The Cabin by Natasha Preston Review

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW

“The secrets you hide from yourself are always the most dangerous.”- The Cabin, Natasha Preston

They think they’re invincible.

They think they can do and say whatever they want. They think there are no consequences. They’ve left me no choice. It’s time for them to pay for their sins.

A weekend partying at a remote cabin is just what Mackenzie needs. She can’t wait to let loose with her friends. But a crazy night of fun leaves two of them dead—murdered.

With no signs of a forced entry or struggle, suspicion turns to the five survivors. Someone isn’t telling the truth. And Mackenzie’s first mistake? Assuming the killing is over…

This is my third foray into the world of Natasha Preston and I'm sure most people would have stopped at only one. Especially when I consider one of her books- The Cellar, which I've talked about at length here- to be one of the worst books of all time. But when I found out she came out with another thriller, and one that used to be on her Wattpad, for crying out loud, I jumped on it. Just an aside, but stay away from books that mention any of the author's social media on the cover. That's a principle to live by.

I think my favorite part about Natasha Preston's writing is her dialogue. In this book, Mackenzie's conversations with Blake take the fucking cake. My favorite is her first conversation with him, which is where the quote from under the picture came from. After all, when you meet someone for the first time, don't you like to go on a walk with them to discuss all their deepest, darkest secrets?

Of course, Preston's writing style is just bad to begin with. One thing I noticed about her writing is that she does try to show us things instead of telling us them, but then she tells us it anyway. Like when one of the characters apparently hates to admit he's wrong. She literally writes something along the lines as "the grimace on his face made his apology look painful" and then directly after that she says "Aaron was stubborn and hated to admit he was wrong." Like no shit, we got that the first time. Maybe she thinks her readers are stupid and don't know how to put two and two together. Of course, it could also be a sign of a writer insecure in her own style, in which case reviews like this probably don't help much, but I'm not her therapist what do I know?

Also, some of her word choices are just bad. Like at one point she describes the (male) detective as having a "swollen belly". What was he, pregnant?

She's not too good at characters and character relations either. I would say character development, but all the characters in here remain pretty stagnant. If you want a better look at Preston's idea of character development try Awake (though you'll find it's about as instant as her idea of love). Seriously, the first time Blake pulled up on page I about lost it. He's a bad boy. With a leather jacket and heavy boots and scruffy dark hair and a piercing gaze (I like to picture James Hurley, but that's just me). And he's broody and has circular conversations and asks girls he doesn't know what their deepest darkest secrets are. And apparently that's how he gets mad pussy. But deep down inside he's a wounded, tortured soul and is in desperate need of a Miss Pollyanna to bring it out in him. 

The two have an almost instantaneous connection, that of course starts with one of my favorite thing ever- the two love interests hating each other when you know they'll get together in the end. Or in 4 pages, whichever works. I admit though, instalove usually doesn't incite in me the same rage that it incites in a lot of people, maybe because I don't read a lot of romance or books that focus on romance- in fact, I actively avoid those books. So I don't usually come across it, and when I do it usually amuses me. Preston's attempts at showcasing the intense emotions that come with being both hopelessly drawn to someone and hating them by such jewels as "he was too close and too far away at the same time". Not even in a dime store romance novel would that line get a pass. 

The other characters weren't the best, either. The emotions they felt and their secrets felt put on for drama as opposed to real issues. That being said, the only secret that actually felt genuine was Mackenzie's, but Preston quickly ruined that with the whole Josh blackmail part. In fact, Josh felt way too flawed to be actually realistic, like Jesus, is there anything about that guy Courtney could have liked? This book kind of had the same effect on me as an episode of Degrassi- the edgy 2000s Degrassi not the new show or the original. So much exhausting drama, so little time. All of it put on. I'm not saying that teenagers couldn't have dealt with these same issues, I'm saying that the way Preston dealt with them made them seem superficial and cartoonish. And ultimately boring. It's not a high stakes horror thriller, akin to a found footage teen movie. 

Also, Mackenzie, for someone who seems to enjoy drinking and getting drunk, you have no place to judge someone for getting high. I don't do either- my control freak tendencies make anything that alters my mental state an automatic no- but if you want to get high, whatever. Just don't come crying to me if you get caught, and don't expect me to join in. Same with getting drunk, though obviously if it's a problem I'm not going to condone that. Also, one of the secrets seemed to be a much bigger problem than how it was treated, but we ain't going there now. I'm sure someone has 20 paragraph long manifesto on everything "problematic" about this book on Goodreads but frankly, I don't have the energy to be that angry about a book I can't take very seriously anyway.

And with that, I'm done with Preston for the near future. Until she puts out another thriller, at least. But let me leave with a couple choice quotations, showcasing the immense talent of Ms Preston:

"His muscular frame and bedroom eyes really did make me want to got to bed."

"I shuddered in delightful anticipation at his tone."

Enjoy.

3 out of 10