Title: The Cabin
Author: Natasha Preston
ISBN: 9781492618553
No. of Pages: 336
Genre: Young Adult; Mystery
Origins: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: 6 September 2016
“A weekend partying at a remote cabin is just what Mackenzie needs. She can’t wait to let loose with her friends. But a crazy night of fun leaves two of them dead—murdered.
With no signs of a forced entry or struggle, suspicion turns to the five survivors. Someone isn’t telling the truth. And Mackenzie’s first mistake? Assuming the killing is over…”
My Thoughts: A locked cabin. A group of friends who have known each other for years. A no-parents weekend. Two dead bodies. This has all the hallmarks of an outstanding murder mystery. Unfortunately, the execution is weak, the characters are even weaker, and the ending…well, the ending is one of the lowest points of the entire novel.
The main problems lie with the narrative flow as well as with the lack of character development. The story itself is choppy. Told through the first-person narrator, you expect some issues with continuity; after all, the human brain rarely, if ever, thinks in complete, coherent sentences. However, the issues with Mackenzie’s narration go beyond that. For one, you never really get to know Mackenzie. Her thoughts remain superficial. There is a distinct lack of intimacy in spite of seeing everything from her point of view. Second, her emotions are wildly erratic, shifting from giddy to depressed in a matter of a few sentences. Lastly, she is not intelligent. You understand that she is naive and too trusting; it is a major plot point because she cannot fathom how one of her long-time friends is capable of executing a double murder. However, this goes beyond that. She not only jumps to conclusions based on one piece of information, but she feels she is more capable of discovering the truth than the police. Her actions are unnecessary and irritating.
The lack of character development does not stop with Mackenzie. Everyone who goes to the cabin remains as one-dimensional as possible. Moreover, other than at the cabin, which is just a small section of the story, they are not together. You never see the group dynamic long enough to be able to discern clues about the killer. The information you do get is highly tainted because it is from Mackenzie’s point of view, and it is well-established that she views everyone through rose-tinted glasses. This proves to be frustrating because in murder mysteries, you want answers and Ms. Preston provides none. Something as simple as an understanding why the detectives are so cold would go a long way towards establishing a connection between character and reader. What few answers we do get come too late in the story to remedy the situation, and your interest has long since waned.
The novel is frustrating enough, and then you reach the conclusion. The unveiling of the murderer is anticlimactic and utterly unappealing. By that time, Ms. Preston has thrown so many red herrings at you that you no longer care who actually did the deed. The worst part is that she does not stop there. To make an uninteresting resolution completely infuriating, she throws in a plot twist so over the top that it will make you want to commit violence to the book. One can see what she was trying to do, but she completely fails to succeed and ends up creating a lasting highly unfavorable impression.
The Cabin seems like it is going to be an excellent locked-door murder mystery, the kind with interesting character dynamics, and a thrilling denouement that exposes the killer in the nick of time. Sadly, it is anything but that. Instead, we have a rushed murder mystery with an insipid heroine, a serious lack of character development that prevents you from observing the group dynamics, a frustrating lack of answers, and an annoying conclusion. Of the very popular murder mystery/suspense/thriller genre in literature, The Cabin is a poor example and therefore worth avoiding.
BOTTOM LINE: Totally not worth the aggravation.
I really liked the book, but like… we needed more pages at the end. Like wtf why a cliffhanger and don’t make a sequel?
Agreed.
I picked this book up for a dollar at a local library book sale. I was disappointed after the first 10 or so pages. After painfully reading over 200 pages I asked myself, “Why am I hanging in there wasting my time with this insipid character Mackenzie?” I jumped to the last few pages to the end and was even more angry with the book and its author.
How this was a NYT bestseller is beyond me. Maybe for the same reason people still watch ridiculously inane soap operas? Michelle’s review is spot on. I should have read it before delving into this “mystery.” Not only am I not going to recycle it for another book sale, I’m going to destroy enough of it that no one can take it out of my recycle bin and suffer as I did.
Ha. I’m sorry that you didn’t enjoy it. I see is still a popular author, but I confess that I ignore anything that has her name on it. Fool me once and all that.
I COMPLETELY agree with this review. It’s the most accurate thing, that I felt every emotion she put into this review. Quite literally “committing violence to the book”. I was very upset that I read this book front to back, let alone purchased it.
Ugh. That is the worst – buying a book you end up hating! I hope your next books were much more successful reads for you!
Okay, so I read Chris Carter’s Robert Hunter books like it’s nobodys business…I needed a change up and came across this book. I read it in about 2 or 3 hours…I full heartedly agree, it was all over the place but I needed to know what was going to happen and who did it. The actual ending of the book completely peeved me off. I guessed it was that person almost from the get go and my suspicions were confirmed when I thought back to different parts of the book and it only made sense. Well as much sense as you could make out of this book. I am so frustrated and infuriated that I bought the physical copy of this book…there needed to be more to that abrupt ending. Thanks for letting me rant!
You are very welcome; rant away!
I am currently reading this book and struggling to get through it! I’m glad that I’m not the only one out there that feels like this. Now I won’t feel so bad just going directly to the end to find out who did it.
There is nothing wrong with skipping to the end to get the answer to the big mystery. I wish I had done that with this one, but I am learning to do that with other thrillers. You should not have to slog through a bad novel just to get satisfaction in the form of whodunit!
I found the book thrilling and actually liked reading it but I found the end really disappointing. Really hoped for more
Did you not enjoy it?
No, I did not. I explain it all in my review.
I honestly loved the book. I was so anxious reading it but it was worth it! Yes, it made me a little mad towards the end but it’s okay. This book gave me cold chills every time I open it to read it. I loved it!
I’m glad you enjoyed it more than I did!
I really wish I would have read this review before I bought this book. It is exactly how I feel as well. I was left with a feeling of, “this is it?” What a disappointing read. It would start to get you interested then proof! Let down. I kept waiting for it to get better and then it ended. Such a waste.
It is such a disappointment, isn’t it? My experience was so anticlimactic that I am leery about reading anything else she wrote. I hope you have much better luck with your next novel of choice!
I liked it(:
I am glad you enjoyed it!
It sounds pretty superficial. Too bad!
It was pretty bad.
A stinker of a book only makes you appreciate the good ones more. This one sounds pretty bad. Not even bad in a good way.
It was not great. I honestly skimmed most of it because I did want to know the murderer. However, the ending is a total cop-out and still makes me mad just thinking about it.
It was about as awful as you can imagine.
Well, damn. I haven’t seen one good review about this book so far, and that’s a bummer because I love that cover. I wanted it to be good, and I’m sorry it wasn’t.
Don’t feel bad. Just think that I saved you time so that you can focus on reading GOOD books!
I know you were interested in reading it. I feel bad that I couldn’t recommend it to you!
I loved the book
I’m glad you enjoyed it!