“The Hitchcock Hotel” by Stephanie Wrobel – A Reunion for the Ages

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Short Summary

Stephanie Wrobel is definitely making a nice little niche for herself in the realm of psychological thrillers, slowly building her resume upwards, as she did most recently with The Hitchcock Hotel. The novel follows a group of college friends attending a reunion organized by one of them, now the owner of a Hitchcock-themed hotel. However, it doesn’t take long for strange occurrences to begin taking place, leading to the revelation of some dark secrets, and for one of them, perhaps even murder.

Stephanie Wrobel Arranges a Deadly Homage

Despite countless efforts, few have managed to come even remotely close to producing the sorts of impactful suspense movies Alfred Hitchcock directed in his time, tightly gripping the audience by their throats and never letting go. It should come as no surprise that the master still serves as inspiration for countless budding storytellers, and in some instances more obviously than others, as is the case for Stephanie Wrobel and her latest novel, The Hitchcock Hotel.

The novel begins by briefly introducing us to a group of college friends who hadn’t really kept in touch over the course of the fifteen-or-so-years since graduation. They all went on their own paths, some succeeding much more than others, but they all shared one thing in common: they were, at the very least, content with the idea of never seeing each other again.

One day, a common friend of theirs, Alfred Smettle, invites them to a reunion at his Hitchcock-themed hotel, the prize and joy of his life it would seem. Though all are reluctant to accept his invitation, they do for reasons which become increasingly apparent as the story unfolds. Without giving anything away, they all have dark secrets of their own they’d love to take to the grave.

Once the group (a small one, featuring Zoe, Samira, Grace, TJ, and Julius) arrives at the hotel a sense of unease begins to loom over them, and unfortunately for them, it doesn’t take all that long for them to be besieged strange occurrences. Those include mystery shower peepers, missing phones, a clump of grass on a pillow, a pair of boots carefully placed under a curtain… and that’s just the start.

Naturally, everybody suspects Alfred of being the one behind it all, but it would seem they all have their reasons for not wanting to leave, and for some of them, those reasons are buried in a deep past they cannot afford to have resurface. Suspicious of one another as much as they are of Alfred, the group becomes embroiled in a macabre adventure which, ultimately, leads to a dead body…

The Modern Take on an Old Atmosphere in The Hitchcock Hotel

There is no question, at least from a layman’s perspective, that time moves forward and everything changes along with it. New generations grow up with their own culture and experiences which previous generations can only hope to comprehend from the side. Even literature cannot escape the unforgiving and all-consuming Zeitgeist; its structure, subjects and narration always reflected the modern world.

With this being said, it doesn’t mean we can’t peer back into the past and enjoy what it had to offer, even if it through the scope of our modern lens, and that’s, in a sense, how I feel about Stephanie Wrobel‘s The Hitchcock Hotel. She tried to put together a classic type of story in an equally-classic setting (an isolated group of people at a hotel), paying homage to a legendary director from the past, but set it in modern times, and told it as a modern person would.

So how exactly does this approach work out? Well, in my opinion, it made for a really fun experience to see the past and present mashed together, to see modern characters like ourselves tackle the kinds of situations which befell heroes and victims decades and decades earlier. Though perhaps the prose might not be as flowery as it once was, it is perfectly apt for a psychological thriller in my opinion.

By having our characters be modern people we stand a better chance of relating to them and their struggles, the sorts of worries they have, and the dark fears which ultimately motivate them. Even though some of them weren’t exactly likeable (as a matter of fact, few of them were truly redeemable), I always had an easy time understanding them and believing they would act they way they do.

Speaking of which, I really appreciate how Stephanie Wrobel didn’t skip in giving us profound insights into the mind of each character, displaying on an intricate level their thought processes, inching us closer and closer to discovering the rotten secrets they’re hiding in their closets. In the end, they become more than mere playthings in a stage play, but they feel like actual people we might encounter in the real world.

A Series of Hitchcockian Twists

First and foremost, while Stephanie Wrobel does pay homage to the film director’s timeless works on the silver screen in The Hitchcock Hotel, she also takes the time to look at his darker side as a frail egomaniac with a love of voyeurism and a strong penchant for misogyny and sadism. What’s more, she incorporates these moments of homage into the novel’s story quite effectively, making them a part of the plot rather than the scenery.

In a sense, it almost felt as if the author was trying to write a Hitchcock movie and turn it into a written thriller, following the structure he so enjoyed as well as the rules he set forth during his time as director. For the most part, I think she succeeded, although I think the story could have benefited from having a few flashbacks removed or shortened in favour of focusing on the present situation.

The story does evolve at the same pace as it would in a thriller, with our characters seldom having a moment to breathe before going from one bizarre and alarming event to the next one. There’s always something new and mysterious waiting around the corner for them, prompting us, the audience, to try and get ahead of the author, to solve the case on our own.

In this regard, I think Stephanie Wrobel did a good enough job at masking the ultimate truth and creating a twist that hits hard enough. After the dead body comes into play we get just enough information to keep us guessing as to what’s really happening, going back and forth between multiple theories until the truth is finally revealed to us. While I don’t think many will manage to solve the entire case before it’s spelled out for them, I do think the more experienced readers in the genre will at least suspect something in that overall direction.

Ultimately, one must ask: how suspenseful of a novel is it really, especially considering its title? While I still think few things compare to the suspense of Hitchcock‘s best movies, I do think The Hitchcock Hotel lived up to the premise, creating an overarching sense of dread coupled with fear of the dangerous unknown, and the victims it may yet claim.

The Final Verdict

The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie Wrobel is a high-quality psychological thriller, one which sets itself apart by inspiring itself from and paying a proper homage to some of the greatest movies to have graced the silver screen. It’s fast pace and profound dive into the characters’ minds elevates it above the status of a regular suspense story, and its atmosphere is what makes it unique.

If you’re a fan of the director’s movies yourself and are interested in a thrilling novel inspired by some of his best works (as well as some aspects of his real life), then you absolutely can’t go wrong with this book and should at least give it a chance.

Stephanie Wrobel

Stephanie Wrobel is an international and Sunday Times bestselling author whose books have found their way in over twenty one countries. She is responsible for penning such hits as This Might Hurt, The Recovery of Rose Gold, and more recently, a psychological thriller paying homage to a legendary film director (without failing to notice his transgressions), The Hitchcock Hotel.