Paul Tremblay‘s The Cabin at the End of the World delivers intense suspense on a fantastic premise, something we have come to love about Tremblay’s books. While the setup and story are strong the payoff didn’t fully land with an ambiguous ending that left me wanting a bit more.
Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake. Their closest neighbors are more than two miles in either direction along a rutted dirt road.
One afternoon, as Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway. Leonard is the largest man Wen has ever seen, but he is young, friendly, and he wins her over almost instantly. Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologizes and tells Wen, “None of what’s going to happen is your fault.” Three more strangers then arrive at the cabin carrying unidentifiable, menacing objects. As Wen sprints inside to warn her parents, Leonard calls out: “Your dads won’t want to let us in, Wen. But they have to. We need your help to save the world.”
Thus begins an unbearably tense, gripping tale of paranoia, sacrifice, apocalypse, and survival that escalates to a shattering conclusion, one in which the fate of a loving family and quite possibly all of humanity are entwined.
As always I was exited to pickup The Cabin at the End of the World as I am with any book by Paul Tremblay as you never really know what you’re getting into until you’ve reached the final page. Each of his books are a unique plot, yet unmistakably similar in their unsettling, compulsive nature. With this one, I definitely found myself caught in those “what the hell am I reading” moments throughout.
The Cabin at the End of the World has an intriguing home invasion meets an apocalyptic setting that grabbed me from the start. The tension and suspense are brilliantly crafted as you are immersed into the story. However, the pacing felt a bit slow at times. The shifting of narrators became a bit much at moments which made more drawn out than they needed to be.
I enjoyed the plot overall in The Cabin at the End of the World, but a bit more conflicted with the ending. Whether it works for some will really depend entirely on your personal preference, but for me it was a bit too ambiguous for my liking. That said, this is a gripping and super entertaining read.
The Cabin at the End of the World delivers a tense, unsettling experience that linger after closing the book. While the pacing is slow at moments and the ambiguity of the ending is not for me, the novel’s atmospheric tone and emotional depth make it a worthwhile reading experience.
While the feature film takes a few liberties in its adaptation, it was still worth the viewing!
The Cabin at the End of the World is available at bookstores everywhere from William Morrow. The audiobook, narrated by Amy Landon, is available at Libro.fm!
