An excellent setting that adds a mysterious life to the story all on its own. The mystery of the get together was intriguing and suspenseful This was a fantastic book with so many twists and sharp turns.

The Loch is a book I’ve been anticipating for ages. Fran Dorricott is one of my auto-read authors and this one did not let me down. It was just as thrillingly compelling as her previous ventures into the genre and definitely cements her place even further as one of my favourites.

The story follows three friends who go on a weekend trip to a remote house on the edge of a Scottish loch. Here, they find themselves in a less-than-friendly village, surrounded by people who pointedly don’t want to talk about things. The book flips back and forth between three disappearances in the past and the present day, where it appears that mystery is repeating itself.

As with all of Dorricott’s previous thrillers, this one sucks you in from the first page. You feel like you’re there too, in that small hostile village, in the freezing cold (although that part might have been because the heating wasn’t on). And this serves to help supercharge the tension when things start to go really wrong. I’ve read a lot of thrillers and/or mysteries, and I think Dorricott is among the only authors where I genuinely feel my heart starting to race as I read.

And it’s not just the atmospheric writing that allows this. She creates such real feeling characters, through just a few lines at times, that you can’t help but be fully engaged by them. Even the side characters, even if they only show up for a handful of paragraphs, a chapter at most, they all leap off the page. In this one, I’m thinking about how you actually only meet certain, key, characters very very briefly, and yet they don’t come across as lesser than the main characters because of it. Honestly, it’s an enviable skill.

This was why, despite guessing the broad strokes of the plot fairly early on (though I will admit to not having seen all the twists coming), I still found myself thrilled by it and unable to put it down. That, I think, is a sign of how good this book was. Even when I thought I knew where it was going, I didn’t lose interest in it. If anything, it made me even more eager to continue.

So, if there are any thriller fans out there who haven’t tried Fran Dorricott’s books yet, now is the perfect time to course correct! Come next March, you’ll have four of them to binge.

Creepy and atmospheric.

I loved The Lighthouse so I was really looking forward to The Loch. Three friends hire a house beside a loch as a getaway and soon things start to turn sinister. With stories of missing hikers and historic disappearances, when one of their group vanishes the others don't know who to trust to help them.
Lots of twists and turns and a bevvy of suspects. This was a great read.
With thanks to Avon and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review.

Then:- In and around Loch Aven an exhausted search party continues to look for Rebecca. There’s alway been something mystical and otherworldly about the place when a discovery of something belonging to Rebecca is found in the loch which strikes terror into hearts.

Present Day:- Best friends Eleanor, Clio and Michaela arrive at Loch House which they book at the last minute when bad weather forces an end to a planned camping trip in Blackhills. Little do they know this is an area of tightly kept secrets and it soon becomes clear there’s a sinister presence in the area. It becomes a race against time to solve the mystery before the misty dark loch waters claim another victim. The story is told principally by Eleanor and Rebecca.

I really enjoy the first half of the novel as it’s full of strange vibes and off notes. There’s a distinct wildness to the area and the odd behaviour of some of the locals has you asking many questions. It’s full of atmosphere, the loch feels eerie and like a character in its own right giving a ghostly almost gothic feel at times. The local folklore of spirits and kelpies adds to that feeling. Unfortunately this atmosphere fizzles out in the second half as more earthly explanations bubble to the surface which is a shame.

I don’t enjoy the second half as much, some things just don’t make sense and I’m not so keen on Rebecca’s perspective with one major aspect stretching coincidence too far in the ‘of all the gin joints’ variety. There is one plot hole which I can’t mention as it’s a spoiler but it defies science. The ending is not to my taste either though it does wrap things up tidily.

Overall, I like the book, there are aspects that are very good but I can’t say that I love it.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Avon Books for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

It took me a while to get into this book but when I did i enjoyed it. The writing was engaging and the story hooked me. An enjoyable read

Thank you for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book. I took a while to get into this book. I wasn’t quite sure what all the preamble about previous partners and splitting up with them had to do with the story, and it turned out to be very little in the end. However, once the story got going in earnest and it became clear why Michaela had bought Eleanor to the house I was hooked.

I though this was a good read that was a bit too predictable. I didn't really mind how predictable it was, but I wouldn't read this if you love the surprise factor.

I’d like to thank netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I have read two other books by this author and enjoyed them so I was excited to read this one. When a group of three friends go on a weekend trip to a secluded area called Loch Aven, things are off right from the start. There is a group of tourists missing and the locals don’t want to give much information. When one of the friends goes missing, the police don’t seem too interested so it’s up to the other two to find out what’s going on and to see if it ties in with the three missing girls from 25 years ago. An interesting read, looking forward to her next book.

Three friends have planned a camping trip in the wilds of Scottish, but when the weather turns foul, they decide to stay in a rental accommodation. It’s not the getaway that Clio, Michaela and Eleanor planned, but the lakeside house will at least keep them dry. When Michaela disappears, the friends learn that twenty years ago, three other women disappeared from the same house, and were never seen again. Locals whisper that their bodies lie under the waters of the loch. Does the same fate await their modern day counterparts? Moody and atmospheric, this is a spooky read

Engaging suspense, dark and atmospheric. Recommended for those who love heavy atmospheric, creepy novels. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish, it is well paced and engrossing. The setting is perfectly imaginable and suited to the storyline of which is interestingly bleak. The characters are very likeable and relatable and you find yourself routing for them throughout. The only reason I'd mark this story down a star is purely because I guessed the major part of the plot fairly early on, however, it doesn't detract massively from my overall opinion and even then there was a twist that I didn't see coming, which was great. I would definitely recommend this book!

This book was sent to me electronically by Netgalley for review. Maybe others can get into this story. I could not. It is dark and frightening. 5e characters do not seem like real friends…