⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Someone In The Water - Sarah Clarke

This has to be Sarah’s best work to date - having previously enjoyed her other books.

A destination thriller spanning 2 decades - and with just the right amount of characters to keep me guessing right to the very end.

I had the rug pulled from under me several times through the book - let’s just say it’s a good job I’m not a detective investigating things!!

Like all of Sarah’s books - she is able to make all of her characters seem very real - and I can imagine that this book will go down very well on beaches across the world for Summer 2025……Corsica included!

Here’s the next one Sarah

if someone is comparing a book love for T M Logan then you dont even have to ask whether im there or not. I.AM.THERE.
and this book didn't disappoint.
Frankie has lived with certain darkness in her life since she was younger. memories that haunt her at a particular time each year. it becomes so bad that each year she even has to take herself out of her own life, even hiding from her daughter.
but this year will be different. that darkness comes home. because her daughter cant keep doing this and she wants, no needs to know what happened to her mum in order to help or at least understand. its pushed her mum, its pushed them apart for too long.
but then Lola needs help. and she has to call her mum to Corsica, the place where it all began. and Frankie know her love for her daughter will take her back in an instant. where she has to face all that happened and all the people and faces from that past.
but years down the line do things look the same, do questions need to be asked anew, and do perspectives need to be changed on just what did happen all those years ago?
this book had me guessing who was the guilty party and who was hiding what. it had me feeling unease and tension throughout. i too became tense and needed to know what had happened and how it would all play out.
i enjoyed every single moment of this book and could wait to come back to it to find out more sped through it.
this is definitely an author to get stuck in to and this book too.

The blurb:
My only child Lola is turning eighteen soon, but I won’t be with her. For two weeks every year, I hide myself away while I endure the nightmares that haunt me around her birthday.

Because she can never know the truth – that I am plagued by terrible visions from the summer I spent in Corsica when I was eighteen. It ended in tragedy, and I have never forgiven myself for the part I played.

But my world is about to fall apart all over again.

Lola calls to tell me she’s not with her friends in Cyprus, but alone in Corsica. I have no choice. I have to go back to the island and bring her home.

But as I revisit the memories, see the same faces again, I start to wonder if there was more to the events of that summer than I realised. Are there others keeping secrets just like me? Ones that are even more deadly…

My thoughts:
This book has me gripped from the start. It was mysterious, suspenseful and twisty.

I felt for Frankie- her mental state was not great, and she had punished herself for years, only to have to relive the nightmares by returning to Corsica…

This was so cleverly written! I wasn’t sure who to trust as the story unfolded. I enjoyed the multiple pov and the chapters going back in time to share with us Frankie’s Corsican history, as well as the present day.

Another great twisty thriller from this author. Thank you so much to HQ stories and Netgalley for the advance digital copy of this book. Opinions expressed here are my own.

Really enjoyed this book. It was fast paced and twisty and had me gripped from the start with each chapter ending leaving me wanting to carry on reading to find out what happened next. Loved the setting description it made me feel like I there myself and great characters too. Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC.

An atmospheric, scorchingly good destination thriller!
 
 
Frankie is traumatised by something that happened in her past while she was working in Corsica. So she tends to hide herself away for the anniversary of that painful event every year and refuses to celebrate her teenage daughter’s birthday as it coincides with the anniversary. She won’t talk about what happened with anyone and her daughter, Lola, is curious to know more, so without telling her mum, she packs her suitcase and sets off for Corsica to uncover the truth. Upon her arrival, Lola gets into difficulty and Frankie has to go to Corsica to help her, even though this means having to confront her past.
 
This is an atmospheric, well-structured, scorchingly good destination thriller. The setting is depicted brilliantly and is very much a part of the plot of the book, steeped as it is in Corsican folklore. Great characters. Themes of memory, guilt, trauma and the unconditional love of a mother for her daughter.

Someone in the Water is a psychological thriller that had me hooked from the very first page. The suspense is absolutely relentless, with twist after twist that kept me second guessing every character right up until the final chapters. I devoured this book in less than 24 hours I simply couldn’t put it down.

Sarah Clarke does a brilliant job of weaving a tense, gripping story full of surprises. I especially loved the feeling of never knowing what was coming next; every chapter seemed to pull the rug out from under me in the best way. The final reveal left me completely reeling.

I loved everything about this book and can’t wait to recommend it to everyone I know. A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this fantastic thriller.

This was an enjoyable read, I liked the flips between the past and present. Definitely a good book to take on holiday.

Excellent twisty storyline.
Keeps you guessing right to the end.
Thoroughly enjoyable.
Thanks for the opportunity to read and review

I loved this! I'm a sucker for a thriller set abroad, and I really liked the Corsican location of this one. I enjoyed the Mazzeri myth woven into the plot, and the sense of place was very good.

I enjoyed the dual timelines and POVs and thought that the book was well-paced and drip-fed information at the right times to keep the plot moving forward. I was invested right until the last page, and appreciated the glimpse into the future for the characters who were still standing at the end!

Overall I would absolutely recommend this book.

Someone in the Water by Sarah Clarke is a gripping psychological thriller that delves deep into the shadows of memory and guilt. The narrator’s eighteen-year-old daughter, Lola, is about to mark a significant birthday, but the mother’s past trauma from a fateful summer in Corsica resurfaces with haunting clarity. Each year she hides away, tormented by nightmares she dare not share.

When Lola finds herself alone on the same island, the mother’s desperate journey to bring her home unearths more than just old memories. As familiar faces reappear and secrets begin to unravel, it becomes clear that the truth is far more dangerous than she ever imagined.

This tense, atmospheric tale will keep you turning pages, questioning what really happened that summer and who can be trusted.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

Gripping and intriguing, couldn't put it down.***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Back to the 90s in this book, and a tale of regret and sorrow.

Frankies daughter Lola has always been fascinated by why Frankie hides herself away at every birthday and why she doesnt want to return to corsica.

Unknown to Frankie lola does just that and as Frankie goes to the rescue the story of what happened all those years ago unravels

A fab read
4 stars

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for this arc

This is really engaging thriller. As a mother I really felt all the emotions and I was on the edge of my seat at times to see what would happen next. It really held my attention and I devoured it!

Frankie has lived with the memory of Corsica haunting her for 18 years. Lola has always lived with Corsica removing her mum on birthdays. Driven by the desire to know more Lola takes off for Corsica. This brings the original group back together and makes Frankie look back at that summer brining questions and fear

Sarah writes a good story with characters that come alive off the page. The book took me in from the first page and kept me interested.

An author I enjoy reading and thank you for the advanced copy of the book 😊

What a rollercoaster ride this book is! I just had to keep reading this brilliant psychological thriller. It has a beautifully written & I could really feel both the sunshine & beauty as well as the frightening dark side of Corsica. I felt empathy with the characters and cared about what happened to them. Great twists and turns to the story as well as strong feelings of love and family connections. Highly recommended.

I really enjoyed this book. It was such an easy read, I do love a destination thriller!
So, let’s start on Frankie’s character… I get that she has been through trauma and clearly has PTSD and for her own and Lola’s safety? She needs to go away once a year, but I also feel like CBT and counselling need to be spoken more about, so we know that Frankie has done absolutely everything to try and be at peace, because it seems like she hasn’t really tried anything. Yes she’s been sectioned but we don’t really hear much about what else has been tried to help Frankie get over this.
Next, the relationship between Frankie and Lola… I felt so sorry for both characters who could have such a close relationship, but the situation that happened to Frankie all those years ago just pushed them apart. Their relationship at home isn’t spoken much about, but I assume they’re not particularly close. I love Lola’s character and think she’s so strong and brave to go to the place to investigate what happened to her mum, to try and help her by understanding what happened. I also think Frankie is so brave by going out there despite being terrified, it shows how strong a mother’s love for her child is.
Throughout the book, I was guessing who was as responsible and every time I was proved wrong!
I think Jack got good character redemption and love that Frankie and Dom kind of became a thing after all this time.
The ending just finished the book off so well.
I think the chapters should have the year in, as they flicked between past and present and I got a little confused.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for letting me read and review this book early.

This is a good pick for anyone who enjoys a psychological thriller with a bit of mystery. The story follows Frankie, a single mum to teenager Lola. Frankie is still struggling with a traumatic event from her past, which happened while she was working at a resort in Corsica during her gap year.

That event still haunts her, especially since its anniversary falls on the same day as Lola’s birthday. The book moves between two timelines, showing what happened in the past and how it affects the present.

If you like books that are a little dark, a little mysterious, and keep you guessing, this one is worth reading.

Drawing on an old Corsican legend, Sarah Clarke delivers the chilling story of a British mother who is so traumatized by her youthful experience exploring her roots on the island, that she must leave her own daughter on the anniversary of those events each year in order to protect Lola from the mental health breakdowns which tend to occur for Frankie at this time of year.

Except that Frankie has not bargained for the fact that her daughter is curious to find out the real story, so Lola decides to secretly go to Corsica herself and retrace her mother's steps. When things go disastrously wrong, Frankie must face the demons of her past to ensure her daughter has a safer future.

A gripping story well delivered, this book definitely worth a read!

This is a decent summer read - a psychological thriller with a touch of the mystical!

Frankie, single mum to coming of age Lola, is traumatised by an event in her past - in an unfortunate twist of fate the anniversary of this trauma coincides with Lola’s birthday!

We soon learn this trauma occurred when Frankie, during her gap year, was working in a resort in Corsica.

As 2 distinct timelines play out we learn all about the traumatic event of the past, and how this plays out in the present day!

This is a great novel for those who like their fiction a little dark, a little exotic and with a little ‘cat & mouse’!

My thanks to NetGalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an advance copy.

I enjoyed reading this book and it certainly kept me hooked. I found the end slightly overwhelming as there was a lot of revealing in one go which can be tricky to follow. A good read though.