A teenage, modern 'And Then There Was None' by Agatha Christie x Clue

'The Bitter End' is a fun thriller, full of twists and turns. 8 wealthy, internet-addicted teens begrudgingly go on their school-mandated Senior Excursion, which includes a total digital detox. Instead of partying while their chaperone sleeps, they stumble upon the bodies of their classmates one-by-one, and have to figure out how to survive the weekend and incoming blizzard.

8 teens, 8 POVs, 2 different timelines - author Alexa Donne put a lot into this book, and it's well worth it. Most of the narration is split amongst only 3 of the characters, so it doesn't get confusing. The second timeline is of a party they all attended 3 years prior, so that's also easy to follow. I particularly love the representation, there's a character with OCD, another with anxiety, another with a little-known connective tissue disorder called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS).

The stakes are high in Alexa Donne's newest thriller, with a handful of teenagers trapped on a mountain together . . . and then the bodies start dropping. Told in present tense, with a series of flashbacks revealing one fateful night years before, THE BITTER END will keep readers on their toes. Everyone is a suspect.

I truly enjoyed this one.


[NOTE: Unless otherwise stated, my NetGalley feedback is not a blurb or endorsement. If a publisher wishes to use any part of my comments for promotional purposes, please contact me or my agent via email. I would prefer not to include star ratings but NetGalley won't let me post without one, so all will be 5 stars.]

This book would be a great selection for high school students who enjoy thrillers and murder mysteries. The intensity of the story was built through following a group of high schooler trapped on a mountain in a blizzard while on their class trip. The overall plot was exciting, interesting, and I loved the twists that left me questioning who might find their untimely demise next. It took me a bit to become interested in the characters as they felt un-relatable to most high school students, mostly due to their elite, upper-class status, and I wish there was a better story arc for several of the characters. It was a bit hard to care about them when most of the characters were only focused on vanity and competing with each other for the first half of the novel, but I was happy to get more of their backstories later on. There are mature themes throughout the book, so this might be better suited for an older YA audience.

You get five stars you get five stars yoou get five stars. round of a freaking applause. so so good. Alexa donne does it like no body else.

This was so much fun! A locked-room mystery where gossip-girl-level rich kids get stranded in a cabin in the mountains in a snowstorm and then begin dying one by one.

Told through multiple POVs and with flashbacks between a party at the beginning of High School and the present, The Bitter End is a YA thriller with plenty of twists and turns. This would be an excellent late fall/early winter mystery read! I enjoyed this a lot and might check out some of Donne's other works.

✅ YA Thriller
✅ Multiple POVs
✅ Timeline jumps
✅ Locked-room mystery
✅ Wintery setting ❄️❄️❄️

⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I really liked it!

📅 Out October 15th, 2024 and available for preorder now. (Currently on sale on Amazon!)

🙏 Thanks so much to Alexa Donne and Random House Children's for this ARC through NetGalley! This was the most fun I've had reading YA in a while :) It finally broke me out of a several week long reading slump!!

I enjoy a closed circle mystery, and wanted to give this one a try. The premise of teens trapped in a snow storm always has merit. This book is based on Agatha Christies And Then There Were None, which was interesting and overall it does keep you guessing on who is responsible. It is told in dual time lines and multiple POV’s which can get a bit tricky to understand but still works. And ultimately is very necessary to the plot. You can definitely tell though that this is an adult writing what they think teens talk and act like. I didn’t find it to be very realistic, based on my experiences. I do think Donne is getting stronger with her writing, but to me she’s just not quite there yet. If you can look past that though it is a decent thriller. There is casual alcohol and drug use throughout, in case you need to be aware of that. Ultimately it’s a quick thriller that I can see some YA readers get into if they enjoy a murder/survival story.

What happens when entitled teenagers with history end up trapped in a remote winter cabin? Told from multiple points of view, this thriller had me guessing all the way through. While I haven't read anything else from Alex Donne, this one won't be my first. Great plot, interesting characters, "chilling" setting--Recommended.

𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ★★★★☆
𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠: Master of None by Beach House
𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: mystery • thriller • ya

🕯️❄️🧣🏚️👀❓🔪

I would describe this book as a modern, teen retelling of And Then There Was None by Agatha Christie. The book takes place in a secluded cabin on top of a snowy mountain, which I really liked. I think the setting and the general plot was super good, but there were points where the execution was lacking. For example, some of the flashbacks were weirdly structured and didn't make much sense. I also felt like the ending was rushed, and a little predictable. The writing was ok, but confusing at points. However, I did enjoy reading this book. I wouldn't say I was on the edge of my seat, but I was interested. There was just a lot happening at once. I gave the book 4 stars because the plot and setting was really good, and I was intrigued during the first 3/4 of the book. The ending just doesn't settle well with me. I don't feel like there was much closure, but maybe that was the author's intention.

One thing I wasn't expecting was for this book to be written from 3 different perspectives. Each chapter was a different girl's perspective, Willa, Delany, or Piper. The characters all kind of annoyed me at the start but Piper grew on me because of her love of true crime. Delany was really annoying. Willa was fine, minus some questioning actions. The other side characters were ok, but no one really stood out.

8 teens are trapped on a school retreat from hell. Without their phones and no way to get off the mountain, the group will be forced to wait out the storm in an old cabin. And as the weather gets worse, so do the tensions in the cabin. Everyone has secrets, and this group isn't exempt. But a death in the cabin will cause the group to question everything they believe to be true. Including whether or not the death was an accident. And when a 2nd death occurs, they will be forced to consider the possibility of murder. However, as the bodies start to rack up murder is no longer a possibility, in fact it might be the only truth. To figure out who in the group is a murder, they will be forced to dig through lies and loyalties, all while on borrowed time.

Thank you to Random House Children's and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review!

ells.library💋

I thought this was really well written and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future. I think it will find readers at our library, so we will definitely be purchasing for the collection.

One of Us is Lying meets Yellowjackets in Alexa Donne's THE BITTER END, a ferocious, twisty murder mystery that keeps you guessing.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of The Bitter End. I really enjoyed The Ivies and Pretty Dead Queens, so I was excited to see The Bitter End! The premise was great -- I love a And Then There Were None retelling. Overall, the story was interesting, but the multiple perspectives ended up becoming a real issue for me. I found myself flipping back to the beginning of chapters to see whose perspective I was in; there just wasn't enough difference in each character's voice for me to notice without a cue like a reference to a sling, the character's weight, or clinging to Liam's arm. I'm not a reader who typically struggles with multiple perspectives, but in this case my inability to distinguish between characters pulled me out of the story and slowed down the momentum that's necessary for this type of tale. Unfortunately, The Bitter End just wasn't a hit for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me an Advanced Reading Copy of this book!

Where do I begin? I loved loved loved every moment in this book. Alexa Donne’s storytelling is AMAZING, the characters are all relatable and I can’t wait for it to come out so I can recommend it to my teens at work. The teens in the story are the types of characters who even if they aren’t a 1:1 copy of the teen reading, there are elements of each that make them real. Sometimes when reading YA books the teens seem very fake, and almost like the author doesn’t know what teens are like. But that was NOT the case here. I can’t say enough good things about it!

This book was fabulous! I really loved how everything fit together in the end, and how there were so many little clues to help you figure out what had happened. I love how the author tries to mislead you and make you think the story will end differently. Altogether, it was a great book with a really cool twist ending.

I am a sucker for locked room mysteries. This is a great locked room mystery suitable for teen readers where teenagers at an elite high school are on what is basically a field trip on a mountain -- but it's not the trip they signed up for. Bad things start happening and secrets are revealed! There weren't any perfectly good people but I liked some of them and the story was interesting. I would definitely recommend this to people who enjoy thrillers.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

A senior excursion ski trip that no one wanted to be on in the first place. What could go wrong?

A group of teens find themselves on the ski trip from hell when a winter storm traps them in their cabin with no way out. Due to a digital detox, they don’t have their phones to call for backup. Their chaperone has gone off on a snowmobile to track down help, but hasn’t returned. To top it off, there’s a killer on the loose and it’s up to them to figure out who it is before it’s too late. Secrets and betrayals that are meant to stay hidden start coming out and no one knows who to trust. When people keep dropping dead and the past creeping up on them, it’s starting to look like the trip wasn’t an accident at all. How are they going to survive?

Told from multiple POVs, this was fast paced and entertaining. I enjoyed the characters, even though most were vapid, insecure and ruthless bullies. However, the cliches worked for the story.

The ending wasn’t jaw dropping, but there were absolutely a few twists that will keep you guessing! The reasoning behind the spree itself was mid, but I think the twists helped it a bit. The overuse of teen slang came off as trying a bit too hard, however it didn’t deter me completely from the story itself.

Overall, I really enjoyed this YA thriller and it had the right formula to work. This book is definitely worth the read!

Thank you Net Galley and Random House Children for the arc of this book! This is the first book I have read by Alexa Donne and I thoroughly loved her writing style. The book is easy to get through the chapters were short and I think anyone can read this in one day. In a day and age where it gets easier and easier to put a book down and not pick it back up again I kept coming back to this book every time I put it down. I was so curious about the characters and who would torture this friend group and why. I will say the reveal was not super mind blowing and the characters weren't super likable and that is the only reason I did not give this book 5 stars, but I think it's definitely a book worth reading and one I will be recommending.

The twists and turns just kept on coming! This book gave me whiplash in the best way.

I loved diving into the morally gray characters, trying to figure out everyone’s motivations, and trying to identify the killer! I will definitely read this again, and recommend to thriller readers everywhere!

Wow wow wow. I could have not imagined this to be as good as it was. But here I am telling you about it. I loved it and I was so sad it ended.

If Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None was YA. SO much fun. I could not put this down. I really did not suspect the killer, which is always a positive for me. If you enjoy fun, you’ll love this book.

I have always enjoyed this author. This book is definitely another example of why I will be adding this author to my auto-read list. Think of this as “And Then There Were None” in a snowed in ski cabin. I definitely got it all wrong. But what I truly appreciated was how creeped out I felt at the big reveal (no spoilers) but basically that type of killer is not explored a lot in YA mystery. The only thing to make it better would have maybe been less pov’s.