Book Review: The Chateau by Catherine Cooper

“A glamorous chateau, a couple on the brink, a secret that is bound to come out…”

Set to be published on 31st August, The Chateau by Catherine Cooper follows married couple Aura and Nick who have just moved to France and have bought a chateau to make a fresh start. Because they don’t talk about what happened in England. Their kids need them to stay together – whatever it costs. The ex-pat community is welcoming, but when someone is murdered at a lavish party, Aura and Nick don’t know who to trust. Someone knows exactly why they really came to the chateau. And someone is going to give them what they deserve.

Rating:

Thank you to NetGalley for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

After loving The Chalet last year, I couldn’t wait to read Catherine Cooper’s follow up. And The Chateau is another fast-paced and mysterious holiday-set thriller full of exciting twists.

Cooper’s stories always have a strong sense of entertainment to them, and The Chateau is certainly another wild journey told through a multi-layered narrative to keep you constantly on your toes.

However, I struggled to engage fully with this one for two reasons. First, the story is split into present and past instead of going back and forth between the two timelines. Although this allows you to get to know Aura and Nick individually to sway your loyalty, I found the disconnect too much and started to forget about what was going on at the chateau while we were back in England.

Second, I constantly kept changing my mind about which character I hated the most. At first, it’s easy to put the blame on Nick because he seems so disinterested in his family. But then when you see things from the other side, you begin to see the flaws in Aura, instead. But what I didn’t like about this was that it felt like I was being convinced to dislike Aura because of her “hippy” parenting style. Although she was obviously struggling and there was plenty that I didn’t agree with, I’m quite open-minded and believe that parents can bring up their children however they see fit, so I felt like she was being attacked which is what prevented me from really getting into the story.

This was just a personal niggle for me, though, and there is still so much that I enjoyed about this book. There are some great twists, and I love how Cooper adds a sense of fun in trying to figure out who’s behind these strange ongoings. I wasn’t far off with some of my predictions, but there’s sure to be plenty that will leave you gasping in shock.