This was about a 3.5 star read for me. It was a very quick read with some interesting twists and turns. Though, honestly, there was a lot going on! Multiple story lines that all came together in the end ...

I did appreciate that it was engaging and a fast read and had some twistiness that wasn't completely obvious like most of the other thrillers in the last year!

This review was also published on Goodreads.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review.

A definite page turner, good book.

What a diabolical plot. Cooper gives an excellent story of a young couple starting over in a cru,bling French chateau. The backstory for the husband is provided in flash backs. The threads of the plot care woven together nicely for the crescendo at the end. I didn’t really like either of the main characters and felt sorry for the little boys. Actions have consequences. Always.

Very well written, but the intensely unlikeable characters paired with an unnecessarily long and tedious backstory that took up the middle of the book killed this for me. Also comparison in reviews to Agatha Christie were utterly mystifying.

Something happened in London that has Aura, Nick and their two young sons packing up and leaving for France. Aura has talked Nick into buying a dilapidated chateau that after renovating would become a bed and breakfast. As they settle in, all isn’t as idyllic at the chateau as Aura had hoped. Strange occurrences in the night have left Aura uneasy. As she gets to know the surrounding expat community, she finds herself not quite fitting in and their lifestyle not to her liking. When a murder takes place the community is a bit unsettled. It’s not long until another death shatters Aura’s life. Was moving to France a total mistake? Is everything her fault? While this book is well written it’s filled with unpleasant characters and I was not overly fond of the story.

Another utterly gripping novel by Catherine Cooper! This story is told from different POVs and goes from present to past, but all flows easily together. Aura and Nick purchase a Chateau hoping to make a fresh start. But things don't always work out the way we hoped! Love the way the story slowly builds and the pieces gradually fit together. Loved it!
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This story was a slow build for me mainly because the author spends quite a bit of time painting such an authentic picture of what it’s like being young parents. I related too much in some parts and was honestly having a bit of PTSD reliving the utter exhaustion, relationship strain, etc. I almost put the book down, but I’m glad I didn’t.

There are multiple POV with shifts back and forth from past to present so that the pieces of the story are gradually added until you have a full picture by the end. Usually this annoys me, but I thought it served the narrative well. My opinion of each character kept changing as I saw them through different viewpoints until I realized that there was no one left to like. Everyone had secrets and was out for their own interests. The ending was immensely satisfying with a couple of twists that I didn’t see coming.

Thank you to Netgalley and Catherine Cooper for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

<b>Note:</b> I received an advanced copy of this book from Harper 360 via NetGalley.

Aura and Nick don’t talk about what happened in England. They’ve bought a chateau in France to make a fresh start, and their kids need them to stay together – whatever it costs. A couple on the brink. The expat community is welcoming, but when a neighbour is murdered at a lavish party, Aura and Nick don’t know who to trust.

A secret that is bound to come out… Someone knows exactly why they really came to the chateau. And someone is going to give them what they deserve.

This was not what I was expecting from reading this author's first book but I was pleasantly surprised. The readers got a completely different view and story of the characters from one part to the next making the story a lot more interesting and impactful. The reader thought they knew the characters in the first part of the book but the point of view was completely different later on.

This was a very intriguing and suspenseful thriller! I couldn’t stop reading it once I started! Told from multiple perspectives, just about everyone had a secret. Highly recommend this book!

The Chateau is a gripping, can't-put-down thriller. After the prologue, the first third of the book is seen through Aura's POV and occurs in the present time in France. The second third of the book takes the reader back ten months in London and is seen through Nick and another's POVs. The final third is back to the present. I thought the layout of the book added to the mystery. While time jumps do not always work, I thought it was well-done in The Chateau. The story is fast-paced and kept me guessing from page one. The ending, while a bit unusual, was still satisfying. I would definitely recommend The Chateau for anyone looking for an exciting mystery/thriller.

Thank you to both #NetGalley and Harper Collins/Harper 360 for providing me an advance copy of Catherine Cooper’s latest mystery novel, The Chateau, in exchange for an honest review.

Despite the title and various similarities, #TheChateau is NOT a follow-up to the author’s debut novel, The Chalet. Instead, The Chateau is a standalone novel that features a married English couple whose past has prompted them to start a new life in rural France while being filmed by a production crew for a new TV series.

The story is told from the perspective of different characters and alternates between the past and present. The characters are insufferable and precisely none of them possess any redeeming qualities. While this may sound as if the book was written from a vague outline of the first novel, the plot in the second novel was blatantly uninspired and brimming with insipid, pointless details. For instance, the first nine chapters of the novel drone on about raising children.

The reader is led to believe that the plot will finally become interesting once they reach the dinner party in Chapter 10; the one with the exciting event mentioned in the prologue. Unfortunately, the story remains intriguing for about two short chapters, then delves into the past of the husband and a “secret affair.”

Honestly, the author is a good storyteller, but none of this adds up to an exciting mystery novel or any novel for that matter. A lot of it is farfetched and there are no clues of any kind to indicate the murderer or their motives. This could have been several short writing assignments that an editor/publisher loosely tied together to create a full-length novel. I would personally forgo this novel, and opt for the #TheChalet instead.

There were points at which there were just too many competing narratives. Combine that with genuinely unlikable characters, and the bad outweighs the good in this one.

Such a good read!!

I loved the setting of The Chateau and the story was a "fun" one! I love these types of thrillers where you feel like you can't trust anyone and the variety of characters made it quite an interesting read!

This one was highly entertaining from beginning to end with multiple twists and turns. Loved it!

The Chateau is an upcoming paperback release from Catherine Cooper (available now on Amazon Kindle). Aura and Nick escaping from their past in England to a chateau in France that has seen better days. The neighbors are all helpful and welcoming but then one of the neighbors is murdered at a fancy Halloween party. Not knowing who to trust, Nick and Aura try to continue to fit into life in France. But someone knows why Nick and Auro have relocated to France and they are going to pay one way or another.

This book is told through multiple points of view over the course of about a year, but at the beginning of each chapter, it lets us know whose point of view we’re reading from and when and where. The whole first part of the book was told through Aura’s point of view in the fall after they’ve already relocated to France. We know something happened in England that could have spelled the end of her marriage to Nick, but they decided to leave their past behind for a fresh start. It is alluded to that the reason for the relocation was because of something Nick did, and the idea of moving to France was Aura’s idea, but that’s not confirmed until much later in the book.

While in France, Nick and Aura meet some new people. Frank is an overly helpful ex-pat who has a reputation of being a little too helpful with the new female neighbors. Thea, who is gorgeous and known to throw extravagant parties. Helen, who moves in to help with the children in exchange for free room and board. Seb and Chloe, who are members of a film crew at the house filming the family for a French reality television show.

While we go through the story, we see that Nick and Aura are really having trouble repairing the damage in their marriage. Nick is being a bit more adventurous with his new surroundings, trying drugs at a party and hunting. Aura almost entirely throws herself into renovating their new home and starts to rely on Frank and Helen for help.

As they get settled into the house, strange things start to happen, which drive the entire family crazy. Lights start going on at all hours of the night. Their oldest son complains about voices talking to him during the night. Aura drives Nick crazy because he brushes everything off as “the house is old,” but Aura is convinced someone is messing with her.

In my opinion, both Nick and Aura are unlikable characters. Nick leaves everything to Aura when it comes to the children, taking them to the doctor, taking care of them throughout the day, ect. He helps out some at night when he comes home from work, but he leaves everything to her. He is shocked to learn some of the medical decisions Aura has made regarding their children, which ultimately puts another strain on their already strained relationship.

Aura tends to play the victim, even though most of the time, the situations she is in are a result of her choices. She wants to go back to work and school, so the children are put in daycare. She wants to move to France to “fix” her relationship with her husband and escape all the gossip surrounding her family. She says she does research and gets advice from others, but she seems to mostly consult various Facebook groups and makes quick decisions.

I will admit, when it came to the happenings at the house (the noises and the lights) I was trying to guess who was doing it. I was right with how it was being done, just not by who. And the murder at the Halloween party? I didn’t really see the reason behind the murder coming, but I had guessed who did it. And the end… Let me just say something else BIG happens at the end. Again, I kind of saw it coming, but I really didn’t expect the reason why.

Overall, I give this book four stars. There were a lot of twists, some of them I didn’t expect. There were a variety of characters, all different, that kept it interesting. If you’re a fan of murder mysteries and family dramas, this book is for you! Thank you to HarperCollins360 and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Nick and Aura purchase a Chateau in France in order to escape their past in England. They are welcomed into an expat community and everything seems perfect until a neighbor is murdered at a party they attended. Now they don't know who to trust. It seems someone may know about what happened to them in England. Are they out for revenge?

This was another enjoyable read by Catherine Cooper. I was excited to read THE CHATEAU since I liked Catherine Cooper’s last book, THE CHALET, so much. This is another quick and easy read, full of twists. I think many people will enjoy it. I am definitely looking forward to reading her next book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper 360 for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review will be posted to my Instagram Blog (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.

Told is several voices, The Chateau is a mix of mystery, thriller and reality TV full of crimes and many, many suspects. And no one is who they seem to be.

Nick, Aura and have purchased a French chateau with plans to turn it into a B & B. They have left London their two toddler sons to start over after “troubles” (you will find out later). The much needed renovation will be the subject of an HGTV show and filmed 24/7 by Seb and Chloe. Helen, backpacking in Europe, has signed on as a nanny in exchange for room and board. The renovation is far more complicated than expected, there is no privacy with Seb and Chloe constantly filming, an overly friendly neighbor takes an interest and the occupants of the nearby chateaux are…well, no spoilers here.

The plot moves between past events and the present, leaving you wondering what you have just read and how it will fit in. Nick and Aura see themselves so differently from the way others perceive their characters and those differences have much to do with what happens. The shocking conclusion is a horrifying, unexpected surprise. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper 360 and Catherine Cooper for this ARC.

Good book! Thus book was a little different to me, this book had suspense, intrigue, and a great who done it! It definitely gave me chills a few times! It was a great thriller! I definitely recommend reading this one! Its well worth reading! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

Excellent story! Totally engrossing!. Looking forward to reading more by this author! Could not put this down!

Thank you Harper 360, HarperCollins for the approval of The Chateau by Catherine Cooper!

The Chateau by Catherine Cooper was a fabulous, fast paced thriller.
I read The Chalet last year and loved it! So I knew this wasn't going to be any different!

Nick and Aura don't like talking about what happened in England!
They recently just bought a Chateau to fix you and renovate.
Their neighborhood is very welcoming! But suddenly a neighbor is found dead after a party.
Someone knows their secrets are willing to do anything to expose them! At any cost!

Aura and Nick don’t talk about what happened in England. They’ve bought a chateau in France to make a fresh start, and their kids need them to stay together – whatever it costs.
WoW! If this doesn't get your blood pumping I don't know what will!
This is one of the most surprising books I have read this year so far.
The writing and plotting are superb! Just everything about this book is phenomenal!
This has such a deliciously satisfying finale that my head was left spinning!

Five Star because I couldn't love this book .ore if I tired!