Title: The Cabin
Author: Natasha Preston
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller
Age Group: Young Adult
Rating: 1 star
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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 was… Well, a dissapointment doesn’t even begin to cover it. This book is filled with nopes, no, not in a thousand years. We get situations like teenage drinking (which I’m okay with – here in Europe drinking beer is legal from age sixteen and up – but these teens drink randomly and for no reason. We also get random drugs, random just about everything.
And then we get murder. Random murder too, if you ask me, even when it’s all said and done. Long story short, a couple of friends head to a cabin, and drink so much they pass out, and next morning, two of them are dead. Turns out the others were drugged, and one of them is the killer. Then starts the MC’s quest to find out who killed her friends.
Mackenzie, our main character, is an impossible character to like. She has no personality. She’s stupid, clueless, and very whiny. The other characters don’t have real personalities either, except maybe Blake. The others might as well be talking cardboard figures.
The murder mystery is predictable and dull. The dialogue is cringe-worthy, and the writing is bland. It doesn’t sketch scenes, it doesn’t put the reader into the narrative. I almost stopped reading after chapter one because of how annoyed I was with the sloppy writing. I kept reading because it was an ARC, but if it had been a library book, I’m pretty sure I would’ve given up and just returned it.
The whole story is ridiculous. Dialogue, plot, not to mnetion the ending which is just plain hilarious because it’s too weird. Way too weird to be plausible.
Would I recommend this? No, not at all.
I loved the book. It was very well written, I loved how there was history between the group that caused tension between everyone. It was a very suspenseful plot that kept me on my edge until the end. It was a brilliant idea to have one of the friends as a killer. When trying to figure it out it showed each of the friends had their own secrets to hide. I thought it gave more character to each person having these deep secrets. I thought the ending was brilliant! I loved this book. I’d give it a 5 star rating. I love the author and her other books were brilliant as well. She never disappoints.
I liked it too. I don’t quite know why other people thought it was so bad…
Could not have said it better myself. I wrote a very rant-y review about this book, and….AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH I hated it so much. I actually found this review because I wanted to see if other people had similar complaints.
who is the killer? I’m reading it now but don’t want to finish it if I know who it is…
Whos the killer? please respond
Sorry, I don’t give out spoilers here. Read the book and you’ll find out 🙂
Personally i have to disagree with you on just about everything you have said. The Cabin is a very good book that has some many emotional moments that just kept me drawn in. Yes these teenagers are drinking and doing things they aren’t suppose to be doing, but you have to understand that it’s all part of the story line and the alchol is apart of the story because they were all drunk when the murder happen so it plays a big role in the story. Also the murder isnt predictable at all, there is no way that you knew who was the murderer unless you read all the way to the end, because i never saw it coming. And finally the characters are suppose to be kind of bland because of what happen before the murder, the drunk driving accident which killed one of their friends, it all makes sense if you put it togther and it becomes out to be a great book personally.
Hey Katherine! Thanks so much for your response. I think we’ll have to agree to disagree – I could predict who the murderer was from miles away, and by the mid-way point of the book, was pretty certain of it. And while a drunk driving accident can dull people’s emotions, it shouldn’t make them bland – they should still have distinctive personalities that set them apart from others. Still, although I didn’t enjoy this one, I’m glad you did!
I disagree with your review about the book. I think the book was well written and thoroughly entertaining. It was very suspenseful through out, and i didn’t expect the murderer to be who it ended up being. This was one of my favorite reads of this year, and I would rate it at least 4 stars minimum. For me, murder mysteries and horror books are my absolute favorite and this book did not disappoint. I loved the teen angst and drama the plot added, as well as a developing love story. Yes, there was teen drinking which is illegal and i could see how you would find that unfavorable, but it was needed for the plot to happen how it did. The murder would not have occurred without it, and it helped create the vision of a party weekend of an older group of teens. However, I know this book is not for everyone and everyone will develop their own opinion of the book, but would highly recommend this book to those who may be interested