A little late on the review but this is a suspenseful horror book. It revolves around a group of friends from college that are in a film class. Each character is given the right amount of depth and back story. Definitely a good October spooky read!

Hitchcock Hotel proves to be an utterly delicious, if not diabolical, locked door murder mystery that does perfect work of paying homage to Hitchcock and Christie all in one tight, tense plot.

Stephanie Wrobel does incredible work weaving together a group of friends, reluctantly reunited for a weekend getaway at an old college friend's Hitchcock themed hotel, where secrets, lies and uneasy truths are all bubbling just below the surface. I was hooked from the very opening pages at the haunting nature of the hotel, and of Alfred. With every chapter, as things get more tense and uncomfortable, you get more addicted and more desperate to see how everything will play out - and whose dead body might just turn up.

Every character in this story is so perfectly developed and with all their very own reasons for wanting to keep the past in the past and Alfred happy in the present. I could not have guessed with even my best effort, at the secrets that they all had, and as each is revealed it just made the present day mystery all the more juicy.

Absolutely no spoilers for this one, but this is one whodunnit that you just cannot miss this season. It is excellent company as the weather gets cooler and you want something a little deranged to dive into.

Many thanks to the publisher for my copy!

Alfred owns a Hitchcock themed hotel and invites his college friends to stay for the weekend. The friends haven’t been together since they left college due to some things that happened during their senior year. During their stay at the hotel, Alfred has some surprises planned for them. However, things don’t go exactly as he planned.

Locked room mysteries are some of my favorites and I did enjoy this one. I would have preferred a little more suspense and spooky vibes considering the setting, but a fun read nonetheless.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

• locked room whodunit
• great Hitchcock vibes
• unlikable characters

This was a fun suspense with dark academia elements 🖤 and I enjoyed the ride!

🗣 Thank you to netgalley and Berkley Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book via gifted eARC! All opinions are honest and my own.

I liked the way the book slowly peels back the layers in this twisty thriller where college friends with secrets get together for a reunion at an Alfred Hitchcock themed hotel owned by one of the group.

I haven’t watched many Hitchcock movies but I liked the references throughout. I also enjoyed the explanation of the twists.

Loved the atmosphere, the writing and the locked-room mystery. I did not see the twists coming at all and kept racing through this until the end. Highly recommend!

Thank you to netgalley and Berkley for the eARC! I absolutely loved this - this felt unique and fun. While I'm not usually a fan of multiple POVs, it absolutely worked in this story. This kept me engaged throughout and definitely was twisty in ways that I didn't see coming. I'll for sure be picking up more from Stephanie Wrobel. A great thriller, perfect for spooky season reading!

Well done Ms. Wrobel, well done! (Cue the standing slow clap!)
The Hitchcock Hotel is so different from Wrobel's previous work, which makes this thriller even more impressive! Following a classic locked-room style, this thriller was fun from the first page to the last.

These five friends all have some skeletons in their closet which made each one a nefarious character. They kept alluding to what happened 'senior year' in college, and the back story was revealed bit by bit. The unsettling beginning flowed into a murder mid-book, and by that point, there was no telling who was the offender!

I loved the Alfred Hitchcock Hotel themed setting, Wrobel did a great job of paying homage to the beloved director throughout the book and created a destination that I truly wish was real!

I received a free digital copy from the publisher

Thank you to Berkley Publishing group, Netgalley and the author for the opportunity to have an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Hitchcock Hotel for me was a slow start but once I got to about 30% I couldn’t put it down. I needed to know what happened in college that Alfred seemed to be holding over the group. They’ve mostly all reluctantly come to his hotel’s first anniversary where he wants to resurrect their Film Club from the days when they used to all be friends. He seems to have something to hold over each person that prevents them from leaving over their weekend stay.

As expected there were twists and turns and nothing was straight forward. Just when I thought we got the last twist, there was still more to come.

This is a great choice for a locked room thriller this October.

3.5 ⭐️
Alfred Smettle is the owner of the Hitchcock Hotel. He is an avid Hitchcock fan, and has “themed” the hotel after the many movies of the famous director. Alfred has invited his former college friends for the weekend, but he has a secret motive for this reunion. The only staff staying to help him is the housekeeper.
The friend group were very tight in college, and were in the Film Club. There were many entanglements and drama the last year of college for the friends, and after graduation the all drifted their separate ways. But…. Something big happened, thus the reason for Alfred’s invite.

If you are a Hitchcock film fan, you will enjoy the many references and clues woven into the frame of the story. Alfred is creepy as all get- think Norman Bates! The others aren’t really likable, and all have secrets- including the housekeeper. The mystery is good, and it kept me reading.
However, I felt the Hitchcock references and characterization of Alfred was a bit much. I realize the story plot relies heavily on the Hitchcock elements, but by the end I just wanted the straightforward mystery!
Overall it was entertaining. I like the films, and in the beginning liked figuring out the movie references!
Thank you NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing. This is my honest and voluntary review.

This had a good creepy vibe, great for the autumn season: an old house in a college town, converted to a boutique hotel and filled with movie memorabilia, a creepy housekeeper who is always lurking about, plus an aviary full of crows behind the house. All the characters have secrets in addition to being morally bankrupt. There are a couple of good twists that I didn't see coming. I read the author's previous book (Darling Rose Gold, loosely based on the Blanchard case), which had its own squirm factor. Fan of Alfred Hitchcock and psychological suspense will enjoy Wrobel's latest novel.

The Hitchcock Hotel is a suspenseful novel about a group of college friends who reunite at an Alfred Hitchcock themed hotel that one of them now owns. It is evident from the beginning that there is trouble amongst this group of friends. Something happened in college, and they are covering it up/holding it over each other's heads. There is a ton of foreboding, but when the "secret" is unveiled, I was pretty underwhelmed. The entire book moved at a slow pace and the twists were anticlimactic. This one wasn't for me.

Alfred Smettl, not Hitchcock, is an avid Hitchcock fan and offers guests at The Hitchcock Hotel round-the-clock film screenings, and movie props and memorabilia in every room. He invites his former friends from his college Film Club for a reunion and to finally address what happened in their senior year of college.

Told from multiple POV’s in both the present and past with each person's character fully developed. It was a little slow at the beginning, but well-worth reading to the end. The author gives readers enough information to peak your interest, but doesn't give it away until the end. An ending that left me guessing.

Wow, I was not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. I loved this book and couldn't put it down. The twists, the eeriness, it was fantastic. As a Hitchcock fan myself this was so much fun to read. I loved all of the characters, even Alfred, and I'm honestly sad that I finished it. I will definitely be picking up more from this author now.

Many thanks to Berkley for the gifted copy for my honest review!

Wow! I am such a fan of the Birds and Psycho and Hitchcock's series, I knew I had to read this book. It did not disappoint at all! The Hitchcock references, the creepiness, the suspense. I didn't want to put this down. I loved it!!!

As a fan of Hitchcock, how could I not enjoy this!?

This story is multi-POV (which I love!) and the characters were pretty well developed so it was easy to distinguish each voice.

I always like a story where school friends meet up later in life and drama ensues - I found all of these characters awful - not to be depended on or trusted - but that made the story all the better. With friends like these, who needs enemies!?

As any seasoned thriller reader knows, reunions with old friends? Always a bad idea! The Hitchcock Hotel plays with that vibe perfectly, pulling you into a weekend getaway full of tension, secrets, and some delightfully eerie Hitchcock references. The setting—an old, Hitchcock-themed hotel—is atmospheric and spooky, giving off just the right kind of unsettling energy.

Alfred, the mastermind behind it all, is a character you’ll love to hate. His carefully laid plans and twisted motivations add a fun layer of suspense, even if things take a little while to heat up. While the pace was slower than I’d expected and the characters weren’t as deep as I’d hoped, the story still had its moments of intrigue—especially for fans of the “friends with vengeance” trope.

If you’re a Hitchcock fan, you’ll definitely appreciate the film nods throughout. It’s not the most heart-pounding thriller, but it’s still an enjoyable, atmospheric read that’s perfect for a cozy weekend. Just don’t expect to check out without a few surprises along the way! 👀

This was the first book that I read by this author.
It was ok, I mean it was good but it just left like it was dragging on and on
So much slow burn to this thriller/mystery horror type book vibe. Slow burns can be hard type of books to read it they drag and have too much info not needed to help the whole book.
A lot was about getting to know the character and I did not care for any of them so it bored me. They all seemed slimy, selfish and untrustworthy. The setting and the atmosphere were cool, I loved the whole Alfred Hitchcock-themed hotel with a bit of Bates Motel. Creepy vibes and hidden areas oh and the owner of the hotel was def an odd creeper. Alfred gave off soooo many classic movie character creep vibes. The writing at least in the beginning gave me some Poe (poetry) vibes.
So these 6 used to know each other 15 years ago from school, something happened they went their separate ways after college and now are invited to a reunion by the odd one out (Alfred) to his hotel and experience the Hitchcock Hotel. Sooooo much drama, secrets and emotions.
Multiple POV with past and present viewpoints.
THe ending just didn't do anything for me and another reason I cant give this book many stars for the review. I feel it had potential but it was a miss for me.

This was a fun one.

You do NOT need to be a Hitchcock über-fan - you just need some familiarity with a few of the most famous movies.

The story is twisty and, while it's full of flashbacks (of course), they work.

While I'm getting really weary of 'reunion thrillers' where old friends with secrets get together in remote locations and toxicity ensues, the author handled it well with a few things that don't show up in the usual trope-fests.

An entertaining book and I would totally stay at that hotel.

I think Wrobel's writing may just not be for me... I loved the premise here and the cover is as perfect an image as any I have ever seen. It started with intrigue, blending past and present storylines in a way that I thought indicated great things to come. Unfortunately, I quickly fell out of love with the back and forth, which felt drawn out and kept pulling me out of the drama in both storylines by shifting timelines when it did.

The characters are pretty resoundingly odious (is it just me, or does this seem to be an overwhelming theme in books, particularly thrillers lately?) and I grew bored with their rants and obnoxious behavior quickly. I get that we all regress, to a degree, to the person we were when we "go back home again" but this was over-the-top and it's hard to believe any one of these people would have actually taken a break from their own self-indulgence long enough to go on the trip at all...

The sense of impending doom was heavy from the start, but when the hammer actually fell I found it to fall flat rather than with a clanging boom. All in all this one just didn't live up to its potential from my perspective. It felt like it needed a heavy edit to keep the pacing more even and steady - as well as more comeuppances all around!