Written with short chapters and frequent time jumps between what has happened in the past and what is just about to happen in each of the character’s very near future, at first it seems like the story of Anne, her 12-year-old daughter Thea, and Anne’s mother Rose is a quick, creepy, suspense-filled thriller. In truth, it is all of those things and a great summer beach, or poolside read, but it is also a lot more.
Exploring themes such as toxic relationships, familial bonds, abuse, mental health, victimhood, and protection, this is that rare book that you enjoy that chills and thrills while you are reading it, but after you are finished you will find it has tunnelled into your brain as well. As you unpack everything you have learned about this family (in a very short span of time), your brain starts to put the story back into chronological order. Then it is the little details that reappear, the abusive relationships, the missed red flags, and the secrets that everyone is keeping from each other.
The book opens with Anne, a therapist and single mother, concerned about her 12-year-old daughter, Thea. They have moved fairly recently and Anne is unsure about how her daughter is adjusting to the new town and the new school. She can’t quite decide if Thea is actually angry about something, or if she is just in a phase that is typical of a 12-year-old. Anne decides that a weekend getaway to a snowy cabin would be good for their relationship, and she invites her mother Rose (Thea’s grandmother) along as well.
We also get to experience the story through Thea’s eyes and Rose’s eyes as the chapters alternate through various perspectives. Thea is unexpectedly excited about the trip, and is happy about seeing her grandmother, as they previously had lived much nearer to her, and Rose and Thea have a very close relationship.
Unfortunately, there is someone else who knows about this planned trip to an isolated mountain cabin, and we see the story from his perspective as well. While he certainly provides dramatic tension and genuine fear into the story, it is the dynamic between Rose, Anne, and Thea that really drives the narrative forward. Who is keeping secrets, and what are they hiding?
Highly recommended for people who love a wintry, snow-bound thriller in the middle of a sweltering hot summer! Fans of No Exit from Taylor Adams may also love this spine-tingling tale with its snowy isolation. Whether you enjoy it for the story itself, or for the psychological study you can make of it afterwards, Jen Waite’s Survival Instincts is a fantastic summer thrill!
Survival Instincts is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore!
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Synopsis | Goodreads
By the bestselling author of A Beautiful, Terrible Thing, a haunting thriller about a mother and daughter who must draw strength from each other when they find themselves trapped in a cabin with a stranger who wants to either control them–or kill them.
FOURTEEN YEARS BEFORE THE CABIN: Twenty-something Anne meets the man of her dreams right out of college, but after they get married, Anne notices that her husband begins acting differently. Why is Ethan suddenly so moody? And will their marriage endure?
A WEEK BEFORE THE CABIN: Ten years later, Anne and her twelve-year-old daughter, Thea, are safely living in Vermont. Anne is a successful therapist, Thea has friends at her new school, and they receive an endless stream of love, support, and baked goods from Anne’s sweet mom, Rose. When Thea takes to brooding and showing classic signs of teen angst, a trip for the three women to the White Mountains of New Hampshire seems like the perfect chance to bond.
THE CABIN: A man follows the three women on a hike at a nature reserve and drags them at gunpoint to an abandoned cabin in the woods. And just like that their peaceful weekend away turns into a fight for survival. It isn’t clear what this man wants from these women or how he is connected to them if at all, but it is increasingly clear that they won’t all get out of the cabin alive.
SURVIVAL INSTINCTS is a captivating and terrifying novel that brings to life one of the scariest truths of all–that people’s inner monsters come in various forms, some more recognizable than others, and that we are all one random encounter away from tragedy.
