Set on the beautiful Isles of Tresco we follow the wealthy visitors there to holiday and the tireless working staff there to cater to their every whim. Throw in a raging storm, attacks and missing visitors, lies and secrets aplenty and we have the perfect recipe for drama and mayhem.

I love Tinas writing style, her characters are well developed, she cleverly creates an atmospheric sense of tension peppered with her signature dark humour with a few laugh out loud moments. Highly entertaining and another total page turner!
🙏 @serpentstail @viper.books @tinabaker

There's trouble in paradise when vivacious barmaid Hannah starts a relationship with Kit - the wealthy son of a regular visitor to the luxury holiday island of Tresco where she works. In a small island community where almost everyone has secrets the divide between the haves and the have-nots is evident. Things spiral out of control culminating in a wild storm which tragically changes lives.
The writing is witty and sharp. The story cleverly unfolds through the viewpoint of various characters resulting in a tense, enjoyable read.
Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy to review.

Thanks to Netgalley, Viper Books and Tina Baker for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What We Did In the Storm was an atmospheric and intriguing read. I loved the Island setting and the complex relationships between the people who lived and worked there.

Tina has a beautiful writing style that draws you right into the story, although it took me longer than usual to get into this one.
I wasn't a fan of the multiple point of views, it was a bit excessive and hard to keep track of. Over 16 different perspectives is a little over the top for me.
Other than that, it was a good read.

3.5 stars from me.

Tina Baker is just fabulous!! Hugely talented and completely and utterly brilliant!

What We Did in the Storm is another gem for the collection of books by Tina. Let’s visit paradise, although, is all as it seems? Of course not, it’s a Tina book. Buckle up and prepare yourself to be pulled into a complete gem. The setting alone is completely brilliant and used to really set the atmosphere of this one.

During a storm on the island, two women are attacked and another is missing. This is very character driven and we definitely go down a dark hole with this one. As events progress, we get darker and darker.

Not all characters in this are likeable. Some are very sinister rotten apples. However, the tension really intensifies as you progress through this book.

This is clever, entertaining and completely brilliant. Tina is just superb, I love how she is able to transport me to different locations and make me feel as though I’m with the characters.

This is brilliant. I have no hesitation in recommending this book to everyone. I am already eagerly anticipating what may be coming next from Tina.- I hope we don’t need to wait too long.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Everybody on the island has motive but who chose to act?

Told from multiple perspectives and two timelines this book is a little hard to ‘get into’. At first I found it very disorienting and confusing because there are so many characters and narratives. But once I started to get into the flow of the book I found myself really enjoying the slowness of the story and the gradual build up to the mystery’s big reveal.

None of the characters are particularly nice people. All of them are either harbouring horrid secrets or planning vile things. So from a ‘who was killed?’ perspective all of them are strong contenders. Equally when it comes to figuring out who ‘did it’ the characters are all well placed to be the killer.

This, for me was the real hook of the story. It didn’t matter that there isn’t much ‘drama’ throughout the book. The chapters, build up the characters narratives and allow a reader an insight to their current lives and their relationships between the other islanders.

Interestingly even the investigation at the end did not come from a detective’s perspective. You only hear the character’s responses, reaction and inner thoughts. Which not only followed suit of the whole style of writing but again, kept you guessing as to who it could be.

This is a very cleverly written novel. Because of the way in which the characters are portrayed and the storyline is delivered … you’d be forgiven for thinking this just another closed door, murder mystery. By taking away an overall narrator Tina has absolute control on the amount of information you are given and the way it is delivered to you. There’s no way of figuring anything out until you’re either told or you get to the last page! Brilliant!

Thanks to NetGalley for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The island of Tresco is as isolated as it is beautiful, some would even say tranquil, but looks can definitely be deceiving and you can never really tell what is bubbling under the surface. As a terrible storm rages, two if its inhabitants are attacked and another goes missing and so many secrets are revealed. The question is will the truth about what happened that night also come to light?
Several people are returning to Tresco for a wedding, some are guests, and some are there to work at the event. What starts out as something quite pleasant soon turns into something more as true feelings are revealed and there is more than a little jealousy in play, but it still does not really prepare you for the events that unfold nor the reality of what takes place.
The main thread of this book centres around the relationship between barmaid Hannah and wealthy visitor Kit. Whilst they seem to be enjoying spending time together, Kit’s mother is amongst those who is less than happy with developments and will do anything to split them up. With others quick to spread gossip about Hannah you can understand her reaction but how much of it is truth and how much is just a malicious act becomes clearer as the book progresses.
This is a slow starting book that increases its tempo towards the end with multiple characters who all add layers to the story. Each one lends their voice at different times so there is no one narrator. As the book reveals events that lead up to the disappearance of Hannah and what happens afterwards you are left wondering just who is responsible and like me you may find yourself changing your mind repeatedly.
Once again Tina Baker has given us characters that you are not sure you like but still have you wanting to know all about them and just how their lives fit into events. What is clear however is that you can never really know your closest neighbour and that for some their survival depends on their secrets remaining hidden. I have become a real fan of Tina’s work as she shows a real understanding of human nature whilst also showing us just how much a setting can impact the story as she transports us right to the heart of the action.

All the stars! Atmospheric and exciting. I couldn’t stop reading. The location is perfect and the characters complement the storyline brilliantly. It deserves to fly off the shelves.

Secrets Will Out..
Something is simmering under the surface on the seemingly idyllic island of Tresco - extreme wealth is set against poverty and subservience just as clear blue waters mask the tumult beneath the surface. Everything is about to change. A storm is coming and it will have more dramatic consequences than could ever have been expected - secrets will out. A dark, twisting and atmospheric tale with a deftly drawn and credible cast, a beguiling setting and an immersive plot edged with a dark, wry humour.

What We Did in the Storm is a tense psychological thriller set on the island of Tresco, which is a part of the Scilly Isles.

The book tells the story of the small island community and its rich, time-share visitors. We know that something terrible has happened during the storm, but we don’t know what.

Instead, Baker takes us on a journey, where we meet all the characters, including Hannah who works as a barmaid. She falls in love with Kit, who is a visitor to the island. However, Kit’s mother isn’t very pleased with their relationship.

Soon, the whole island talks about Hannah and Kit’s relationship, but the couple stay together despite the odds.

As time goes on, we discover the destroying power of gossip and its impact, especially on a small island.

What a fantastic story! I just love Tina Baker and her books. This one is different compared to her previous ones, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

I live on an island too and everyone knows each other’s business, so I could totally relate to what was happening in the story.

There are some shocking revelations along the way (I’m thinking John and Mary-Jane – wow!), and the ending is sublime.

Overall, I definitely recommend this story. Thank you to Viper Books for approving my NetGalley request to read and review this title.

This is a murder mystery with a difference! Set on Tresco one of the beautiful Isles of Scilly we are introduced to an eclectic mix of residents and tourists most of whom you wouldn’t want to cross paths with. Meet Hannah a thirty something barmaid who lives life to the full. Bobby the island manager. Kit in his twenties from a wealthy family who is a regular visitor along with his mother Beatrice and her goddaughter the beautiful Charlotte. Just a few of the many characters in this story. It’s quite a slow burn as we meet everyone and the scene is set but do stick with it, I promise it’s worth it.

Briefly, as a terrible storm batters the isle a girl goes missing, two others are attacked and secrets begin to emerge. Shocking secrets that will cause turmoil amongst the islanders and the visitors. What did they do in the storm?

A very cleverly written thriller contrasting the beauty of the Islands with the darkness of human weakness. A close knot community hiding secrets which spark simmering tensions that come to a shocking boil, just who, if anyone, can you trust? I didn’t have a clue. A brilliant story full of sarcasm and dry humour and one heart stopping reveal. Superb read.

Recipe:
• A story set in an idyllic location, the beautiful Island of Tresco. (A place that I would definitely like to visit 1 day!)
• A cast of very interesting characters, most of them hiding some shocking secrets.
• 1 massive storm.

Mix them together and you will get a wonderful atmospheric read that reels you in slowly and leaves you breathless at the end with a jaw-droppingly good twist!

It seems like everyone has a bone to pick with poor Hannah. Women hate her, men can't resist her and some are even obsessed with her. This does not bode well for poor Hannah!

So many people; so many secrets.
A storm is brewing.....

Highly recommended!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Another gripping read by Tina Baker! This time though, What We Did In The Storm has a much bigger cast of characters than Tina’s previous novels, so there’s even more opportunity to meet people who you love to read about, but really wouldn’t want to meet in real life!

Tina is the Queen of Misdirection - at one time or another throughout the novel I thought everyone was guilty. Even Old Betty - and she’s far too old to do anything! Or is she..? I couldn’t even be certain if anyone WAS actually murdered!

I read this on The Pigeonhole (I spotted it was coming up just after I’d requested it on NetGalley), and I was left on tenterhooks EVERY DAY FOR 9 DAYS!!

Tresco (just off the coast of Cornwall)still looks beautiful even after the murderous goings-on in Tina’s book.
I’d still go.
Highly recommended (as always!).

Tina Baker just gets better and better; her writing is ever more confident and the plots more challenging and complex.

I have enjoyed each of Tina's books but I was blown away by 'What we Did in the Storm'. The story is set on the beautiful Scilly island of Tresco, just off the coast of Cornwall, where the permanent residents rely on the income that the holiday blow-ins bring, but don't always welcome the disruption that they bring. There's an 'us' and 'them' relationship, with the richer holiday makers often taking their luxury lifestyle for granted. In the meantime, the permanent residents are living busy lives, working hard to keep the holidaymakers happy so that they keep coming back.

The story opens with two women in pink coats spotted on the top of a cliff edge in a storm; are they fighting or dancing? One of them is missing -and the mystery of who it might be and what happened carries us through the story. Tina has woven a complex and deliberately confusing web, with clues and red herrings being scattered everywhere.

''What We Did in The Storm' jumps across different timelines, before and after the Storm. The story moves around a host of different characters, each with their own storylines, their own personalities, their own desires, dreams and relationships.

There's Beatrice, her adult son Kit, and god daughter Charlotte, who hire the same cottages every year. Beatrice is desperate for Kit and Charlotte to get together but instead, Kit and local barmaid Hannah start a relationship, giving everyone lots of gossip and Beatrice plenty to grumble about. Next come John and Mary-Lou, a reclusive American couple who keep themselves to themselves, completely besotted with each other. And Christie and Sam, who have grown up on the island and now live there with their 4 sons. Sam might have a wandering eye but what's Christie going to do about it? And I mustn't forget Thor, who works in the shop and has a soft spot for Hannah as well. His aunt Kelly is a local nurse and comes to the island when medical care is needed. With plenty of other characters to get your teeth into besides this lot, its a brilliantly immersive read.

The more you read about the characters, the more you can see what makes them tick and why they are acting how they are. There are age-old arguments and grudges that have been held on to for decades, and everyone knows everyone else's business and family histories .

It felt like if the Archers or Eastenders had been transposed to the Scilly Isles; the complexity of the storyline and the ways that the characters interacted had a true community feel to it that kept my attention from the first moment.

Definitely recommended - well done Tina!

Quite a slow start
To this book. However it soon picked up the pace quickly and had me gripped! Thank you Net Galley

This is my first Tina Baker novel, although I’ve been aware of her others she’s been a new author I hadn’t managed to get on my TBR. Now I feel very stupid and sorry that I haven’t picked up one of her earlier thrillers because I enjoyed this one very much indeed. Tresco is a small island in the Scilly Isles that’s run almost like a club for the wealthy. Owned by ‘the family’ it’s main currency is tourism but often the same families own timeshares or block book the cottages, each named after a seabird, for the same times each year. Those that live there all year round are ‘the workers’ who look after the abbey gardens, work in the pub or the shop, or work directly as gamekeeper or groundsmen for the family estate. This creates a community where everyone knows everyone else, and each is very aware of their status in relation to each other. So when Kit, son of the very wealthy and regular cottage dweller Beatrice Wallace, starts a flirtation with Hannah the barmaid from The Old Ship tongues start wagging. There are many rumours about Hannah: that she’s been dallying with fellow worker Sam who is married with three boys; that she is easy with her favours, especially on poker nights with the boys; that she was spotted dancing naked by the full moon; that she’s possibly a witch. None of that bothers Kit, but as the young lovers become more than a quick fling it bothers other people. Kit’s mother is raging at her son’s choice of girlfriend, knowing the grief of a relationship with someone from a different class to you. She tries to push him towards her goddaughter Charlotte, who might be stupid enough to wear heels and off the shoulder tops on the island, but is at least in the same circles as the Wallace’s. Sam’s wife Christie should be ecstatic, but for some reason she isn’t, still fuming at Hannah any time she comes within an inch of her husband knowing that she has some sort of hold on him. Alison, Hannah’s boss, just wishes that Hannah would stop sleeping with the customers and causing drama in the pub. As a storm approaches and tensions are at their height, two women are attacked at a remote point on the island, but one woman is lost to the sea. But who?

The author uses different narrators throughout the story, which is difficult at first until you get to know each character and their place on Tresco. Interspersed with these voices is a separate narrative that’s titled ‘ After the Storm’ and recounts the events of that day and what the speaker has seen. We don’t know who they are, but they seem to have been in the right place at the right time to have some of the answers, but not all. The rest of the narrative occurs in the lead up to the storm and we get to know all the residents, visitors and workers. Hannah and Kit aren’t the only ones potentially causing problems for the community. There’s John and Mary-Jane from Georgia in the USA, evangelical Christians who seem to have eyes only for each other. Why did they leave their hometown and families and what shameful secret does Mary-Jane impart to the island’s nurse? Thor works in the village shop, where a bottle of wine can cost as much as some of the worker’s weekly salary, but has a rather active internet life that would raise eyebrows. There’s quiet Maisie who cares for her mother’s needs 24/7 and seems devoted, but lays awake at night listening to her sleep apnoea breathing machine wishing she’d stop breathing. There’s also a strange man who appears at bathroom windows wearing a balaclava and spying on unsuspecting ladies. Even Christie and Sam’s relationship isn’t what it seems, the long suffering wife whose husband drinks more than he should, neglects his family and strays when he can is the accepted narrative, but never assume that what you see is the truth. Beatrice is a horror though, although islanders are sympathetic when she loses her husband, she isn’t perhaps grieving as much as they would assume. She loves her son, but wants him to commit to something more than painting, sailing and cavorting with that barmaid in whichever cottage is free. None of these will make a living and although the family have money and he won’t be destitute she still wishes he had some direction.

I loved the way the author created these rigid boundaries between the different groups on the island and how it disrupts everything if they are broken. After the storm, Kit spends more time on the island painting and renting whatever cottage is free. He offers help where needed, even if it’s a shift in the pub or running errands for holiday makers. Yet he’s stuck in limbo. The workers don’t accept him, in fact they wish he’d bugger off and let someone who needs the money have a job. However, they do have to be careful because his mother is a rich timeshare owner and as such must be treated as a guest. As for him and Hannah, a quick bunk-up is overlooked but why did they have to fall in love? There are clever little faux pas that show someone up as an outsider, such as the plague of pink waterproof coats that islanders wouldn’t be seen dead in. Having come from a small village, I enjoyed the way gossip spread, usually via the pub, as one person tells someone else in confidence, then that person tells someone else in confidence, until it’s a chain of Chinese whispers with the truth lost somewhere in the telling. There are so many revelations and twists here I made sure I set aside enough time to finish it in one go and I’m glad I did. Right up until the end I was fairly sure what happened during the storm, but how wrong I was! I’m now going back to Tina’s other novels because I think I’ve just become a fan.

This is the second novel I’ve read by the author and it was an enjoyable and atmospheric read.
I love coastal settings and this is set on the island of Tresco, I loved the way Tresco itself is such a huge part of the novel and as a reader I felt I was there on the island. The characterisation is excellent and the author brilliantly portrays the class divide between many locals who work on the island and the wealthy visitors.
It’s a fairly slow paced plot but the author cleverly draws the reader into all of the characters lives and I began to suspect them all of the crime that is slowly revealed.
Recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

Enjoyed this mystery from Tina Baker, I think her best yet. Intriguing array of interconnected characters set on the exclusive Isle of Tresco. Someone is dead and others injured, but who and why is not revealed until the end. A literal cliffhanger!

This was fun!

I absolutely loved the setting of this book. I feel like you can never go wrong with a thriller that is set on an island.

This book had me on the edge of my seat. I felt like I could trust none of the characters and I will always say that’s one of my favourite tropes when it comes to this genre. I love feeling like every single character that we come across could be the culprit and that’s exactly what I got from this.

What I will say is that I found it a bit difficult at the beginning to keep track of the characters. I feel like a lot was introduced at once and I felt overwhelmed with the multiple character point of view that were thrown my way from the beginning. Though, that might just be a “me” thing and might work for others who won’t have a problem keeping track!

Overall, this was a fun read and I can’t wait to check out more works by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Serpent's Tail / Viper / Profile Books for providing me with this ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

The idyllic isle of Tresco is a popular retreat for the wealthy who come over for seasonal stays and regular holidays, while the locals work hard to keep everything up to the high standard expected. But when a storm comes in, both sides are embroiled in suspicion as women are being attacked and the culprit remains elusive.

This was a slow-burn in a great way. The Island gave a great atmosphere and, as always with this author, the characters (and there are plenty of them!) are superbly drawn! Highly recomended if you are up for a moody, atmospheric thriller.

Wow, what an atmospheric thriller! The writing was so evocative and the characters with their dramas were brought vividly to life. I was totally pulled in and read this in just a few days.

The drama unfolds on the island of Tresco in the Scilly Isles, and illustrates a world of two halves, the monied set living up close and personal with those who serve them. The central story resolves around a love affair between Kit from the wealthy half, and Hannah, the barmaid and hairdresser. As their relationship becomes more serious, Kit’s relationship with his family and their friends begins to fall apart. The island is rife with rumours and secrets that simmer beneath the repressed surface. Everything builds and builds until it reaches boiling point during the Storm.

What We Did in the Storm is a fabulous atmospheric thriller that feels uncomfortably edgy and plausible. It drew me right in with the relationships, hopes and frustrations and carried me through until the very end. Of course I had theories, but I only figured out the mystery just before the moment of reveal. It was so cleverly done and the ending was perfect and unexpected.

This was my first Tina Baker novel, and I will definitely be going back for more.