This is surprisingly really good. It’s certainly a gripping psycho-thriller, one that started with four friends who decided to have a vacation in Nepal on a retreat that will supposedly refresh their minds and bodies except it did the opposite. The catch: of the four friends, only two of them came back alive.
The narrative that smoothly shifts from present to past in Emma’s (hiding under the new name Jane) POV is easy to read, engaging, and quite gripping. The author certainly piqued my curiosity about what actually went on in their retreat in Nepal and while the narrative progressively divulges the events, things become very dark , suspenseful, and creepy.
The psychological manipulation coupled with physical torture masked as “detoxification” that went on in the retreat is really scary, the way the people’s behavior is slowly changing unwillingly until they get trapped in the mountains with no way to escape.
The characters are portrayed authentically and the cracks that resulted to animosity and jealousy among the friends are very believable making them vulnerable and easy prey to psychological manipulation by sociopaths disguising as retreat managers. I’m sure checking out the author’s other books.
