Author: Ruth Ware
Started: May 30, 2018
Finished: June 17, 2018
Pages: 370
Genre: Fiction
First Sentence: The Reach is wide and quiet this morning, the pale blue sky streaked with pink mackerel-belly clouds, the shallow sea barely rippling in the slight breeze, and so the sound of the dog barking breaks into the calm like gunshots, setting flocks of gulls crying and wheeling in the air.
Summary: [From BN] On a cool June morning, a woman is walking her dog in the idyllic coastal village of Salten, along a tidal estuary known as the Reach. Before she can stop him, the dog charges into the water to retrieve what first appears to be a wayward stick, but to her horror, turns out to be something much more sinister. The next morning, three women in and around London—Fatima, Thea, and Isa—receive the text they had always hoped would never come, from the fourth in their formerly inseparable clique, Kate, that says only, “I need you.” The four girls were best friends at Salten, a second-rate boarding school set near the cliffs of the English Channel. Each different in their own way, the four became inseparable and were notorious for playing the Lying Game, telling lies at every turn to both fellow boarders and faculty. But their little game had consequences, and as the four converge in present-day Salten, they realize their shared past was not as safely buried as they had once hoped.
Thoughts: I'm not the biggest mystery and thriller reader these days, but this book was the perfect early summer read. It's not a hard book, the plot doesn't tax the brain or try to deliberately mislead you, but there is plenty of tension and mystery to keep the story interesting.
Ware does one thing really well: building tension. Each new fact your learn or character you meet adds to the story and how you feel about what is happening. This book is no different. She bounces between current times and flash backs and each page just builds and builds and builds. You learn more about the characters and their motives and all of these clues cause you to question what you already know.
While the structure of this book is great, the characters are frustrating. There were many times I just wanted to scream "get an adult!" or "just come clean already" but I reminded myself that the core of the story started when our characters were teenagers. Everything since then has just been adding to their inability to grow as adults. Their actions make sense for the story Ware has created, but man did I want to yell at them.
Frustration aside, I was able to enjoy this book because of the scene-setting. Ware has created a lovely town by the sea and the house of the Reach feels cinematic to me. The writing in this book is beautiful and you will feel the age in the floors and the breeze through the windoes. It was so easy to sink in to the story because the imagery infuses your head.
Sadly, the ending is a bit of cop out. I have a feeling that Ware wasn't quite sure how to wrap things up, so she just picked a route that would tie things up in a bow. It wasn't completely out of left field, but it felt disappointing given the build up throughout the book.
Rating: 7/10 [Very Good]
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