Why a Booktrail?
Destination: Scottish Highlands Departure Date: 2000s
If you get a letter asking you to go to a remote cottage on the Scottish highlands with a university friend called Karen, then think twice.
No Longer Safe
What you need to know before your trail
If you get a letter asking you to go to a remote cottage on the Scottish highlands with a university friend called Karen, then think twice.
Alice receives an invitation from Karen, her charismatic university friend, inviting her to such a cottage. Naturally she thinks this will be good to rekindle their friendship but when two more former students arrive, the atmosphere suddenly chills like the snowy landscape outside
Then someone dies. Not you the reader from shock but be warned, there are thrills and spills a plenty.
Locations
Reset- Scotland - Highlands
- A: "Duncaird Castle"
- B: Fort William Visitor Centre
- C: Glen Nevis Visitor Centre
Travel Guide
University life for Alice was like being a mouse in a room full of cats such was her meekness and timidity. So when Karen makes friends and takes her under her wing, a strong bond grows. When Karen sends a letter after years of silence, old bonds are reformed and expectations of a renewed friendship are appealing.
But this cottage in Scotland is in the dark and remote highlands where the snow and cold are the only things to accompany the wind and the remoteness. It’s the middle of nowhere, with no phone signal and even less chance of getting out alive.
The journey there to Fort William and Kincaird Castle is interminable and the weather savage. The lack of washing machine and their amenities makes it seem colder and more uninviting.
“The wallpaper was peeling away at the skirting boards ad a sunken sofa stood limply in front of the fireplace….The heavy musty smell reminded me of the crypt at David’s church”
Booktrailer Review
Claire @thebooktrailer
Blimey if you ever get a letter from someone you once knew at university inviting you to a getaway cottage in Scotland. …..I’ve just read Ruth Ware’s in a dark dark wood and loved the sense of isolation and fear of what it can mean to be totally and utterly at the mercy of the landscape and the people you’re with.There’s a lot of questions to ask yourself as you read this. The fact that although Karen is not the girl Alice knew from uni, neither is Alice. The reason for the invite and the alternating voices from Karen and Alice sewing it all up nicely – who to believe, what’s going to happen next, what, what who? etc. There were more questions in my head than on an episode of Question Time.
This is packed with tension, trauma and only a few moments of respite before BAM!
“Alice is so innocent and unaware. She has no idea why she’s here. Quite sad, to be honest-she’s clearly missed me heaps and is so keen and excited about being invited.”
There is something really thrilling about a sense of lamb to the slaughter that I could not resist and I was not disappointed! Clever writing and plotting and very clever sense of creating time and place to evoke every chilling emotion you can think of. Imagine the powerful force of so much deceit wrapped up in isolation and marinaded in envy, deadly intentions and death.
Where Next?
