Thank you MIRA/Netgalley, #partner, for the advanced copy of Out of Her Depth in exchange for my honest review.
Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for Out of Her Depth. Thank you MIRA for inviting me to participate.
Publisher: MIRA
Published: July 12, 2022
Summary:
There are summers that will change your life.
There are summers that may end it.
In the lush green hills beyond Florence sits the Villa Medici—a graceful pensione surrounded by manicured gardens. Rachel, a college student from an unfashionable London suburb, can’t believe her luck in landing a summer job here. Especially when she’s drawn into a circle of privileged young sophisticates, including her glamorous coworker Diana, who promises to help Rachel win the affections of handsome, confident Sebastian.
But as champagne flows and rivalries fester in the Tuscan countryside, Rachel realizes that Diana has motivations of her own. Adrift in a world of backstabbing and bed-hopping, lavish parties and easy betrayal, Rachel feels the stakes rising along with the temperature until, one night, something snaps. Someone dies. And nothing will ever be the same…
In this atmospheric thriller set in sun-drenched Tuscany, Lizzy Barber weaves a deadly web of manipulation and desire that will keep readers enthralled until the breathtaking last page.
My thoughts:
This is the second book I’ve read by Lizzy Barber and I am a fan! She has proven with this new book that she really is a master at creating clever psychological fiction and I will be reading whatever she writes!
A well-done psychological thriller about toxic friendships is one of my favorite tropes and this one was so cleverly written. Right from the start, I found myself hooked, unable to walk away. That’s the best kind of feeling, where you just become so consumed with a story that you don’t want to put it down and I ended up reading this one in just two sittings!
This story moves at just the right pace, starting off slowly to set everything up and then building to quite the conclusion. We move back and forth between “then” and “now” and I loved that little hints were dropped, almost like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. We know something happened that summer all those years ago and we know that Sebastian has paid the price…but what happened and why?
This book is not only completely atmospheric – the sense of place is unlike anything I’ve read lately – but also it is dripping in dark undertones and bitter manipulations. It is such an addictive read and the twists that it took made the book. I highly recommend this one and have added Lizzy Barber to my list of must-read authors.
About the author:
Lizzy Barber studied English at Cambridge University. Having previously dabbled in acting and film development, she has spent the last ten years as head of marketing for a restaurant group. Her first novel, A Girl Named Anna, won the Daily Mail and Random House First Novel Prize. She lives in London with her family.
Authors Links: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads
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