Set in Dubai, a young woman's body is found floating in the marina. This will have an impact on the lives of many and this novel deals with seven of these people. There is the Irish family, Joan a middle aged woman living in Dublin, her daughter Siobhan living in Dubai with her husband and two children and Joan's son, Trevor who flies out to Dubai to visit his sister. Siobhan employs an Ethiophian maid, Gete. There is also the dead girl's brother, Aasim, who is studying in Dublin but returns to Dubai for the funeral. Finally there is Lydia, a Russian sex worker and Tahir a Pakistani taxi driver. The narrative moves from one to the other of these seven characters. Through their actions, thoughts and recollections the story is pieced together.
I really enjoyed this book. I found the characters were all well drawn. I didn't like all of the characters but I was certainly interested in them. The story brought out the exploitation of the migrant workers and emphasised the differences between rich and poor.
Themes of power, materialism, oppression and overindulgence run though the book. The writing style was excellent, I really liked the loose ends and the messiness of the situation. It would have been wrong to finish on a note of "they all lived happily ever after" and the baddie got his comeupance, the ending felt like a true reflection of real life where the consequences continue to reverberate into the future.
An excellent read.

The characters in this book weren't very sympathetic, except for the servants. I had to google RTA, why not say taxi?
I didn't find some of the plot points believable, for instance, that a local girl would have had a relationship with Martin. There were some loose ends, what happened to the victim's brother? Did he catch the same plane as Siobhan?

Such an interesting read and one which left me with the conclusion that i never ever want to go to Dubai - this isn't a criticism of the novel and nor does it mean it isn't worth reading. Actually, it really rather is. Diving for Pearls (excellent title and the origins of which are put into context within the novel) opens with the death of a young girl who is from a rather well-to-do Dubai family. Her body is found floating in the marina. The butterfly effect of her death is brutally felt by an upwardly mobile, new moneyed Irish family, a Russian sex worker, the victim's gay brother, an Ethiopian maid and a Pakistan taxi driver. The author clearly knows Dubai well, the kingdom is indeed brilliantly brought to life with the various OTT shopping malls, vast roads, lavish restaurants, gated wealthy communities and spectacular events. If I made one criticism it's that it ended rather abruptly. Even so I still find myself wondering what happened to some of the characters....

A young woman's body floats in the Dubai marina. Her death alters the fates of six people, each one striving for a better life in an unforgiving city.

From the outset the author assembles his cast of characters, placing them in their respective roles and locations, before linking them together. It’s a novel that encourages reading between the lines and imagination, displaying the stark reality of living in Dubai.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

Not the best book I have read but it was ok, a bit longwinded and not all the characters really made sense as to the focus on them. Eye opening view of Dubai.

Underneath the glitz and glamour, there are very dirty foundations.

A woman is found floating in the marina in Dubai and her death brings very different fates for 6 six people in a city which only benefits the wealthy.

Siobhan and her husband Martin moved out to Dubai from Ireland seeking a better life. They easily fall into the lavish expat lifestyle surrendering to the designer labels, glistening skyscrapers and highly indulgent weekend brunches. Her brother Trevor comes over to visit with the possibility of moving to Dubai also.

Gete left her home in Ethiopia seeking work as a maid to send money home to her family. In similar circumstances, Tahir came to Dubai from Pakistan to work as a taxi driver as he has high dreams and aspirations for his daughter. Lydia, a Russian model who moved to Dubai on the promises of a lavish life only to fall into the underground world of prostitution. And then there’s Aasim who is an Emirate national but is studying at university in Dublin. He strives for his freedom from his family and Muslim conforms.

For all those who uprooted their lives and moved to Dubai they did so to fulfil their aspirations, they are searching for a better life. But what lies beneath the surface is classism and corruption and eventually, the cracks begin to appear and the reality of being trapped becomes very real.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Through each chapter, we learn more from the different perspectives of Siobhan, Trevor, Gete, Tahir, Lydia and Aasim, and as the story unfolds, the reader is submerged into the wonders of Dubai, right the way down to the grotty foundations. The ending infuriated me as it did leave me dissatisfied, however, it couldn’t end any other way, if it did it would be false. It would be covering up reality. Brilliant debut!

I was really looking forward to reading this book after seeing the synopsis but sadly it didn’t live up to expectations.
Too many characters, many totally irrelevant to the story line. Too much waffle and not enough about the actual main storyline. The crime was unsolved the story unfinished and lots of unanswered questions remain.
The basic storyline is a good one but needs more focus.

Diving for Pearls is Jamie O’Connell’s first novel and in short it is about a death of a young, local Emirate woman found floating in a marina and the fates of the 6 characters linked to her mystery death.
Throughout the book every chapter, excluding the epilogue, is dedicated to one of the 6 characters, which I did find a bit clumpy and bounced around a bit but once familiar with them the story moved well. I enjoyed the writing which was often humorous, warm, brutal, descriptive, harsh and at times quite sad. Life in Dubai is not all it seems! Clever title too! What let down the book in my opinion is that there were quite a few loose ends which was a shame and the ending could have been more resolved...there was a nice twist though. I would happily read Jamie’s next novel.
Big thanks to Jamie O’Connell, Random House UK and NetGalley for the eARC of this book in return for my honest review.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Random House for a free advanced review copy of this book.

I haven't read any books by this writer previously, and I looked forward to this one after the blurb and premise aroused my intrigue. To say I was disappointed doesn't cover it. By just 7% of the book, I had way too many highlights and notations, and that was after ignoring the same mistakes repeated over and over again.

The narrative is written in third person omniscient and suffers from chronic head-hopping, and I mean chronic ... it bordered on the psychotic. Add to that the constant shifts between past tense and present tense when the characters reminisce--and all of this without any indications for the poor reader--as well as continual scene shifts with no warning or indication, I found this one of the most arduous reads of my life. In one instance, we went from a crow on the barrier of the M50 to toothpaste splashed on the bathroom mirror, with a reminiscence in the middle. Nothing separated any of these disparate scenes at all. Has an editor even looked at this?

I didn't connect with the characters, and the ending was most unsatifsfactory. After all of this effort, it would be nice to have all of the loose threads tied up, but no, that did not happen.

I felt there were lots of issues with this book and can only give it 1 star.

I did like the cover and the story premise, which showed much promise.

***

NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.
4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.
3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.
2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.
1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

This novel reveals the real Dubai hidden under the facade of all the glitz and glamour. It vividly describes the contrast between the expat wife whose main concern is designer handbags and shopping malls and the maids, taxi drivers and labourers who are mostly forced to live in squalid conditions, working all hours to try and scrape together a meagre amount to send to their families back home. I felt it was a very accurate description of the cultural clash of life and morals in the Middle East.

This novel brings together a dizzying array of characters who end up in Dubai for a variety of reasons and become linked in some way to the suspicious death of a high-class Emirate girl. Unfortunately (partly due to the number of characters being rapidly introduced at the start) it took me a long time to get into the novel and, once the main plot unfolded, was not invested enough in any of the characters to find it a compelling read. The descriptions of the excesses of the Dubai wealthy were very on point and I was moved by the appalling social divisions depicted and the stark portrayal of the ugly side of global Capitalism. However, despite its important themes, if I’m honest I didn’t really enjoy reading it, making it a difficult novel to review: so, two stars for enjoyment + four stars for important message = three stars.

I liked this one but I think I was expecting more from it. The fact is that’s quite complex with all the stories and you the timeline. Was lovely to read about a different place and loved the detail given by the writer. Look forward to the next one

The storyline is quite complex, moving between different story arcs regularly, which some readers may not enjoy.

This book is worth persevering with. The corruption in Dubai is almost tangible, giving a very accurate depiction of what the real city is like.

Jumps around too much, Knowledge of Arabic reqd to enjoy.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To begin with, I found this novel a confusing jumble of characters, with seemingly no relation to each other. It suddenly all came together at about 75% and got quite exciting for a bit, then it tailed off again and the conclusion was less than satisfying. Dubai came across as full of corrupt, greedy, ambitious people living a life of luxury ,whilst exploiting an underclass of servants and indentured service providers. I have never had a wish to visit Dubai and who would want to after reading this?

This wasn't for me. I just couldn't get into it at all. It felt like a very average thriller. Nothing really grabbed me or hooked me in and I only got partway through.

The synopsis of this novel drew my attention - I always love a story where seemingly unconnected lives converge. Add in an unexplained death and I'm sold! However, while I found myself consumed by this story, there were just some parts that I felt were a little lacking. 
I'd have liked to have read more from some of the characters. The reader is left to draw their own conclusions as to what happens to some characters and, personally, I didn't like that last of answers and closure. I felt the first half of the book went into great detail building the characters (which I really liked - I enjoyed learning their back stories), but the second half of the book lacked that same depth. I felt like some characters were just abandoned. 
All in all, I enjoyed the novel, but it just didn't entirely work for me.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this advance copy. Wow, this is some book. Not at all what I was expecting, and I was most pleasantly surprised.

The text is raw, without embellishments and takes the reader straight in, grabs you and becomes compulsive reading. I was amused by the added inclusion of designer brand names during this novel, as I don’t recall many male writers including such detail.

From the outset the author assembles his cast of characters, placing them in their respective roles and locations, before linking them together. It’s a novel that encourages reading between the lines and imagination, displaying the stark reality of living in Dubai. Fast paced, just like the high end motor cars adorning the streets of this infamous city. Very clever ending which is totally unpredictable.

For a first novel, this writer shows imagination and great promise.