When Grace comes home one day and finds a body on the floor of her kitchen, lying face down in a pool of blood, the police become very interested in everyone, but for all the wrong reasons. This, the introductory scenario in Welsh crime novelist Beverley Jones’ latest book The Beach House, prompted so many questions. Why did the intruder leave special, and specific, gifts, ones which would only mean anything to Grace? How can Grace tell the police what or who she suspects, when even her husband doesn’t know about that fateful night?
There is, too, a deeper backstory, dating back to the Welsh village of Grace’s childhood. Nearly 20 years ago, Grace was in fact Laura Llewellyn: a teenager with a huge imagination and a knack for telling scary stories. One Halloween night, a dark turn of events led to Laura leaving the UK and moving to a coastal community in Oregon. Reinvented as Grace, she marries and has a daughter. An affluent, even idyllic lifestyle masks a past that ultimately comes to the surface – secrets often find the most uncomfortable ways to wriggle their way out.
The Beach House left me reeling for more: a delight to read and an absolutely fantastic opportunity to leave behind one’s own reality and delve into another completely.
The Beach House, Beverley Jones (Constable)
Price: £9.99. Info: here
words BILLIE INGRAM SOFOKLEOUS
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