Review: Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six by Lisa Unger

Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six

by Lisa Unger

Release Date: November 8, 2022

2022 Park Row

Kindle Edition; 396 Pages

ISBN: 978-0778333234

ASIN: B09PGF31YQ

Audiobook:B09V9BFCQK

Genre: Fiction / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

2 / 5 Stars

Summary

What could be more restful than a weekend getaway with family and friends? An isolated luxury cabin in the woods, spectacular views, a hot tub and a personal chef. Hannah’s generous brother found the listing online. The reviews are stellar. It'll be three couples on this trip with good food, good company and lots of R & R.

But the dreamy weekend is about to turn into a nightmare.

My Thoughts

Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six definitely had an interesting premise, but that is where it stops.  I wish that I could have liked this more than I did, but I struggled to get through it and looking back, I don't know why I didn't DNF it. Too lazy to get out of my chair and pick out another book, perhaps? Unfortunately, this book had a timeline that didn't add anything to the story, superfluous characters, and a storyline that really pushes the boundaries of believability. 

There were a lot of different characters, but I think the author concentrated so much on the story line that much of the character development necessary to pull this off didn't really happen. You need to understand the motivations behind the characters and you need to feel sympathy for their actions and behaviours even if you don't necessarily agree with them, but all I wanted to do was shove both Mako and Hannah's faces deep into a snowbank.  Most of the characters are cliched characters, one-dimensional, with little emotional depth.  

The plot was unnecessarily convoluted, adding timelines and characters that didn't need to be there, just to add red herrings to an already bloated situation.  I think authors sometimes forget that cleaner plots can be quite tricky and hard to figure out.  I'm still trying to figure out why we needed the perspective of the owner of the house.  And the jump in timelines wasn't seamless; in fact, it was quite jarring. None of this meshed together very well, leaving me rolling my eyes in frustration and annoyance.  

It's a shame however, as the setting was amazing, and I could imagine all sorts of things going on in a secluded area such as this. The author definitely didn't make use of the elements that were available.  

Verdict

Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six actually suffered from a story that really tried to do to much, creating a convoluted story line and characters that were not really developed and a conclusion that was really not believable.  It's a shame as the setting was pretty cool and secluded, somewhere where I could see a lot of interesting things happening. There were some good themes that were explored, but overall, I think the story missed the mark.