The Chateau started out with some bits and pieces of background information on each character. It took me a little bit to get into the story at the beginning. However, once the action started, this book kept me on my toes. With a "Who Done It" plot, there was never an obvious answer. Every piece of information that that author provides is important to the plot, which is not always obvious at the time.

The characters really grew on me as the book went on. I found myself judging them and their actions, however, as the story went on, more things made sense.

This book kept me interested and engaged with many plot twists that I did not expect. It is very much worth the read!

Whewwww what mixed feelings!

On the one hand, this book seemed MADE for me. A murder mystery in a chateau in Provence, where I was raised? YES PLEASE. I loved everything about the setting and writing—it was gorgeous, and made me so nostalgic for home. I’m so glad we got to see so much of France!

On the other hand, the story is very slow-burn, I had trouble buying some of the motives, and a couple of the twists were ended up being slightly underwhelming red herrings. But I DID really appreciate the killer’s motive and how that whole reveal went down. Also the end twists were fabulous!

I’ll definitely read this author again!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this arc!

-A

The Chateau by Jaclyn Goldis was a twisty story.
The suspense and intrigue were phenomenal.
It definitely kept me on my toes. And flipping the Kindle page's pretty quickly.
I thought that the plot was great. Goldis knows when ramp it up.
The writing style was excellent and the pace was great, it was full of suspense and twists and turns.
Overall, a gripping, unputdownable, very clever and completely unexpected read!

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for your generosity and approving this eARC!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria for the ARC of The Chateau. I loved this book. It was full of intrigue and suspense. A few twists along the way. Each of the four main characters explored friendship, despair and growth. I couldn’t put it down.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. Darcy, Jade, Vix and Arabelle were friends from the college days and they frequently would stay at Darcy's Grandmother's Chateau in the beautiful location of France. Grandma Seraphine sends invitations to all four girls inviting them to come out and stay at the Chateau with a cryptic message that she needs to talk to each of them. As the girls reunite with everyone and catch up, they are each wondering why they are all really there. Each of the girls has a secret that they are keeping from the rest. Then one morning, the day that Seraphine was going to explain everything, a scream is heard throughout the halls and someone has murdered Grandma Seraphine. This is the story of who would have done such a thing, and asks the question, who can you really trust? Who is the murderer walking the halls of the Chateau? What are the secrets that everyone is keeping and what was Seraphine going to tell all the girls. I really liked this book and look forward to more by this author.....Enjoy!!!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book! I really enjoyed it! It was a creative, thought-provoking, and deep thriller. There are multiple narrators, which usually I'm not a big fan of but for this one it wasn't too confusing after the first few chapters. I enjoyed the setting and descriptions of the chateau itself, as well as, the difference location in France. The characters were complex, likeable, and frustrating, which helped keep the suspense going. There was only one issue I had with the book but it would reveal a huge spoiler. Otherwise I enjoyed the plot and the writer's style.

This thriller was absolutely edge of my seat amazing!! I could not put it down. I was hooked from the best to the end. I loved this so much.
I just reviewed The Chateau by Jaclyn Goldis. #NetGalley
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This book follows 4 girl best friends POVs staying at one of the girls grandmother’s chateau in France. Seraphine, the grandmother, has something important to share with the girls and is waiting to tell them. But during the night before the grand reveal Seraphine is brutally murdered and the suspected groundskeeper is quickly taken into custody. Seemingly like justice has the rest of the girls protected more evidence points to the girls as having motives for murder.

I’m saddened to say that the story was a bit predictable at times and disappointedly lacking at others. Early on in the story there was a mysterious Instagrammer who was messaging the girls saying “I know what you did”. I think all together there were 2 pictures posted and the whole spooky “person is watching you” angle felt quickly abandoned. The reveal was predictable but the whole plot point was so poorly executed the book would’ve been better without it. If more suspense was built into the Instagram posted it would’ve added a great element to the story.

Also the cheating best friend angle was predictable and boring. I feel like it is overdone and there were other better options to use as potential motivation for murder.

I throughly enjoyed reading Jaclyn Goldis’ writing. Something about it made it flow in such a way I forgot I was reading. The way she describes the scenery and characters have me wanting more. I’m keeping an eye out for her other novel and anything else she might write in the future.

French setting and many friends made me want to read this book. It had mystery and intrigue and I was invested from the first couple of chapters!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC! Four stars!

Right away the premise of this book drew me in as I'm a sucker for anything French. Four friends who studied abroad together return to Provence twenty years later and the French chateau of one of their grandmother's. Darcy, Jade, Arabelle, and Vix are the four friends, and Seraphine is Darcy's grandmother. But there is something more sinister behind the trip than just a fun reunion. Seraphine has gathered everyone together to reveal a big secret, however, she is murdered before she can share.

The book alternates from each main character's point of view, plus a few others. There was a mix of mostly present day, and a touch of history, as the story stretched all the way back to the Holocaust. I very much enjoyed the setting of the French chateau and how the author tied each of the four friends together through their stories. If you are looking for a thriller with a unique story and a picturesque setting, I would recommend reading this.

Thank you to Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the opportunity to read and review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read if you like:
- multiple POV
- group of friends on vacation who-dun-it
- creepy thriller
- Jewish history & culture
- family drama
- cheating scandal

A group of 4 best friends are given a free weekend at a beautiful (creepy 😬) Chateau in France by one of grandmothers (Darcy’s). What is supposed to be a nice, relaxing vacation with friends soon turns sinister when one of the ladies turns up DEAD! And then Darcy’s grandmother! And then more attacks!! Is there something(one??) lurking in this beautiful French vacation home, or is one of these friends finally getting their revenge …..
I love the storytelling style of this book for thrillers; start the opening with the height of drama, and then work the story back from there. It’s literally impossible not to get sucked into stories like this because it just grabs my attention immediately.
There were a lot of characters and POVs in this novel, but they were not hard to keep track of at all, and it definitely adds to the story having the different POVs! I love a multi-POV thriller 💕
Most of the characters sucked, but that was obviously on purpose 🤪 I couldn’t figure out the bad guy because they were all terrible, and any one of them I could see being the killer.
I really like when author’s include 21st century technologies and incorporate them into the story. In this book there is a secret Instagram account that is sending threatening messages out to the group, and it makes it so much more relatable and enjoyable to read when the author is using mediums that I frequent and enjoy using daily.
I really enjoy when a book has random smatterings of words from different languages thrown in; not too much that I constantly have to look up words but just enough that I can decipher what it must be saying by the conversation. In this case, if gave me a chance to brush up on my French. Nice! I love training and challenging my brain 💕
This story had literally everything I could ask for: family drama and secrets, back-stabbing “best friends”, characters I loved to hate, who-dun-it mystery and an ending I did not see coming. I really enjoyed this story and I can’t wait to read more from this author!

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
The Chateau releases May 23, 2023

This is a multi-pov story told from four 40 year old women — Darcy, Vix, Jade, Arabelle — as well as two of their grandmothers, Seraphine and Slyvie, and their groundskeeper, Raph.

While some of these women have had ties long before they were the age of 20, the group really solidified their bond the year that they all studied abroad together and spent time at Seraphine’s chateau in Provence, France.

20 years later, Seraphine has invited them all back with the intention of disclosing some rather important buried secrets. But will she get the chance to do that? At the age of 94, and biding her time with a blood cancer diagnosis, an unsuspecting killer might just get to her first.

I really liked how this opened up in the thick of the action on the night that the host of the chateau was murdered. But aside from this opening chapter, it wasn’t all that thrilling until the very end when we got an info-dump through letters and things really picked up speed.
This definitely gave more of a general fiction/family saga slowburn story with a side of mystery than it did a thriller.
The synopsis gave off the impression of some flowery dream summer vacation in France but it didn’t come across like that at all. The characters at first were so analytical of each other’s appearances — being outwardly tired and dressing down in frompy dresses, and dealing with the aftereffects of a breakup and mastectomy. I expected more of a supportive tone from these women but didn’t really get that here.
While I find the cover absolutely enticing, at first glance I would not pair it with the likes of a story set in June.

And, why is this shelved under horror in goodreads?! Because of the anonymous Instagram account called @imwatchingyou88 that tried to threaten them?

I honestly wasn’t expecting for the plot to lead where it did. There was a large incorporation of Jewish history (discussions around the Holocaust/Auschwitz/Anti-Semitism), and Van Gogh’s time at the Sanatorium.
I really wish there would have been some warning about the cheating between married couples and the mentions of rape.

In the end, I did enjoy knowing all the twists between the families, but the journey to get there could have been tighter.
Also, the way this ended just felt SO unfinished.


CW: murder, cancer, cheating, mentions of rape, restrictive diet habits, holocaust/auschwitz
Rep: Jewish characters, queer/lesbian characters

Thank you to Net Galley and Simon & Schuster for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

What starts as thrilling murder mystery between 4 old friends in the family Chateau quickly turns into so much more. Told from every persons POV the story is weaved between past and present. The friends work to solve the murder, while trying to figure out if they can even trust each other.

I will say the thriller aspect of this book was so good, the twists and turns just kept coming. However, I will say there were almost too many different story lines to follow. Too many things started to weave into the story at the end, and it was so much to take in. The book did feel a bit long winded at times. And I also didn’t love the ending, it could have been wrapped up neatly but instead left us with another shocking twist.

Overall, this new thriller will catapult you on vacation to beautiful France, while you decide who you can trust, and who is lying.

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

A French chateau. Lifelong friends with dark secrets. Murder and mayhem.
If you like locked room mysteries, you'll enjoy this book. Is it the best locked room mystery in the world? No. There are a lot of clichés present here. The characters are one-dimensional, vapid and too similar to each other.
Jaclyn Goldis did attempt to tackle some very heavy-handed issues such as adultery/betrayal, breast cancer/mastectomy, and the Holocaust/antisemitism. I didn't feel like any of those issues were fleshed out enough or handled with enough depth to create the emotionally poignant point there were trying to make. Rather, they were side stories thrown in to help distinguish one character from another.

While there's really nothing new here, the setting is great and it makes for a fun read that you don't have to think too much about or take too seriously.

Friendships, Love, Jealousy, Revenge and Murder combine to make for a compelling mystery set in Provence, France.

4 women, Darcy, Vix, Jade & Arabella, friends for over 20 years are summoned to a reunion of sorts at the Chateau owned by Darcy’s dying grandmother, Seraphine, Seraphine’s motive is to give a proper farewell, reveal long hidden secrets and to atone for past mistakes. The shocking murder of Seraphine changes everything for these friends leading them to question and suspect each other.

This character driven mystery delivers an intriguing escape to the south of France with some history of the Holocaust as well as some Instagram angst. I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery and did not figure out who did it!

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books / Emily Bestler Books for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts. #NetGalley #Mystery #Provence

I haven’t really had luck with gothic horror. This is no exception. I was good and creepy in some parts but i couldn’t care less about the characters.

Part locked-room thriller and also part historical fiction, The Chateau is such a haunting and captivating story! While the plot stays in a linear, present-day timeline (minus a few minor asides/flashbacks), there is some important history from occupied France (WWII) that informs the overall narrative.

The story focuses on four main women, best friends for more than twenty years, who are reunited at a Chateau owned by Séraphine, the grandmother of one of the friends. Each of the women have a unique connection to Séraphine, with those connections revealed over the course of the novel. When Séraphine is founded murdered in her bed, everyone is suddenly a suspect. Who murdered her and why?

In addition to the four women, the book features POVs from Raph (the groundskeeper and main suspect), Sylvie (Séraphine’s longtime housekeeper), and Séraphine herself. I enjoyed how the story unfolded through the various POVs, sharing just enough of their thoughts to keep you guessing. I truly didn’t know who was guilty!

If you like mystery/thrillers where the past haunts the present, then this story is for you! The beautiful writing and atmospheric setting of the French chateau are an added bonus.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books/Emily Bestler Books for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Chateau is a combination of a cozy mystery and locked room thriller, and it works. Set in a beautiful mansion in beautiful Provence, four best friends are reunited. Each is pondering what it means to turn forty and if she has really “made it,” based on her own definition. Each has a library of secrets, and no one appears to be a good person initially.

As the reader learns more about each character, each is more likeable. The story is well paced. Descriptions of cozy beauty are balanced with thrilling action and revelations.

At the end, each character has grown become thoroughly likeable- except the villain, because villains gonna villain. The story is well resolved. There are no loose ends or extraneous details.

There are definitely Agatha Christie vibes, without parroting or trying too hard.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A thriller set in a luxurious gothic French chateau, what could possibly go wrong? A LOT is the answer. Wow, what a wild ride! Absolutely devoured this one.

Darcy and her 3 friends are invited to her grandmother’s chateau in France for the first time since college. Each of them has their own unique tie to her grandmother and this beautiful estate. Still, they are all curious as to what the root cause of this invitation could be. Before they have the chance to find out, their host is shockingly murdered. Following the murder, everything seems to unfold rather quickly, with each woman holding their own secrets.

Overall, such a fantastic read!! I have learned that shut-in mysteries are my favorite genre and this hit the spot perfectly!!

SO GOOD until the 85% mark. There is much to appreciate here but the resolution left this reader unsatisfied.