About the Book:
When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Stuck in a dead-end job in Hawaii, and longing to travel the world after a family tragedy, Lux is eager to climb on board The Susannah and set out on an adventure. She’s also quick to bond with their passengers, college best friends Brittany and Amma. The two women say they want to travel off the beaten path. But like Lux, they may have other reasons to be seeking an escape.
Shimmering on the horizon after days at sea, Meroe Island is every bit the paradise the foursome expects, despite a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. But what they don’t expect is to discover another boat already anchored off Meroe’s sandy beaches. The owners of the Azure Sky, Jake and Eliza, are a true golden couple: gorgeous, laidback, and if their sleek catamaran and well-stocked bar are any indication, rich. Now a party of six, the new friends settle in to experience life on an exotic island, and the serenity of being completely off the grid. Lux hasn’t felt like she truly belonged anywhere in years, yet here on Meroe, with these fellow free spirits, she finally has a sense of peace.
But with the arrival of a skeevy stranger sailing alone in pursuit of a darker kind of good time, the balance of the group is disrupted. Soon, cracks begin to emerge: it seems that Brittany and Amma haven’t been completely honest with Lux about their pasts––and perhaps not even with each other. And though Jake and Eliza seem like the perfect pair, the rocky history of their relationship begins to resurface, and their reasons for sailing to Meroe might not be as innocent as they first appeared.
When it becomes clear that the group is even more cut off from civilization than they initially thought, it starts to feel like the island itself is closing in on them. And when one person goes missing, and another turns up dead, Lux begins to wonder if any of them are going to make it off the island alive.
(This book releases on January 4, 2022.)
My Review:
“What am I when you strip everything else away? I’m a motherfucking survivor.”
LOVED this one! Engrossing plot, flawed characters and exotic settings. Plus the unparalleled narration of Barrie Kreinik!
Lux is adrift in her life when she meets the charismatic Nico who invites her sail with him on his sailboat, the Susannah. Nico is from a wealthy family, while Lux had to struggle and drop out of school after her mother became ill. They couldn’t be from more different backgrounds. Nico is offered a large sum of money from two young women to sail them to the remote Meroe Island, and soon the group departs together on Nico’s boat.
The story is told in flashbacks and from the points of view of serval of the main characters. It becomes clear that none of them are who they appear to be. Once they arrive on Meroe, the tension really ramps up. There have been strange occurrences there for decades and while the island might be beautiful, it is also very dangerous.
The group soon meets up with other sailors and lots of sun, drinking and partying follows. Each of the characters has a hidden agenda. Lux never knows who she can trust, and neither did I! Lux realizes that really didn’t know Nico at all before she agreed to sail with him to the remote locale, and that his other passengers might not be as friendly as they seemed to be at first. I could not wait to see what happened next in this story.
“You can cling to the before, or you can try to live in the after, you know?”
I liked this book much more than the author’s earlier thriller which I found to be a bit over the top. Reckless Girls is thoroughly engrossing and Barrie Kreinik’s narration of the audiobook is fantastic. Her different accents are perfection! This is just a wonderfully dark thriller with a twisty ending that will definitely entertain you and keep you guessing. It is the perfect diversion!
(Thanks to the publisher for providing an audiobook listening copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)
