Member Review

There is something appealing about a swimming pool and the picture of the infinity pool on the front of this book attracted me immediately. I saved it as a holiday read and finished it in a couple of days.
Danielle narrates the book which tells the story of her decision to move to a Tuscan Villa which her boyfriend Matt inherits.
Danielle’s present day narrative set in the Pandemic is interspersed with extracts from a story set 10 years earlier when a hitchhiker is picked up on an Italian road and forms a relationship with someone called Ted.
How are the present day and the past story connected?
Danielle and Matt have a difficult relationship- Matt is not likeable and I wondered why Danielle wanted to stay with him.
The move to Tuscany during the Pandemic is fraught with problems and I questioned Danielle’s sense in leaving her well paid lawyer’s job, selling her property and giving all proceeds to Matt to renovate the Italian property.
She has her heart set on a beautiful infinity pool but the construction of this leads to some dark secrets being revealed. Matt is very difficult to read and seldom tells the truth so it is incredibly hard to work out what happened all those years previously. There are many versions and even the ending throws up more questions than answers.
I loved the description of the Tuscan countryside and local towns. I really felt I was there. Danielle was rather naive but she conveyed the menace of her situation very well. Matt was just unpleasant and I could not find any redeeming features in his character.
All in all this was an enjoyable psychological thriller which although slow moving at first, succeeded In ratcheting up the tension as the story progressed.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my arc.