This one was very good! My reading this past month has slowed down but I'm slowly getting back into reading more each day. My goal for retirement was to read 2 books a week...but that's before I started volunteering with the hiking group I founded and also volunteer for another 2 ministries at church. But now that it's summer, I'm really only doing the hiking group so I hope to get more reading done each day.
STORY SUMMARY
It's a June morning and a cool one. There's a woman walking her dog in the pretty coastal village of Salten. She's walking along a tidal estuary known as The Reach. All of a sudden, the dog charges into the water to retrieve what at first looks like a stick. But the woman is horrified when she sees that it is a human bone!
The very next morning, three women in their early 30s who live in and around London, are notified by a fourth woman. Their names are Fatima (married with 3 children), Thea (single career woman, anorexic and alcoholic), and Isa (living with her boyfriend and father of her baby girl Freya). The 4th woman's name is Kate. She sends them all a text saying "I need you". No explanation. And they haven't seen each other in 17 years.
These 4 women were best friends when they were teenagers at Salten House, a 2nd rate boarding school. It was set near the cliffs of the English Channel. Kate lived in an old mill on The Reach with her father Ambrose who was the art teacher at Salten House. Her "brother" Luc (they were like brother and sister but Luc was from France and his mother, now a heroin addict in France, used to live with Ambrose. Luc's biological father is unkown.
The 4 girls were inseparable in high school and were notorious for playing what they called The Lying Game. They told lies constantly to fellow boarders and to the faculty and staff.
But their game had terrible consequences finally.
As they gather aga; in in Salten....now all grown up.....they realize that their game of lying and their shared past with its secrets, was not buried as deeply...or as safely.... as they thought and hoped.
What was the final big secret between them? and why is it surfacing now after all these years?
MY THOUGHTS
This is a twisty plot kind of book. I loved the character development although at times every single character except Fatima, drove me crazy.
The setting is well described and I could just smell the briny salt water of the Reach.
The main themes in this book are: complex female friendships; parent-child relationship and being raised by single parents; addictions; the ripple effects of lying/dishonesty; the burden of teenage guilt; isolation by choice; deep loyalty; betrayals.
I loved the way the book ended......it was a bit of a surprise the way it ended although I did guess correctly who was involved in the crime.
I don't want to reveal too much about what the crime was or who was involved as that would ruin the story for you.
I did find a few editing errors.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older (due to mature content).
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 8.
No comments:
Post a Comment