Linda's Reviews > The Hitchcock Hotel

"She sat with her back against it, shoulders heaving. An inhuman whine leaked from her mouth."

Uh, that would be me after experiencing The Hitchcock Hotel. I should have known that Stephanie Wrobel and I would come to a parting of the ways after reading her Darling Rose Gold back in 2020. I mistakenly thought that time would heal all wounds. It didn't.

The Hitchcock Hotel was like trudging through the endless sand dunes of the Sahara Desert. Slow going and a drudgery. Each advancement in chapters sunk deeper and deeper with no end in sight. The storyline is filled with the utmost unlikeable characters. Hitchcock would definitely not be pleased.

We're gathered around a bevy of former college friends who will meet for the first time in six years. Why even bother when not a one cared or kept up with the others? But Alfred Smettle has bought a bed and breakfast hotel facing the White Mountains in New Hampshire. This hotel theme is heavily stamped with all things Hitchcock. 'Round the clock Hitchcock films and even an aviary filled with black crows. After all, these so-called buddies belonged to the same film club at college.

Wrobel sends us into the locker room for each "friend" with dry agonizing backstories. Too much information and not enough present action. Someone is murdered. It's now up to us to figure out who the guilty party is. More like Agatha Christie than Hitchcock here. And when the ending draws near, we are relieved, but not satisfied. There was so much possibility here, but the character duds prevented that from happening. More's the pity.

Perhaps you'll see it in a completely different light. Check it out, but be aware of the low flying crows with murderous beaks.