Ten Great Books with an isolated cabin at their heart

20th April 2023

©Clare Mackinstosh

Ten Great Books with a cabin at their heart…

We happened to see that author Clare Mackintosh escaped to a cabin and she showed a photo of the books she was taking with her, all set in a cabin. So we thought there was mileage in bringing together books set in remote cabins across the world… so here are some of ours combined with her choices!

The Cabin by Jørn Lier Horst – NORWAY

15 years ago, Simon Meier walked out of his house and was never seen again.

With no leads, the case quickly ran cold. Until now.

Because one day ago, politician Bernard Clausen died. And in his cabin on the Norwegian coast, police make a shocking discovery.

Boxes of bank notes, worth millions of dollars. Collecting dust.

Chief Inspector William Wisting thinks it could link to Meier’s disappearance.

But solving both cases will mean working with an old adversary, and delving into a dark underworld – which leads closer to home than he could have imagined . . .

The Couple in the Cabin by Daniel Hurst – ENGLAND

They’ll do anything to get out. She’ll do anything to keep them in.

When happily married Grace comes home early one night and catches her husband, Dominic, with another woman in the cabin at the bottom of their garden, she is shocked, angry, and most of all, hell-bent on revenge. That’s why she acts quickly, locking the pair in the cabin while she decides what she wants to do to them.

While Dominic and his mistress desperately try to get free, Grace makes a plan on the outside, but it’s a plan that is formed based on her previous experiences. That’s because this might not be the first time Grace has done something like this…

Who is the real villain? The cheating husband? Or the vengeful wife?

The Last Cabin Girl by Tom Swyers – USA

SHE’LL RISK EVERYTHING TO CATCH A SERIAL KILLER . . .

As the pandemic begins, Josie Thompson is a struggling waitress, mom of two great kids. She wants a fresh start far from her abusive husband, the confining small town she calls home, and a long-held secret her family refuses to disclose.

But Josie isn’t going anywhere. After murder victims turn up floating in the river near her isolated cabin, the FBI quickly charges her in one of the killings. Thankfully, she’s freed on bond, but charges for the other deaths loom. The FBI thinks she’s a serial killer.

If convicted, she faces life in prison and a future forever apart from her children. Josie can’t let that happen. She must venture out of her comfort zone to prove her innocence, even if it means confronting her issues, including a growing fear of COVID-19.

Can she trust anyone to help? A friendly detective and former police officer? A testy reporter? Her estranged lawyer-brother, David, who meddled in her marriage? Her cryptic parents? A wealthy bachelor who has eyes for her?

In a town where things are not what they seem and not everyone can be trusted, can Josie clear her name, or will her own dark secrets be her undoing?

Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six by Lisa Unger – GEORGIA

Three couples rent a luxury cabin in the woods for a weekend getaway to die for in this chilling locked-room thriller byNew York Times bestselling author Lisa Unger.

What could be more restful, more restorative, than a weekend getaway with family and friends? An isolated luxury cabin in the woods, complete with spectacular views, a hot tub and a personal chef. Hannah’s loving and generous tech-mogul brother found the listing online. The reviews are stellar. It’s his birthday gift to Hannah and includes their spouses and another couple. The six friends need this trip with good food, good company and lots of R & R, far from the chatter and pressures of modern life.

But the dreamy weekend is about to turn into a nightmare. A deadly storm is brewing. The rental host seems just a little too present. The personal chef reveals that their beautiful house has a spine-tingling history. And the friends have their own complicated past, with secrets that run blood deep. How well does Hannah know her brother, her own husband? Can she trust her best friend? And who is the new boyfriend, crashing their party? Meanwhile, someone is determined to ruin the weekend, looking to exact a payback for deeds long buried. Who is the stranger among them?

Cabin Fever by Alex Dahl – NORWAY

Alone and isolated in a vast Scandinavian forest, a therapist begins to read her client’s novel manuscript, only to discover the main character is terrifyingly familiar…

You are her therapist.

Kristina is a successful therapist in central Oslo. She spends her days helping clients navigate their lives with a cool professionalism that has got her to the top.

She is your client.

But when her client Leah, a successful novelist, arrives at her office clearly distressed, begging Kristina to come to her remote cabin in the woods, she feels the balance begin to slip.

But out here in the woods.

When Leah fails to turn up to her next two sessions, Kristina reluctantly heads out into the wilderness to find her.

Nothing is as it seems.

Alone and isolated, Kristina finds Leah’s unfinished manuscript, and as she reads she realises the main character is terrifyingly familiar…

The Cabin in the Woods by Sarah Alderson – NEW YORK STATE

In a cabin in a wood,
A woman by the window stood.

Glancing out, she thought she heard
Footsteps, whistling, something stirred.

Hiding here, she fears the night,
For what’s done in the dark will come to light.

She must run fast to escape her lie
Or she’ll be the next to die…

The Girls Who Disappeared by Claire Douglas – WILTSHIRE

Three missing girls. A twenty-year mystery. A woman who may be able to crack this cold case.

In a rural Wiltshire town lies The Devil’s Corridor. A road which has witnessed eerie happenings from unexplained deaths to the sounds of a child crying at night.

But nothing more puzzling than the Olivia Rutherford case. Four girls drove home but after their car crashed only Olivia was found.

Twenty years later, journalist Jenna Halliday is covering the case.

But the locals aren’t happy with this stranger’s arrival. Least of all Olivia.

Jenna soon starts receiving threatening notes and it is clear someone wants her out of this town before she suffers a dark fate . . .

The Girl in Cabin 13 by A J Rivers – USA

FBI agent Emma Griffin is sent undercover to the small sleepy town of Feathered Nest to uncover the truth behind the strings of disappearances that has left the town terrified.
To Emma there is nothing that can lay buried forever. Even though her own childhood has been plagued by deaths and disappearances.
Her mother’s death, her father’s disappearance, and her boyfriend’s disappearance. The only cases that she hasn’t solved.
Her obsession with finding out the truth behind her past was what led her to join the FBI.

Now, she must face what may be her biggest case. In Cabin 13 there lies an uneasy feeling. The feeling of her movements being watched.
When a knock on her door revealed a body on her porch and her name written on a piece of paper in the dead man’s hand.
Suddenly her worlds collide.
With the past still haunting her, Emma must fight past her own demons to stop the body count from rising.
The woods have secrets. And this idyllic town has dark and murderous ones.
Either she reveals them or risk them claiming her too.

In Feathered Nest, nothing is what it seems.
The Girl in Cabin 13 is about to find out that the dead may have secrets of their own.

Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter – SPITSBERGEN / ARCTIC

In 1934, the painter Christiane Ritter leaves her comfortable life in Austria and travels to the remote Arctic island of Spitsbergen, to spend a year there with her husband. She thinks it will be a relaxing trip, a chance to “read thick books in the remote quiet and, not least, sleep to my heart’s content”, but when Christiane arrives she is shocked to realize that they are to live in a tiny ramshackle hut on the shores of a lonely fjord, hundreds of miles from the nearest settlement, battling the elements every day, just to survive.

At first, Christiane is horrified by the freezing cold, the bleak landscape the lack of equipment and supplies… But as time passes, after encounters with bears and seals, long treks over the ice and months on end of perpetual night, she finds herself falling in love with the Arctic’s harsh, otherworldly beauty, gaining a great sense of inner peace and a new appreciation for the sanctity of life.

This rediscovered classic memoir tells the incredible tale of a woman defying society’s expectations to find freedom and peace in the adventure of a lifetime.

Dear Child by Romy Hausmann – BAVARIA

The No 1 International Bestseller – 250.000 copies sold in Germany – 5th bestselling paperback in Germany in 2019

A windowless shack in the woods. Lena’s life and that of her two children follows the rules set by their captor, the father: meals, bathroom visits, study time are strictly scheduled and meticulously observed. He protects his family from the dangers lurking in the outside world and makes sure that his children will always have a mother to look after them.

One day Lena manages to flee – but the nightmare continues. It seems as if her tormentor wants to get back what belongs to him. And then there is the question whether she really is the woman called ‘Lena’, who disappeared without a trace over thirteen years ago. The police and Lena’s family are all desperately trying to piece together a puzzle that doesn’t quite seem to fit.

BONUS BOOK

The Wilderness Retreat by Jennifer Moore – Sweden

As Bella drops her son off at university, she’s devastated. It’s been the two of them ever since Asher was born. The only thing helping her through is an upcoming week-long wilderness retreat in Sweden, a surprise gift from her sister and Asher.

The lodge is modern and luxurious – but the surrounding forest is foreboding. Named Dead Man’s Forest after the legend of a local bandit left to die inside a wooden coffin, there are rumours that, on quiet nights, you can still hear the scratching of his fingernails against the lid.

When someone begins leaving unsettling notes, and a figure from her past comes back to haunt her, Bella’s unease grows. This certainly isn’t the restful retreat she signed up for. And when another guest suddenly disappears, Bella fears she might not make it home alive…

Don’t miss this gripping psychological thriller about a blissful holiday that turns into a nightmare, perfect for fans of The Sanatorium and The Guest List.

North Woods by Daniel Mason (coming September 2023) – New England

When a pair of young lovers abscond from a Puritan colony, little do they know that their humble cabin in the woods will become the home of an extraordinary succession of human and inhuman characters alike. An English soldier, destined for glory, abandons the battlefields of the New World to devote himself to apples. A pair of spinster twins navigate war and famine, envy and desire. A crime reporter unearths a mass grave – only to discover that the ancient trees refuse to give up their secrets. A lovelorn painter, a sinister conman, a stalking panther, a lusty beetle: as each inhabitant confronts the wonder and mystery around them, they begin to realize that the dark, raucous, beautiful past is very much alive.

In his transcendent fourth novel, Pulitzer Prize finalist Daniel Mason delivers a magisterial and highly inventive tale brimming with love and madness, humor and hope. Following the cycles of history, nature and even language, North Woods shows the myriad, magical ways in which we’re connected to our environment, to history and to each other. It is not just an unforgettable novel about buried secrets and inevitable fates, but a way of looking at the world.

Do you know of any further titles set in remote cabins? Let us know in the comments below and we can add them to the list!

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