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A review by kelly_ann_s
Only One Survives: A Novel by Hannah Mary McKinnon
3.0
★★ 1/2
Interesting premise that didn't quite meet my expectations.
Vienna Taylor had to grow up fast in less than ideal circumstances. When her beloved grandmother dies, Vienna finally leaves home to move to New York with her best friend from high school, Madison Pierce. We follow Vienna through the trials and tribulations of establishing a life in New York while Madison attends college and parties with her college friends. What Vienna really wants is to make music and finally, she gets a band together that seems like it's going to take off.
Just as the band is finding fans and support within the music industry, an accident on the way to a music event in the Catskills changes everything. Plunging temperatures and a blizzard force the band to take cover in an abandoned cabin in the woods. With no cell signal and several band members badly injured, it doesn't seem like things could get worse - until they do. Vienna's band members start to disappear. Can she find a way out before she is a victim?
I thought that this might be a closed circle mystery, with lots of time spent in the remote cabin where sinister and spooky things are happening. Then I thought that the story was actually about fame and how it can corrupt those that seem utterly incorruptible. Then I thought "ahh hah", it's actually a serial killer story where the big nasty conscience-free baddie is too smart to get caught and continues to kill with impunity.
It is none of those things. I'm hoping that from the description of my experience reading, you understand why I rated this book ★★ 1/2. It had a lot of potential but in my opinion, struggled with it's identity. There were so many good things happening in the story, starting with the band being trapped in a cabin during a snow storm. There was an opportunity to really dig into the isolation, the creepiness of the situation and the fact that one of them is a murderer but that didn't happen. In my opinion, the cut over from the cabin to the next part of the book was awkward and I spent the rest of my reading time trying to figure out what this book wanted to be.
I think the potential in this book is amazing but it didn't quite get there for me.
Thank you to Netgalley, HTP Books MIRA and the author for providing me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Interesting premise that didn't quite meet my expectations.
Vienna Taylor had to grow up fast in less than ideal circumstances. When her beloved grandmother dies, Vienna finally leaves home to move to New York with her best friend from high school, Madison Pierce. We follow Vienna through the trials and tribulations of establishing a life in New York while Madison attends college and parties with her college friends. What Vienna really wants is to make music and finally, she gets a band together that seems like it's going to take off.
Just as the band is finding fans and support within the music industry, an accident on the way to a music event in the Catskills changes everything. Plunging temperatures and a blizzard force the band to take cover in an abandoned cabin in the woods. With no cell signal and several band members badly injured, it doesn't seem like things could get worse - until they do. Vienna's band members start to disappear. Can she find a way out before she is a victim?
I thought that this might be a closed circle mystery, with lots of time spent in the remote cabin where sinister and spooky things are happening. Then I thought that the story was actually about fame and how it can corrupt those that seem utterly incorruptible. Then I thought "ahh hah", it's actually a serial killer story where the big nasty conscience-free baddie is too smart to get caught and continues to kill with impunity.
It is none of those things. I'm hoping that from the description of my experience reading, you understand why I rated this book ★★ 1/2. It had a lot of potential but in my opinion, struggled with it's identity. There were so many good things happening in the story, starting with the band being trapped in a cabin during a snow storm. There was an opportunity to really dig into the isolation, the creepiness of the situation and the fact that one of them is a murderer but that didn't happen. In my opinion, the cut over from the cabin to the next part of the book was awkward and I spent the rest of my reading time trying to figure out what this book wanted to be.
I think the potential in this book is amazing but it didn't quite get there for me.
Thank you to Netgalley, HTP Books MIRA and the author for providing me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest opinion.