'Brilliant' - The Times
'Gripping' - The Sunday Times Crime Club
'A smart summer read' - Daily Mail
'Suspenseful' - Publishers Weekly
'A skilful domestic whodunit' - Shots

A taut, page-turning novel of secrets and strife. When two families - one rich, one not - vacation together off the coast of South Carolina, little do they know that someone won't be returning home.

Fripp Island, South Carolina, is the perfect destination for the wealthy Daly family: Lisa, Scott, and their two girls. For Lisa's childhood friend, Poppy Ford, the resort island is a world away from the one she and Lisa grew up in-and when Lisa invites Poppy's family to join them, how can she turn down an all-expenses paid vacation for her husband and children?

But everyone brings secrets to the island, distorting what should be a convivial, relaxing summer on the beach. Lisa sees danger everywhere, while Poppy watches over her husband John and his routines with a sharp eye. It's a summer of change for all of the children too, who are exposed to new ideas and different ways of life as they forge a bond of their own.

Those who return from this vacation will spend the rest of their lives trying to process what they witnessed, the tipping points, moments of violence and tenderness, and the memory of whom they left behind.

Waterstone's Best Books Choice for June 2020