“THE PERFECT TRIP
When four friends embark on a boys’ skiing holiday in the Alps, they anticipate a weekend of fun, drinking, and some healthy competition on the slopes. But their trip is cut short when one of them falls to his death.
A TERRIBLE ACCIDENT…
Tom’s widow, Zoe travels to France with her friend, Ivy to collect his body. While Zoe is consumed by grief, Ivy starts to question everything.
OR COLD-BLOODED MURDER?
The slope Tom fell from wasn’t dangerous, and tensions between the group were at breaking point in the days before his death.
But if Ivy’s suspicions are correct, Tom was killed by one of his closest friends. And they are still in the chalet…”

I spotted this on Net Galley and liked the blurb – so was pleased to be granted an ARC.

The book is told from Ivy’s point of view. She’s a single Mum and seemingly something of a loner, with little contact with her Mum (her Dad died when she was a young girl) or her friends from University. It’s evident there was a big falling out back at her friend Zoe’s 21st – but it takes the entire book to find out what actually happened as it unfolds in both the current and historic time lines.

Ivy’s estranged friend Zoe has recently been back in touch – and turns up on Ivy’s doorstep because her husband Tom has died whilst on a skiing trip with some mutual university friends. Zoe is desperate for Ivy to go with her to the Alps to bring Tom’s body back – and eventually persuades Ivy to leave her baby son with her Mum for a few days to head off to Geneva.

The action then moves to the French Alps as the group are skiing in Morzine. Now I should disclose an interest at this point – as my best friend from school lives very close to there – so as the book mentions Avoriaz, Les Gets, Thonon etc I could totally picture the locations! I’m sure part of this was Sarah Clarke’s evocative descriptions – but also because I knew lots of them. And just putting it out there – perhaps Tom and his group should have booked lessons with a fab British ski school there!!!

Back to the book!

The story then unravels both in the present day – where Ivy is suspicious of how Tom died in such easy skiing circumstances when he was an experienced skier and also back when the entire group were at Exeter University many years before. Each of the friends has secrets and things the rest of the group don’t know.

The twists and turns are brilliant and keep you intrigued – it was a real ‘just one more chapter’ book. Some of it is a bit far fetched – but for me that didn’t take away from the enjoyment of the book. There will be no spoilers here – as you need to have the shocks yourself!

There seem to be quite a lot of ‘university reunion’ books around at the moment – but the different geographical locations set this apart.

Overall it was a great read – and I’d like to read books by this author in the future.

Big thanks to Net Galley and the publisher, The Ski Trip is out on 14 September 2023, so not long to wait at all!