Published by Wildfire Books
Publication Date: 19th August 2021
Book Description:
Charlotte and Sam were partners. In life, and in crime, but that's all behind her.
Until now, years later, it comes rushing back when her estranged ex-husband Sam suddenly goes missing. And someone threatens to expose what she did.
Desperate to escape her mysterious tormentor, Charlotte boards a luxurious superyacht in the Caribbean. But it soon becomes clear that the open ocean isn't the haven she thought it was.
Because they are onboard too. And now there's nowhere left to run.
My Thoughts:
This book has sat patiently on my shelf for a considerable while now - I don't know why, but I haven't felt it call to me as my next read until now. Which is a shame, because once I picked it up, I was drawn into the paradise world of luxury cruise liners, glamourous people and beautiful destinations. But as is often the case with paradise, there's a not so pretty side to things which is rarely mentioned in the media.
The story is related in different time frames, detailing the not-so-squeaky-clean lifestyle Sam and Charlotte had adopted aboard the luxury liners as they befriended and defrauded wealthy 'targets' among the passengers, then moving to the present day when Charlotte begins to face the consequences of those actions. Sam is long gone from her life and she's doing her best to live her life on the straight and narrow with her feet firmly on dry land. But then the messages start: someone knows what she and Sam did, and they are blackmailing her. Panic kicks in, and Charlotte runs, to the only safe place she knows: aboard a superyacht in the middle of the ocean. She's got to be safe from the blackmailer there, right? How wrong could she be!
It took me a while to organise who's who in this book - there are quite a few characters to get to grips with and what each one's role is. Then, armed with the knowledge the reader has of previous events, the challenge is to try to work out whose motive to blackmail Charlotte is strongest - there are a list of possibilities - and why are they not pursuing Sam too? Or are they? Or is it Sam doing the blackmailing? Trying to untangle all the different strands of the story is a monumental task - no wonder Charlotte was so exhausted! The settings in this book are absolutely stunning, the descriptions certainly encourage the reader to explore the various destinations mentioned. If only we had the necessary funds...
I found the less than glamorous descriptions of life on the hospitality side of the liners and superyachts very interesting. As I work in a customer service role in my day job, the thought of being trapped onboard and not being able to escape the constant demands such a role entails is extremely daunting. At least I can go home at the end of my shift.
The closing chapters of this book I found to be some of the best. The loose ends were gradually resolved, not always giving a 'happy ever after' result which I found fitted the overall tone of the book. I was left with a wry smile on my face, as the true nature of some of the characters came out in the end in ways I wasn't necessarily expecting. A clever conclusion to an entertaining book. I'm not sure I'd recommend reading it whilst on board a cruise liner though!
My thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book via NetGalley, and I offer my sincere apologies for leaving it so long to read and review.
About the Author:
Karen Hamilton spent her childhood in Angola, Zimbabwe, Belgium and Italy and worked as a flight attendant for many years. She has now put down roots in the UK to raise her three children with her husband and she also writes full time.
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