The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie Wrobel – a Review

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Description:
Alfred Smettle is not your average Hitchcock fan. He is the founder, owner, and manager of The Hitchcock Hotel, a sprawling Victorian house in the White Mountains dedicated to the Master of Suspense. There, Alfred offers his guests round-the-clock film screenings, movie props and memorabilia in every room, plus an aviary with fifty crows.

To celebrate the hotel’s first anniversary, he invites his former best friends from his college Film Club for a reunion. He hasn’t spoken to any of them in sixteen years, not after what happened.

But who better than them to appreciate Alfred’s creation? And to help him finish it.

After all, no Hitchcock set is complete without a body.

Review:

The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie Wrobel is an exciting, intense suspense novel. We meet Alfred Smettle, who is the founder, and owner of The Hitchcock Hotel; a Victorian house in the White Mountains, which is also close to the college that he and his friends went to. Alfred is fanatic on anything by Alfred Hitchcock, making the hotel a masterpiece dedicated to his favorite director; with pictures, paraphernalia and special themed rooms. 16 years have passed since his college days, and Alfred decides to have a reunion at his hotel. He sends an invitation to 5 of his friends, who are now adults.

Zoe, who is a successful chef, has a problem with being sober.  She also dislikes Alfred, suspecting he did something bad in the past. TJ, works as a bodyguard, having added muscle over the years, he secretly is involved with one of the females.  Julius was always nasty to Alfred during their school days. Samira, is happily married with children, and runs a sex toy business.  Grace is happily married with a wealthy husband, as she also holds secrets from the past. Then there is Danny, an elderly assistant to Alfred, who helps him execute his plans, as well as spy on the visitors; but she too has her own secrets.

At first, I thought the first half was a bit slow, but that did change in the second half, which turned into and exciting thriller, with some twists and surprises.  On another note, I frankly did not like any of the characters, as each had their own issues, and not really likeable; but I guess we were not supposed to like them. Lol   At the college, they all spent a lot of time partying, drinking and not really dependable; as there were POV’s for each of the friends, learning more about their days at the college.

What follows, especially in the second half of the book, are a number of red herrings, with twists and turns, as all of them had their own bad secrets.  Alfred intended to give his old friends a taste of the past. The big surprise happens in the middle of the book, taking everyone by surprise. But the end was a shock, even though I sort of suspected who the culprit was.  The Hitchcock Hotel was entertaining and intense, with by the end of the night, one doesn’t survive and the other is the murderer.