During the languid days of the Christmas break, a group of thirty-something friends from Oxford meet to welcome in the New Year together, a tradition they began as students ten years ago. For this vacation, they’ve chosen an idyllic and isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands—the perfect place to get away and unwind by themselves.
They arrive on December 30th, just before a historic blizzard seals the lodge off from the outside world.
Two days later, on New Year’s Day, one of them is dead.
The trip began innocently enough: admiring the stunning if foreboding scenery, champagne in front of a crackling fire, and reminiscences about the past. But after a decade, the weight of secret resentments has grown too heavy for the group’s tenuous nostalgia to bear. Amid the boisterous revelry of New Year’s Eve, the cord holding them together snaps.
Now one of them is dead . . . and another of them did it.
Keep your friends close, the old adage goes. But just how close is too close?
~ ~ ~
Not so much a thriller but a rather engaging mystery wherein you know there is a murder, there are multiple suspects, but the victim is never identified as such until the last few chapters. The narrative moves between the present and the few days leading up the deed, whilst each of those involved add a voice and perspective to chronicle of events. Clues are scattered like the proverbial breadcrumbs in a forest - but not to the extent that they are obvious and leading the reading down the path to deliverance. Much is muted and subtle - a bit like the landscape that provides the setting for our tale of jealousy, deception, betrayal and ultimately ... murder.
This was my first from this author - and I have two more of her books awaiting their turn - The Guest List and The Paris Apartment.
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