a page-turner, something I had a hard time putting down when it was at a high… However, there were times when the story just plateaued - whether that be because of redundancy in the plot/writing or too much focus on the side-story, that I lost interest. There’s 2 different storylines happening within the book, it’s not incredibly hard to separate but I found myself asking “okay and this is relevant how??” A lot. It comes together (kind of) in the end, but even then I could’ve done without the seemingly irrelevant information. It was cinematic in the amount of characters and the overall atmospheric tone - there was a lot of texture, sensory information, I felt like I was there and terrified alongside the characters. But it was a bit messy and convoluted.
📹💾
There is a lot of emphasis on family - found and biological. And the author stresses chemistry vs. biology, which I found interesting. (For example, the idea that you have more chemistry and ease around your best friend, than you do your cousin.) I absolutely loved the ending, it came together pretty well for the most part. There was one plot hole that frustrated me because it was presented as important but then never brought up again? The plot redundancy/irrelevancy along with the repeated words (akimbo, skein) garnered an otherwise perfect book, a 4.5.

was anyone else pissed that Bracken just like…….. skated by? Also can we discuss how Henry has memory of looking into the eyes of another woman who wasn’t Alice? Or when he remembered being sung to????

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