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Ruth Ware | 2020 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Corporate Retreats are Murder
When the key employees of the internet startup Snoop show up at a chalet in the French Alps, they are expecting a week of presentations and skiing. However, there is tension brewing just below the surface thanks to a buyout deal that has split the board. The tension only grows worse when heavy snow and an avalanche cuts everyone off from the rest of the world and one of the members of a group goes missing somewhere out in the snow. As the hours pass, it becomes clear a killer is in the group. Will help arrive before they are all dead?

While the cast of isolated characters trope is not new to the mystery genre, Ruth Ware quickly makes it her own in this page turning thriller. I love how she so successfully isolated the characters. The plot is wonderful with tension rising early before the characters fully realize the danger they are in. The twists kept me engaged the entire way through the nail-biting climax. The characters could have been a little stronger overall. Don’t get me wrong, I cared about them and the outcome, but I felt like many of them stayed two dimensional and those we got to know better bordered on the cliché. Being a thriller, I expected more foul language than in the books I typically read, but it was a bit excessive for my tastes. Still, these are nitpicks in an overall wonderful thriller.
  
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David McK (3816 KP) rated The Olympian Affair (The Cinder Spiers #2) in Books

Aug 26, 2024 (Updated Aug 26, 2024)  
The Olympian Affair (The Cinder Spiers #2)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Well, that was a long wait.

Approximately 10 years (edit: 8, to be precise) since the publication of the previous full-length entry in this series (The Aeronaut's Windlass).

So it's just as well I went back and read that recently, as well as the recently-published 'interquel' short story of Warriorborn.

I *would* advise reading that short story first, since this picks up almost immediately from the end of said story: Benedict jumps at the end of the latter, AMS Predator catches him at the start of this.

That sentence will make more sense to any who have read it.

Anyway, what we have is another full-blown Steampunk novel, with war brewing between the home Spires/nations of the world in which it is set, and with some heavy hints towards the end that it is set in 'our' world, but in the far far (and largely dystopian) future - I also got a bit of a vibe of that bit in 2005's 'King Kong' film where they are on Skull Island and surrounded by giant man-eating millipedes etc (which is why, in the story, the surface world is so feared).

Let's hope I don't have to wait so long for the next instalment

Or even for a new Harry Dresden (my favourite of Butcher's works) story

(with the author even apologising for the wait for this in his authors note at the end)
  
The Enemy to the Living (The Wild Hunt #2)
The Enemy to the Living (The Wild Hunt #2)
Alexandra Keillor | 2025 | LGBTQ+, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
THE ENEMY TO THE LIVING is the second book in The Wild Hunt series, a spin-off from the Monsters of London series. I really recommend you read that series before embarking on this one, as the characters here are dealing with the consequences of what happened there.

This is Quinn and Asher's story. Quinn, we know quite well, but Asher has been a character of mystery up until now. Quinn is dealing with some heavy-duty emotions, which in turn lead to his wolf going AWOL. Asher is doing his job with the Hunt when he spots Quinn in a fighting cage. This seems to wake up all kinds of protective instincts in Asher. Will he be able to help Quinn before the fae take what they feel they are owed?

This was a great addition to the series, with emotions running high from beginning to end. I loved the way both Quinn and Asher provided what the other needed almost instinctively, with no fanfare, but just by being there. The little insights they had about each other were also good to read.

Told from both perspectives, this was a medium-paced, smooth read that I thoroughly enjoyed. Definitely recommended by me.

** Same worded review will appear elsewhere. **

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Sep 26, 2025
  
The Great Divide
The Great Divide
Cristina Henriquez | 2024 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
My attention was attracted by the cover, I was interested by the synopsis and I stuck around for the great story!

I admit, I knew next to nothing about the construction of the Panama Canal, and if this book had been solely about that, I doubt I would have picked it up at all 🤷🏼‍♀️ However, The Great Divide is about how the Canal affected the people: those for it, those against it, and those just trying to survive. The US, who funded the construction, are barely mentioned. This is about the Panamanians and those from Caribbean countries who travelled to Panama to find work. And I really enjoyed reading about them all.

There are characters who have overcome hardship, those who have travelled and left family behind, and the attitude of the white men who ran the construction process.

This is a character heavy novel - there are a lot of people in it, and they’re all introduced at the beginning, one chapter at a time. It’s worth the concentration and the time - and at no point did I get confused with the characters. I really enjoyed their backstories. I learnt about their lives, superstitions, beliefs and I was reluctant to let them go at the end.

It was refreshing not to read about the “great white saviours” (the US and French financiers and engineers) and instead concentrate on the impact of their actions. And what gripped me the most, was the tenacity of the workers.