This is vaguely reminiscent of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, but with a more modern setup and a location that I really enjoyed. A closed circle type mystery is always a bit iffy as they can easily just start to feel like repeats of one another. Luckily, this one did manage to feel a bit more in the successful camp as it remained fresh and interesting. The premise is a bit unique since it focuses on a modern style company and the isolation is in a chalet in the French Alps. It seems like most of these types of stories are in dark mansions or on isolated islands, so that was a nice change.

There are a lot of characters, but I felt like most of them were fairly easily discernible. There were a couple who sort of faded into the woodwork and could have used some strengthening in order to heighten the tension, but overall the characters worked for me in terms of numbers. They were admittedly quite stereotypical. This was a bit of a let down. The mousy girl, the antisocial tech nerd, the posh model type with a foreign flare, just to name a few. The two strongest characters were definitely the two utilized as narrators, which isn't much of a surprise. Using the two narrative style was a smart choice as I felt that it did give a little more of an encompassing view and did let the characters play off one another a bit, but it also somewhat reduced the ability to create what I felt were efficient red herrings.

The writing style is great, but there is a bit of a slow burn here. Yes, there are moments of intrigue and...MURDER, but the story doesn't move at a quick clip. This is a read that doesn't have a ton of creepy vibes or edge-of-your-seat moments, but mostly consists of trying to solve the mystery before it's answered for you. I enjoyed that, but a little additional edginess wouldn't have been a bad thing.

The ending is probably what hurt this one the most for me. The reveal seemed to come too soon, as there is quite a bit of book remaining after you know "whodunit". There was some excellent action that followed, but then there was just some random exposition tying up loose ends. This made it a neat little package, but stole a little of the thunder and caused the ending to fall just a little flat.

This was my first Ruth Ware and I did enjoy it. I wasn't blown away, but it was certainly a good read and I'll definitely be picking up more of her books.