Book Synopsis:
From bestselling author Ruth Kelly, The Ice Retreat is a spine-tingling thriller set in the world of controversial wellness treatments. Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell and Sarah Pearse.
HEALER?
Meet Hollie Jenson, presenter of the smash-hit docu-series Bad Medicine, which exposes the perils of extreme therapies. Her next target: a new retreat run by wellness guru Ariel Rose, who claims to have discovered the secret to healing pain through her three-day ice rebirth treatment.
LIAR?
Acting on a mother’s plea to find her son, who vanished soon after his stay, Hollie ventures into the Swiss mountains where the retreat occupies a former observatory. There she will search for the boy, and hopes to expose Ariel as the charlatan she believes her to be.
KILLER?
As the isolation of the valley sets in, Hollie finds herself in an increasingly dangerous situation. There is much more to the retreat than meets the eye, and she must confront explosive secrets from her own past if she is to ever make it out alive . . .
My Review:
I’m a huge fan of this author and always look forward to a new book from her. The Ice Retreat is another gripping, atmospheric and tense read that I thoroughly enjoyed.
The story is told from the point of view of two people, Hollie an ex scientist turned medical negligence investigator and Florence who has woken up to find herself in a very precarious situation but she can’t remember how she got there. It’s impossible to not feel sympathy for Florence who’s rising terror as she realises the situation she’s in is almost palpable at times. I wished I could just rush in and get her out of there as I read with growing horror all that was going on. Hollie was an interesting main character who I struggled to warm to at the beginning. She’s a prickly character who has obviously had a difficult past so finds it difficult to trust or grow close to people. She grew on me as the book went on as she reveals her softer side and we learn more about her pass
This book starts off strongly and soon becomes very gripping indeed. I soon found myself intrigued with the Ice Retreat and wondering what on earth was going on while at the same time not entirely sure I wanted to find out. The tension in the book and some of the situations Hollie finds herself in were quite uncomfortable at times, making me very nervous for the characters safety. There were lots of twists that kept me guessing plus one towards the end that had me gasp out loud. The ending was very interesting and surprising as I hadn’t been able to guess it.
Huge thanks to Chloe from Pan Macmillan for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book. If you’re a fan of twisty thrillers set in a hostile, cold environment then you definitely need to read this book!
About The Author:
Ruth Kelly is an award-winning journalist who has ghosted a string of Sunday Times top ten bestsellers – most recently THE PRISON DOCTOR, which sold over 250,000 copies, and THE GOVERNOR, which went straight in at number one on the Amazon charts and number five in the Sunday Times bestseller list.
Over The Rainbow Blog 