The Cabin ~ By Natasha Preston – 1.5 Stars

Tags

Horror, Mystery, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: September 6th, 2017

336 Pages

Synopsis: When Mackenzie treks to a secluded cabin in the woods with six friends, she expects a fun weekend of partying, drinking, and hookups. But when they wake to find two of their own dead and covered in blood, it’s clear there’s a killer among them.

As the police try to unravel the case, Mackenzie launchers her own investigation. Before long secrets start to emerge, revealing a sinister web of sins among the original seven friends. The killer is still free. Every one of them is a suspect. And Mackenzie starts to realize that no one is innocent…

Sigh. Sometimes I feel like I’m a glutton for punishment. Last year I read Awake by Natasha Preston and pretty much hated it, so why, you may ask, would I read another book by her? Well, I believe in second chances, and the premise of The Cabin sounded great and I just couldn’t resist. I mean, a secluded cabin in the woods, with partying teens, one of whom is a killer! What’s not to like? Unfortunately the actual story and its players never live up to its intriguing premise. The main problem I had was with the characters. For the most part all they did was drink, do drugs, have sex and lie to each other. Except for Mackenzie there’s little to no character development and I couldn’t stand any of them. Mackenzie was slightly more likable, but her naïveté about her friends got on my nerves eventually. There’s a romance/ insta-lust between her and Blake, the dead boy’s brother, that isn’t entirely believable as they don’t really trust each other. And, while the story is set in England, there were many American words and phrases thrown in, which made the dialogue jarring and inconsistent. The reason I gave this 1 1/2 stars, was because the actual mystery regarding the killer’s identity kept me guessing. But even this was spoiled by the twist near the end which led to a messy conclusion and annoying cliffhanger. As with Awake, for some reason Natasha Preston focuses all her attention on all the negative stereotypes about teens, while including nothing positive. As always, if you are interested by the premise, I encourage you to try this and judge it for yourself. As for me, I think The Cabin will be the last book I pick up from this author.