The Girls' Weekend

by M.I. Hattersley

Four friends. Three nights in a secluded cabin. Dark secrets that can't be undone. Who will make it home?

Chloe has a bad feeling about Alison's bachelorette party. She barely knows the other girls here, Keren and Jess, and it turns out the cabin they've rented in the woods upstate is much more isolated than she realised - there's hardly any phone signal. She knew she never should have left New York.

The wine is flowing and tensions are already high after a game of Truth or Dare when the girls find a wooden box filled with bridal garters and faded old photographs. It's creepy as hell, but it's probably just the weird caretaker playing a prank?

Then the next day one of the girls disappears. It's clear that someone is playing a very different kind of game with this bachelorette party.

Cut off from civilization, Chloe realises she's trapped - and she can't trust any of the others. And the secrets they're all hiding might just get them killed.

What happens on a girls' weekend, stays on a girls' weekend. Right . . . ?

An utterly gripping psychological thriller perfect for fans of Valerie Keogh, Lisa Jewell, Gemma Rogers and Becca Day's The Woman in the Cabin.

*** Please note this is a revised edition of The Bachelorette Party***

Genres: Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Audiobook

296 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 21, 2023

About the author

M. I. Hattersley was born in Yorkshire, UK. Over the last twenty years, he’s toured Europe in a rock 'n' roll band, trained as a professional actor, and founded a theatre and media company, none of which paid particularly well. To keep the lights on, he’s also held a long list of mind-numbing day jobs. He now writes psychological and domestic thrillers, which, fortunately, let him put all that experience with strange people and tense situations to good use.

Reviews

[shareen khan ۫. ˖[overseas, slump, semi-ia]]

the girls' weekend by m. i. hattersley
★ 3.84/5 stars
read: 6 august, '26
𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆉 𓆝 𓆡⋆.˚ 𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆉 𓆝 𓆡⋆.˚ 𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆉 𓆝 𓆡⋆.˚ 𓇼
for fans of one by one by freida mcfadden.

🔍︎ a remote location. cut off from society.
🔍︎ regular show s5e7: "survival skills."
🔍︎ a girls' weekend... gone horribly wrong.
🔍︎ murder mystery. whodunnit???

this was EXACTLY what i needed.

i was stuck in a reading slump and desperately needed something exciting enough to keep me hooked. freida mcfadden has always been my go-to author whenever i fall into a reading rut, but i'd already read every single one of her books, so i was hoping the girls' weekend would be the one to pull me out of it.

it did.

i genuinely found this really enjoyable. i was interested from beginning to end, and at no point did i feel bored. if there's one genre i can always count on to rescue me from a reading slump, it's a murder mystery, whodunnit thriller. they just work. they reel me back into reading every single time, and this book absolutely did that for me.

pre-read: i'm stuck in a reading rut and really need something exciting to keep me hooked! could you suggest any books that might help me escape this slump? i've already read all of freida mcfadden's books, and she used to be my go-to author for getting out of a reading rut, but those books were already out of my reach. i'm just hoping this book will be the one that frees me from this slump!!!

[Carmen Castro]

Great book, lots of suspense and mystery. Great plot twists. I was kept interested in continuing reading.

[Basha]

good thriller, well written

[Jess]

DNF - It started out rough, so much extra unnecessary information. I don't need the names of all the streets on the way to a secluded cabin. Too many descriptives. Mean girl over dramatic theme. Nearly bipolar moods throughout. Poor me, you're a bitch, I love you... Panic I'm going to die, then reminding myself I'm ok... Over and over and over again. Multiple mentions of "trauma" and "therapy" but to stay relevant to the current social media vibe. There are moments of suspense that were pretty good and the story did flow for a bit, but it just started getting way too repetitive of the poor me and panic moments. I tried, I really did.

[Becky]

How many ‘blood curdling screams’ does one story need? I liked the premise of this book but was quickly let down by every character being reduced to a ‘bitchy girl’. Despite it being a bachelorette party, all they seemed to do was play two games and criticise Alison for having a drink… the remainder was just resting or going for a walk. Felt the characters and story had potential but I’d have liked to read about more than just screaming, being bad friends, and no common sense the whole time.

[Rose]

Finally something interesting!

In a reading slump after feeling like every thriller was the same as the last.. I picked this up thinking, “sure, let’s just watch some dumb rich b*t*he’s getting killed.

Nope. This was unpredictable, unique, thought provoking around the subject of mental breakdown, and twist after twist to the very end!

[Rifaya Banu]

I had mixed feelings about this one.

The beginning was interesting, especially Chloe’s backstory. It initially felt significant and intriguing, and I was curious to see how it would affect the story. But as the story went on, I felt that it didn’t have as much impact as I expected it to.

There was also this constant feeling that something was not quite right. The strange things happening throughout the weekend gave the book a creepy, haunting atmosphere, and I liked that part of it.

But honestly, I felt the middle was a bit repetitive. Almost every chapter felt like it was building up to something big, and as a reader I kept expecting something to happen. Instead, we mostly get the girls getting scared, arguing, questioning what they're experiencing, and then doing it all over again. After a while, it started to feel like the story was going in circles.

It was still a page-turner for me, but not really in the usual “What’s going to happen next?” way. It was more like “Okay… is anything actually going to happen next?” 😅

That said, when things finally start coming together, the book really picks up. The final stretch was definitely the strongest part for me, and I enjoyed seeing how everything connected.

Overall, a decent quick read if you're looking for a psychological mystery/thriller with an eerie atmosphere. The slow and repetitive middle didn't completely work for me, but the payoff was good enough to make the journey worthwhile.

3.5 stars.

[Mae Clair]

I blew through this book in a day! It's a quick read that keeps you flipping pages right up until the end.

The set-up checked all my boxes for a good mystery: secluded setting (in the woods), limited to no cell service, a creepy host who rents out his cabin, and a quartet of friends intending to party and celebrate the coming nuptials of a bride-to-be.

The central character Chloe is the most grounded of the group, a kind of outsider who knows the bride but not her other friends. Still, she goes on the planned weekend getaway only to find the other three alternately sniping at each other and making up. A lot of female drama unfolds among them, but it's all entertaining reading.

The creepy factor builds through an old legend associated with the area, the hermit-like host, a missing hiker, and some strange circumstances at the rented cabin and in the surrounding woods. The ending had provided some nice twists and the journey there was well worth the adventure. I will look for more by this author.

[Sue]

Author has no knowledge of processing birds

I did not like the authors lack of knowledge in processing birds for eating. It was a nightmare thinking of people eating a bacterial mess. Birds ( or any animal) should be gutted soon after being killed. Put on ice, refrigerated, or cooked. Not left on a hearth with a fire going over night. I have always loved being in the woods. Raised my kids in a home on 1,000's of acres of just woods. Besides the lack of knowledge of woods n processing animals its an easy read .

[Ellen Aish]

Alison is getting married and decides to take 3 friends to a remote log cabin in the woods for 3 days. They all arrive safe but then things start turning spooky. This is certainly different to any hen party I've ever been to and the twist ending will astound you. Fantastic read.

[Judi Keane]

A hen party having a weekend away in a log cabin, in the woods. Owned by Jerry. 1 bride to be and 4 friends. A chance to unwind & take in nature. Or is it? Great story & characters, with a twist at the end.
Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Marietta]

I enjoyed this thriller with all the twist and turns. The ending was not what I had excepted but it was very fitting. All the characters had so much deepth to them. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed a very good thriller.

[Darque Dreamer]

The story took too long to fulfill the synopsis and get to the main event. There was way too much "girl" drama in place of the thriller vibes, and the main plot twist was way too predictable, and cliche. 

[Dorothy Gordon]

Usual Girls

Kind of predictable,lots of usual "girls" talk. However it was written in a way that made it an enjoyable read.
Did very much like the women who took charge to save themselves

[Tash Webb]

Good, not great but worth the read! Twisty, sometimes I saw it coming and sometimes I was surprised! Good on audio! Kept me entertained without requiring a ton of focus. I would read another by this author based on this book!

[Sarah Stanley]

Excellent 👏

[Lisa Annette Miller]

Kitty revenge

It was a good story. Nice surprise ending. A little to monogamous e in the beginning with the party theme. But eventually got better.

[Lindsey]

This one took me longer to read, because the 1st half of the book was very slow, and seemed to be repeating itself. The 2nd half of the book got better, and the very end was a good twist.

[cheryl]

Amasing book

Exciting from start to finish, brilliant writing, will defo recommend this writer to family and friends and look forward to reading other books from him.

[Kit Noble]

Wish I had stuck with my gut and DNF’d. literally so slow and nothing happens in the first half the book. The second half wasn’t much better and the ending was so dumb.

[Carla Lee]

page turner

Action from beginning to finish. Very good read. I like books that make me think of them while reading them. I know it’s good when my brain can’t put the book to rest.

[Marissa Olson]

Eh - an interesting read but not my favorite thriller

[Manda]

This book wasn’t for me. I didn’t like the writing. Ended up skipping sections then read the ending.

[Eric Mitchell]

A decent read.

Pretty good book. Early on it seems to be heading for a rather cliche plot line but there are some good twists as it develops.

[Shelley Warticki]

Great read

Girls go for a rustic bachelorette party in the woods and things go really awry. These characters are unpredictable and may be a little crazy.

[Casey]

obvious and i'd have dnf'd if not for an audiobook on a walk

[Helen]

Audiobook.

[Tara]

Not scary. Overuse of adjectives before every verb and noun. Pathetic girls scared of nothing scary. I couldn’t get beyond halfway through this.

[G]

Oh dear. Sooooooo boring. So utterly cookie cutter awful.

[Susan Rodriguez-Manning ☕️]

Decent and fast paced thriller. Helped pulling me out a little reading slump. Asks you to suspend your disbelief a bit but overall a fun time.