Thriller set in the French Alps loosely based on "Then there were none" (Agatha Christie). Five friends are "invited" to spend the weekend at the top of a ski lift just before the ski season starts. It turns out that they do not know who invited them and mysterious things start to happen. When the friends start dying, it becomes a race against time to find out who is killing them and to survive. An enjoyable page-turner which I enjoyed while skiing in the Swiss Alps.

As a competition level snowboarder, Milla and her friends spent many days and nights together for practice and meets. After many years of little to no communication, the group is coming together for a reunion, well, most of them anyways. One member disappeared from this same resort, never to be heard of again.
This is the back story. In the present, the group arrives to find they were brought to the resort and stranded there by an unknown. The concept may not be original, but Allie Reynolds has managed to throw a complete of twists and turns into the unknown's vengance agenda. The group must pull together or die trying.

I really wanted to love this book, especially with it being a closed-circle mystery. But, there was a lot more winter sport details than I expected which didn't interest me. It lost my attention and I did not finish.

I really enjoyed this debut novel by Allie Reynolds. This book is about a group of snowboarders that reunite years later and the past comes back to reunite with them as well. I like the change between now and then to fold the past into the present timeline. The book gave me Ruth Ware vibes from "One by One" since it had some plot similarity, but still had its own twist to how the suspense unfolded. The past came calling and secrets are about to surface along with what happened to Saskia all those years ago when she went missing without a trace! Who even organized this reunion that has trapped them all on a deserted mountain top?! Read to find out how the suspense takes you on a ride through the secrets that lie in the French Alps! Thank you NetGalley for the copy I thoroughly enjoyed this read!!

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book. This one ended up being a DNF for me. Too much interpersonal drama for me to follow.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2022 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2022/01/readers-advisory-announce-2022-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

Shiver by Allie Reynolds was a fun read that kept me guessing the whole time . . . I was not even sure how reliable the narrator was! I also really enjoyed learning more about the competitive sport of snowboarding. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

Wasn't a big fan of this one. It had way too many complicated relationships, but with only like 5 people. Who slept with who, who liked who, who betrayed who. It was just too complicated for that ending.

Full disclosure, ended up listening to this on audio, so maybe that is why I was bored with this one.

The atmosphere of closed off, icy surroundings didn't do anything for me to create the scary, claustrophobic feeling it was supposed to.

Those who like friend drama, might like this one.

This was an interesting and well written book - and living in an area where it gets really cold and can get a lot of snow, I really enjoyed this one.

Milla is really looking forward to meeting up with some old friends at a ski resort. But, that quickly ends when they realize that this won't be the enjoyable time they though. Why were they brought together after all this time?

There was a lot of excitement and thrills going on in this one. I really enjoyed it.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A fun, minimalist read great for fans of Agatha Christie-style locked-room mysteries. Add to that a beautiful, mountain setting in France, and former Olympic-hopeful snowboarders, and you have the perfect recipe for a relaxing day on the couch with a quintessential whodunnit.

Shiver was everything that I had hoped it would be from the above summary. I love nothing more than a "locked room" type of mystery setup where the characters are being picked off one by one as a play off of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. What made this book stand out for me as the reader is that it was set in the alps during a snowstorm. I LOVE a mystery/thriller set in the middle of a snowstorm which is effectively trapping the characters from leaving. It's almost like this book was written for me personally because it had everything that I love all in one book. And the best part was that I truly loved this book! I found it to be one of those books that just pulls you in and doesn't let you go. I'm writing my thoughts on this one months after reading it and I can still clearly remember the tense atmosphere that the author created within the pages. I was left guessing the entire time I was reading it trying to figure out who was behind it all. There were certain things that I guessed but others that I didn't whatsoever. I also really enjoyed the snowboarding aspects that the author included within this book. I've always enjoyed watching snowboarding so learning more about the competitive side of it was really intriguing. There were just so many great things about this book and I cannot say enough good things about it!

Overall, this is a book that I highly recommend to both mystery and thriller readers. This is an author to watch in my opinion because it was just that good. I will be picking up whatever she comes out with next - that's for sure!

Bottom Line: A book that is very likely to make my top reads list of this year!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley. I ended up reading a physical copy courtesy of my local library.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for my copy of Shiver by Allie Reynolds in exchange for an honest review. It published January 19, 2021.
I loved the early 2000's snowboarding scene that half of the book was set in. I could totally picture it and loved the culture surrounding it. The author built up the suspense well, and made a great love-to-hate character.
I felt like the author did some things in this book that I didn't really enjoy, and felt unnecessary, but I suppose that's the way things go to stand out these days.
I think any thriller reader who doesn't shy away from sex scenes would enjoy this. If sex scenes aren't your thing, they are easily skippable, but sneak up on you.

Friends reunite 10 years after one falls victim to a tragic accident and another mysteriously disappears. After an initial "Icebreaker" game turns menacing, the reunion goes downhill from there. There are many references to snowboarding that were completely over my head, but I enjoyed the underlying mystery.

This is the perfect winter read. I loved the twists and turns that were revealed as the plot thickened. It's a great mystery/thriller and my "Nordic" fans will be excited to have it!

I heard so many great things about Shiver. I was a little nervous to start because I wasn't sure if it would live up to the hype.

Shiver is an absolutely fantastic debut novel! I cannot wait to see what Allie Reynolds does next. The book was so bingeable and unique. Five friends are invited to a reunion in the French Alps, 10 years after one of their friends vanished on the mountain and has been declared dead. Once they arrive at the resort they realize that they are not safe and someone is out for revenge.

Reading the flashbacks about a bunch of 20 year old professional snowboarders who are living like they don't have a care in the world was pretty fun. That time in our lives is so short, yet seems so crucial and insignificant all at the same time.

I'll be honest that I figured out pretty early on who the mastermind was. I just wasn't sure of the how or why.

I loved this frozen tundra whodunnit!

Suspicious characters throughout the story, each one with their own reason for potentially having murdered the missing Saskia, 10 years earlier. All back on the same snowy mountain, in a deserted lodge, having been invited by an old friend, who now says the invitation did not come from them.

The smell of Saskia’s perfume and strands of her ice-blond hair on pillows…. Is this Saskia’s ghost? Is Saskia still alive? Is she exacting her revenge on this old group of friends for events that took place years ago?

This mystery/thriller will have you guessing until the very end. Time will fly by while reading this whodunnit – that’s how good it is!

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview SHIVER by Allie Reynolds.

After ten long years, a group of friends decide to spent time together at winter resort. There are five people - Milla, Brent, Curtis, Dale and Heather and although this seems like a friendly reunion, it quickly appears that there is more to this "vacation" than meets the eye.

Ten years ago, these five people were on vacation - and it didin't turn out so well that time. Soon all five of them begin to feel like they can't trust each other and the motive for this reunion is mysterious.

Their last vacation led to a death - will this one too? And who is behind this and why.

Good Book - somewhat predicable, but still worth reading.

3.5 stars.

It will be a joy for Agatha Christie fans since it goes along the lines of "And Then There Were None". Not only is it atmospheric, especially with its snowboarding references but you can feel tense and the dark emotions of what is truly going on in what looks like an abandoned snow lodge. The twist and turns are left until the very end but it is not done in a way that you are tired and bored of reading but you are excited to see how it turns out! Such a great debut that leaves with a chilling ending.

Originally posted at mysteryandsuspense.com.

Shiver chills. In Allie Reynolds’s debut novel, five British ex-snowboarders return to Le Rocher, a competitive snowboarding resort tucked away in the French Alps. This is not quite a reunion of friends: it is more of the recollection of a crew forged together by season spent together where they bonded as a result of their rivalries, romances, and companionships. Milla, the novel’s narrator, has not returned to Le Rocher—or seen her former companions—for ten years, when she left the village and the world of competitive snowboarding.

Their reunion is immediately tinged with mystery. When they arrive, everyone claims Milla invited them there: but Milla herself was invited by her longtime crush, Curtis. No one will admit to having arranged the weekend. Seemingly not coincidentally, Saskia—Curtis’s sister and Milla’s biggest rival—has just been declared legally dead, after having been missing since Milla left Le Rocher ten years ago.

The plot thickens when the five friends reach the remote mountain lodge and find directions for an Icebreaker game, in which each person writes down an anonymous secret. But when they read them aloud, they’re not the cards they put in the box: the first three make claims to sexual liaisons among the group; the fourth claims to know where Saskia is; the final reads: I killed Saskia. The stage is set for a weekend thriller, framed by the mysteries: what happened to Saskia? Who is responsible for her disappearance/death? Who arranged this weekend visit? And why is their identity secret?

Reynolds jumps between this chilling present and Milla’s recounting of her winter in Le Rocher ten years prior. The time jumping adds to the book’s suspense, as the mysteries and rivals in the past are just as exciting as the present. We learn each character’s flaws and backstory, and we see the romances and rivalries build up. Most notably, the competitive rivalry between Saskia and Milla drives everything that happened ten years ago. Both narratives build to the book’s ending, as the two stories weave together to reveal an intricate plot from start to finish.

Milla is a captivating narrator throughout the story. She doesn’t just convey the terror of the mysterious conditions: she is also relatable as she navigates her feelings toward her former friends, rivals, and lovers. Of course, the fact that one of them may be a killer—and may be actively trying to kill the rest of them—complicates her feelings. But we can also understand her frustrations, especially as she bristles at the men’s constant insistence on protecting her. They tell her not to do the same things they are doing, even though their actions are usually equally inadvisable for all of them at their age and in the current situation.

What makes Milla most relatable is her recounting of her past interactions with these other characters. With hindsight, she admits how she was flawed then—but also discovers how she still acts on some of those flaws. Even when we root for her to do something different, we can understand why she makes her decisions. Ultimately, Milla comes across as a real human, even if she is in the midst of a pretty inhuman and unlikely scenario.

Like the crevasses in Le Rocher’s glacier, readers fall into this chiller. Reynolds’s writing gives off a horror vibe as the characters keep making decisions that we (and maybe they too) know are just going to endanger them further. There’s plenty of mystery that grabs the mind as we attempt to unravel the different strands of stories and guess what could have happened. The mystery changes as quickly as a reader can guess, leaving them excited for more details, and the plot moves as quickly as we want to turn the pages. Ultimately, Shiver presents a mind-racing puzzles that quivers with excitement.

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Additional feedback for NetGalley/publisher (contains spoilers):

Ultimately, I was quite disappointed by the book's ending and the way in which the revelation of the perpetrator relied on an ableist trope that portrays disability as a means for deception. That the reader was led to believe the killer was fully paralyzed, only to discover they were not (and had intentionally hidden this fact from one of the characters in a video call) ruined the mystery and the last 3-4 chapters for me (I was so angry I almost could not finish the book). This trope uses disability as the novel's "twist" ending in ways that question the lived experience of disabled folks. Furthermore, the character's (presumed) disability excludes her as a character/suspect in the drama: the reader never gets to see a disabled character live their life, instead the character is relegated to the sidelines until they are revealed, at the twist, to not be disabled (or, at least, not as limited by their disability as the novel presented).