Summary:
Shanamore Holiday Cottages is a quiet and desolate property in a small seaside town in Ireland. Andrew, the creepy manager, watches the guests via hidden camera. One night, a girl in murdered in one of the rooms then the murderer destroys the hidden camera. Who knew about the hidden cameras?!
Natalie is an Instagram famous social media influencer who is searching for information about a receipt from the Shanamore Holiday Cottages. Natalie has a feeling her husband isn’t giving her the truth.
The novel is organized into PLAY, PAUSE, and REWIND around the murder and the events before and after the murder.
My Thoughts:
This novel was genius! What a clever way to organize a murder mystery. When reading the novel, it is as if you know the murderer is coming and you can’t even warn the victim!
I studied a summer semester in Ireland, so I loved reading about the setting in Ireland. It reminded me of the time spent there.
The manager, Andrew, gave off a creepy “Norman Bates” vibe to me when I was reading the novel. His disturbing past is explained to how he got to this point as a disturbed manager of an isolated motel, although I could not sympathize with him whatsoever.
It gets a little confusing when switching around between the time periods, but I was able to catch on to what was going on eventually.
Catherine Ryan Howard is an excellent writer who created this unique plot for a murder mystery. Kudos to Howard for attempting to do something different and pulling it off in an amazing way! Loved this book!
Hockey Sticks, Grips, and trips 