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Chapters 12-22Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapters 12-13 Summary
Erin wakes up from a nightmare about “digging, digging through hard-packed snow, my hands numb with cold, my muscles shaking, hot blood running down my neck” (66). It is her job to get the chalet ready for the morning, so she begins to clean and build the fire. She is frustrated, angry at the haphazard way the guests have treated the chalet thus far, but she collects herself by the time a local baker arrives. The pair discuss the incoming weather and the avalanche risk, which is currently “considerable.” Danny arrives in the kitchen and asks who Will is, claiming that Erin called the name in her sleep.
The group is frustrated that the internet is out, but Danny and Erin explain there is nothing they can do. Erin learns that Eva has a daughter and a husband with whom she Skypes every morning when she is traveling. Erin explains the weather, and the group establishes a plan to ski in the morning before the snow starts. The group attends a presentation during breakfast before gathering to look at ski maps. While the others get dressed, Topher holds an indicative vote with the shareholders (himself, Eva, Rik, Elliot, and Liz) to determine how people feel about the buyout. Everyone votes but Liz, whose abstinence causes a brief fight. The men leave; Liz tells Eva she plans on voting for the buyout but needs to work up to it.
Chapters 14-15 Summary
Erin, an experienced skier, surveys the members of the group as they get out onto the snow. She determines the skill level of each guest, seeing that Eva and Topher are almost professional while Liz is very awkward and appears to be inexperienced. After showing the group the ski lift (called a bubble lift in the novel) and the trails, Erin returns to the chalet to help Danny prepare lunch.
Hours later, Topher convinces the group to go to the top of the mountain and take one last trail before lunch. The more experienced skiers can take the complicated, black-rated trail La Sorcière, while the less experienced skiers can take the blue-rated trail Blanche-Neige. Liz gets on a bubble lift with Topher, Rik, and Miranda. When they get to the top of the mountain, however, the snow is coming down heavily, and the black trail has been closed by the mountain police. Liz experiences a panic attack at the intense snowfall and the sheer cliff beside La Sorcière, intending to get into the bubble lift to go down the mountain before the others arrive.
Chapters 16-17 Summary
Back at the chalet, it is nearly two in the afternoon, and Erin is beginning to worry for the group. Before a course of action can be decided, Topher bursts into the chalet, followed by the others in search of Eva. Ani and Carl saw her skiing down La Sorcière, easily identifiable by her scarlet ski jacket. However, Erin and Danny have not seen her arrive. Over the course of the morning, the avalanche warning has increased, and Erin talks about the professional difficulty of the black-rated trail in low visibility. Because there is currently no cell reception or internet, Erin decides to take the funicular train to town to contact the police. She has just left, and Liz has just gone upstairs to change, when an avalanche crashes down the mountain.
Liz rushes downstairs with the rest of the Snoop staff in time to watch Danny force the front door open to look for Erin, who has been buried. The group goes back upstairs to get a better view of the avalanche’s destruction. They watch Danny help Erin back inside and go downstairs to check on her. Her ankle is injured, and she seems to be going into shock.
Chapters 18-22 Summary
Inigo gets cell signal and manages to connect with the international police. He wanders through the house, trying to get better reception so he can explain where they are and their concern for Eva. Topher tries to leave, but Danny points out the treacherous conditions and futility of the effort. Erin, internally, thinks about wanting the avalanche to kill her and how she “felt nothing but peace, as it came towards [her]. It felt like justice. It felt like retribution. It felt completely right” (110). Danny finds an FM radio and the two sit in the kitchen, icing Erin’s ankle and listening to the avalanche reports. The electricity goes out, and the Snoop staff start talking about Eva. Topher and Elliot go upstairs then enter the kitchen, claiming they have found Eva. Elliot shows Erin and Danny the geosnooping data, which has sent a GPS signal of where Eva’s phone is. When Danny and Erin see this, they try to gently break the news that the signal is coming from over the side of the cliff beside La Sorcière. Topher starts to break down, but Elliot tells him that if Eva is dead, he is now the majority shareholder.
News reaches the others that Eva is dead, and tensions rise as Carl explains the legal logic behind why Topher is now the majority shareholder. While eating, Erin watches how the group reacts to Eva’s death. Topher drinks heavily, Inigo is in denial, while others are in varying stages of mourning. That night, Erin delivers blankets to the group with Danny’s assistance. When she knocks on Topher’s door, she finds him very drunk with one of the women in his bed. Topher insists that he knows Erin. When she gently denies this, he and Danny argue until they almost fight. Erin reflects on the high tensions in the chalet and considers the potential consequences if that tension overflows.
Chapters 12-22 Analysis
The tension that Ware established in the first section boils over in the second, propelling the reader into the story’s rising action. After establishing the stakes of the company buyout, Ware shows who stands to profit from such a decision. News of Eva’s disappearance and likely death further showcases the relationships between characters and underscores who benefits from her absence at the bargaining table. Because this novel is a psychological thriller, the reader can note these character responses and motivations as future motive for events that will emerge later in the book. Because Liz knows the staff of Snoop and has worked with both Eva and Topher, the reader’s understanding of the interparty relationships is colored by her own sense of loyalty and discomfort. Erin acts as the audience surrogate; the reader’s interpretations are informed by her observations because she does not know these people, just like the reader. When combined, these two perspectives raise both sympathy and suspicion—sympathy for the characters’ plight, but suspicion about their motivations and true feelings.
The chalet’s isolation becomes claustrophobic after a gradual buildup of tension. It begins with the loss of internet early in the morning and repeated difficulty with cell phone surface, limiting communications in and out of the chalet. Then the snowfall visually isolates the chalet, preventing the characters from seeing around the mountain. The avalanche is the final escalation, cutting the characters off from the funicular train that connects them to town. Their last contact with the outside world is a disjointed phone call with the emergency police, conducted by Inigo in various rooms of the chalet. In many ways, this physical isolation mirrors Liz’s emotional isolation. She is now completely unable to escape the people she has mixed emotions about, forcing high-stakes social interaction surrounding the company buyout and Eva’s death.
Erin’s trauma evolves in this section of the novel, providing the reader with a clearer understanding that she has survived an event. The section starts with her awaking from a nightmare about digging in the snow, and when the avalanche buries her, she does not attempt to fight it. She describes the experience, saying, “That noise—that horrific, deafeningly soft roar that has haunted my dreams for three years—for a moment I thought it was some kind of flashback, like PTSD” (110). Erin’s internal struggles are juxtaposed with the calm exterior she exudes, which makes her an asset to the guests. She and Danny keep the chalet running, ensuring the Snoop staff members remain safe and cared for while they wait for emergency services.
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