The Summer Holiday by S.E. Lynes
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 8th May 2023
Published: 9th May 2023
★ 1 star
DESCRIPTION:
One loving couple. One surprise guest. One week to destroy everything…
When the doorbell rings, I take one last look round the villa. The nuts and olives are in bowls; the white wine is chilling in the fridge; everything is ready for my old college friend, the guest I’m dying to impress.
When I open the door, Coco steps from the dusty street into the cool tiled hall, as effortlessly beautiful as ever. But then her face freezes in horror, her mouth falling open. I turn to see my husband Jeff behind me, his eyes wide, his cheeks pale.
After a moment, they both smile, pretending nothing happened at all. But I know what I saw.
This holiday was meant to rescue my marriage, not ruin it.
But the connection between my friend and my husband isn’t what I thought.
All three of us have something to lose, and something to fight for.
And when the truth comes out, not all of us will survive…
From the no.1 bestselling author S.E. Lynes comes a brilliantly gripping thriller that will have you racing through the pages and gasping out loud at the twists. Fans of Paula Hawkins, Lisa Jewell and Gillian Flynn will love The Summer Holiday.
MY THOUGHTS:
The people closest to you know exactly what you're trying to hide.
The hostess: Kate wants this holiday to be different. It's the first time in years it's just been her and her husband. A chance to walk along the beach, eat ice cream together in the bright Spanish sun, remind each other of why they fell in love. And what better way to start than inviting their glamorous university acquaintance Coco for a drink at their clifftop villa, with it's pristine pool.
The host: Jeff doesn't know why Kate's making such a big deal about their surprise visitor. But if it makes her happy, that's fine. He wants her to be happy. He'll never tell her what he did to ensure it....
The guest: when Coco steps from the dusty street into the cool tiled hall, she has an idea what she's about to see. As Jeff comes down the stairs, he freezes in horror.
One innocent invitation could cost everything.
So the best thing about this book was the location. It's summer, there's sun, a beach and a pool. Nothing like the cooling and relaxing sensation of water immersion. Everything else was blah.
I really don't know where to start with this review. I have read several Susie Lynes' thrillers and admittedly she IS a bit of a hit or miss author for me. But some have been so good - I loved
"The Baby Shower",
"Can You See Her?" and
"Her Sister's Secret" - while others are either average or a bit of a snorefest. My biggest issue with her books unfortunately is the slow pace she so often begins with. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. This time I spent the first 25% wanting to throttle Kate who at 53 years old should be long past the idolisation of someone who was a popular girl at university. She spent most of the time either gawking at her or trying to emulate everything about her when she wasn't stalking her. I wanted to leave her to her flights of fancy and go dive into the infinity pool I could just see myself in or dip my toes in the sandy surf of the beach. I just love water!
Basically, Kate and Jeff were love's young dream from their university days and Coco Moss was the popular girl who broke the rules and pushed the boundaries and did her own thing. She'd dye her hair pink and when others followed, she's swap to electric blue and then when they did the same, she'd go orange or bald or whatever. Coco Moss didn't care what others thought of her. And now three decades later, Kate has seen the still stunning Coco lounging beachside now with a couple of teenage children in tow. Kate abandons all other plans she and Jeff may have had and thus spends the afternoon gazing at her, studying her and her clothes then pops into town to purchase the very same outfit so she didn't look like the frump she actually was. She was so stoked at running to Coco and then inviting her to drinks at their villa, she couldn't see beyond that.
So when Coco walks into their villa the following evening she stops dead, a look of abject horror on her face. Kate turns and follows her gaze...where she sees Jeff descending the stairs, a similar expression on his face also. What's going on here that she's not getting?
But try as she might, Kate cannot get Jeff to reveal the truth about his and Coco's mirrored reactions of shock and horror at seeing the other after all these years. So what secrets are they hiding?
Quite honestly, by that stage I didn't much care. All they were doing was getting blindingly drunk and reminiscing about university days with no truth coming to light. And honestly, all three of them either made my skin crawl or I just loathed. No one was likeable and I didn't care what happened to them. I did, however, skip to the final three or four chapters to see how it ended and if any big reveal was to come. Yeah, it kind of did...but it didn't rock my world or make any huge difference. So therefore I don't feel as if I missed out on anything.
Overall, THE SUMMER HOLIDAY just didn't do it for me and I really hate leaving negative reviews. But unfortunately we can't like every book we read.
I would like to thank #SELynes, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheSummerHoliday in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
After graduating from Leeds University, Susie Lynes lived in London before moving to Aberdeen to be with her husband. In Aberdeen, she worked as a Radio Producer at the BBC before moving with her husband and two young children to Rome, where she lived for five years (that sounds amazing). There, she began to write while her children attended nursery. After the birth of her third child and upon her return to the UK, she gained an MA in Creative Writing from Kingston University. She combines writing with teaching at Richmond Adult Community College and bringing up her three children in Teddington, Middlesex. She is the author of critically acclaimed psychological thriller, VALENTINA, published by Blackbird books. MOTHER, her follow up, was published by Bookouture in November 2017 then THE PACT, THE PROPOSAL, THE WOMEN, THE LIES WE HIDE, CAN YOU SEE HER?, HER SISTER'S SECRET, THE HOUSEWARMING, THE BABY SHOWER, THE EX and THE SUMMER HOLIDAY.
Formerly a BBC producer, she turned to novel writing after the birth of her third child.
After her MA in Creative Writing, she became a Creative Writing Tutor at Richmond Adult Community College and now combines writing, mentoring and lecturing. She has also published three children's books in Italy.
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