'The past was like water. Once the tide turned, you couldn't hold it back.'
In the long, hot summer of 1995, twenty-two-year-old Alice Lang rents a caravan on a holiday park on the outskirts of the lively holiday resort of Severn Sands. She befriends Marnie, a shy, damaged little girl whose father is the park's caretaker and whose mother died a few months earlier. Will, whose mother runs the bar, falls in love with Alice, and is unbearably jealous of anyone else she sees. Tensions rise until one evening Alice disappears from her caravan. She's never seen again, and only her scarlet dress is found washed up on the shore.
A quarter of a century later, the town is run down and nobody comes there anymore. Mr and Mrs deVillars, former owners of the holiday park, have passed the failing business onto their son Guy, who promptly sells the land for development. Builders clearing the land to create an expanse of executive homes uncover human bones. It has to be Alice.
Will and Marnie’s lives were entirely shaped by what happened that summer, and now Alice has been found, they must struggle to pin down their memories, to escape the secrets of the past, the lies they told and the unbearable guilt they're both carrying.
They need to find out what happened to Alice. Who killed her? And why?
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Review
Like a long, hot, summer's day, this book goes forever until it suddenly doesn't and you're staring at a gorgeous sunset, sad it's over but fulfilled all the same. Despite a slow start, I found myself enthralled by the slow unwinding of what really happened that fateful day Alice disappeared.
The two point of view characters are a fascinating study in contrasts. Will was passionately, jealously in love with Alice and her disappearance has clouded his judgement, fueled his career as a true crime writer, and poisoned his relationships ever since. He's not terribly likeable - he's an alcoholic who treats his girlfriend with a shocking lack of care, and his biases when it comes to Alice make him incapable of seeing the truth until it might be too late. Marnie, on the other hand, was a child when taken under Alice's wing who has grown into a defiantly different woman who prefers to keep most of the world at a distance. She knows more than she thinks but no-one ever thought to ask her. Her devotion to her animals and her daughter is almost jarring against Will's apathy.
The flashbacks are brilliantly written, interweaving the past and present seamlessly as the tragedy unfolds. Each chapter gave another crumb, another hint, until the breathtaking climax. You can't help but be drawn in.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Rachel's Random Resources; all opinions are my own.
Louise Douglas is the bestselling and brilliantly reviewed author of novels including The House By The Sea and Missing You - a RNA award winner. The Secrets Between Us was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. She lives in the West Country.
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