Six friends gather at a cabin for a weekend ski trip, expecting some sun and ski in lush surroundings, but things quickly take a darker turn. Together for the first time since a tragic accident killed one of their friends at a slumber party, friendships are a little strained. Throw in two boys for them to fight over and a storm front moving in, things are going to get tense. And that’s before a snowman mysteriously melts and one of the girls doesn’t come back from one last ski run…
The plot of this is very similar to The Weekend. A bunch of friends with a terrible shared tragedy gather again years later and secrets are revealed. It’s another remote location and one of their own attacking them. I’d say The Weekend is slightly better. Partly because this one is so short, (there’s seven chapters) it’s hard to create any nuance or attachment to characters. Also because it says things like:
‘Dana’s face was one best loved by a mother’. OUCH.
“I wish anorexia was contagious and I knew someone who would infect me.” Bloody hell.
‘Dusting snow off her jeans…’ WHY IS SHE SKIING IN JEANS? Do people do this? Seems you’d just be drenched very quickly.
Oh and Lara, our heroine, throws her buddy Dana under the bus by telling the bloke who just manhandled Dana that it’s fine and she actually does like him, “she likes aggressive men”, just so Lara’s crush Percy will come to her party. And can we talk about calling the main crush in a book PERCY?! What are you doing, Pike?
The girls are all horrible and bitchy and backstabbing, obsessed with their weight and looks and boys and sex. I’m not sure they have conversations about other things.
I adored these books as a teen but man, time has not been kind to this one.