The Wilderness Retreat

Disclosure: I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for a review. This hasn't affected the review's contents.

This novel takes us to a remote part of Sweden where Bella, our main protagonist, finds herself taking a vacation away from civilization to get away from the stressors in her life, the main one being her son recently departing the nest for university, with several other guests with interesting backgrounds. Things quickly take a turn, however, when she quickly realizes that things aren't quite as idyllic as they first seem on the surface and someone in the lodge may know a little too much about some skeletons in her closet...

This book really held my attention and had me finishing it in only a couple of reading sessions. The way that the story grips you from the start and takes you on Bella's journey, both from her past and in her present, is compelling and I really couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next! This was a real page turner!

I particularly liked the author's ability to imbue unique personalities into all of the characters within the cabin in a relatively short space of literary real estate. The reader is really able to get a feel for all of the characters quite quickly and their unique mannerisms, quirks and outward motivations for being there. The author even nails the somewhat uniquely British "passive-aggressive politeness" vibes from Bella when dealing with certain characters or situations, which is both delightfully nuanced and also quite funny when seeing it play out!

Furthermore, while certainly not a comedy by any stretch, the author manages to intertwine humor, both subtle and overt, into some of her characters well and at appropriate times which allowed me to further enjoy how "real" the setting and characters felt.

I also enjoyed the atmosphere and environment that was described in the book. You really did feel a foreboding sense of something ominous lurking on the peripheries of this isolated retreat and the forest, which added to the tension and suspense at every step.

With that said, there were certainly aspects of the book that I felt could have been improved upon. I felt that the way Bella pined for her son throughout the story to be overbearing at times. It was honestly beginning to get almost uncomfortable. I understand the fears and apprehensions a mother has when their child leaves the nest, but I felt the way in which she was describing these feelings, and the frequency of such, to be bordering on inappropriate. I feel this narrative could have been more subtle. It felt more like she was pining for a lost lover as opposed to her offspring at times by how it was written. Bella's seemingly heavily dependent relationship with her son certainly didn't give off the vibes of a relationship that was healthy. I could understand more if he was younger, but we’re talking about a young man at university. Bella’s narrative about her son quickly entered cringe-worthy territory, for me, the more it went on.

Subtlety, or lack thereof, was a little bit of a common theme within this novel. Throughout the course of her stay at the retreat, several incidents occurred and were written in such a way that it was accessible for the reader to draw their own conclusions regarding what may have happened or who or what might be responsible, heightening the mystery. Unfortunately, where some things could have been left as they were described, the writer felt the need to explicitly spell out, sometimes multiple times, certain elements and clues as to what happened through use of characters’ inner monologues. These clues often could have easily been inferred by the reader and I personally would have rather not had those aspects spoon fed to me; it was almost as though the author didn’t trust her reader to pick up on the clues at times, which were well-written enough that they didn’t really need explicitly highlighting in the manner in which it was done on some occasions.

It’s somewhat ironic then, given Bella’s often highly descriptive internal monologues that we were privy to which confirms she held some of our suspicions as to what was going down, that she maintained a certain degree of naïvety when it came to some other characters, their actions and what they were offering her. It wasn’t the worst example of main character naïvety in a book I’ve read, but there were certainly times when I felt that enough could be inferred by a particular point that it would be hard for me to imagine her putting herself in certain scenarios that largely occurred due to her being overly trusting, even when her own internal voice being used as a vehicle to share clues with the reader would very much be incongruent with doing so.

Having said all of those things, this certainly was not a bad book and I do not want to give the impression that this wasn’t an enjoyable read. It was, and it’s a book I’d certainly recommend. The story had all of the right components of a gripping, page-turning thriller from start to finish; there were just aspects that kept it in the “good” and not “great” category for me. That said, having not read this author prior to this book, I can certainly say it will not be the last time I choose one of her novels to dive in to!