Book Review: MIDNIGHT IN THE SNOW by Karen Swan

 

Title: MIDNIGHT IN THE SNOW

Author:  Karen Swan

Publisher:  Pan Macmillan

Read: October 2021

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

Award-winning director Clover Phillips is riding high when she encounters Kit Foley; a surfer and snowboarder as well-known for controversy as he is for winning championships.

Involved in an accident that had devastating consequences for a bitter rival, Kit has never spoken about what really happened that day. Determined to find out the truth, Clover heads to the snowy wilderness of the Austrian Alps, sharing a romantic winter wonderland with a man who can’t stand her.

But as she delves deeper, Clover finds herself both drawn to Kit, and even more convinced he’s hiding something.

What attracted me to this book:

 

If I had to nominate authors who made the covid lockdowns more bearable, Karen Swan would definitely be on the shortlist. Noone writes gorgeous atmospheric locations quite as well as Swan does, which makes all her books unique armchair travel experiences. For her Christmas themed novel MIDNIGHT IN THE SNOW, she has chosen the winter wonderland of an Austrian Alpine ski resort to provide a magical backdrop, and it doesn’t get much better than this!

 

My musings:

 

One reason that makes Swan’s books so irresistible to me is that her world is not only vastly different to mine, but she also makes her stories stand out by choosing a strong female lead who ends up embroiled in some type of mystery, be it family secrets or, in this case, an old rivalry with tragic consequences. In MIDNIGHT IN THE SNOW, our main protagonist is Clover Phillips, a documentary filmmaker who has won multiple awards with her film about tragic surfing legend Cory Albright. Cory’s career was cut short after a surfing accident, caused by former friend and sporting rival Kit Foley during a surfing championship. Vilified and forced out of surfing, Kit Foley has since reinvented himself as a champion snowboarder, set to compete in the upcoming snowboarding championships in the Alps. Clover, on the hunt for a new project, is intrigued when Kit’s sponsor asks her and her team to make a documentary about Kit’s side of the Cory Albright incident, which he has never spoken about. And thus Clover is thrown into the world of competitive snowboarding and sporting rivalry.

 

I love it when I learn something new whilst immersing myself in a novel, and I appreciated getting a glimpse into the world of competitive snowboarding. Swan’s love for the sport and her knowledge of the wintry slopes shone through as she provided vivid imagery of the mountains in winter, as well as their dangers. Swan also never fails to surprise me by drawing me into a completely different social scene. Zell am See in winter is not only a stage for the stars of winter sports, but also a playing field for the rich and famous. I could vividly picture the luxury ski “cabin” providing a temporary home for Clover and her team and enjoyed every minute of it, even more so since this sort of luxury is firmly out of my league in real life. Swan has a way of setting the scene which paints a colourful backdrop, and her characters are all authentic and engaging. As the dialogue flowed effortlessly, I became more and more intrigued by the mystery at the heart of the novel.

 

As someone who generally does not read romance novels, I thought that I should point out that Swan’s novels are so much more than that. Whilst there usually is a romantic element (often an enemy-to-lovers theme), there is also mystery, intrigue and drama, with the romantic element slotting seamlessly into the story in a way that does not detract from the main plot. So don’t be afraid to give Swan’s novels a go, even though romance normally isn’t your jam.

 

 

Summary:

 

All in all, MIDNIGHT IN THE SNOW is an intriguing, atmospheric tale that offers the same exquisite armchair travel as all Karen Swan novels. If you have been missing travel as much as I have, you will be pleased to find yourself instantly transported to the winter wonderland of the Austrian Alps, the perfect setting for a Christmassy read (or any time, really). With a mystery surrounding an old rivalry between two sporting greats, and a subsequent tragedy that cost the life of one of them, the book provided plenty of intrigue to keep me turning the pages. If you haven’t discovered Karen Swan’s books yet, I fully recommend picking this one up for an immersive escapist read with a wonderful atmospheric setting.

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.