Imagine an Agatha Christie locked-room mystery at a themed hotel and you’ve got Stephanie Wrobel’s The Hitchcock Hotel. The theme for the hotel is right there in the title, but part of the book’s pleasure is trying to catch all of Wrobel’s references to the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.

It helps that the locked room mystery is an intriguing, well-set-up one that held my curiosity. Alfred is a cinephile with a particular love for the works of Hitchcock. He’s set up his Hitchcock-themed hotel and invited back his old college group for a weekend of catching up. But there’s a lot more on the agenda than just reminiscing about the “good old days.” Each participant has his or her own secrets from the past and present — and it appears someone either wants to keep them a secret or expose them to the light of day.

Like a good Hitchcock film, the emphasis is on the puzzle. And, of course, there’s going to be a dead body that shows up somewhere. Wrobel leans heavily into call backs to Rope and Pyscho though the literal birds flying around the hotel can’t be ignored either. Like many of Hitchcock’s stories, this one slowly simmers until things reach a full boil around the midpoint and the story never looks back.

I enjoyed the shift first-person perspective of the story, allowing us to see how various parties react to and share information from the past. And while the denouncement isn’t necessarily the strongest part of this novel, it still works well enough.

The Hitchcock Hotel is an intriguing enough story that I’m looking forward to seeing what other kinds of books and stories Wrobel has to offer.

A mystery worthy of Hitchcock himself. I was fully invested in this story despite all the characters being far from likeable with anywhere from simple character flaws to detestable morals. I was surprised to discover who the killer was and loved the eerie suspense throughout.

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While the premise of a Hitchcock inspired hotel is a lot of fun the characters populating this story make it feel like a bit of a slog to spend time here. The twists were interesting and plentiful with two of them in particular being a surprise to me, which is always a welcome treat.

Alfred invites his college friends to his hotel in their college town, the Hitchcock Hotel. The hotel is newly restored and is a beautiful historic building with tons of nods to Alfred Hitchcock. The point of the visit isn’t to show off his hotel, but the secret revenge against the front who wronged him in college. It takes a while for the secrets to be revealed, but the guilty parties get their due.

This book is from multiple perspectives, including Alfred, hotel, employee, and different friends. it wasn’t hard to keep them straight, but what I didn’t like was how long it took to reveal the many secrets. The reader is missing a lot of information in the beginning and it’s kind of annoying. I liked the twist at the end. I was not expecting it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with an copy of this book to review.

This book was worth the hype. Perfect for those looking for a creepy read for the fall with lots of Hitchcock references. Highly recommend!

I loved the nod to Hitchcock, however, I couldn't bring myself to care for any of the characters or the story and found myself bored. So unfortunate as this was on my most anticipated lists.

Thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy.

“October is a month crafted for Hitchcock. This is the lone time of year when villains don’t have to hide in the shadows, when frights are welcomed, even begged for.”

When I picked up The Hitchcock Hotel, I wasn't sure what to expect. I had never heard of Stephanie Wrobel or her books, but I was hoping for a good time! And I got one!

Alfred Smettie, a Hitchcock devotee (some would say obsessive), has a lifelong love of ole Hitch and his oeuvre. He is the founder, and owner, of The Hitchcock Hotel, a large Victorian house in his "almost" alma mater dedicated to celebrating the Master of Suspense. There he offers his guests round-the-clock films, memoriabilitia, and even an aviary with 50 crows.

For the first anniversary of his achievement, he has invited all his friends from college to visit. The ole Film Club will meet again. No, Alfred hasn't spoken to them in the sixteen years since the rest graduated, but he's not bitter. It's not as if they had anything to do with why he didn't graduate. So who better to help him celebrate his creation? And maybe even help him finish it?

At first, I wasn't too sure about the novel. Yet, as I read, and became acquainted with the characters and their many, MANY secrets, I was hooked. Personally, I think Hitch was something of a creep and scumbag. I haven't watched a lot of his movies, but he is enough of a pop-culture reference that I don't think I missed any references and it made for a fun read. The ending had a nice twist I didn't see coming at all and I really enjoyed it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ebook of The Hitchcock Hotel in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not really sure what to say about this book. Was it good? It was entertaining enough. I didn't hate it, but I also didn't love it. I think its the style of writing that was a little off for me. I never felt any real suspense. I never really felt anything for any of the characters. None of them were likeable. I felt like there was something missing through the entire story. But, I didn't have trouble reading it, but at the same time, I never felt an urgency to continue. So take from this, what you may. I wanted to like it more. I think part of it was I went in expecting a horror/thriller type story, but just got a common mystery. As a mystery, it deserves three stars.

This one was a fun thriller, with a Big Chill meets creepy hotel kind of vibe. The juxtaposition of the plot line in the present with the plot line during college was pulled off pretty well, and worked to pace the reveals. The characters were a sometimes a bit one note, depicting typical personality types in a friend group, but not in a way that was overly irritating. And though I'm notoriously bad at guessing twists (partly because I don't even try) there as one in this book and definitely surprised me. I perhaps would have enjoyed this more if I were a film (especially Hitchcock) buff, but it was still an entertaining read. And the cover is great!

A mystery set in an Alfred Hitchock themed hotel where college "friends" are reunited for a weekend. What could go wrong? I wanted to like this more than I did, but it was an interesting read. If you're a movie buff, definitely check it out for the Easter eggs.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and Netgalley for the electronic copy.

This is hands down one of the best mystery/thrillers I've read in a long time and definitely in 2024. For fans of Hitchcock, multiple narrators, and flashbacks. Oh and did I mention secrets. These characters have more secrets than Gretchen Weiners hair.

I became a fan of Stephanie Wrobel's writing after reading Darling Rose Gold a few years ago. The Hitchcock Hotel didn't shine quite as brightly for me, but it was an entertaining read. I absolutely loved the locked room setting inside a Hitchcock-themed hotel. The group of friends gathered here were not very likable characters. Sometimes that worked well, and sometimes it made me feel like I didn't care what happened to any of them. We got to know the characters mostly through backstories and flashbacks. I would have liked a little more of the action to happen inside the (amazing) hotel. Even with these minor complaints, I'm glad I read it. There were some interesting characters here. It meandered a bit in the middle, but still a fun read.

In this twisty noir mystery, a group of college friends are reunited at a Hitchcock themed hotel opened by the more outcast member of their friend group, also named Alfred. Going back and forth between their college-aged timeline and their current stay at the Hitchcock Hotel they reckon with past mistakes and the things that drove some of them apart. There’s a couple issues when it comes to the dynamic of the friend group in essence that they’re all kind of terrible. The other major issue is that there are a lot of plot conveniences that only happen because the plot needs it to happen. It seems like the author wanted to do a Hitchcockian narrative in modern day, and the vibes are right, but the existence of modern technology makes none of it make sense. So they kind of go above and beyond to yadda yadda that whole issue. I did find this very fun on a surface level, but I don’t think it’ll be the most memorable read of the year.

Hitchcock fanatic, and owner and manager of the new Hitchcock Hotel, Alfred Smettle is not your average fan. Filling his new hotel with props to match the most famous of movie scenes, Alfred has recreated a lair fit for the master of suspense himself. To celebrate the hotel’s first anniversary, he invites his college friends for a reunion of sorts…

As a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies (Rear Window, Vertigo, Suspicion to name a few faves) this book was a must read for me. Having never read Darling Rose Gold, I had zero expectations as to the author’s writing style, and wound up very pleasantly surprised here.

Stephanie Wrobel does a masterful job of recreating what Hitchcock did best - creating that delicate balance between mystery and suspense, never giving the audience too much information at any given time, but just enough for them to try to solve the mystery. As the layers of our MC’s plan are slowly peeled back, not without a few twists here and there, we are treated to accompanying anecdotes from some of Hitchcock’s most famous films. While you don’t have to have a seen a single one to enjoy the story, I would beware that if you are planning on watching them sometime soon, this may include a few spoilers, though maybe not beyond what you may already know from pop culture trivia.

Read if you like:
▪️locked room mysteries
▪️dual timelines/dual POVs
▪️atmospheric reads
▪️Hitchcock movies
▪️fun twists
▪️easy to binge

Thank you Berkley Pub for the advanced copy.

A fun, atmospheric read that kept me turning pages!

This book kept me on my toes as to who was going to murder or be murdered. I enjoyed the setting and theme the most, I found it highly enjoyable. As a film major I appreciated the Laura Mulvey quote.

The cast of characters and backstory were very well developed, and I enjoyed the twists that unfolded by the end.

A cute and fun read for film enthusiasts and mystery readers alike!

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

A little late on the review but this is a suspenseful horror book. It revolves around a group of friends from college that are in a film class. Each character is given the right amount of depth and back story. Definitely a good October spooky read!

Hitchcock Hotel proves to be an utterly delicious, if not diabolical, locked door murder mystery that does perfect work of paying homage to Hitchcock and Christie all in one tight, tense plot.

Stephanie Wrobel does incredible work weaving together a group of friends, reluctantly reunited for a weekend getaway at an old college friend's Hitchcock themed hotel, where secrets, lies and uneasy truths are all bubbling just below the surface. I was hooked from the very opening pages at the haunting nature of the hotel, and of Alfred. With every chapter, as things get more tense and uncomfortable, you get more addicted and more desperate to see how everything will play out - and whose dead body might just turn up.

Every character in this story is so perfectly developed and with all their very own reasons for wanting to keep the past in the past and Alfred happy in the present. I could not have guessed with even my best effort, at the secrets that they all had, and as each is revealed it just made the present day mystery all the more juicy.

Absolutely no spoilers for this one, but this is one whodunnit that you just cannot miss this season. It is excellent company as the weather gets cooler and you want something a little deranged to dive into.

Many thanks to the publisher for my copy!

Alfred owns a Hitchcock themed hotel and invites his college friends to stay for the weekend. The friends haven’t been together since they left college due to some things that happened during their senior year. During their stay at the hotel, Alfred has some surprises planned for them. However, things don’t go exactly as he planned.

Locked room mysteries are some of my favorites and I did enjoy this one. I would have preferred a little more suspense and spooky vibes considering the setting, but a fun read nonetheless.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

• locked room whodunit
• great Hitchcock vibes
• unlikable characters

This was a fun suspense with dark academia elements 🖤 and I enjoyed the ride!

🗣 Thank you to netgalley and Berkley Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book via gifted eARC! All opinions are honest and my own.

I liked the way the book slowly peels back the layers in this twisty thriller where college friends with secrets get together for a reunion at an Alfred Hitchcock themed hotel owned by one of the group.

I haven’t watched many Hitchcock movies but I liked the references throughout. I also enjoyed the explanation of the twists.