Psychological Thriller Review: The Chateau | Jaclyn Goldis

If you’re looking for a psychological thriller that transports you to a beautiful French chateau in Provence that has some fairly dark secrets, look no further than The Chateau by Jaclyn Goldis. A weekend getaway goes awry when someone is murdered and it becomes clear only one of the guests and resident staff at the chateau could be to blame. I love a locked room mystery, so this was a no brainer for me to pick up!

About the Book | The Chateau

Long-time friends Darcy, Jade, Vix, and Arabelle are reunited for a girls getaway in Darcy’s familial Chateau located in the French countryside. Darcy’s grandmother Seraphine has invited them to visit her at the Chateau nearly twenty years after they first visited her during their college studies abroad in Paris.

Their friendship has stood the test of time, but they are looking forward to their reunion and seeing Seraphine, who has a special connection with each of them, though Darcy is her granddaughter and Arabelle is the daughter of one of her staff and grew up at the Chateau.

Seraphine has also made it clear she has something to reveal to them. But before she is able, to she is stabbed to death. The four girls are reeling from the attach, and they are even more troubled when an anonymous social media account begins to contact them, claiming to know more and with photos of the women on their visit at the Chateau.

Worse, it soon becomes clear to both the police and the four women that someone at the Chateau must have committed the murder. That leaves quite a small suspect list, including the four women and a few staff members.

As suspicion grows, secrets the women have held from one another for decades begin to come to light and all of their friendships are called into question. Could one of them be behind the murder? And what exactly was Seraphine planning to reveal?

My Review | The Chateau

A true locked room mystery, the cast of characters present in the novel is relatively small. However, each of the central characters does narrate at least some of the chapters (though the four girls take the bulk of the narration). Every character has a secret that is revealed throughout the book. There is a surprising amount of deception going on here!

The locked room format increased the tension a lot in this book. I have seen it recommended for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware (both queens of the locked room format and who love a travel destination thriller) and I think those are good comparisons. There is a different vibe though as well. I’m not sure if it’s because I did the audiobook or because many of the characters are American, but they have a slightly lighter vibe and a bit more shallowness to them than I’m used to with Foley and Ware.

The audiobook helps a lot because it can be hard to keep the characters straight when there are so many rotating narrators across chapters, but this was a full cast recording and I was able to keep track of the changing narrators much more easily than I think I would have in physical book format.

The setting was so well-done—I loved hearing about the Chateau and both Darcy and Arabelle’s memories from childhood there. Arabelle was the daughter of a maid Sophie and she and Darcy grew up like sisters. Vix and Jade met Darcy in college and the three became fast friends, including Arabelle during their studies abroad.

The number of secrets these characters are holding was shocking—and they were good secrets. Like juicy, jaw-dropping secrets. They get revealed throughout which adds to the twists and turns because people I thought would definitely not be responsible suddenly had a motive that absolutely made me suspect them.

One thing I’d warn readers about is that the characters get fairly unlikable towards about 30% through the book as we learn about their secrets, hidden jealousy, or ways they may not have been as supportive as they could. What I’ll say is to stick with it! For the most part they all come back around as we learn a lot more about them. By the end I found the book was full of people who were just dealing with the messy parts of growing up and how to include one another in the parts of their lives they may be scared to show others.

A twisty book with a great setting and a compelling mystery!

Book Recommendations

If you enjoy books about travel or a vacation gone wrong like The Chateau, try checking out other travel-based thrillers. If the college reunion aspect appealed to you, try The Girls Weekend by Jody Gehrmen. Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins will transport you to a private boat cruise and an island getaway that takes a terrifying turn when it becomes clear they may be isolated with a murderer. Leah Konen’s The Perfect Escape showcases a much-needed girls trip gone awry when one of them goes missing after a night out.

About the Author | Jaclyn Goldis

Jaclyn has a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and a JD from NYU School of Law. She practiced estate planning law at Sidley Austin LLP in Chicago for seven years before leaving her job to travel the world and write novels. After culling her possessions into only what would fit in a backpack, Jaclyn traveled for over a year until settling near the beach, where she can often be found writing from cafés. 

Her debut novel, When We Were Young, historical women’s fiction, was published in 2021 by Hachette/Grand Central. Find out more about her latest novel The Chateau and stay up to date with her on her author’s site.