Hokey Pokey - Kate Mascarenhas

I finished this book 10 minutes before writing this... and I've been left with a feeling of - what on earth did I just read? So excuse the haphazard nature of my thoughts!

Firstly, the cover and the description of this book do NOT give a true idea as to what this book is about in my opinion.

I quite fancied a 20's murder mystery set in a hotel. The blurb literally says:

But when a terrible snow storm isolates the hotel – and its guests – from the outside world, the lines between nightmare and reality begin to blur and Nora will find herself face to face with a past she thought she had long left behind...

But what we get instead is an almost horror story.

Trigger warnings: this book has dismemberment and cannibalism. I am not exactly feint-hearted but I know what I like and I do not like either of these things. Had they been included, I would have been able to make a judgement call early on.

I was also quite surprised that when I tried to find out what a Hyring was - I figured it was some form of mythical creature based on folklore - I couldn't find anything other than a load of IT recruitment sites.

I openly admit, this was first read of a book by this author - potentially I would have been more prepared if I'd read one of her previous works?

Did I enjoy this? No. Even at one point, The Bloke turned to me and asked - "Are you ok? You're not enjoying that are you?"

BUT I can appreciate a good story even if it's not my cup of tea. The writing is good and I think it was constructed well - the whodunnit was not obvious to me at all and take out the horror elements, I probably would have enjoyed it enough for 3.5/4 stars. But the lack of disclosure threw me enough - I would never have read it had I realised what I was signing up for.

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