Lisa Unger is usually a hard win for me. She is a beautifully poetic wordsmith, crafting tales and characters that draw you in and keep you hooked.

This one was a bit slower paced for me and so the thrill in thriller wasn’t quite there. However, I will continue recommending her books and this one to those die hard fans, and once with a little time on their hands for a slow burn thriller.

Suspenseful but predictable at times, especially if you’ve read a lot of mystery/thrillers. I would have liked to see a little more character development throughout the book as well

Book Title: Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six
Author: Lisa Unger
Publisher: Harlequin Trade Publishing ~Park Row
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: November 8, 2022
My Rating: 4 Stars
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy is its own way.
-Leo Tolstoy Anna Karenina
This is my 11th Lisa Unger novel. I loved four novels "Confessions on the 745", "Ink and Bone", "The Red Hunter", and "Darkness, My old Friend"]. Several I really liked ~ some I didn’t love them

I have been wanted to read this novel and was a bit discouraged when I read several reviews from reader I trust and they either dnf or thought it was okay.
I went into this without high expectations'.
However. . .
I have to admit I did like it. I thought the idea of family members taking a DNA test was great!

Hannah and her brother Mako have always been close; he is doing well financially and wants to give Hannah a great Birthday gift. He finds a listing on-line of a stunning house deep in the Georgia woods – a sort of wellness retreat, back to nature - no Wi-Fi, but hiking, yoga etc and does include a personal chef.
It sleeps six so he decides it would be the perfect birthday gift, Hannah and hubby Bruce, Mako and his wife Liza, plus another couple - friends of Hannah and Mako, Cricket and her new hottie boyfriend Joshua.

A threat of a terrible storm is brewing and the awesome weekend is turning into a nightmare. The personal chef reveals that this beautiful isolated cabin has a ghost haunting it ~ but he doesn’t believe in ghosts ~ do you? However, ghosts are nothing compared to the secrets that everyone seems to be carrying.

Then there is Henry!

As I said I did like this ~ true there are a bunch of unlikeable foul mouth characters. Most seem to think a sentence has to contain - subject – verb - and an f-bomb! Actually in many cases just an f-bomb.
I have a low tolerance and am not a fan of profanity but have to admit the swearing certainly fits most of these characters!!

Lisa Unger tells us that she got her inspiration for this story when she and her family rented a cabin in an isolated area in Georgia. She thought what if something happened, no one would hear their screams plus she wondered - do they really change the locks after every guest.
She recently read an article in The New York Times "Modern Love" column about a man who sought out his children decades after he had anonymously donated his sperm, then fell in love with their mother.
Soooo with an idea plus a creative imagination, Lisa began to write!

I thought the idea of a sperm donor looking for his children was certainly different. In fact, I cannot believe it hasn’t popped up in a bunch of other psychological thrillers!

I enjoyed reading the author’s acknowledgements. Lisa Unger as well most authors say that the hardest difficult part of writing a novel is writing the ‘Acknowledgments’ because they want to get it right.
I always enjoy both the acknowledgements as well as the author’s note and appreciate when authors taking the time to give us this inside scoop!.

Want to thank NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing ~ Park Row for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for November 29, 2022

After reading so many thrillers, this book firmly falls in the middle for me. I enjoyed it enough to get through it quickly but it didn't keep me up at night.

There is one factor that adds a unique twist that really has the potential to throw every belief and assumption out the window and the climax and resolution did keep me on the edge of my seat. It would've been nice to see the peripheral characters rounded out a bit more; I feel like there were some missed opportunities to amp up the tension through them.

Overall, it's a solid read and I'll certainly look for more by Lisa Unger.

The book follows two story lines. First, a teenage boy's mother is murdered. His pursuit of the murderer through DNA leads him into a world of which he did not know. One which he would have rather remained unaware.

The second storyline is where the book draws it's title. As a Christmas gift a wealthy entrepreneur invites his sister and brother in law and another couple to a week of relaxation at a secluded cabin in the woods. Another mysterious gift was left for the family on Christmas day, DNA test kits. No one knew where they came from.

Vacation week arrives. The host of the property is an odd man who seems off put by his guests, leaving them wondering how he received such fabulous ratings for his service. A storm arrives, power lost trees down leaving them stranded. Naturally, mayhem begins. The story is narrated by the characters in turn, each revealing their own dark secrets. Much of this is misdirection by the author in order to keep the reader guessing in this "locked forest" mystery. In the end, the two storylines converge.

The storyline was little uneven as there were times that it seemed to loose momentum, I believe partly due to the changing POV. Each character was at a different point in the journey, so as it sped up for one, it would slow down for another,

The DNA aspect brings in an interesting dimension. The favorite nature versus nurture, being time tested, is a main theme.. Do you define yourself by the actions of those with whom you share DNA? What would you do for your family? How far would you go? Is family defined by DNA?

This is a fairly solid read, although a bit uneven at times, with some good original thoughts. A bitt brutal and bloody for the women characters, and oddly, mostly the women.

My thanks to NetGalley for the audio preview of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

When a group of friends goes to a secluded cabin for a weekend, they are each hiding something, but are they really alone or is someone there targeting them? Chapters from different perspectives keep us guessing with clues from the past and present as we discover who is out to get the group and why.

So,another story about a group of people going into the woods to stay for a weekend get away in a cozy cabin,right? Yes,and no.
This installment provides a few differences which involve DNA, big money, and family; biological and otherwise.
Most characters were difficult for me to connect with and some subplots and characters felt like filler.
I did enjoy the ending and the overall consensus that family is complicated. Genes and life choices make you,you;it's not one or the other.

I think this book will be a hit. It was “medium” for me - I’ve read a lot of books lately with similar characters so nothing was really hooking me. I also thought a lot of the endings were wrapped up a bit too neatly. But all around an entertaining and quick read.

A weekend getaway turns deadly in this latest thriller from Lisa Unger. This is a locked room mystery where everyone is a suspect and you do not know who to trust. I was captivated by the story and the setting was perfect. There was a lot to unravel as the story unfolded, past secrets, lies and deception. I enjoyed it but the premise was a little far fetched for me. Solid thriller, worth the read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

#NetGalley #LisaUnger #SecludedCabinSleepsSix

3 stars

Hannah and her husband Bruce along with two other couples decide to spend a long weekend at an isolated cabin in Georgia. Hannah isn't wild about the idea, especially since it means leaving her toddler home with Grandma, but she thinks her husband might be cheating on her and this will be a chance to reconnect. All six of them have secrets from their partners and each other. The house is opulent but creepy, the property is creepy, the host is creepy, even the private chef is creepy. And there's a hurricane bearing down on them. As well as a maniac.

People should know by now not to go to a place that is cut off from civilization, especially with people who are more frenemies than friends. You know it's not going to end well. This is the first suspense novel that I've read that relied so heavily on DNA technology. There were two stories going on and it was interesting to see how they tied together. Unfortunately most of the characters were annoying, and I thought the ending was a little too neat. But fans of suspense fiction should be happy with it overall.

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Secluded cabin Sleeps Six

I love the concept of scary stuff going on at a secluded luxury cabin (updated locked room mystery!) and I loved “Confessions on the 7:45”, so I was happy to receive an ARC from NetGalley and Park Row Books. The characters are introduced at a Christmas dinner gathering, and just enough details to peak your curiosity. There is mention of the cabin getaway a few months down the road, along with a mysterious DNA test and I was hooked into the story. Then the weekend arrives, new characters introduced (shady ones)— and the mystery builds.
There are multiple viewpoints and storylines besides the main drama taking place at the cabin. Henry’s story is full of sadness and his mother’s dark past, very interesting! There is at least one person stalking outside the cabin, along with the owner of the cabins who has cameras in all the rooms, including the shower — so creepy! I won’t give away more than that, but these are some elements of a thriller that I love, since we don’t know yet what their intentions are or why these six are being targeted. I was more interested in Henry’s backstory than I was with the shenanigans at the cabin (which were somewhat predictable) but I was definitely invested in finding out how the path of the DNA tests were going to converge....likely to all of the answers! So, yes, Lisa Unger does her job of laying a trail of breadcrumbs that most thriller readers will be happy to follow to the end.

This was atmospheric and kept me guessing. I hadn’t read Lisa Unger before but I will again. Enjoyed the set up especially but the end surprised me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I always look forward to Lisa Unger's books and was really excited to read this one. i enjoyed it so much and I think this is one of my new favorites of hers! Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review this one. Can't wait for the next one!

We have probably all heard of someone who did DNA testing and ended up discovering some unexpected family. That is part of the premise of the thriller Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six. The book varies its POV and the timeline. Mako, a successful techie, has rented a luxurious home in the wilderness for him, his wife, his sister (Hannah), his brother-in-law Bruce, his sister's best friend and his old flame (Cricket) and Cricket new love interest Joshua. There are also some ancillary characters who may or may not be villains. The present is mostly told through Hannah's POV and we learn that Mako is not a very nice human but that everyone always excuses his behavior. There is a storm coming and something sinister taking place. We also meet Henry in the 1990s. Henry who had a chaotic childhood and whose mother was murdered. How these two plot lines will mesh is hard to see. I enjoyed the first part of the book but the ending felt rushed. Still I enjoyed it.

3.5 stars. Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six had a slow start. It took me reading the first half of the book before I felt the action really began. However, once it did, it was a decent thriller. I loved that the majority of the book takes place on a rainy night in a cabin in the middle of nature. I also enjoyed the exploration of DNA as technology has advanced and its repercussions on peoples’ lives. However, I struggled with the believability of many of the actions of the characters throughout the story.

Thank you, NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed above are my own.

While I did not enjoy this book as much as I have enjoyed some of her other stories, It did keep my interest throughout and I liked the setting and the DNA aspect which was really the main story here.

Convoluted and starts slow, but eventually a, it turned into pretty decent thriller. Many of the characters were unlikeable.

First of all, this was my very first Lisa Unger novel and I really enjoyed how deeply atmospheric it was. I also enjoyed the multiple POV's and the alternating timelines, although I will admit sometimes the alternating timelines got a bit confusing. And, honestly, the amount of POV's were hard to keep up with as well. But maybe that's just me.

Loved the locked-door mystery of it all, and it was truly the perfect setting for it. I didn't quite understand why Bracken's POV mattered, ultimately, because nothing really became of that particular plot. I thought maybe something would be revealed via his cameras, he'd be arrested, or something like that but no. Nothing happened. Kind of a disappointment, his POV contributed nothing so it in all actuality could have just been left out.

I absolutely HATED that Mako didn't get a worse punishment. He was AWFUL. Lisa Unger wrote his character to be extremely unlikeable, and he definitely was. The worst. What even was his true purpose in bringing everyone there? To flaunt his wealth? Or to continue the illusion that his business was doing well? I guess we'll never know.

I just didn't connect with the story or the characters all that well. Will it discourage me from reading another of her books? Absolutely not.
Thank you so much for my gifted review copy, Park Row!

What a fun read.

3 couples head to a remote cabin in Georgia for the weekend. Hannah and her husband. Hannah's brother and his wife and Hannahs bestfriend and her new boyfriend.

The book starts with everyone getting a DNA testing kit for Christmas from an anonymous source. The book then segues into the weekend. There is a hurricane coming up from the caribbean threatening their retreat. There is a mystery narrator vowing revenge. There is the cabin owner who likes to spy on his guests.

All of this gets pulled together into a page turning story and has all sorts of surprises. Highly recommended.

Another great Unger book. Fans of her will definitely have trouble putting this one down.

Do we ever really know someone? Even if it is family. Unger will have you thinking twice.

It’s Christmas time and under the tree are mysterious DNA kits addressed to family members. Why would someone leave these here? After all, from the outside looking in, siblings Hannah and Marko have had a fairly “normal” upbringing. Although Hannah has had to do quite a bit of cleaning up after her brother along the way….
There is a cottage with a sad story and rumoured ghost. Marko and his wife, Hannah and her husband, along with Hannah’s best friend, Cricket and her boyfriend all go away to this cottage. When a bad storm hits the area, blocking roads, and knocking out power, strange things start to happen, and the guests start to realize that not everyone is who they say they are.

This novel will switch back and forth between characters and time periods, but Unger does this smoothly.