Thursday 22 August 2019

The Retreat By Sherri Smith | Book Review


The wonderful people over at Titan Books sent me a copy of The Retreat by Sherri Smith* to review for blog tour and I'm SO glad they did because I thoroughly enjoyed myself while reading this one.

If you love psychological thrillers, with a cast of unlikable characters or thrillers that take unexpected twists and turns you just don't see coming, then I think you'll really going to love The Retreat. 

I really recommend this book, if you love a good, pacey psychological thriller. I ended up giving this one four stars. I think it was very well written, with a lot of unexpected plot twists and I think it would make a perfect beach read.



So what is The Retreat about?

The Retreat, follows four characters, Katie, who was a child Hollywood star but after being attacked by her manager, she spiraled into post Hollywood destruction and now age 27 is trying to move on with her life and escape her difficult past. 

So when, her brother's fiancee, Ellie, invites her on a weekend wellbeing retreat, this seems like the perfect opportunity to get her life back in order. Joined by Katie's two best friends, Carmen and Ariel who are also struggling with their own issues in life right now. 

What starts out as a perfect tranquil retreat, turns into a worst nightmare. As dark memories and secrets from the past are revealed, only one girl will leave the retreat alive at the end of the weekend. 

What did I love about this book?

I think this book was really well written. There was a lot of twists and turns throughout the book which I didn't see coming. The pace was really good, so it kept me engaged throughout most of the time I was reading.  

I really appreciate how there wasn't a huge cast of characters in this book. In books where there are lots of different characters, it can be hard to keep track of who everyone is and that can take me away from the story. 

But in The Retreat, I liked how we followed each character and got chapters from each of their perspectives. There were a lot of separate mini story lines going on at once in this book and I feel having each character, getting their own chapters, made the story less confusing and easy to follow. 

I definitely did not see the ending coming. Obviously, in the synopsis we are told, that only one girl leaves, so throughout the book, I was constantly guessing who it might be who doesn't make it out alive. The book definitely did not go in the direction I thought it would go.



What did I not like about this book?

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. However, my only two complaints about this book, were that the chapters at the start, especially, felt a bit too long. I personally like shorter, snapper chapters, especially in a psychological thriller. 

Secondly, The Retreat is over 400 pages long, which I think is quite rare for a thriller, they tend to normally be on the shorter side. The middle did start to drag just a bit and I think it could have been a bit shorter. However, the ending really made up for this, as it was incredibly fast and action packed. 

Who would I recommend it to?

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes psychological thrillers. I think this would make a perfect beach or holiday read. 

Although, I would just say, that this book does contain discussions around sexual abuse and rape. So, that is something to be aware of going in.



Final Thoughts

Overall, I think this is a well written, pacey and gripping psychological thriller. I highly recommend it.

This book comes out on the 13th August. You can order a copy HERE. 

Thank you for reading, as always X

*This book was kindly sent to me by the publishers, for the blog tour. However, all opinions are my own and I'm not being paid to write this post. 

SHARE:
Blogger Template Created by pipdig