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Down By The Water by Elle Connel

A page-turning thriller perfect for fans of Ruth Ware's IN A DARK, DARK WOOD and Lucy Foley's THE HUNTING PARTY.


8th July 2021 | Wildfire Hardback | £16.99 Also available in e-book and audio

 

SYNOPSIS:

Seven friends gather at a castle in the Scottish Borders. One last girls' weekend before Georgina's wedding.


Near the castle, through a path in the woods, is a loch. After a few bottles of Prosecco, the girls head down to the water to take photos.


The loch is wild, lonely, and stunningly beautiful. They set their camera to self-timer and take some group shots. Later, looking back at the pictures, they see something impossible. Behind them, eyes wide, a small, drenched boy emerges from the water. How did he get there; where is he now; and what does he want?


The girls thought they knew each other's darkest secrets, but one of them has been hiding something terrible. Consumed by grief, she's been waiting for the perfect moment to wreak her revenge...

 

MY THOUGHTS:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book; it was such a page-turner.


A group of uni friends are reunited for Georgie's hen party. They have all been asked to be her bridesmaids even though they haven't seen one another in years. Ten years have passed since they were at uni and although older and more mature, being together again has made them regress into their former selves. Georgie has always been the leader of the pack, confident, brazen and self indulgent. The others are happy to please her, it is afterall her hen weekend...but it soon becomes clear that someone within the group is trying to sabotage the weekend, possibly seeking revenge for events that have happened in the past.


The setting provided tension to the storyline and was very atmospheric; the perfect place to get away with murder! I loved the ghostly element of the novel, even though it played such a small part in the overall story, it heightened my enjoyment along with the diary extracts which were very revealing. As the plot unfolded I was both shocked and pleased by the turn of events. Georgie was one character I loved to hate and I was really hoping she would get her comeuppance. With plenty of twists and a steady pace this was an easy enjoyable read. The ending was very fitting and left the reader with much hope for what was to come.


Many thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me to join the blog tour and to Wildfire for my gifted copy. Highly recommend.

 

AUTHOR:

Elle Connel studied English at the University of St Andrews, and later Shakespearean Studies at Kings College London and Shakespeare's Globe. She has worked as a researcher for Al Jazeera television, a freelance writer while living in Spain, and later as the Cruise Coordinator for the National Trust for Scotland (where she worked onboard a ship, swam amongst icebergs, set foot on St Kilda, and finally learned how to ceilidh dance). She’s now a full time writer, based in Edinburgh with her husband and twin sons.





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