July 4, 2022
Kenna, the principal narrator of this disappointing thriller from Reynolds (Shiver), has traveled from her native U.K. to Sydney, Australia, to surprise her estranged best friend, Mikki, who’s about to get married. Though Mikki doesn’t welcome Kenna’s arrival, she invites Kenna to join her and her fiancé, Jack, on a pre-wedding surfing trip to a remote beach on Sorrow Bay. The two friends were passionate surfers until Kenna’s boyfriend drowned while visiting a Cornish beach with her. The traumatized Kenna’s ceasing to participate in the sport marked the start of their estrangement. Kenna’s hopes to reconnect with Mikki are threatened, though, by her misgivings about Jack and the Tribe, the community the couple belong to at the bay, whose members resent that Kenna, an outsider, now knows their secret surfing spot. Kenna begins to fear that darker secrets, possibly connected to a number of missing people, are behind the antagonism, a suspicion strengthened when Tribe members turn up dead. The early disclosure of a key reveal undercuts the tension, and genuine surprises and plausible characters are in short supply. This misfire won’t win Reynolds any new fans. Agent: Kate Burke, Blake Friedmann Literary (U.K.).
June 10, 2024
Kenna Ward travels from England to Australia to try to reconnect with her childhood best friend, Mikki. Mikki lives to surf and has recently gotten engaged to Jack, whom Kenna suspects is abusive and using Mikki for her money. Mikki and Jack bring Kenna to isolated Sorrow Bay, an idyllic beach that they and their surfer friends, "the Tribe," guard jealously. The atmosphere among the secretive and hostile group is thick with undercurrents. Each person has secrets, and they egg each other on to increasingly dangerous and irresponsible challenges. Kenna is both repelled and attracted by the group, but her fear grows palpable when members of the Tribe turn up dead. While the book is mostly narrated by Kenna, each character has a chance to narrate at least one chapter. The story takes a while to get moving, then rushes through the character deaths and abrupt ending. Most characters are drawn with little depth, and the plots twists strain credulity. VERDICT Narrators Samara MacLaren and Nicolette Chin provide competent and well-rounded performances, but Reynolds's (Shiver) disappointing latest doesn't allow their narrative talents to shine. A strictly optional purchase.--B. Allison Gray
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