On a haunting night, with England hit by a terrible snowstorm, a heterogeneous group of travellers find refuge in an inn, where the different characters, the past, the frustrations will give rise to a comedy that, for many of them, will end in tragedy.
A complex book, which digs deep into the mechanisms that isolation and a situation of apparent lack of way out sets in motion in the human soul, in which no one is innocent and where everyone has secret reasons to behave as they behave.
The story takes place overnight, but the characters' transformation is so radical that it seems to have happened in a whole life, and those who will still be alive in the morning will never be the same again.
Disturbing and very well written, I recommend reading it only to those who are not impressionable.
I thank Open Road Integrated Media and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy in return for an honest review.

The book started promisingly. Twelve people – nine men and three women – find themselves snowed in at a hotel and are trapped together. Each had been on their own separate journey, both physical and emotional and all have secrets to hide and conflicts to resolve. It’s no spoiler to say that the hotel doesn’t turn out to be any sort of refuge and the tension escalates. So an interesting premise. However, for a thriller the action is too slow-moving and there’s too much unconvincing dialogue. Characterisation is weak and the three women in particular are portrayed as stereotypes, not least because the first thing they do is instantly fall for one of their fellow inmates. It’s hard to keep track of the characters as the point of view changes too quickly and the reader (or at least this reader) has to keep stopping to work out who’s talking. All in all I found this quite a tedious read instead of the fast-moving adventure story it could have been without detriment to any wider issues Sillitoe was perhaps trying to express. I’ve seen the novel described as an “existential” thriller, with each character needing to atone in some way for the wrongs they have committed. I could buy into that theory – if only the characters had been likeable and engaging, with more interesting back stories. As it was, I really didn’t care what happened and only struggled on to the end so that I could write this review for NetGalley who kindly sent me the book.

Despite always enjoying novels by Alan Sillitoe, found this one extremely hard going and there were numerous times when I wanted to give up which is why it took me so long to read it. Loved the idea, lots of heavy snow, a group of people with things to hide sheltering together etc, but sadly that was all I did like about it. It was far too slow and cumbersome and took an awful long time to actually get going plus I didn't like any of the characters at all. There was a feeling of disappointment when I finally got to the end of this book.

Didn't finish this one. It just didn't appeal to me. Sorry.