The Infinity Pool by Claire S. Lewis
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 15th April 2022
Published: 14th April 2022
★★ 2.5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
A body in a pool. A rifle. And a scream that carries across the valley.
But is that the end, or just the beginning?
It's been a hard couple of years, but things finally seem to be looking up for Danielle. Her boyfriend Matteo has inherited a dilapidated old farmhouse in Tuscany, complete with olive groves, vineyards and – most importantly – a pool. They will swim, drink wine and sit out under the stars. It couldn't be more perfect.
But when she gets there, Danielle finds it's not quite as idyllic as she thought. There's a lot of work to be done on the house, but first she turns her attention to turning the algae-infested concrete swamp into the infinity pool of her dreams.
As she digs up the old foundations, Danielle brings to light long-buried secrets that will shatter the tranquillity of her Tuscan dream forever – and make her question how well we ever know the people we claim to love...
A page-turning psychological supsense for fans of C.L. Taylor and T.M. Logan.
MY REVIEW:
I admit, what initially drew me to this book was its title and its cover. There is something relaxing and refreshing about a pool...and an infinity pool is just the ultimate of luxuries. Apart from that, I had to question myself what else - besides my dream of swimming in an infinity pool - drew me to this book? Because the premise was moderately intriguing, with the storyline only marginally so. I have to be honest though...THE INFINITY POOL started out with promise. But then what happened?
The story begins in London in the midst of the COVID pandemic. Danielle is fed up with her humdrum life as an entertainment and media lawyer, which all but dried up thanks to the pandemic, and returns home to boyfriend Matt lounging on the couch in front of a football rerun. Despite having seen it before, he can't drag his eyes away from the screen for a second. Nor can he load the dishwasher or do anything remotely domestic while Danielle is at work. But Matt is a writer...or a wannabe writer, more like. He spends his time editing for a publishing company whilst trying to come up with the perfect story of his own to publish.
And then an official letter from Italy arrives. Matt has inherited a farmhouse, vineyard and olive grove in Tuscany. Danielle is ecstatic. So much so, she takes a voluntary redundancy, sells her one bed flat and they pack up their lives and move to Italy. But her dream and their reality are two different things. And upon arriving at the Tuscan farmhouse, Danielle discovers that she may have been a little too hasty in chucking her life away in London for a derelict old farmhouse, overgrown vineyard and algae infested pool. Danielle dreams of ripping up the ancient pool and putting in an infinity pool, overlooking the Tuscan countryside to compliment the panoramic view. But there is more to this place than the eye can see.
As Danielle becomes a little too obsessed with renovating the property she soon discovers that the pool holds a deep dark secret of its own. What is Matt not telling her? And what secrets is the book he's writing also holding?
THE INFINITY POOL is a slow burn that is a relatively quick read despite its slow pace. I finished it in an evening but it's not a memorable story that will stay with me and none of the characters were incredibly likeable. Danielle was a little too eager to swap her safe existing life for a fantasy that could end up costing her her life. Matt was shifty to say the least. I didn't like or trust him from the moment I met him. I wasn't sure about Antonio but he did seem to lurk an awful lot.
The story unfolds through Danielle's narrative with alternating chapters peppered throughout about "The Hitchhiker". It didn't take long to join the respective dots for the intervening chapters as it was fairly predictable and easy to figure out. But that never detracts my enjoyment of a good story. The slowish pace and the unrelateable characters, not to mention the somewhat far fetched backstory that jumped all over the place, is what let it down. I found myself struggling to maintain interest and by the end, I've already forgotten how it ended. That's how memorable I found it.
I wanted to love THE INFINITY POOL but I just couldn't. The pace never really picked up and the story just sort of petered out into something far fetched that ended up with rushed conclusion. I think the point of this infinity pool was to drown oneself in it because the story certainly doesn't hold enough interest.
I would like to thank #ClaireSLewis, #Netgalley, #HeadOfZeus for an ARC of #TheInfinityPool in exchange for an honest review.
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