Label

An unwanted guest

Statement of responsibility

Shari Lapena

Creator

Author

Lapeäna, Shari, 1960-

Subject

Genre

Language

eng

Summary

"A weekend retreat at a cozy mountain lodge is supposed to be the perfect getaway. But when the storm hits, no one is getting away. It's winter in the Catskills and Mitchell's Inn, nestled deep in the woods, is the perfect setting for a relaxing maybe even romantic weekend away. It boasts spacious old rooms with huge woodburning fireplaces, a well-stocked wine cellar, and opportunities for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, or just curling up with a good murder mystery. So when the weather takes a turn for the worse, and a blizzard cuts off the electricity and all contact with the outside world the guests settle in for the long haul. Soon, though, one of the guests turns up dead it looks like an accident. But when a second guest dies, they start to panic. Within the snowed-in paradise, something or someone is picking off the guests one by one. And there's nothing they can do but hunker down and hope they can survive the storm"--
A weekend retreat at a cozy mountain lodge-- the perfect getaway... until the storm hits. It's winter in the Catskills and Mitchell's Inn boasts spacious old rooms with huge woodburning fireplaces, a well-stocked wine cellar, and lots of sports opportunities. So when the a blizzard cuts off the electricity and all contact with the outside world the guests settle in for the long haul. When one of the guests turns up dead it looks like an accident. But when a second guest dies, there's a panic. Someone is picking off the guests one by one. And there's nothing they can do but hunker down and hope they can survive the storm. -- adapted from publisher's info

Tone

Review

A snowy getaway in the Catskills sounds like just the ticket for a disparate group of travelers, including a single attorney, troubled friends planning a girls’ weekend, two couples ready for some romance and another on the brink of a breakup, and a writer looking for some solitude. It all goes awry, however, when an ice storm traps the visitors in Mitchell's Inn, even after one of their numbers dies. Was she murdered? Is someone else next? Nobody knows, and as the electricity and heat shut off, and communication with the outside world becomes impossible, things turn increasingly sinister. This mystery is unusual in that the events leading up to the investigation take many more pages than the investigation itself. While the ending is abrupt, the drawing out of events preceding it is effective, with Lapena (The Couple Next Door, 2016) creating a goosebump-raising atmosphere as the darkness and malevolence stretch on. This compelling and realistic modern take on the country-house mystery will gain new fans for the author and is definitely one to hand to devotees of Agatha Christie (and her modern interpreter, Sophie Hannah). -- Henrietta Verma (Reviewed 8/13/2018) (Booklist, vol 115, number 22)
This disappointing thriller from bestseller Lapena (A Stranger in the House) riffs on Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. A small group of people arrive for the weekend at Mitchell’s Inn, deep in the snowy Catskills, where they hope to enjoy the seclusion and natural beauty of the mountains. The first evening, a young woman, Dana Hart, is found dead at the bottom of the stairs. To lawyer David Paley, it doesn’t look like an accident, and he suspects Dana’s fiancé, Matthew Hutchinson. The problem is that there’s a winter storm raging, and the inn is without power and a generator. Since they can’t contact the police, the guests settle in for a long wait, and the presence of a dead body only exacerbates the mounting tensions. Each guest is hiding a dark secret, and as the secrets are revealed and accusations are hurled, the body count rises, and it seems that no one is safe. The pace picks up in the third act, but it’s not enough to save a narrative populated with emotionally distant characters and paint-by-the-numbers murders. Agent: Helen Heller, Helen Heller Agency (Canada). (Aug.) --Staff (Reviewed 06/25/2018) (Publishers Weekly, vol 265, issue 26, p)
It's murder o'clock at a secluded, snowed-in Catskills resort. Winter in the Catskills is just the time and place for a woodsy mountain getaway, at least for this ensemble cast. When the Mitchell's Inn's weekend guests arrive, "all is covered in a pure, muffling white snow," and they are ready to relax. It's not to be. The first evening, Dana Hart tumbles down the grand staircase to her death. It seems to be an accident, but David Paley's lawyerly instincts lead him to suspect murder. Unfortunately, phone lines are down because of the ice storm raging outside, and the police can't be called. Even worse, there's no power and no generator backup. They're stuck with a dead body, and of course, they really shouldn't move it to preserve evidence. As the group attempts to make the best of the situation, they begin to realize that nasty secrets aren't the exception among them but rather the rule, and as those secrets are revealed, paranoia takes hold. When more guests begin to die in suspicious ways, panic spreads, and any good sense that remained among the group blows away in the frigid winter wind. Readers who prefer likable characters won't find many here, except perhaps Candace White, an author who was hoping for a quiet place to write her new book. Lapena's (A Stranger in the House, 2017) very loose take on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None further suffers from choppy, repetitive prose and an uninspiring reveal. Dame Agatha did it much, much better. (Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2018)

Assigning source

Provided by publisher

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

813/.6

Index

no index present

LC call number

PR9199.4.L366

LC item number

U69 2018

Literary form

fiction

Context

Work of