Page-turner is best debut of the year

SHIVER

Author: Allie Reynolds Publisher: Hachette RRP: $32.99 Reviewer: Susan Hartland

QUEENSLANDER Allie Reynolds’ debut thriller is an absolute page-turner that will keep you up late into the night and leave you eager to pick up the book again the next day.

It’s an absorbing mystery with a clever denouncement and satisfying end, all set against a backdrop of a ski resort and the thrills, spills, and jealousies of professional snowboarding.

Milla is invited to a reunion at a ski resort with four friends she hasn’t seen for a decade.

The last time these five were together, the beautiful but ruthless Saskia, a woman not beneath dirty tricks to win at snowboarding, disappeared.

Milla’s invitation is from Saskia’s brother Curtis, the one man she can’t let go of.

But when the five friends reach the isolated lodge high in the mountains, they discover no one else is there and none of them invited the others.

When their phones and computers go missing, they’re cut off on the top of a mountain with someone who is prepared to kill to find out the truth of what happened 10 years ago.

With everyone hiding something, including Milla, no one can be trusted.

Shiver is told in the present day but also flashes back to the events of 10 years ago, with revelations that deliciously lead us to the truth about Saskia’s disappearance and what secrets bind these five friends together, and what rips them apart.

It’s a brilliant suspense novel, absolutely addictive, atmospheric, with believable characters engaged in a competitive and dangerous sport.

Shiver is simply impossible to put down. The author is a former professional snowboarder and there’s wonderful authenticity to the tricks, the danger, and the rivalry surrounding this sport.

Shiver reminded me in parts of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, given there was a cut-off group of people, each with secrets, each suspicious of the others, all facing an unknown threat.

But the plot of Shiver was also original, with lovely twists and clever moments.

I wholeheartedly recommend Shiver for all those who love mystery thrillers and those who love chilling page-turners.

It’s certainly the debut of the year so far.