Thank you to Allie Reynold and the publisher for providing me a gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I didn't get a chance to read this book when it was first given to me on netgalley. I have only read it recently after purchasing a physical copy from the bookstore.

This was such a great debut novel from Allie Reynolds and I have since read her novel The Bay which I enjoyed just as much. Reynolds has a way of writing a thriller that keeps me turning the pages. I loved how the book switched from past to present to help unravel the story piece by piece.

At times I found things a little unbelievable but that tends to be the case with most thrillers. Reynolds really nailed the setting in this one and although I don't snowboard, you can tell she knows what she is talking about!

10 years ago Mila was enjoying a semi-professional snowboarding career and one season gained a few friends until everything went wrong and she didn't snowboard anymore.
Now, out of the blue, she is invited back for a reunion with those friends. Although one has been missing for 10 years...
As they arrive at the resort it becomes obvious that they have walked into a game (or is that a trap) and no-one can be trusted.

This was a fast read with short chapters that rotated between current day and 10 years ago. Gradually giving us more insight to the characters and what happened back then. Although I was able to guess who invited them, the mystery around Saskia was a bit more complicated and the author was able to nicely build to a believable scenario.
As I was reading I could easily see this being made into a TV series, which is also a credit to the author that she was able to describe the snow, cold, and snowboarding (of which I know nothing) so well.
I recommend this to those who enjoy a read-in-one-day kind of thriller!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Shiver is an exciting thriller set in the icy French Alps. Five friends reunite at an isolated ski resort and soon discover that the organiser of their reunion has an ulterior motive. I really enjoyed this twisty, competitive story about snowboarding. Thanks to NeGalley and the publisher for my digital copy.

A gripping read and introduction to the competitive world of snowboarding...something I know nothing about! 

And what a fiercely competitive world it is! Complex young characters, hell bent on British and world rankings, complicated by young lusty feelings amongst the group of competitors spending alot of time away from home competing in the snowy mountains. 

With 2 time-frames...10 years earlier when the group a ripped apart by injury and a mysterious disappearance, and present time, when 5 are called together to a mountain reunion weekend in the French Alps. But why? Who is guilty of what? Who is setting them up? Who do they trust? Do they all carry guilt and finally, will they all make it out alive?

Shiver is told entirely from Milla's point of view and alternates between present and 10 years ago chapters.  There is a little snowboard terminology but nothing that isn't widely already known.

Truely a sinister psychological debut by Allie Reynolds that did keep me wondering right until the end. But at the same time a nice fresh present day read which is a change from usual favourite of historical fiction. This book would satisfy a broad range of reader demographic and I see big things for Aliie in the future.

Thank you #hachetteaustralia #netgalley and #alliereynolds for the arc of this book.

Milla accepts an invite to a reunion getaway at ski resort Le Roche. She can't exactly say she is keen to see everyone at the reunion but she hasn't seen her fellow snow border crew for ten years and feels it's time. She hopes that this weekend is spent catching up and having a relaxing time with people she used to like and care about.
Soon after arriving, the crew begins to realise something is a bit off. The initial ice breaker game goes awry as secrets and lies are revealed. Soon they become trapped in the resort with a snow build up and no power.
And then the first body is found. And the first clue is discovered.
It's clear someone wants the guest's to remember what happened ten years ago, when the crew were training for Olympic spots. And someone really wants to know what happened to Saskia, a fellow snowboarder who vanished.
Soon they all become suspicious of each other. Who can they trust? Will they make it off the mountain alive?

This book is a brilliant debut by Allie Reynolds. It was so atmospheric that I could practically feel the cold of the snow!
Told in past and present tense, you read about what happened ten years ago and what is happening now and how much the characters have changed.
This book was full of twists and turns, it's an intriguing read and I highly recommend it.

Book blurb…

In this propulsive locked-room thriller, a reunion weekend in the French Alps turns deadly when five friends discover someone has deliberately stranded them in a deserted mountaintop resort
When Milla is invited to a reunion in the cosy resort that saw the peak of her snowboarding career, she drops everything to go. While she would rather forget the events of that winter, the invitation comes from Curtis, the one person she can't seem to let go.
The five friends haven't seen each other for ten years, since the disappearance of the beautiful and enigmatic Saskia. But when an icebreaker game turns menacing, they realise they don't know who has really gathered them there and how far they will go to find the truth.
In a isolated lodge high up a mountain, amid a looming snowstorm, the secrets of the past are about to come to light.
Imagine Agatha Christie set in the Alps and you have Shiver, a spectacularly sinister psychological debut that delves into the competitive side of human nature. If you can't trust your friends, who can you trust?

My thoughts…
A thriller in every sense, This story had ME trapped in an isolated resort and looking over my shoulder for the villain!

A dual timeline narrative, the two story threads are set ten years apart. With chapters written in an alternate point of view the two threads are well balanced and equally compelling.

In a desolate setting, with no chance of escape, the small group turn to each other for answers and turn on each other before the story climaxes rather dramatically.

Perhaps avoid reading this one at night!

I can't believe it took me months to write this review, but it did. I could not write the review right after I finished reading as I needed to digest my opinions and emotions.

Shiver by Allie Reynolds is a 'locked room' or 'locked chalet' rather murder mystery and thriller. It is fast-paced, suspenseful and is full of colourful characters. Even the fact that characters, most of them, were so unlikeable was part of the suspense. As soon as you begin to think that you like a character, he or she does something to make you want to kill them... truly.

Conflict between Milla, the main character and Saksia is gripping and 'watching a train crash' mesmerising. Those two girls are so good at being bad, they are bitch royalty. The supporting cast is amazing and interesting as well. Add to the mix a fairytale setting of French Alps in winter and you get a spooky, sneaky, suspenseful thriller full of surprises as any snow slope left unattended and uncared for.

The only downer for me was too much details about snowboarding. Being not a sporty person, I found all of the descriptions too winded, too long and too boring. However, I did search Youtube for clips of famous snowboarders to get understanding what some of the terms meant.

I've given this book 4 stars. It's a very fun and unputdownable read. And it will make you question the division between good and evil, revenge and forgiveness.

What a fun, tense read this was - it really did make me Shiver! From the beginning, Reynolds infuses the story with the idea that something is not quite right, and when it is revealed to be most definitely the case, our characters are already stuck in an isolated chalet with nothing but their wits to save them.
I really loved the main character and her competitive streak, her unapologetic nature and tough attitude. There is a lot of snowboarding in the flashbacks, some have criticized this as taking them out of the story but I think it was inherent to understanding everyone's motives and actions. It came as no surprise to find out the author had been an athlete in this sport!
I also enjoyed the two timelines, with the final conclusion of the past story leading us directly into the stunning and crazy events of the current story's finale. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a good thriller.

I was super excited to read this ARC and had it on my reading Wishlist for a while. The first half had a good pace and storyline to hold my interest, after that though I must admit I struggled a bit to finish and found myself putting it down a few times and then forcing myself to pick it up again. The writing was good and the characters interesting, however I found myself expecting a bit more of a suspenseful read. Overall an ok thriller that I can see many have loved! Thanks!

This debut by Reynolds created quite the stir on the Australian book scene when it was released and, for the most, it lives up to the hype.

Our narrator, Milla, accepts an invitation to meet at a resort in the French Alps for a reunion of sorts with friends she trained with ten years ago when she had ambitions of making the English Olympic snowboarding team. Milla is surprised at the invitation - the group did not part on the best of terms after one snowboarder fell and broke their neck and another presumably perished on the mountain, perhaps due to foul play. And her fears are founded when, almost as soon as the group meets, some mysterious and threatening incidents occur.

The book is told in dual timelines: present day at the reunion, and ten years previous showing the lead up to the English snowboarding trials and the events which shaped the lives of the group and their present situation.

The setting is fantastic. Reynolds knows her stuff when it comes to snow and avalanches and crevasses. She uses the natural terrain to its fullest. She also uses the isolation of the location really well. The reunion is being held in the off season, meaning the group are the only guests at the resort and this gives the book an added sense of eerie that I really enjoyed. She also had the chance to add in a lot of other creepy things like mounted deers seemingly watching everyone and ice pick memorabilia that goes missing.

Reynolds builds the tension nicely. In the 'ten years ago' section, you are waiting for the climactic scenes to explain what happened and in the present day the problems at the resort start off small and escalate gradually. She does a good job with finding reasons for the group to separate (and, therefore, become vulnerable as they’re alone). She also finds realistic reasons the group can’t easily escape from the resort to the relative safety of a more populated area.

Reynolds is an ex-snowboarder in real life so her knowledge of the sport is obvious. I did find myself googling later to watch some of the tricks she mentioned frequently in the book (with foreshadowing names like ‘cripplers’) but that was more for interest sake as I was never confused by her descriptive prose. (I’ve no idea, living in tropical Queensland, I’ve never even seen snow falling, but I never had any issues with imagining the conditions and/or following what was going on.) It also showed good examples of the adrenaline rush the characters would be chasing and just how many risks they might be willing to take to win competitions (or, as most of us would say, how completely crazy the characters are!). This might have, perversely, been the one weakness of the book too. I found there was a *lot* about snowboarding so if you became bored with it and the discussions surrounding it, you might not be impressed with the book.

Overall I’d recommend the book, especially to anyone looking to read a contemporary thriller and I’ll definitely be looking to read Reynolds next offering. 4 out of 5

Rating: 4 stars
I can't believe I finished this book in less than two days. I was hooked since the first chapter. This is "And Then there were none" meets "Escape Room". It was also my first time reading about snowboarding and I found it unique, refreshing, and very interesting, it is very obvious the author has a strong knowledge of the subject. I did have to google some of the terminologies to be able to fully understand the movements. I was also very pleased with the twist although I think there were one too many coincidences.

Overall great thriller. I will read more thrillers from this author in the future.

This dual timeline novel is set in a remote ski lodge in the Alps, a frozen location that in its own right adds a sense of chill to the story. The book is perfectly named: as the story unfolds you get a shiver of fear for the characters.
The story is told through the eyes of Milla, who was at the height of her sport as a snowboarder ten years earlier. She and four former friends, also snowboarders, are brought together at the lodge ten years after Saskia, another friend, disappeared there. As events unfold in the present time we are given glimpses of the lead-up to Saskia’s disappearance ten years earlier.
I felt a sense of foreboding within the first few pages and that continued to build until one by one Milla’s friends disappeared in the icy world outside the lodge. With strange things happening and getting both stranger and more chilling, my sense of dread ramped up but along with that I shared Milla’s suspicions about her friends and their true intentions.
This book is packed with twists and turns and plenty of suspnsee, which made for compelling reading. In some ways it reminded me of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, and if you enjoyed that story then this one should appeal. It certainly did to me.

What begins as a reunion among five former snowboarding champions takes a terrifying turn when it appears one of them might be a murderer.

Ten years ago, Milla and her friends competed in the British Championships alongside the beautiful but nasty Saskia, a woman who took a disturbing delight in hurting the people around her to get what she wanted – to win. But then Saskia disappeared. Everyone presumed she died — a terrible accident on the ice — but no one knows what really happened. Is she dead or is she playing another one of her cruel mind games?

In the present day, the group arrives at the small ski resort in the Alps to play a mysterious Icebreaker game. But something isn’t right. Someone has set the game up to include secrets about Saskia. And no one can work out who actually invited them to the reunion. Not only that, but all their phones have gone missing and the lift access to the mountain has been disabled. There’s no way out and no one to call for help.

The narrative shifts between the present day and the events of ten years earlier with ambitious, level-headed Milla the story’s narrator. She’s hiding a secret she doesn’t want anyone to find out, especially not Curtis, Saskia’s older brother. Even though Saskia has been missing for many years, her presence is strongly felt with her past actions leaving long-lasting fractures between the old friends. Even the scent of her perfume still seems to be wafting along the hallways of the resort.

The dangerous, snow-covered mountains and secluded lodge provides the perfect environment for a tense, faced-paced psychological thriller. Shadowy figures slip around corners, mysterious messages appear on mirrors and bodies slip easily into the snow. There’s a nice tribute to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None when one character disappears and the others pair off, frightened and unsure who to trust.

As a debut, Shiver is just as enjoyable if not more so, than other popular novels of the same genre. Author Allie Reynolds has created characters who feel real (despite all being extremely good-looking), particularly Saskia, that awful person we’ve all met, but for some reason, want to be our best friend. Allie Reynolds uses her in-depth knowledge of snowboarding (being a former pro freestyle snowboarder herself) to great advantage, with several dramatic plot twists paralleling the death-defying maneuvers performed by the competitive characters.

Shiver is a dark, sexy and pacey thriller about winning — not only in competitions but in relationships, too — with a seriously chilling take on how far some people will go in order to finish on top.

Ten years ago, a bunch of ultra-competitive young snowboarders gathered in a tiny French ski resort for the British Championships. One, Odette, ended up permanently disabled. Another, Saskia, vanished forever.

Now, the five people who were closest to Odette and Saskia have been called back to the scene for a reunion. Except, when they get there, nothing’s at all what they expected. It’s just the five of them. No way off the glacier. No communication, when their phones vanish. It has to be one of them doing it… or does it?

This is a classic ‘locked room’ mystery, told through the eyes of Milla, a young woman who was one of Saskia’s snowboarding rivals back then but gave up the sport after the tragedies. It’s told in twin timelines, as younger Milla is drawn into the glamorous world of Saskia, her brother Curtis, and their elite, competitive friends. Milla obviously harbours secrets and guilt, but she doesn’t know the final truth of Saskia’s disappearance.

It becomes more evident, as the story goes on, that Saskia was something of a sociopath. She enjoyed playing people off against each other, and she ended up paying the highest price for it. The reveal of what really happened to her was slow and tragic, and, for me, utterly derailed by the ‘surprise’ reveal of Saskia’s sexuality.

Perhaps it’s a massive spoiler to reveal that Saskia and Odette were having an affair, and an even bigger one to reveal that Odette recovered from her ‘permanent’ disability and is now seeking revenge, but I kind of have to, because it explains why I’m so utterly furious. Not only did the author ‘kill off’ her gays, she also villainized them. Saskia and Odette, the two non-straight characters, the two villains, both dead by the end of the book.

In the year 2021, have we not moved past this rubbish YET???

I’m particularly enraged because I was enjoying the book. It’s not wildly technical on the snowboarding front; you could look up videos of the different jumps and flips described on Youtube easily enough if you wished to, and the characters all feel realistic - we’ve all known a Saskia, that girl who is just so perfect but cannot bear anyone to get close to her level. I genuinely thought it would be Julien, the man who was wild for her back then but never allowed into the inner circle, who turned out to be the villain, but apparently that would have been Too Obvious so the Gay Villain twist was picked instead.

And for that reason, this is getting one star. And I’m absolutely fuming that this apparently has a TV deal. Gay Villains is not a clever twist. It’s bigoted and cruel, it’s actively harmful, and what are gatekeepers in publishing FOR if not to point this sort of thing out and tell writers to take it out of their story?

‘It’s that time of the year again. The time the glacier gives up bodies. The immense mass of ice up there is a frozen river that flows too slowly for the eye to see. Recent victims brush shoulders with older ones in its glassy depths.’

I was captured by this novel right from the opening passage and I daresay, if I’d been on holidays and not having to get up to go to work the next day, I would have pulled an all-nighter and read from start to finish in one go, no small feat with a 400-page book. As it was, I still raced through it in only two nights, quite a rarity for me during the working week. The story is told in alternate chapters, the present day and then ten years previous, both from Milla’s perspective. In the past sections we are privy to all of the backstory up until the point where a set of tragic events occur that form the focus of the present-day sections. The format makes for a gripping read, short chapters with cliff-hanger endings – the very definition of a page turner. And then there’s the foreshadowing and doubt cast onto the various characters throughout different points in the story. The author has crafted this novel to perfection.

The backdrop for this thrilling story is the world of competitive snowboarding, a sport I knew nothing about prior to reading this book. The author herself is a former pro-snowboarder and this shows throughout the narrative, but only in the sense that you are immersed into the world, not because you are overwhelmed with its details. There is a perfect balance to this achieved by the author which is impressive for a debut about a topic they are no doubt passionate about. There’s always a risk of ‘too much information’ but that’s not the case with this book. I found myself intrigued about this sport, the risks versus rewards for the athletes, and enjoyed spending ‘the season’ with them.

In terms of the crime/suspense/thriller side of the story, you can’t get better than this. Twists and turns, the mind games, everyone doubting each other, everyone with motivation; it was excellent, with perfect pacing all the way through. I’ve already started recommending this one far and wide and I can envisage buying it as a gift for a few of my book loving friends and relatives. This is one that will no doubt pop up as a movie or TV series in the future, the gripping story has that adaptive quality and with the magnificent alpine setting, it would be visually stunning on the screen. I can understand all the hype around this one, it’s well deserved and I am happy to add my review into the mix.


Thanks is extended to Hachette Australia for providing me with a copy of Shiver for review.

I really enjoyed this book. It hooked me in and had me wanting to read it in one sitting. It is a wonderful debut.

I really felt the tension between the characters as the story unfolded. The character development unfolds over alternating timelines and this is written really well. It helps add to the suspense of the story.

A few decisions made by Milla in the book really frustrated me as a reader, but that's ok because that's how things are sometimes...frustrating.

This is a strong debut that I would easily recommend to other readers and I will look out for more from this author.

There is something uniquely appealing about locked-room thrillers. Perhaps the known constraints give us the false impression the power balance between mystery author and amateur detective reader has shifted? Regardless of the reason for their appeal, one thing is clear. Debut author Allie Reynolds is very much in control every moment of Shiver.

Reynolds holds the reins of this clever plot just as tight as her complex ensemble cast are headstrong. With a narrative that alternates between present-day and 10-years prior, she slowly increases the storytelling pace and tension. Continue reading at https://www.bookloverbookreviews.com/2021/01/shiver-by-allie-reynolds-review.html

This book lived up to the hype, it was a page turner with the chapters alternating between past and present.

Other bookstagrammers have described this a popcorn thriller which I think is a perfect description of this book!

Five friends are invited to a reunion in a tiny resort. It’s the location of where Saskia went missing ten years before.

Upon arrival it’s obvious things aren’t right, who actually invited them all together? Why is the resort deserted?

Secrets of the past begin to come to light, and with a rapid fire ending you’ll definitely struggle to put this down until the end.

A big thank you to Netgalley and Hachette for a gifted copy of this book, it was a brilliant debut, I look forward to reading more from Allie Reynolds in the future.

So many twists and turns ... and not just in the snowboarding scenes.
Confession time. I'm not a fan of the snow and the closest I've been to snowboarding is sliding around on plastic when I was a kid, but that doesn't matter. I could absolutely see every part of the action in my mind and I almost felt like I could be there.
This book is not all about the sport of snowboarding either.. There's believeable (and yes, relatable) characters and several twists I never saw coming.

Allie Reynolds' full-length debut is a triumph!
In a clever variation on the classic "locked room" mystery, five erstwhile friends are invited to an off-season reunion at the French Alps resort where, ten years previously, they gathered in advance of the British Snowboarding Championships. It's also ten years since the disappearance of the alluring but malicious Saskia Sparks, high on the Glacier du Diable where they're now meeting up again.
As the group realise they're alone and isolated high on the mountain, troubling events begin to occur and an atmosphere of suspicion descends. There are indications that they're being watched. Comparing notes, they realise that it's unclear who has invited them here, or the intended purpose of the gathering. Old jealousies, passions and resentments rise to the surface, as the five try to overcome their antipathies to find a way off the mountain to safety.
The story is told from the first-person perspective of Milla Anderson, who arrived as somewhat of an outsider for the Snowboarding season ten years previously, but was welcomed into the group of competitive Brits over the course of the season. The narrative jumps back and forth in alternating chapters between that time and the present day. As such, the series of events leading up to Saskia's disappearance unfold for the reader alongside the mounting tension amongst those gathered in the present day. There is plenty of foreshadowing and intrigue as to what each person has to hide (and they all have something to hide!).
What actually happened to Saskia all those years ago, and is the malevolent presence at the lodge watching from a distance or hidden in plain sight amongst them?
Reynolds' sense of pacing is superb, her characters complex and beguiling. The mountain setting is simultaneously beautiful and menacing, an environment in which these individuals were once at their competitive best. However, like the glacier outside, there are a multitude of hidden crevasses under the rather thin veneer of friendship and camaraderie that once drew them together.
Having recently read Ruth Ware's One by One, which is based around a not disimilar plot premise, I felt that Shiver was more successfully executed - an impressive achievement, given that this is Allie Reynolds's debut.
I have skied previously, but came to Shiver with no knowledge of snowboarding beyond having watched occasional events at the Winter Olympics. Reynolds brings her considerable personal experience (she was once rated in the top 10 of British Snowboarders) to her writing, creating a engrossing and convincing atmosphere of elite sportspeople at their competitive prime. I found it fascinating, and will have a far greater appreciation for and interest in the half-pipe when Beijing 2022 (hopefully) rolls around.
Shiver is a great mystery-thriller read, with a surprising yet satisfying final reveal, and I have no hesitation in recommending it to all lovers of high-quality thriller literature.
My thanks to the author, Allie Reynolds, publisher Hachette Australia and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this fabulous book.