My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Jemma has always dreamed of the perfect honeymoon with her husband, but things don’t go according to plan… and then one day he disappears. There’s nowhere to hide on the island (well, there must be, but let’s go with it) and no one knows what happened to him. Theories abound and everyone on the island is a suspect. The most likely suspect appears to be Jemma herself.
Part of the story is written in the present tense and Jemma realises her husband is missing and the search for him progresses. The other part is a series of flashbacks which tell us how she met her husband and how they ended up being on honeymoon on this most luxurious of islands.
Jemma is almost an unreliable narrator (almost, in that she’d got a bit high and forgotten what happened on the night of her husband’s disappearance). There are so many clues and red herrings that my theories as to what happened changed from chapter to chapter. There are a couple of twists on the way, but the final twist is pretty spectacular.
The writing is tight and feeling on claustrophobia that pervades the island is palpable. Jemma is an intriguing character. Jamie, Dan and their relationship is puzzling (partly because we mainly see them through Jemma’s eyes and everything is coloured by her opinions of them). We do eventually get a view into their thoughts and mostly, it was a surprise to see what they thought.
The story was so gripping that I was trying to work out the puzzle in between reading sessions (real life is so annoying when it’s getting in the way of a good book!). If you like tense psychological thrillers, you’ll love this book. I did.
I received a free copy via Netgalley in return for an honest review.
Rhoda Baxter 