You know that Lucy Clarke is going to deliver on a cracking thriller and The Surf House, her new book is a 10/10 high-octane adrenaline hit. The action kicks off from the very beginning and basically never stops. Known for her destination thrillers, The Surf House is set in Morocco, mainly in a small coastal village, Mallah. Yes, it has excellent waves.
Opening sentence: In the sweltering, diesel-filmed heat, we drove down the clanking ramp of the car-ferry, tyres hitting Moroccan concrete.
Welcome to paradise
Lead character, Bea is a disillusioned model. On a shoot in Morocco, she has had enough and leaves – this proves to be her first mistake as things go drastically wrong for her after that point.
Attacked and robbed, she has nothing but the kindness of Marnie, a woman who saw Bea being attacked and stepped in to help. With her partner, Ped, Marnie owns the Surf House, a surfers paradise and lets Bea stay with them while she gets back on her feet.
Fellow surfer, Aiden owns a beach house next door to Marnie and Ped and while they claim to be great friends, Bea can see there is a strain. There is also a spark, so she find herself spending a lot of time with Aiden.
Bathed in light, The Surf House stands proud on the cliff edge.
Secrets and lies
As the days pass, Bea is not only worried about what happened in Morocco coming back to haunt her, but Seth, an American on the hunt for his sister arrives. Savannah disappeared a year ago and was last seen in the Surf House.
It’s clear that people knew Savannah and that lots of them are hiding something. Seth enlists the help of Bea to try and find out what happened and Bea is soon caught up in the collision of two worlds and the messy web of other people’s secrets.
I devoured The Surf House – the pace and action just didn’t let up, there was always another slight twist thrown into the mix to make you gasp. The true indicator of a great thriller – it was very satisfying how all the plot strands came together at the end.
Despite reading it at this chillier time of year, this felt like such a summer beach read (yes, possibly due to its many surfing and beach refs), so it’s one to add to your list.
Other Lucy Clarke books – also destination thrillers – that I’ve enjoyed are The Castaways and The Hike.
