Jaclyn’s Review: The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay

The Cabin at the End of the World
written by Paul Tremblay
published by William Morrow, 2018

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Apple Books, Target, Walmart, Kobo, Book Depository, Goodreads

Did I enjoy this book? Honestly? I’m genuinely unsure if I liked this book or not. I’m typically a very opinionated person, so this is a very unusual experience for me. This was a Goodreads finalist for Best Horror of 2018. I don’t typically care for horror books but thought I would make an exception for this one. The general premise of this book is that of a family who decided to “unplug” on a vacation in a remote destination. While they are there, a group of people show up and declare that the family must kill one of their own in order to save the world. If they don’t kill someone, the world will end. The family is taken hostage until they make this decision.

This book was interesting because the author presented the situation in a very plausible manner. The story was well developed and all the minor details were covered. I liked that it was told from alternating character point of views, and the events of each chapter overlapped a bit so you could see the same scene from multiple perspectives. I thought the chapters were very long, so it was sometimes tedious to read. I like to read 1-2 chapters when I get small breaks in my day, but I couldn’t do that with this book because the chapters were too long to digest in small breaks. I’m unsure how I feel about the ending, but I’m sure that’s by design. I mostly want someone else to read this book so we can discuss it.

Would I recommend it? I will tentatively recommend this book, mostly because I want someone else to read it and discuss it with me. Reader beware! This book has a fair amount of gore and some pretty uncomfortable scenes. This book is not for everyone.
 

 

About the book – from Goodreads: The Bram Stoker Award-winning author of A Head Full of Ghosts adds an inventive twist to the home invasion horror story in a heart-palpitating novel of psychological suspense that recalls Stephen King’s Misery, Ruth Ware’s In a Dark, Dark Wood, and Jack Ketchum’s cult hit The Girl Next Door.

Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake. Their closest neighbors are more than two miles in either direction along a rutted dirt road.

One afternoon, as Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway. Leonard is the largest man Wen has ever seen but he is young, friendly, and he wins her over almost instantly. Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologizes and tells Wen, “None of what’s going to happen is your fault”. Three more strangers then arrive at the cabin carrying unidentifiable, menacing objects. As Wen sprints inside to warn her parents, Leonard calls out: “Your dads won’t want to let us in, Wen. But they have to. We need your help to save the world.”

Thus begins an unbearably tense, gripping tale of paranoia, sacrifice, apocalypse, and survival that escalates to a shattering conclusion, one in which the fate of a loving family and quite possibly all of humanity are entwined. The Cabin at the End of the World is a masterpiece of terror and suspense from the fantastically fertile imagination of Paul Tremblay.

 

 
 

* This post contains affiliate links.

** This post first appeared on Every Free Chance Books (everyfreechance.com) on June 6, 2019.