“I haven’t finished yet!”
- Book: The Chalet
- Location: French Alps
- Author: Catherine Cooper
OMG! – A debut novel – Really? – No Way!
I haven’t read a book this quickly in I don’t know how long, and that’s not because it was a PDF copy which needed to be read on my computer, or because I have a little more free time as I am still at home. No! I rattled through this one at a great rate of knots because I simply needed to know how it ended, and I needed to know right now!
In my haste, the pages practically turned themselves, on a book which had just about everything going for it. The opening paragraph piqued my interest; the storyline was crammed full of suspense and some subtly introduced red herrings to keep me guessing; whilst the ending was both conclusive and open-ended, which would generally get my back up a little, but in this case seemed right and natural. Reading The Chalet as a stand alone story definitely works a treat if you are not much of a series reader, however I just hope that there is going to be a follow-on story very soon, to tie up that niggling loose end!
I really got on board with Catherine’s skilled, effortless and mature writing style and was amazed at just how finely balanced and fluid she managed to keep the story, between it being plot and character driven. The short, clipped chapters, which randomly switched between multiple places and time zones, causing me have to stop and piece things together occasionally, but only in an enjoyable way and never distracting enough to be bothersome. Visually descriptive narrative and dialogue drew me in and made me, the outside neutral observer, a part of this carefully planned journey of revenge, retribution and closure.
A multi-layered, pacey plot, featured parallel storylines of the ‘then and now’, told through several different voices of the many prime characters, which I saw gradually coming together, as motives were revealed, grievances aired and old scores prepared to be settled. Twists and turns were added regularly throughout the course of this richly crafted journey, so that what I thought five minutes ago, was now no longer feasible, making me have to constantly re-evaluate my conclusions. There were some quite disturbing, profoundly touching and emotionally distressing sections of narrative, but these were handled with consummate ease and empathy by Catherine, who showcased them sympathetically, as a perceptive, social commentary of our times, throwing a thoughtful and caring spotlight on the mental health issues and behavioural problems we face in all walks of society. These cameos were all essential to the storyline and in no way sought to overshadow the carefully choreographed and planned murder/mystery at the heart of it all. With all the main players gathered together in one place, I was just waiting for a detective straight out of an Agatha Christie novel, to appear and unmask the murderer – But this plot was far too subtle for that to happen and I never saw coming, the final flourish which Catherine left me to ponder on, so obvious, so sneaky and so unexpected.
‘Revenge is a dish best served cold’!
The profusion of complex players in this ever evolving drama, were the most undesirable and ill-matched set of individuals as you could ever hope to meet, although I became so invested in them as a rather stunned and often open-mouthed observer, that they almost became real. Despite them being really well defined and developed, to the point where I could almost read their thoughts as if I knew them personally, none of them were really open enough to connect with on any intellectual level and the dynamics between them were generally strained and false, having very little depth, to say the very least. However of the the four central characters, there is actually only one who doesn’t fit, has something to hide and a reason to be afraid. The two lead male roles, are those of Hugo and Simon and at first I must admit that I had firmly slotted Simon into some dastardly plan for the unfolding events, but that is maybe because I found him so noxious as a person. When I realised that in fact both he and Hugo were simply a couple of not very competent businessmen, with large bank balances obtained at other people’s hard work and expense, I had great fun sitting back and unpicking the rather noisome personalities which Catherine had woven around them.
There are so many secrets, so much lying and deceit, so many inter-twined stories which bind them together as both a whole unit and as individual sub groups within the unit, that I don’t know how Catherine managed to keep track of them all when she was plotting her storyline! I wish my mind could work on that many parallel planes at the same time!!
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