Suspenseful and well-written.

While some of this book's plot is predictable, it would be cynical to react to it entirely on that. The setting is interesting, and the author builds tension admirably. Because I guessed the conceit/premise nearly from the get-go, I almost didn't want to keep on reading. But continue I did, and upon closing the book 24+ hours later (it is a quick read), actually decided it had engaged me enough to merit four stars.

As a new ski season approaches, curl up safe and warm with this unusual survival novel by acclaimed British author, Graham Joyce. The story will grip you in the first few pages and never let go, as the reader tries to figure out where the author is going and how it will all be explained. Jake and Zoe Bennett are a young couple who set off skiing in the early morning with the mountain to themselves. They are soon trapped by an avalanche in a remote part of the French Pyrenees. Once freed, the world they enter has no rules. All roads and trails lead back to the same village and their hotel, where the food never rots. Communication is cut off and there are no people. There are brief glimpses of a normal world but it always reverts back to the eerie and empty landscape, frozen in time. There is an impending doom throughout, although the reader is never sure what is coming- another avalanche or something even more frightening. The suspense is unrelenting. This book is skillfully written with realistic descriptions of the setting and good character development, depicting the emotional attachment of the couple. Although not a thriller in the traditional sense, this book will keep you reading even when you should be doing something else.

Defnitely a page turner. Read it in one day... could not put it down.

Great read.

This novel was hard to put down. Its tone of ominous suspense had the reader one step behind the writer in guessing where this was going or how it would end. Yet still, a satisfying conclusion.