I think I was predisposed to like The Lodge, a new psych thriller by Miranda Rijks. She had me hooked at “game reserve in South Africa.”
Two of the best trips of my life were to Africa. I absolutely devoured the descriptions of the animals on the reserve as they brought back memories of our safaris. A few times in the book, I found myself looking forward to those rather than the actual plot.
I think that’s because the initial setup felt a bit contrived to me. I thought the coincidences were way too “convenient.”
That was right up until the main character, Anna, voiced exactly what I was feeling. That’s when I knew the author had more planned, and I needed to go along for the ride.
I didn’t expect it to be as twisty as it was. And there were certainly a couple of “Oh no way!” moments, especially towards the book’s last third. There is one twist in particular that I never saw coming, which threw the entire story to a different level.
I thought Anna was a sympathetic character – even though her impulsiveness seemed to repeat itself with Clayton and Joel. Clayton is by far one of the creepiest antagonists I’ve ever “met.”
A couple of things didn’t quite ring true and seemed obvious, but those were minor in the bigger picture of the whole story. And the pace is a little bit off. It seemed like there was a long setup, and then once the shoe dropped, it was a race to the end.
As a result, a couple of the resolutions seemed very rushed. But I suppose those are minor gripes.
All in all, I think The Lodge is a great psych thriller and one of the better ones that Miranda Rijks has written. I’ll definitely be looking for her next one.
Thank you so much for taking part in the tour x