My Five Word TL:DR Review : From One Extreme to Another

I loved Shiver by Allie Reynolds and so was super excited to see The Bay due for release (also known as the Swell) and it didn’t disappoint.  I mean, this couldn’t be further removed from the freezing temperatures and dangerous peaks of Shiver.  Here we have the sweltering heat and huge swell of some kick ass waves on a remote Australian beach.  What both books do have in common is a sense of danger, extreme sports, secrets and an almost closed room feel to them.

As The Bay starts we meet Kenna.  She’s travelled to Sydney to surprise her friend Mikki.  Kenna and Mikki have been BFFs forever, until personal tragedy pushed the two apart.  Kenna left the Cornish coastline to pursue a career in London and Mikki travelled to the other side of the world to find a new tribe and a fiancee.  Kenna isn’t convinced about the whirlwind romance and has sprung her surprise to see if her friend is actually okay.   When she arrives, Mikki and her other half, Jack, are about to leave on a surfing trip and so Kenna tags along.  She doesn’t feel like everything is quite as peachy as it should be and decides to give this trip a couple of weeks in order to convince her friend to return to the UK.

When the three finally arrive at Sorrow Bay (and may I say this isn’t the most optimistic name for a beach where people come to surf) Kenna is met with a rather frosty reception from the other members of the tribe: Sky, the unofficial leader who pushes the group beyond reasonable limits, Victor, Sky’s OH who suffers from PTSD following a surfing/swimming incident, Clemente, moody and secretive and Ryan, a bit of a creepy guy who seems to be the adopted protector of the group’s secret beach.

And, yes, the secrecy of the beach is the real crux of the matter with this story.  This is a group of people who realise that this is a surfer’s dream come true and they will go to just about any length to prevent it from becoming common knowledge.

What I really liked about this one is that it’s very edgy.  There’s a lot of tension between the group and this almost animalistic way of treating one another.  I have to say I would have been out of there in a New York minute.  Meanwhile Kenna is constantly digging, asking questions, poking around when no one is looking and generally antagonising certain members of the group.  I wanted to shake the girl – wtf, stop, could you be a little bit more subtle for heaven’s sake.  I can certainly see where the references to Point Break come from – what with this really tight click of surfers who are very reluctant to let anyone else into their inner circle but you might also want to think of the strange premise for The Beach.

So, we have a very competitive group of people, on the face of it they’re close buddies, but there are underlying tensions and secrets that start to come between the group.  What could possibly go wrong eh? Especially with a storm brewing and the promise of some killer waves.

In terms of the group.  Reynolds manages to make them all a bit, well, unlikable.  It’s difficult to really find a favourite amongst this bunch although I did eventually form an attachment to Kenna even though at first I was unsure why she was so determined to interfere in Mikki’s life (especially as Mikki seemed rather detached).  The thing is, everyone is a bit suspect.  And there’s a strangely consistent competitive edge.  Everyone is afraid to back down for fear of losing face and it makes them take ridiculous risks.

The setting is great.  Danger lurking on virtually every page.  For me, being such a raging wuss this beach felt like the furthest thing from my idea of paradise but these guys were mad for the waves so what do I know.

The writing is really good, similar to Shiver, Reynolds does an excellent job of setting the scene, drawing the characters and making the sport positively leap off the page.  I don’t know if the author actually surfs but she does an impressive job of making it seem so – well, in my totally inexperienced brain that is.

Criticisms.  I don’t really have anything to be honest.  I enjoyed reading this.  It took a few strange twists and turns and although I expected the ending to be unexpected it was perhaps more unexpected than I expected (haha).

Anyway, I had a good time reading this.  It was crazy, tense, well written and absorbing.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 4 stars