Oh my goodness. This was a mystery/thriller and an absolutely brilliant plot.
The cool thing is that I was thinking to my self it was going to go one way and how awesome that would be if the author did write the ending that way......and then I discovered that I was correct!! It starts out feeling like you know it's going to be predictable...but then there is an enthralling twist......when I discovered that my theory was correct, I couldn't believe it!
STORY SUMMARY
Sophie and Frankie have been friends since about age 7. It is now 1997 and the girls are reunited in their little old hometown of Oldecliff-on-the- Sea in England. Frankie had attended a boarding school and Sophie had stayed around and gone to the university getting her degree. Frankie comes from money and is the only child of a hard working mom and a doting father. He owns a chain of hotels at which Frankie works. Sophie is hoping to get an interview for a big publishing company in London and move away.
That summer of 1997, when the girls are about 21 years old, Sophie begins to date the new guy Leon. Frankie warns her not to be lured by him......Frankie claims he has a dark side. Sophie is in love though. Soon after her romance with Leon begins, she disappears!! The last place where she was seen was the town's old Victorian pier.
It is now almost 20 years later and Frankie gets a phone call while at work in London from Sophie's older brother Daniel. Daniel used to have a crush on Frankie but Frankie was never interested in Daniel and his dark moods. Frankie has been married, suffered several miscarriages, and is now divorced. She is currently living with a boyfriend named Mike, with whom she wants to break up.
Daniel tells Frankie that some of Sophie's remains have been found near the old pier! He asks Frankie to return to Oldcliffe to help him solve the mystery of her Sophie's disappearance and presumed death. Frankie decides to go so she can finally put closure to that part of her life.
When she gets to Oldcliffe, she is haunted by familiar places and faces. She begins to get threatening notes that point to old secrets that no one on earth knew about other than Sophie and Frankie! One evening, Frankie tells Daniel that she swears she sees Sophie walking the pier! Is she seeing her friend's ghost?? Or is she going crazy?? Could she be suffering from depression like her own mother? She needs to help solve this mystery so she can go back to helping her mother run things as her father is in the hospital trying to recover from a recent stroke.
Frankie, while renting an apartment in Oldcliffe for the week, feels isolated and scared. She begins to wish she had never returned to her hometown. She begins to look to Daniel for some emotional support and realizes she might be falling in love with him. But how does he really feel about her, now that so much time has passed?
Frankie gets closer to the truth but in doing so she begins to spiral down into self-doubt.....and in getting closer to the truth, she learns that her past dark secrets are coming into the light...and these secrets might cost her her family, her sanity and maybe even her life.
MY THOUGHTS
This author is new to me although I've seen her name on other book reviews.
I am amazed at how this book just captured my attention and turned me completely against the very character I loved.....this story is exciting, gripping, powerful and haunting.
The themes of betrayal and friendship are portrayed very well and the whole idea of friends being too close lurks in every page. Just how close should friends get? and should you tell your friend everything??
The description of the environment/Oldcliffe lends itself well to the plot.....the bleakness and constant rainfall are symbolic to what is going on in the story.
One chapter is in Frankie's voice from the present and the next chapter is Sophie's voice from the past. Frankie often talks to Sophie in the present as though Sophie is still alive or can hear her. This part was quite interesting to me....it seems as though the author wanted you to think that Frankie was slipping away from reality.
When I found out just what kind of a father and husband Frankie's dad really was, my skin just crawled and I began to really feel for Sophie and connect with her. This story made me go from caring about Frankie to feeling like she was one bad person. It makes you stop and think about all of our choices through out our lives...and can a person really be "bad"? and if yes, then how, or why?
And what about envy? How does that play into relationships and particularly friendships??
I loved the ending. It's a huge surprise although if you read very carefully, you might be able to figure out just exactly what is going on. I figured out the truth regarding Sophie. Some of the rest of the ending was a total surprise and absolutely brilliant writing on the author's part.
This book touches on the bonds of family, the father-daughter and mother-daughter relationship, friendship and secrets, friendship and dating, friendships and betrayals and friendships and envy. It also touches on domestic abuse as well as rape and stalking. There is nothing too graphic in this book which is something I appreciate.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older (due to some mature content).
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.
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