Book Review: The Cabin by Natasha Preston

The Cabin

By Natasha Preston

Genres: Thriller, Mystery,  Suspense, Young Adult

_____________________________________

To paraphrase a summary on Goodreads, only one person is guilty of murder, but none of them are innocent.

The Cabin is about five teenagers who get together for a weekend trip sometime following the death of two of the group’s closest friends in an automobile accident of which they were all in. Thanks to the synopsis on the back of the book, it’s no secret that the meat of this story starts when two of the five at the cabin turn up dead. The police believe one of them is the killer and lets the group know from the start that it’s only a matter of which one.

Unable to believe the killer can possibly be anyone she knows and desperate to clear their names, the plot unfolds in first person point of view as Makenzie tries to figure out who killed her friends. Along the way, she learns that she did not know her friends as well as she thought she did. Every one of them, including herself, has secrets that could very well have been a motive for murder. She eventually has to accept that one of them is indeed a murderer. It is a book that keeps you guessing until the end.

My Rating: 

In general, The Cabin reads as more of a mystery than as a suspense or thriller story. The strong point of the book is that as the story progresses, it is revealed that each person at the cabin had a motive to kill Courtney or Josh. However, there is not a lot of action involved that would provide more suspense along with the mystery. Instead, there is a detective on the case who seems more concerned with playing cat and mouse with the suspects while revealing as little information as possible about his findings. As a result, Makenzie decides to enlist the help of Blake to do her own investigation. She learns various secrets from each of her friends, but still, there is little action because, thinking she is being a good friend, Makenzie is reluctant to share the potentially incriminating information with the detective about her friends.

There is also an insta-romance between Makenzie and Blake that is a distraction from the main focus of the book. Blake is the brother of Josh, who is a person no one but Courtney liked. In addition, Blake is not a part of the circle of friends who went to the cabin. He was a last minute addition, claiming he decided to come along to spend more time with his brother. At first, it seems most likely that Blake is the murderer, given that he is an outsider and the rest of the group grew up knowing one another fairly well. The romance between Makenzie and Blake reveals early on that he too has a possible motive to want his brother dead, but other than that, it does not do a lot to move the mystery forward. In fact, it somewhat weakens the plot, thanks to the distraction from the action it provides.

In the end, the detective was of no use and neither was Makenzie’s investigation. There’s a bit of a plot twist just before a major plot twist at the conclusion. That is where most of the action occurs. It’s a shame since there was ample opportunity to insert more action or more suspense in the main part of the story. Even the plot twist was not as much of a surprise as it could have been. As far as murder mysteries go, it’s a little cliche, but not enough that it is abundantly obvious who the killer is all along.

Though it is not the best book I have ever read and I would not say that I love it, I would recommend the book for anyone looking for a decent book to relax with. It is geared toward young adults, however, and I do feel that they would be more likely to be engrossed in the plotline as it is, distraction and all.

One last word of advice: if you do not like cliffhanger endings, do not read this book.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin