Another Lisa Unger with a great setting and a bit of exploration about modern society. DNA testing is part of this book and was an interesting component. Liked the character portrayals and the storyline. Good page turner.

Three couples rent a luxury cabin in the woods for a weekend getaway to die for in this chilling locked-room thriller.

Synopsis: What could be more restful, more restorative, than a weekend getaway with family and friends? An isolated luxury cabin in the woods. Hannah’s loving and generous tech-mogul brother found the listing online. The reviews are stellar. It’s his birthday gift to Hannah and includes their spouses and another couple. The six friends need this trip with good food, good company and lots of R & R, far from the chatter and pressures of modern life. But the dreamy weekend is about to turn into a nightmare. A deadly storm is brewing. The rental host seems just a little too present. The personal chef reveals that their beautiful house has a spine-tingling history. And the friends have their own complicated past, with secrets that run blood deep.

Personal review : 3.75

I read this as an audio book from @netgalley, I received an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. I enjoyed this read, but wish I would have read it, versus listening to it on audiobook. The characters and their relationships were drama filled, as Unger’s novels and she proves the queen of locked room…err…cabin thrillers. Linear timeline from many points of view, loads of details, and the plot twists that we love. From genealogy research drama, baby daddy type drama, murder, and jealousy- this book has a bit of everything all wrapped up in finding out who the real strangers are in the realization that sometimes the strangers are your family.

This was quite the wild ride. The six people you meet who intend on getting away for a weekend all revolve around Hannah. Hannah's very generous and wealthy brother books this amazing cabin for Hannah and her husband, he and his wife, and even tells Hannah she can bring her best friend and the guy she's currently dating. It all sounds amazing, Hannah's in-laws will watch their 16 month old for the weekend and everyone is blown away by the beautiful cabin away from reality and a little off the grid for a weekend getaway. But someone has other plans and suddenly, being in a secluded cabin off the grid is awfully foreboding. As secrets are revealed and the desperation to leave is thwarted by a storm that downs trees that block the roads and something's wrong with the generator and the owner of the house is really creepy, and well, this one's a page turner! Enjoy the ride!

Interesting concept. It’s entertaining and captivates the imagination. It did get a bit too much with the multiple POVs and timelines. The ending was very anticlimactic.

The setting is a secluded luxury cabin nestled into a chilling area with a haunted past. When 3 couples decide to get away for the weekend, they didn't anticipate murder and an unforgettable storm so the roads become impassable. The setting becomes a perfect storm in more ways than mother nature opening doors to the guests dark secrets, some unforgettable and unforgivable. With a lot of flawed characters driven with a side kick of DNA and mystery ancestry, they reveal they are all lying about something. Most of the story is "storytelling" setting the stage for some cranky, sketchy characters. There are cameras throughout the cabin and a watcher viewing their every move. Another watcher is set up outside with her own personal vindictiveness.
I enjoyed it! I love the fast-paced leery feel and even though most of it was predictable, it was enjoyable all the same.
Thank you NetGalley and Harper Audio for this title in exchange for my own opinion.

This was my first book by Lisa Unger. 3 couples head to a weekend getaway in a secluded area. So many secrets, so many questionable people. I really enjoyed this book, but it was hard to keep track of all of the characters at times. I think if I had the book (I listened to audio) it would of been easier to follow(I love multiple viewpoint stories). Overall, I loved all the twists and how the book ended. 4/5 stars! Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six, Lisa Unger

Three couples go away to a BNB gem that reads as “secluded cabin sleeps six.” Their anticipated weekend & idyllic setting is quickly marred by the creepy landlord, strange sightings and a multitude of secrets that come to light.

Unger crafted a dense novel with locked room mystery elements where the cabin creates a tense atmosphere. DNA & ancestry pieces added an interesting element as readers piece together how each character is connected. The novel is a slow build with multiple points of view and varying timelines that culminate for a suspense filled ending.

All told this was an enjoyable audio despite my struggling to collate the various perspectives, characters and plot lines which I found hard to follow at times.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for the opportunity to listen to this title before its publication date in November 2022.

Lisa Unger’s latest title was a disappointment for me. I listened to the audio book and found the story to be a very slow build. The multiple points of view and varying timelines were confusing and difficult to keep straight.

The three couples are related by family, employment and friendship. An isolated cabin in the woods is a birthday weekend trip for Hannah, courtesy of her older brother who is also her husband’s boss. Add in Hannah’s best friend, the former girlfriend of her brother, and you have a complicated dynamic with lots of secrets.

The creepy landlord and isolated location added to the level of suspense. Not my favorite for this author, but I will continue to read her books.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for the opportunity to listen to this title before its release on November 8.

This is my first Lisa Unger book and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to read one! The book is told from multiple perspectives and timelines that can seem dizzying at first but quickly become compelling and easy to follow. Secrets abound in this domestic thriller set in an atmospheric, isolated locale and piece by piece all the storylines weave together to a disturbing finale. The DNA/ancestry mystery also brought a unique twist to the thriller.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Audio for this advanced audiobook copy, but truthfully I did not enjoy this. This story did not work for me or entertain me in any way.

This story is basically your usual locked room mystery in a cabin during a storm. Lots of different POVs, plenty of secrets being kept by each character, and a slew of unlikeable characters. However, they didn’t even actually arrive at the cabin until like 20% in I believe, so a lot of the first 20% was information about our main character Hannah and things going on in her personal life as they’re preparing for this trip. We got to learn about some of her family drama and she’s suspecting her husband is cheating on her so she’s dealing with feelings of insecurity and paranoia.

This book simply had too many POVs, and some of them genuinely did not feel necessary to the story. There’s Hannah, our main character and protector of her family, her best friend Cricket who’s main personality trait is that she’s a hot busty blonde and is “easy” and who is still in love with Hannah’s brother Michael. Michael, who goes by some other variation like Maeko - (without the text I’m not sure about the spelling) and Cricket have been broken up for years and he has since married someone else. His wife Liza is also one of the POVs, and then lastly we have the Pervy cabin owner, a suspicious woman who is Michael’s ex-assistant, and a young boy who ended up without a home when his mother is killed and we follow him as he grows up. Lots of different perspectives, but a ton that just didn’t seem to fit. There’s also a ton of side characters in the cabin and in flashbacks that were hard to follow.

Ultimately, nothing really happened until 40% in and even when things did start happening they were underwhelming. When the final reveal and twist happened I was so done with this book that I didn’t care. The plot was all over the place, and this could have been cut down a ton of pages and still would have been a fine story.

Perhaps I would have felt differently if I had the book instead of the audiobook. This book was also pretty dark and had some triggers such as rape in the plot.

All in all, I can’t really rate this more than 1 star. If this wasn’t an ARC I would have DNFed, but I don’t like to do that when I am gifted these books to read.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #HarperAudio for allowing me to listen to the new audiobook of Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six.

I was excited to jump into this story as I love locked room mysteries!

Unfortunately, I had a really hard time with this book. There were a few challenges:
1. The NetGalley Audio was very hard to hear. I listen to audiobooks every day from Libby but for some reason, the narration on the NetGalley Shelf was warbly and sounded very tinny.
2. There were a lot of characters and POV's jumped around a lot in this story. I think I may have kept better track of this many characters in book format. I really struggled with this in audio.
3. Due to all of the characters, there were many storylines, not all of them relevant to the plot. Even the dual timeline story was hard for me to keep track of.

I think perhaps there was just too much going on in this story to really enjoy the mystery.

All opinions expressed are my own.

I really enjoyed this book by Lisa Unger. I listened to the audiobook and it was hard to stop listening to it when I had to go places but whenever I had a chance I listened to it whether it was a short trip to the store, or doing chores around the house. You think you know your family but do you really? Everybody has secrets and the six people that go to a very fancy rented cabin for a weekend learn a lot about each other and the dark secrets that come out that changes each person's life forever. It was a great thriller with many POV's which allow the listener/reader to understand the motives of the different characters. I will definitely read more of Lisa Unger's books after reading this one.

Thank you NetGalley for an ALC of Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six.

I would give this easily a 4.5. I did not expect the ending at all. However, the hints laid out throughout the book were very well done. I am tempted to go back and read it again. Perhaps that will give me a larger appreciation for it. I like the characters and how they were woven through the story. Some of the "flashback" narratives were a bit confusing and I wasn't sure how they would end p tied into the overall story. However, in the end they did. I can see a lot of people comparing this to Ruth Ware or Lucy Foley. However, it reminds also of J.T. Ellison even more and a little of Lisa Jewel. I think suspense and domestic noir readers will enjoy this a lot.

I am not sure why I have never picked up a book by Lisa Unger. This was my first read and it was very, very good. There were shocking moments when I thought I had it figured out but I was wrong which made the book so very exciting to the end! The six friends and how they were all intertwined in each others lives made for a very good story. Very well done. I will be gifting this one to my mystery/thriller loving friends.

{3.5 stars}

Can you believe this is my first Lisa Unger novel? Where have I been? So embarrassing!

The story bills itself as a bit of a horror in a secluded cabin story, which it is in part, but it gives us so much more than that. We get quite a few characters and time lines including those characters. Mako is a well off, control freak of a guy and he invites his sister and her husband as well as their childhood friend and her new beau for a luxury weekend away from it all. Very quickly we learn that there is something going on with DNA amongst these couples but it takes a while to unravel what and why. That was really my favorite aspect. The characters were all slightly annoying in their own ways and some of them I was rooting for them to get the axe. I felt like there were one too many red herrings, I would have liked a wrap up on some of those.

I did this one on audio and I enjoyed it but I would say you need to be sure to finish the chapter before stopping since the POVs change quite a bit. This one is an entertaining and quick read.

Thanks to Harper Audio via Netgalley for access to this audiobook. All opinions above are my own.

Do we ever really know someone else, even if they are family? Can evil carry on through blood? Can we overcome what our genes say we should become? Twisty story that keeps you wanting more.

3.5 stars // The “murderer is stalking a group of people in a secluded cabin” theme has definitely been done before, but this book adds a twist that I think is welcome.

I like the two storylines and not knowing how they’re going to meet in the end. Everything was pretty believable, which I appreciated.

Not much happened until the last 25% which was a turn off.

This story has some strong spooky elements: secluded cabin (obviously), creepy spying dude, family secrets and DNA mystery, human bones, etc.

However, there were too many points of view and multiple storyline threads to follow that it became convoluted and hard for me to keep track of or feel connected to.

I wish the author had stuck with the main point of view of Hannah, a mother who I could relate to in some ways, and then built the ominous story from there. Instead, all the POVS and backstories just took away from the original storyline.

The narrator had great intonation to how she read the story, and I enjoyed listening to her read it. There was a peculiar robotic quality to the recording but I became used to it.

Another terrific thriller from Lisa Unger! A slow build-up, but the multiple POVs and the many issues between characters brought suspense to the forefront. Setting and atmosphere help to bring the tension to a boiling point. Fun read!

This was such a great read!! I loved the suspense. The questions. The DNA aspects. It was a slow set up but it really took off and was a fun listen. I was so curious how Henry tied into the story and way role he played with the cabin and the 6 people. I really liked the multiple POV.

I did want more on Bracken because he seemed quite twisted and his story kind of fizzled out. I expected him to be more integral to the story. He was a minor character tho. Just seemed he’d more essential

I thought it was a great page turner nonetheless & the narration was great!