I can't put my finger on what didn't click with this book for me. It's well written, mysterious, and moody. And maybe that's just it - it's moody and HEAVY, and while I finished it because I needed the answer to the whodunit, I really had to push myself to finish it.

The Retreat is a well-written, atmospheric locked room mystery. The story is set at a secluded lodge in the Rocky Mountains at an artist retreat. When an avalanche traps the seven guests and causes them to lose power and any contact with the outside world, everything begins to fall apart. Highly recommended if you enjoy atmospheric thrillers.

I liked the atmosphere and setting of this one, but unfortunately, it mostly fell flat when it came to everything else.

Honestly, I found a lot of this confusing and vague. There’s seemingly no backstory for any of the characters so their actions exist untethered in the plot and it rarely makes sense. Maeve, though more fleshed out, gets into situations that go from 0 to 100 without clear directions on how anything escalated.

Nothing really happens in the plot until after well past the halfway mark, and given this is written as taking place over one week, it really makes the novel DRAG.

There was something to the parallels between the past abusive relationship and the little fling Maeve gets into with an overindulgent artist, but it didn’t really hit the way it was probably meant to. The ending is a bit flat, but it did try to get crazy with a bear and helicopter nonsense, so points for that.

I liked The Retreat, but I have read a few books in the past couple months where a group of strangers get stuck at a hotel and guests start getting murdered. While I liked it, I kept comparing it to these other titles which makes it more challenging for me to complete a full review. So I will leave it at this: if you are someone who enjoys books with twists and turns to the very end, I would recommend this book to you.

Ok, so I tried reading The Retreat and honestly, I just didn't like it. It didn't entertain and was just generally dull to me.
Rating will be shown as 2 stars because while I didn't like the book, someone else might absolutely love it.

This is a first time author for me & I was not disappointed. Retired dancer, Maeve, finds herself trapped with 6 strangers at an artist retreat when an avalanche strikes. With no power, phone, or heat, and with the road blocked tension quickly rise. I liked the way the book was clearly defined in 7 days and while that did make some of the chapters long it did not lessen my enjoyment of the book. I felt the characters were well-defined and the author did a great job creating vivid & atmosphere scenes. However, I did feel the ending was a tad abrupt.

DNF at 10%. I’m having a really hard time connecting to this one. I love the premise and am always in for a good locked room/isolated retreat thriller but this one isn’t working for me. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

3.5/4 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2021/07/22/the-retreat-by-elisabeth-de-mariaffi/
My Five Word TL:DR Review : In two minds about this

The Retreat is going to be an unusual review to write because I seriously am in two minds about this one. On the one hand I loved the writing. The book is absolutely full of atmosphere. It’s a locked room mystery. The setting is excellent and the sense of nature well described but on the other hand I found the ending a little unresolved in some respects and the antagonist lacking motivation or believability.

As the book begins (and after a dramatic opening prologue) we meet Maeve Martin as she arrives at the High Water Centre for the Arts. Tucked up in the Rocky Mountains is a beautiful lodge surrounded by trees and nature. The Retreat boasts quiet space, a stunning lodge and small cabins where people can work uninterrupted. Maeve has taken a two week break and aims to use the time to formulate a plan for her own dance company. Unfortunately, not long after her arrival disaster strikes. Ever worsening weather leads to an avalanche and the centre is completely cut off from any means of contact with the outside world.

Without doubt The Retreat excels in terms of the writing. Mariaffi conjures up a fantastic setting and then proceeds to cloak it in the most creepy and pervasive atmosphere. In fact the first two thirds of the book held me gripped – I sat up into the early hours reading and I can say that I was genuinely a little freaked out – by which I mean scared! The final third was where the ploit started to hot up and the body count began to rise.

I think, if memory serves, that there were seven people left stranded following the avalanche, a mix of people, a couple of characters who run the retreat and a mix of creatives including artists, film makers and dancers. Maeve feels a little like an insider as the others have all met previously and she often doesn’t understand the nuances of the group and their inside jokes. There appears to be rivalry, particularly between certain characters and Maeve’s arrival seems to be the catalyst for things to escalate. Maeve is coming to terms with a number of things. She experienced a violent marriage that has now ended and she is also coming to terms with the fact that her dancing career is coming to a conclusion and trying to think of her future. She’s left her two children in the care of their grandmother although she seemed to have a rocky relationship with her mother that leaves her anxious. We find out much of Maeve’s history over the course of the story but it’s included in a very natural way and adds to the feelings of tension and fear that Maeve experiences.

In terms of criticisms. Well, I think the plot became a little chaotic in the final quarter (or Day 7). I wouldn’t say that I came away from the book with all my questions answered and the eventual murderer seemed very thinly drawn to me. I just didn’t buy into the motivations or reasoning to be honest. I noticed a few reviewers mentioned the over long chapters – I wouldn’t say that I found this a problem but each chapter represents one day and some of the chapters are indeed quite lengthy so bear that in mind.

To be fair to the author, and in spite of my reservations I still came away from this read with more positives than negatives. I loved the writing and I guess the plot played second fiddle a little to that aspect.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

THE RETREAT by Elisabeth de Mariaffi is about a former dancer named Maeve, who goes to a secluded arts center in the mountains to generate ideas for the dance company she wants to form. While she's there, she meets some of the other artists and the small group running the center, all of whom seem to have complicated relationships with one another, and grapples with missing her children and memories of her abusive ex-husband.

The one thing I can say for this book is that the author knows how to create atmosphere. The creepy language used to describe the setting and the blurred lines between Maeve's memories and dreams and her reality come across strongly throughout the book.

Beyond that, the book doesn't have much to offer in terms of plot. About 75% of it is establishing relationships with a couple plot points sprinkled in. The plot and dialogue are so muddled with atmosphere that the physical description of the action is often indiscernible. The ending is also dissatisfying with no real explanation for the characters' behaviors and a lot of chaos for no payoff.

I wish I had more good to say, but alas, this was a miss for me.

This book had such a fantastic premise with the locked room mystery type vibe set in a snowy climate. I should have loved it, but unfortunately, I didn't think it had the best execution. The pacing was alright - it's broken up into 7 sections (one per day) instead of chapters. This did make it harder to get through because some of these sections were very long. It would have worked better for me to have chapters with headers describing which day it was. I feel confused and ambivalent about the general plot and reveals. I still don't entirely understand the reasons behind why anything happened.

The characters were not particularly likeable overall. Maeve, the main character, is a former dancer who's trying to become a director. She was previously in an abusive relationship and is trying to recover from this while simultaneously dealing with a strained relationship with her mother. Maeve is alright, but I don't have the best connection to her. The best part of the book for me was this friendship that develops with Anna, one of the other guests. This seems like a really nice friendship, and I wanted to see more of it! Everyone else seemed to be manipulative in their own ways though. I really disliked some of the other characters, especially Dan and Sim because both of them seem very controlling.

While this had great potential, the story was a bit lackluster for me. That being said, I think I'd still be interested in checking out future books from this author.

My video review can be seen on my booktube channel (around minutes 1:04-3:24 of this video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXan-4t2zcI

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Still not totally sure about this one.

The Retreat is a tense, suffocating thriller about Maeve Martin, a woman who desperately wishes for two things: to escape her brutal, violent past, and to open her own dance company. She decides to take a trip to a snowy, picturesque mountain art retreat and at first, all is well and lovely — until the avalanche traps her and her fellow art-lovers in their resort with no way of knowing when help is coming. And there is something, or someone, waiting in the shadows for them all.

I was so excited to read this because I *adore* this trope in thrillers. When it's done well it's tight, breath-stealing, exciting, and has you flipping through the pages as fast as you can possibly go because you simply have to know what comes next.

Unfortunately, this one didn't quite hit that mark for me. While the writing was absolutely beautiful and haunting, the chapters droned on, and the build-up vs execution had me scratching my head more than it had me racing to the end game. As the plot unwound itself I was really just wondering — why Maeve? It just doesn't make as much sense as I would like.

But oh, some of the imagery here was stunning. There was definitely a visceral thread of fear, especially when it came to the actual entrapment. Being stuck with a bunch of strangers is scary enough, and that rise of tension between the other people in the retreat would have been much more interesting to explore as a main focal point, I think.

It wasn't completely my cup of tea, but I did enjoy this novel and anyone who has a soft spot for this series of tropes should definitely check it out come 20 July!

*My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.*

The low Goodreads ratings on this made me nervous but I liked The Retreat!

After reading a lot of books heavy on dialogue and plot and light on setting, this book moved at a slower pace but did a good job of using an isolated setting and harsh weather to create a lot of atmosphere and suspense.

The story is set at an artists' retreat where a handful of creatives (a journalist, a filmmaker, a dancer, an artist and two administrators) are gathered at an exclusive artists' retreat. Maeve, the main character, is still a little jittery and mistrustful after getting out of an abusive relationship. After that experience, she looks forward to using this time away from her young children to get her career as director of a dance troupe on more solid footing.

But then there's an avalanche. A death. And more and more bad luck. Or is it? For me, the star of this book was the Rocky Mountain setting. After an avalanche cuts the retreat off from the world (no electricity or phone or internet) things start spiraling.

The ending of this was a little crazy (and felt a bit unresolved) but if you don't mind a book with a slower pace and like a lot of atmosphere, definitely check The Retreat out!

I really liked the atmosphere of The Retreat, it was the perfect isolated location for a thriller. I also thought the author did a good job with Maeve's backstory. I just found that the other characters were lacking - I didn't know much about them and they all were just vaguely creepy. I think if their dialogue had been more engaging it would have helped make the entire story more thrilling.

This was an excellent thriller, claustrophobic and chilling (literally). The whole cast of characters seem untrustworthy, hiding secrets and schemes, and the ending was seriously intense. Being stuck in a blizzard is always a good atmospheric trope in my opinion and the isolation and intensifying cold make an excellent backdrop for this story of mystery and danger.

Locked room books about a group of people stuck together during a snow storm seems to be trending this year. The Retreat by Elisabeth de Mariaffi is a more literary take on the genre.

Maeve Martin is a dancer and a mother of two who was in an abusive relationship, She heads to an isolated arts centre in the mountains to work on her dancing and chorography. Here, she meets a motley crew of other artists at the resort offseason and they are pulled together as the weather closes in and guests start to disappear. Is there a killer in their midst? Will nature keep them trapped?

de Mariaffi's writing is beautifully atmospheric. Her attention to detail with the environment and nature is compelling and really creates the scene. The reoccurring imagery and presence of the bear was especially powerful.

The long chapters gives the book a slower pace and for me, decreased the tension in what should have become a high stakes scenario. As we see everything through Maeve's eyes, we have to question her reliability as a narrator. She keeps herself at arms reach from many of the characters so this is the experience the reader gets as well. Anna was a standout for me and added humour to the environment.

As a locked room mystery, this is not my favourite. I never truly bought into the fear of the human killer- the situations with animals and nature were much more tense for me and I can see that being totally intentional. But where it excels is as an atmospheric literary novel. This was my first read by the author and I will definitely check out more of her work.

Thank you to Mulholland Books, HarperCollins Canada and Negalley for the e-arc to read and review. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you @netgalley , @nulhollandbooks and @elisabethdemaiaffiwriter for my gifted E-ARC of "𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕".

A dancer arrives at a remote mountain retreat hoping for artistic inspiration—only to find it’s disaster that strikes when an avalanche traps her among six strangers who begin, one by one, to meet unspeakable ends.

This story was fast paced & thrilling, to an extent. I am a huge fan of "locked-room mystery" novels and this story is exactly just that. The beginning and middle were just complete turn pagers for me. Wanting to know each character and how they act in our mystery story is key to solving a mystery am I right? Once the avalanche hits you really want to just read everything up because you wonder how are these people going to get out of this, especially when someone has ended up dead! Was it one of the guests or was it just an unfortunate accident?

I have to add that the chapters in this book are really "Days" and that there is only seven of them. You see the trip our protagonist dancer takes is measured in days she has spent at this retreat, and I have to admit that after "Day 3" the days become very long. Meaning the chapters become very long and I know that some readers are not fond of long chapters. I myself over the years of reading enjoy shorter chapters in books, however that doesn't mean I'll hate books if they have long chapters, it's just a tiny disadvantage that some do notice. Once again, the beginning and middle very exciting and eager to read all the juicy stuff, but then it became kind of long and tiring. I just wanted to get to the end and see who or what our mystery problem was.

This book has it all! Thrilling, creepy, atmospheric and a dash of noir! I absolutely loved it. One of my favorite tropes is MC is stuck somewhere with communication cutoff and people picked off one by one. Such a good book, good writing, questionable characters and enough twits and turns to make a pretzel jealous1 Thank you so much!

This book has a very creepy, unsettling feeling to it. From all the characters to the story, to the location. It's not an obvious in your face creepy, it's more of a quiet, something is not quite right, uncomfortableness, I really enjoyed it. The story takes place at a remote artist retreat. Maeve, a dancer who retired when she had children, is now a single mom and comes there to get some quiet away from her kids so she can restart her life. It's off-season and the group is soon trapped by an avalanche. I will be checking out more of Elisabeth de Mariaffi's books!

Thank you to the publishers at Mulholland Books, Netgalley, and Novel Suspects for this ARC of The Retreat.

Maeve Martin has gone away from her children for the first time, to a retreat deep into the middle of the mountains in November, to practice her dance routine. She needs this, she tells herself, after her horrid past. At the age of 34, she can no longer be a ballerina, but she’s determined to teach and choreograph others.

Maeve reaches the retreat in the middle of the night and immediately makes an enemy out of one of the employees. As she begins to practice her form and choreography, Anna tells herself that this is worth it; the cold, the strangers, being away from her children. But Maeve is wary and untrustworthy of everyone staying at the retreat, from Dan to Karo, Sadie to Sim, and Justin to Anna. When an avalanche crashes around them halfway through the first week, everyone believes it’ll be okay again shortly, but when help doesn’t arrive in a timely fashion, the group will have to make devastating choices.

I’m sad to say that this wasn’t my favorite book. The Retreat has such a great premise, but the ending was so unfulfilling for me. The writing was great, but a bit slow at times. The chapters were also excruciatingly long. I would have liked to seen shorter chapters, just because almost 2 hours in one chapter seems a bit much. I understand why it was only 7 chapters (7 days), but the final chapter alone consisted of 30% of the book. It did read pretty quickly though, as I wasn’t expecting it to end the way it did, but all of a sudden it was over, and I was no closer to the information I so desperately wanted.

The Retreat releases July 20th!

Mulholland is one of my favorite publishing houses, and when I read the summary of The Retreat, I knew I had to request an ARC. While I wasn't familiar with Elisabeth de Mariaffi before this book, I definitely plan on visiting the rest of her work after it.

Maeve signs up for a two-week stay at an artist retreat in the secluded mountains. Determined to overcome her personal demons and focus on reuniting with her identity as a dancer, she is not prepared for the literal avalanche that strands the residents--and the terrifying events that unravel.

I loved this book.

I took a day to think about what I wanted to say in this review. I'll start by saying this has all the elements of some of my favorite thrillers: secluded location, locked-door tension, unreliable characters, troubled backstory. There is a solid balance between internal turmoil and external conflict, and I really enjoyed how Maeve's insecurities, doubts, and fears manifest in the world around her.

Some of this reminded me of one of my other recent favorites, Zoje Stage's Wonderland. While I wouldn't say there is a supernatural theme here, there is one of spirituality, of a dissociation that comes with a major identity transition. No spoilers, of course, but de Mariaffi explores the constructs of motherhood and womanhood with unabashed confidence. She nails this on multiple levels. Women as things, bodies separate from emotion and thought, to be bent and molded without resistance. Women as sexual objects, the focus of the male gaze. Women as unilateral beings, mother or professional, one or the other, where we see the struggle between wanting more and the guilt of not being satisfied with one signifier: mother. That being said, I think many readers will relate to Maeve's struggles, and I found the larger-picture discussion about bodies and identity insightful and unapologetic.

On the other hand, we also get this taut, almost nostalgic thriller, that reminded me of some of my favorite 90s slashers (think: I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream). The last few chapters were cinematic, and I held my breath for the entire last page. So. Good.

Overall, The Retreat is a gripping, gutting read with crisp prose and nuanced characters. Out 07/20, add this to your TBRs now.

Big thanks to Mulholland and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for honest review consideration.