Warning Signs - Tracy Sierra

WARNING SIGNS

TRACY SIERRA

*****

Be sure to check out my review for Tracy Sierra's other novel: Nightwatching, which was a Kindig Gem of 2024!

You can look for danger. And danger can look for you.

There’s something out there in the darkness.

By morning, bones lie in the snow, picked clean.

Zach knows the moods of the mountains – his mother taught him before she was gone. His father and the other men on the ski weekend think they know better though.

Drinking and boasting, they laugh in the face of the icy conditions.

But Zach understands what danger looks like. Can he survive the wilderness, and all the monsters within it?

MY REVIEW

*****

Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra was a Kindig Gem for 2024 for me, so I was excited to read her next book – Warning Signs.

12-year-old Zach is on a father/son skiing holiday with his father and investors in the family business. But when an avalanche reveals secrets in the snow, there may be more to this holiday than meets the eye.

One of the reasons I loved Nightwatching so much was the story of The Mother and how she wasn’t believed or marked as hysterical when she was speaking about someone in her home. When I found out that Warning Signs was almost exclusively a male cast of characters, save for the mother and sister in flashbacks only, I was a little apprehensive. I needn’t have worried – Sierra is a brilliantly assured author, and I was sucked in to the plot and the characters from the outset.

As someone who has tried, and ultimately didn’t enjoy skiing, the setting of this book felt very realistic and well researched. The descriptions of the skiing and the bleakness of the setting in a hut on the side of the mountain was detailed and easy to picture. The cast of characters are pretty much all awful, but you really felt empathy for Zach throughout – he is a brilliant character to root for. I also liked that sometimes you would get flashes of the ‘adult’ conversations that Zach didn’t understand but would provide additional insight and context to the reader about what was happening. Bram the father with his scarier self that only Zach could see provided a sinister villain to the story.

Other readers have said that this is quite slow-going to start which I was a little worried about, but I found it was well paced and balanced and finished it in just a few settings. I certainly didn’t feel like I wanted to put it down or that it was hard to pick back up at any point. It is quite a dark story, but it’s a gripping one.

Overall, Warning Signs is another hit for Tracy Sierra and a 2026 Kindig Gem. Thank you to NetGalley & Penguin General UK - Fig Tree, Hamish Hamilton and Viking for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

LINKS TO BUY

Amazon UK Waterstones