Review: The Cabin – Natasha Preston

Posted 14 November, 2016 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 12 Comments

*I received a free copy of The Cabin from via Netgalley. This has in no way influenced my voluntary review, which is honest and unbiased *

Review: The Cabin – Natasha PrestonThe Cabin on 6 September 2016
Pages: 336
1.5 Stars

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…

The Cabin had a lot of potential, but it really didn’t work for me. At all. There were times I wanted to put it down, but I also kind of wanted to see how the story would end.
Review - (un)Conventional Bookviews

The Cabin had a lot of the tropes that I don’t enjoy when it comes to young adult novels. Like MacKenzie falling instantly in love with Blake, and her inner musings trying to justify that. Insta-love is very hard to get especially in the circumstances that were a part of this novel. A group of friends going to a cabin for a weekend in the summer between school and uni, and where one of the guys was more or less hated by everyone else. Fast forward to the next morning, and the hated guy and his girlfriend were found stabbed to death on the kitchen floor. And it was evident to the police that the murderer had to be one of the people who were still inside the cabin.

There were also some pretty glaring continuity mistakes in The Cabin, but I read an ARC, so this may very well have been fixed in the final version. The most important one was that at one point, MacKenzie talks about her 19th birthday being in five months, then, some chapters later, her parents want to ground her, and she says something to them about being almost 18. I also really didn’t feel invested in the mystery at all, and I think that was partly because I couldn’t stand being in MacKenzie’s head! She was quite naïve, and the way she thought the detective on the case would actually share pieces of the investigation with her made me think she was a bit stupid as well.

Written in first person point of view, from MacKenzie’s perspective, and in past tense, there just was no getting away from her thoughts and I couldn’t connect with her character at all. Her doubts felt shallow to me, and I have to say The Cabin just wasn’t for me.

 

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.

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12 responses to “Review: The Cabin – Natasha Preston

  1. I’m sorry this one didn’t work for you, Lexxie. I have one of Preston’s books on my shelf – got it at BEA – and I’m a littler nervous. I don’t think this one would work for me either though with the instalove (which I don’t mind if done well) and the fact that you weren’t invested in the characters or the mystery. Well, I hope the book following this one was stellar! 😀
    Hope you had a marvelous Monday, my dear. <3 *BIG HUGS* <3

    Bookworm Brandee recently posted: Review ~ Perfectly Imperfect ~ Harper Sloan
  2. It can be hard to appreciate a book when you’re not getting on with the main character, and that perspective is really the only one you’re getting. But even though the murder element to his one sounds good, the insta love was the instant turn off for me (no pun intended :D). I just can’t stand that trope and it’s the worst one for me >.> Oh, and I hope those continuity mistakes were all cleared up by the publication time!

    Olivia Roach recently posted: Happy Socks Make Me Happy [Appreciation Post]

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