The Hitchcock Hotel starts with the reunion of a college friend group that has estranged for years after an incident. They have all changed since then in their own ways and have coke back together on this weekend getaway carrying their own respective baggage so to speak.

The Hitchcock Hotel is run and owned by one member of this college friend group Alfred. Alfred loves everything Hitchcock and part of what united this group of friends was a movie club inspired by a movie analysis class they all took.

I loved the idea of this book, it sets itself to be a murder mystery within a group of friends and Alfred will seek revenge on the group due to them doing something terrible to Alfred. There are twists and turns in this book that I wasn’t expecting and I love the concept for the story so much. I enjoyed it and did not see the twists coming! It was not the story I was expecting but I found this as a fun thriller I would recommend at the end of the day. The ending felt a little rushed but ultimately this read like a Hitchcock film.

Give me the movie version of this now. You have to read this!!! I feel the Psycho movie vibe all the way through very single page.

I wanted to like Hitchcock Hotel but the plot seemed cliched, with unlikeable characters. Very so so.

4,5 Wow. This book was fantastic! I loved the dual timeline in this book. Learning so much about all of the characters and seeing how each one of their minds worked was fascinating. Not to mention this book had twist after twist! I’m a sucker for an academic thriller AND a thriller with a creepy hotel and this one had both? Say less! The ending of this book caught me completely by surprise and I loved it so much! I definitely recommend this one!

Thank you Berkley for supporting my request to review The Hitchcock Hotel! I love the cover art and want to say how well done it is, eye catching.

The plot is subtle, letting the story unfold and then coming together for a solid resolution. What readers need to know is that the role of Hitchcock is not overt but more how Wrobel organizes her themes and character: a plot around a theme of betrayal and revenge, complex and flawed characters filled with individual motives and secrets similar to Hitchcock's own characters (not always likable), and the use of manipulation common in many of his movies (gaslighting, playing into fears of the characters/audience). Fans might look out for the use of character names, hints from the movies referenced, and specific nods to gothic themes developed in Rebecca (one of Hitchcock's best if you ask me!).

This is a complex story that is more slow burn resentment and mystery mixed with present day friend reunion, a reunion filled with tension and secrets, and snapshots that give insight into why the reunion is fraught with tension and explains lingering secrets and hurts. Within the story is a subtle theme and question about what the perfect murder would look like... for me the plot explores this while also weaving in how past hurts can haunt the present, how college life is a time of complex friendships and pressures and feelings, and plays with the idea that you can't escape past bad behaviors, even if you think you have... Not a thriller per se, more mystery and suspense focused on characters' stories and themes on betrayal.

Inspired by Richard Hannay's spirit, I found myself in a similar predicament with a book that failed to captivate my imagination.


Synopsis:

A Hitchcock fanatic with a vindictive motive invites his old college friends for a weekend stay at his secluded themed hotel.


Alfred Smettle is not your average Hitchcock fan. Named after the Master of Suspense, he is the founder, owner, and manager of the Hitchcock Hotel, a newly renovated Victorian house in the mountains of his old college town. Here, he offers memorabilia, movie props, film showings, and an aviary with fifty crows.


To celebrate the hotel's first anniversary, he invites his former college friends and film club members for a reunion, even though he hasn't spoken to them in sixteen years. To make his creation complete, the Hitchcock hotel needs a body, the only question is whose.



Review


To save you from the upcoming scathing review, I'll start with the positives of the book, of which there are few. There were parts of the mystery that I enjoyed that felt much like an old Hitchcockian film, which is the purpose. I cared way more about the past storyline than the one in the present. Perhaps the strongest part of the novel rests in the commentary about storytelling and fabricating stories. Early in the novel, someone mentions that people always want to share their stories, especially the creepy ones. In films, novels, and even everyday life, people want to share and often exaggerate the truth or fabricate it completely. And that is all the positive things I can say about the book.


Now, let's move on to the rant.

The Mundane Prose and Pacing
As a reminder, the novel takes place over one weekend but is told in 352 pages. I have no complaints about the novel length if it is appropriately paced. However, this novel is so slow and dull. You would expect something fast-paced with tons of twists and turns, but this is not it. Part of the issue lies in the way the past storyline is integrated into the present. Most of the past is just randomly thrown in the middle of a situation as if the character were reflecting; however, the reflection lasts pages and pages. Then, when it's time to jump back into the present, you are so jarred and out of place, that it is difficult to maintain the current plot. The past storyline would have fit better if the story had been told with dual timelines in alternating chapters. Instead, the reader is often left with whiplash at the out-of-place reflective memories.
The Writing Style
Holy crap. Where do I even start with this complaint? I have read Wrobel's previous book, Darling Rose Gold, and enjoyed it; however, it did read like a young adult novel. In her third novel, it feels like she is writing yet another young adult novel but uses big SAT words if you know what I mean. Secondly, there are so many parentheses. Why? What purpose do they serve? An occasional parenthetical phrase is appropriate, but there were so many that it took me out of the story. Now, for Alfred's sections, it makes sense as he often thinks in the manner of a filmmaker. However, every single character uses them; thus rendering the perspectives similar. All the perspectives read so similarly that I was thankful for the chapter headers that told whose perspective we were reading from.
Hitchcock Overload
Based on the novel's title, I was certainly expecting some Hitchcock references and red herrings based on Hitchcock's works; however, the author felt like she was trying too hard. There was so much fan service, and I would wager that your average Hitchcock fan does not know all about Hitchcock's life but primarily about his films. It reads as though she wants people to know that she knows all about Hitchcock and has done her research. In doing so, she loses the beauty of suspense that Hitchcock so profoundly reflected.

Ultimately, I think this novel is a bust. If you a massive Hitchcock fan or are looking for a cozy mystery, Wrobel's novel might work for you. However, if you are looking for a thriller look elsewhere. I give this novel 2 stars and would not recommend it.


Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I’ve been an Alfred Hitchcock fan for a very long time. I remember watching “The Birds” on television around 1970. Our babysitter let us watch it and I remember that we were drinking red Kool-Aid. I was so freaked out that that red drinks have always been tied to that movie for me! Still, it was the beginning of loving Hitchcock movies. When I was a teenager, I really liked Francois Truffaut and his movies so finding a book by Truffaut about Hitchcock was the epitome for me.

So, I was really excited when I found this book on NetGalley and was given the chance to read it. Alfred Smettle is obsessed with Hitchcock, and I have to admit that had I had a chance to stay at his Hitchcock Hotel, I would have grabbed it.

I like what Wrobel does with the hotel, and I like the way she slowly unwinds all the secrets the characters are hiding. And, of course, there is a body, but I won’t say who dies. And crows! I also love crows. It’s a great set up with an unexpected ending. A very enjoyable read and definitely worth the time.

The Hitchcock Hotel, forthcoming September 2024 in the US (preorder your copy from your favorite retailer here) is the latest mystery/thriller - does anyone else have trouble telling the difference? - from bestseller Stephanie Wrobel.

The Hitchcock Hotel tells the story of a group of former college friends, reunited at the request, or demand, of Alfred Smettle. Sixteen years after graduation, Alfred is now the proprietor of The Hitchcock Hotel, a sprawling Victorian house in the White Mountains, a stone's throw away from their alma mater where something mysterious and devastating happened their senior year. Something that one or more of them is to blame for and Alfred is determined to make them pay.

If you're a fan of Hitchcock movies, this novel is a must. If you're like me, and your familiarity of Hitchcock is limited to pop culture references and screenshots of the famous shower scene from Psycho or clips of Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window, then you might be at a slight disadvantage. That could be why I felt the book had a bit of a slow start or, as they say in the book business, it was a "slow burn."

If you're a fan of Wrobel or just one of those readers that never gives up a book once you've started, your patience will be rewarded as the story picks up a quarter to a third of the way in and the tension will propel you forward from the surprise murder victim all the way to the surprise ending, with lots of fun and red herrings along the way.

With its fall release date, The Hitchcock Hotel will be just the thing to get you in the mood for the Halloween season, and may just inspire you to watch a few Hitchcock movies too.

Thank you so much for an ARC copy of this book!

I quite love locked room mysteries and what kind of suspense lover doesn't love Hitchcock? So put the two themes together and you have a hit!

The chapters were short and kept me engaged. I was suspicious of EVERYONE. The biggest twist I didn't see coming, although some others i did. But knowing them didn't ruin anything for me!

This was a fun & fast read!

This was a great read, overall. The plot was fast paced and well developed. The author did a great job at making the characters likable. Overall I would recommend this book.

The Hitchcock Hotel ⭐️⭐️⭐️(3.5/5 stars)

I really thought I knew where the story was headed, and felt pretty convinced I knew what the twist would be, BUT I was WRONG. Instead, Wrobel succeeds in crafting a story that reads like a perfect mystery.

I enjoyed the pacing of the novel, having just enough information about each character to feel invested, and of course, all of the references to classic films. The imagery of the hotel was great, I felt like I could easily visualize everything. I also think the use of flashbacks in this story worked well to really fill in the complete picture of what had occurred years prior, which so heavily influenced why the characters do what they do and ultimately, the end result of the book.

It was a fun, quick read with healthy amounts of creepy references and overall, an interesting mystery.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Hitchcock meets Christie. A beautifully written mystery that kept me reading til the wee hours of the morning.. The kind of book that keeps you entertained so much that you can’t stop reading it, yet need to because you don’t want it to end. The author employs hooks at the end of each chapter that makes you say to yourself, “ just one more chapter” until you find you’ve ended up reading ten more chapters.
The cover art alone tempts a reader to discover this book. Then there’s the title. Hitchcock?, yes, please.
Must you be familiar with Alfred Hitchcock’s films? It certainly helps. Knowing the references made to his movies fleshed out both characters and plot.
There’s a central character, the proprietor of the hotel. Several satellite characters, once a tight group of college friends who have since lost touch…. Maybe?
Then there’s the hotel, a character in and of itself.
Lastly, the employees of the hotel and the police officers and detectives who arrive in the latter portion of the book.
Without wanting to give too much away, there’s a whopper of a twist half way through the book and an ending I did not see coming.
All in all an enjoyable, satisfying and fun.
This book is definitely ripe to be made into a Netflix or Prime Video movie.

One starkly clever suspenseful read! The writing style is sharp and engaging enough, keeping you on the edge of your seat with every twist and turn. I simply couldn’t it put down.

The book really gave Clue vibes for a while. I kept thinking I knew what the ending was going to be... then out of left field the real answer and I gotta say - I did not even GUESS the ending. Well done to the author. I really liked the Clue vibes though. This was a super easy, quick read. You keep thinking you know what's going to happen, then you change your mind, stay convinced for a while. Then out of left field comes the twist. Loved it.

This book was honestly a HUGE welcomed surprise. I will say it centers around Alfred Hitchcock so some of the plot was a tad lost on me - as I didn’t know some of the more detailed stuff. Although - I think the author does a great job of explaining most of it so you really don’t need to know about Hitchcock to read the book.

The chapters change from different characters perspectives and it’s written super well - you can actaullt follow the story and there are small cliff hangers at the end of each POV chapter to encourage you to keep reading. The beginning was a bit slow - but about halfway was a quick read because I was interested in the plot. Overall - I’d definitely recommend!

This book had so much promise, but the ending was rather anticlimactic for me! It started off with everything I wanted out of it - creepy vibes, mysterious atmosphere, characters with lots of secrets! However, towards the middle it started slowing down and focusing a lot on the past, and I wish we got more excitement out of the hotel! There are some solid twists, but I was hoping for just a little bit more based on how strong the beginning was.

Thank-you for allowing me to read this book. I enjoyed it. A but slow. Took me a while to get into. But it did pick up. 3 stars!

I received a free eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this because I (mostly) enjoyed <I>This May Hurt</I> (which I read a few years ago back when we were all into cults, apparently!). I also really like Hitchcock. I took a Hitchcock-specific film class in my first master’s program, and it’s to this day one of my favorite classes I’ve ever taken. Because of that class, I created a film study unit for my 8th graders based around <I>Rear Window</i>, and even though I’m no longer teaching, it’s still my pride and joy. Reading this book made me want to revisit some of those movies, and perhaps feel a tiny bit guilty for using my Hitch biography as a doorstop (it’s just the perfect size!).

Weirdly, like Six of Sorrow, which I just finished, this is also a book about a group of six friends. In this case, it’s 3 guys and 3 girls who all went to college together (and they split narration duties). There are hints of dark academia here, but the main thrust of the story takes place in the present day. Like the girls in Six of Sorrow, these six friends had an unspecified falling out years earlier, during their senior year of college, in this case, and when the novel opens they’re getting together at Alfred’s hotel - the titular Hitchcock hotel - for a reunion. Alfred is the one who invited everyone, and though it seems like they all WANTED to say no, for various reasons everyone says yes and shows up. It’s clear that Alfred is holding a weapons-grade grudge against all of them, and also he’s sent all of the staff except his creepy Mrs. Danvers-esque housekeeper home for the weekend, so we’ve got shades of Agatha Christie as well.

As the weekend unfolds, we start to learn what happened when the friends were in college that led to them all falling out with Alfred. It seems like the other five kept in touch sporadically through the years, but no one had spoken to Alfred since “the incident” (no one actually uses that phrase, thank god!). And it’s clear he had ulterior motives of his own for both inviting them and ensuring they would show up. After all, every good hotel has a dark past…

Trying to avoid too many spoilers since the book doesn’t come out until September (when oh when will I come up with a system to organize my ARCs?). Normally the time shifting would bug me, because I’m always more invested in one timeline or the other, but I found these equally engaging. There are a few annoying cliffhangers, where it seems like something dire has happened and it’s revealed on the next page to be completely innocuous, but thankfully it’s not every single chapter. There are also some snippets in between chapters - quotes from what I *think* is the Hitchcock on Hitchcock collection? I used to teach the surprise vs. suspense essay in my film unit, and parts of these rang super familiar to me. Given that it’s an ARC, there’s no attribution for the quotes yet, and they also peter out about halfway through, which I found disappointing. I need to remember to take a look at the library copy when this comes out, because there are some structural things that I’d like to see the final version of!

Overall I really enjoyed this. I kept finding myself wanting to return to it and I couldn’t stop thinking about it! It’s really well paced, and even though we have six different narrators, it never felt like a cheap device to disguise a thin plot. I also didn’t really have trouble telling everyone apart, in spite of the fact that the characterization of everyone but Alfred is a *little* thin (not surprising given that there are so many of them). But this is really entertaining, and honestly would make an excellent spooky season read.

A chilling masterpiece that seamlessly blends mystery, thriller, and horror. The writing is razor-sharp, keeping me on the edge of my seat, and the plot is brilliantly crafted with twists that left me breathless.

A fun mystery filled with twists and surprises, The Hitchcock Hotel was a joy to read. A love letter to the works of Alfred Hitchcock composed of cheeky “whodunnit” themes and complicated characters, this book reminded me of Clue meets Friends.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.