Review: The Cabin by Natasha Preston

Book Blurb:

There may only be one killer, but no one is innocent in this new thriller from Natasha Preston, author of The Cellar and Awake.

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 launches 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…

My Review:

3 Out Of 5 Stars

Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Teen--

Mackenzie and her friends are excited at the prospect of having a weekend away together with no parents, even if it means that they have to deal with the jerk Josh and his stranger of a brother Blake. Is seems like everything is going well and everyone is getting along, surprisingly. Mackenzie finds herself drawn to the gorgeous yet prickly Blake, and ends up spending the night with him. But soon her happiness is ruined by the murdered bodies of her best friend Courtney as well as Josh. The police determined that nobody broke in, meaning that one of the five remaining friends in the house is the killer.

The moral of the story is that everyone has secrets. Mackenzie narrates the story, full of hope and faith that her friends and her new crush Blake are innocent, and someone else somehow got in. Yet as the story progresses, secrets are revealed and soon Mackenzie doesn’t know who is guilty, but suspects them all. I thought I would be a little bored by this story since I felt kind of blah about it when it first started, which continued until the first friend confessed a surprising and out of character secret. It all felt so predictable, but then the story took a turn and I can honestly say that I had no idea what to expect, who was guilty and who would make it out alive. (I was team Blake all the way, with his snarky attitude and lost little boy eyes, it didn't matter to me that he was a suspect.) This was my first book by this author and I appreciated her ability to twist things up for me.

So, the ending. Yes, the ending. Wow, way to drop a huge bomb and then just stop the story. WTF! So I have no idea if this is the author’s style, or just this one book, but I was slightly surprised and incredibly horrified by the last few pages of the book. I was lulled into a false sense of comfort and resolution, just to have the carpet ripped out from underneath me, and I was not a fan. I guess I can say that it was well done by the author, but geesh, I feel sad and confused and let down. As a side note, the whys behind the action were a little murky and not very interesting, but whatever.

Overall this was a steady mystery story with a surprising twist. I am intrigued to what else the author has in store for me in her other books.

I received this title in return for my honest review.