Undertow

Starred review from March 13, 2017
Echoes of Daphne du Maurier’s classic Rebecca reverberate throughout British author Heathcote’s impressive debut. Londoners Carmen and Tom Cawton, who have been happily married for two years, talk about having a child while weathering the challenges of frequent weekend visits with Tom’s three children from his first marriage to Laura. Those visits usually occur at their second home, a beach bungalow in the Norfolk village of St. Jude’s that Tom once co-owned with his one-time mistress, Zena Johnson. Three years earlier, Zena disappeared after going for a swim. Days later her body washed up a mile from the bungalow. St. Jude’s is a gossipy place, and Carmen hears a rumor that some people think Tom murdered Zena. Carmen’s curiosity about Zena turns into an obsession. She snoops through Tom’s possessions and relentlessly compares herself to the charismatic Zena with her film-star looks, causing friction in her marriage. The intense psychological thriller is strengthened by an evocative isolated setting that seems ruled by Zena’s ghost. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM.

May 1, 2017

DEBUT Carmen has been happily married to Tom for two years. She met him soon after Zena, for whom he left his first wife, drowned near their beach home. Zena's tragic demise and Tom's affair with her, were a part of his past that Carmen had accepted. But while visiting their beach house, she overhears a rumor that leads her to believe that maybe Tom hasn't been completely honest with her about Zena's death. Carmen begins to dig into the fatal drowning and uncovers evidence that tells a very different story. But why would Tom lie? Carmen must decide if confronting Tom about his past is worth the toll it will take on her life. With gothic hints of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, Heathcote's first novel features a fast-paced, twisty plot. Much of the suspense is built through key players' inability to remember past events. While some of the relationships seem a bit stilted at times, the resolution will leave readers shocked and satisfied. VERDICT Recommended for fans of Gillian Flynn.--Kristen Calvert Nelson, Marion Cty. P.L. Syst., Ocala, FL

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2017
Hearing that your husband's previous girlfriend died under mysterious circumstances is never easy. Add to that your husband's violent mood swings and the fact that he never told you he was held for questioning in the girlfriend's death, and, naturally, you're going to start getting suspicious. With her husband discouraging her from going back to work, former journalist Carmen has lots of time on her hands to find out what really happened to Zena, the beautiful woman who broke up Tom's first marriage. Throw into the mix a secret bank account and some troubling behavior by Tom's kids, and Carmen has every right to be concerned for her own safety. The setting, a small English village where the London couple maintain their second home, is evoked with just the right mix of rural appeal and lurking danger to make Carmen's isolation and insecurity seem credible. This fine piece of psychological suspense was originally published in the UK but is little known here and deserves to find a new audience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)