(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

The year is 1999, and Lachlan Colbert - Colby - has the world at his feet. He's got a big job on Wall Street and a sleek bachelor pad in the heart of Manhattan. With money no object, he and his friends take a trip to Australia to see in the new millennium. And it's there, on a hired yacht sailing the Whitsundays, that he meets Caitlin. Caitlin Hourigan has got wild hair and torn shorts - and has barely ever left the small patch of Queensland where she grew up. But Colby is smitten and for Caitlin, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, a blissful future awaits - marriage, a big house, a beautiful little boy. But nothing is ever as perfect as it seems. And for Lachlan and Caitlin the nightmare is only just beginning.

3 stars seems like an "It's okay" review - and to some extent, that is true. You see, Caroline Overington usually writes a cracking story. This one is just okay for me. It is still a good story, don't get me wrong, but just not as good as some of her other novels.

The problems for me stem from the lack of backstory of both Caitlin and Lachlan (Colby) - and the character development overall. I didn't feel any connection to, or empathy for, either character. It could be argued that Overington wrote them this way to make neither of them particularly likeable or believable for the sake of the story - and I could subscribe to that thought...

Also, the blog entries later on in the book just felt like a waste of effort, when this part of the story could well have been told from another POV - this seemed like a "simple" way to tell the story, which is odd compared to the naturally "difficult" theme of the story.

However, having said all that negative stuff, it still isn't a bad book. There is enough in the storylines to keep you guessing and Caitlin's unreliable narrator aspect really does ratchet up as the story goes along. Plenty there for fans of domestic thrillers or psychological women's fiction.


Paul
ARH