SHIVER by Allie Reynolds

Somewhat long winded and wordy, but quite a good thriller with plenty of red herrings to send us all in a myriad of different directions. Great setting in a ski chalet in the French Alps in the middle of winter, plenty of blood sport, relationship conflicts, mysterious going ons, conflicted characters with unresolved issues in their past and present lives. And snow boarding! I know nothing about snow boarding, now I know a whole lot more - I wish there was a Winter Olympics this year instead of the madness surrounding this year's Summer Olympics. It is such an exciting exhilarating and horribly dangerous sport. Perfect back drop for winning at all costs - think Tonya Harding sabotaging Nancy Kerrigan.

Milla is the narrator of this story. Now in her early 30s, Milla receives an invite to a weekend in the mountains, along with four other fellow snowboarders. She hasn't seen any of these others for ten years when they were all competitors in a competition on the very same mountain. Missing from the invite list is Saskia who went missing on the day of the competition, her body never found. Now it is 10 years, and she has finally been declared legally dead by the authorities. So what do you think is going to happen? Is Saskia really dead? What are the secrets the four of them carry from the events of 10 years ago when they were desperate to be winners, to defeat all rivals, all that adrenaline driving them to the heights of snowboarding success. And the prizes, the sponsorship, the recognition, the fame. 

Milla is far from innocent in the disappearance of Saskia and the injuries another boarder suffered from. As the story unfolds it is apparent that Curtis, Dale, Heather and Brent are far from innocent too. Now they have been brought together to this chalet, no one else around, chair lifts suddenly not working, strange and unexplained happenings in the chalet. All of them under threat, feeling the danger. What is going on? Will any of them get out of this alive? And how sweet can revenge be?

It really is a great story, and competently written - the writer is a former professional snowboarder herself. But it is too long, too wordy, it gets a bit bogged down. However if you want to be pulled into the world of top level individual sport, and a dangerous one at that, this is great.