The thing about Amber Cowie thrillers is no matter how bad it is for the characters, you know it’s always going to get worse—in ways you couldn’t have fathomed or expected. She’s fearless about destroying fictional lives, and I am here for it.
Cowie goes all out in The Off Season, her latest thriller, which came out in May and pulls out the interpersonal drama, eerie setting, bad decisions, isolation, lies, interrupted internet connection, and chaos that form the foundation of her novels.
So where does it all start? Jane Duvall, a documentary filmmaker whose career has tanked, takes off for Europe. When she comes back, she’s married to a man, Dom, she barely knows, who has a daughter (Sienna) who absolutely hates her. Jane’s reckless decision seems like a safe bet at first. He’s employed (it can be a low bar), handsome, sexy, and appears to worship the ground she walks on. Did we mention he’s gorgeous? And a widower? If you’re getting Rebecca vibes, you’re not wrong.
When Dom suggests they all head out to a remote hotel in Chilliwack to act as caretakers and to bond as a family, Jane is hesitant but decides to go with it. She needs to keep a low profile anyway, so without further ado, the three of them decamp to the country, where they meet Dom’s friend and hotelier, Peter. He’s rude out of the gate and takes off after insulting Jane. Most of the men in this book do not come off well.
Cowie thrives writing characters with screaming red-flags, and the entire supporting cast, and indeed Jane herself, all have serious judgment issues and emotional damage, which is what makes books like this so fun.
Cowie also excels at writing haunting and utterly creepy wilderness landscapes (as in her previous thriller, Last One Alive) and The Off Season stays on trend. She leans into the physicality of a setting to make the outdoors an enemy, and the glorious and under-renovation Venatura Hotel is equally spooky. Nothing like a nearly empty hotel to send a shiver down your spine, at least when Cowie describes it. She doesn’t waste time letting the reader get comfortable. Nope, the weather quickly turns inclement and the power goes out and it’s just a matter of time before the rain starts to fall. And fall.
Things start off benign enough, aside from the angry stepdaughter. The family tries to settle in, but it’s not long before Jane begins hearing things, there are issues with the power, Sienna starts to undermine her, and Dom wants Jane to handle the cooking, a skill she does not have. Jane’s hopes for a happy family and a fresh start go out the window about the same time as the weather turns for the worse.
With no one to trust and the situation getting more dire every day, what’s Jane going to do? Whatever she can to survive.
Personally, I’m never going to a remote hotel ever again.
Amber Cowie appears in Chilling Tales: Thrilling Fiction Oct. 19 at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler as part of the Whistler Writers Festival. Tickets are available now. Cowie is a novelist living in Squamish and her work has appeared in The New York Times, Salon, The Globe and Mail, and CrimeReads.
Alli Vail is the marketing manager for the Whistler Writers Festival. Her debut novel, Brooklyn Thomas Isn’t Here, came out in May.
Find more info and tickets at whistlerwritersfest.com.
