Absorbing and suspenseful destination thriller.
Bea has had it with her structured role and work as a model. On a photo shoot in Marrakesh, Morocco, she rips off her couture dress, grabs her backpack and takes off for the souks and what she hopes will be an escape from her regimented life. After a crazy and dangerous encounter, she befriends a woman, Marnie, who takes Bea to a surfer's clifftop paradise guesthouse that she co-owns with her partner, Ped. It's a diverse community but all are there for the surf and for the nomadic lifestyle they call freedom. But some are hiding secrets and, in fact, wasn't there another girl there on her own a year ago who left one day and was never seen again? Savannah's brother, Seth, arrives at the house in search of her.
Told in a past and present timeline and from multiple points of view, though primarily that of Bea and Savannah, the pace is fast and the tension builds as this perfect world starts to unravel. Although i didn't care for many of the characters, I did empathize with some. I liked the writing style and the way the author used the setting to create atmosphere that enhanced the suspense as well as the desperate nature of the situations. She captured the spirit of the young people yearning for something they can't really identify or name that makes them continue their wandering.
There is a lot about surfing in this book, and I know nothing about that sport, so it was interesting and I could see how these young adults chase the waves for the sheer purpose of emptying their heads even as many have no ambition or other focus in mind. People and things can become an obsession. Bad decisions can have calamitous consequences. Hiding from the truth doesn't make you complete or turn things right. Betrayal is deadly. There are twists and turns, some predictable given the typical course of this genre, but I relished the process and the revelations.
I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC provided by the publisher. The narrator, Sarah Slimani, did an excellent job bringing the story to life and giving her characters individual accents and personalities. She gave a theatrical flourish to the production that really enhanced my appreciation and enjoyment of the setting and the story.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Tags and genre - travel, Morocco, surfing, young adult community, missing girl, mystery, atmosphere, thriller
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