In Too Deep
IN TOO DEEP by SAMANTHA HAYES
PLOT: 4/5
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 4/5
ENDING: 4/5
COVER ARTWORK: 4/5
READING EXPERIENCE: 4/5
OVERALL SCORE: 4/5
You know you’re in a safe pair of hands with Samantha Hayes and I’m happy to say that her new book, In Too Deep, is no exception. Samantha has always said that her interests lie in portraying how crime can impact on normal families and In Too Deep does exactly that: it takes a normal family, puts them through hell and examines the devastating fallout. This means that however much the plot twists and turns unexpectedly, and however much remains a suspenseful secret right up until the end, the story develops realistically and at a steady pace, rather than in fits and starts due to far-fetched red herrings or artificial, manufactured race-against-time scenarios that turn out to have no bearing on the plot. Her stories grow organically and without the buckets of melodrama thrown in by lesser writers.
One of the reasons I liked In Too Deep was because it reminded me of the kind of engrossing domestic psychological suspense standalones that Nicci French used to write before abandoning this approach in favour of their more conventional crime series featuring the psychologist Frieda Klein. These great early books were often written from the perspective of the victim and In Too Deep is composed of the points of view of two confused “victims” – Gina Forrester and her daughter Hannah – and concerns the disappearance of Gina’s missing husband, Rick.
The plot is expertly handled with clues peppered throughout at just the right points in the story and though the reader is kept in the dark for large portions of the story the suspense holds throughout. The characters of Gina and Hannah are also pitched just right: they are relatable, even though they are not without their faults, but not so unlikeable that you don’t care what happens to them. Samantha Hayes always writes realistic, complex characters that are never just 2-D heroes or villains.
If I had any criticism of the book it’s that one of the characters seems to be holding on to a secret almost right from the beginning of the book and it’s a bit frustrating to have to wait so long to find out what it is! You just want to shout: “Come on, Samantha, give us another clue!” which, of course, makes you want to read on to find out what it is! And, of course, everything is finally revealed in a convincing and satisfying ending which I personally didn’t see coming till just before the reveal.
Overall, this is another great domestic thriller from Samantha Hayes and if you’re already a fan of her work then you won’t be disappointed.
This book was supplied by NetGalley in return for an honest review.
