Published 23rd June 2022 by Headline.
From the cover of the book:
The waves are to die for. It's a paradise they'd kill to keep.There's a darkness inside all of us and The Bay has a way of bringing it out. Everyone here has their secrets but we don't go looking for them. Because sometimes it's better not to know.
Kenna arrives in Sydney to surprise her best friend, shocked to hear she's going to marry a guy she's only just met. But Mikki and her fiancé Jack are about to head away on a trip, so Kenna finds herself tagging along for the ride.
Sorrow Bay is beautiful, wild and dangerous. A remote surfing spot with waves to die for, cut off from the rest of the world. Here Kenna meets the mysterious group of people who will do anything to keep their paradise a secret. Sky, Ryan, Clemente and Victor have come to ride the waves and disappear from life. How will they feel about Kenna turning up unannounced?
As Kenna gets drawn into their world, she sees the extremes they are prepared to go to for the next thrill. And everyone seems to be hiding something. What has her best friend got involved in and how can she get her away? But one thing is rapidly becoming clear about The Bay: nobody ever leaves.
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When Kenna finds out that her best friend Mikki is going to marry a man that she barely knows, she is sure something is not right about the whole situation. Kenna makes the decision to fly out to Sydney to surprise Mikki, and her fiancé Jack, hoping to persuade her to come back home to Britain. When Kenna arrives she finds that the couple are just about to set off on a surfing trip to the untamed and dangerous Sorrow Bay, so she decides to tag along - even though she has sworn to herself that she will never ride the waves again.
Mikki and Jack are very secretive about the location they are heading to, which makes Kenna feel wary, especially when she sees multiple posters about missing backpackers on the journey. The feeling gets much worse when they arrive at the remote campsite that will be their home for the next few days and Kenna realises that there are other people there already - and they are not happy that she has crashed their party.
Sky, Ryan, Clemente and Victor, joined by Mikki and Jack, call themselves The Tribe and they do not wish to share the rich surfing grounds that they have discovered here in this very private little bay. Kenna can tell that something is off about their little set up from the word go, but she is unwilling to leave without Mikki so tries her best to fit in, even though the way they push each other to extremes, encouraged by the charismatic Sky, is frighteningly reminiscent of some kind of twisted cult.
As Kenna spends time among them a long suppressed yearning to take risks resurfaces within her, and she finds herself being drawn into their wild games. It soon becomes clear that she has become part of something dangerous, and not everyone that comes to The Bay gets to leave again.
The Bay is Allie Reynolds follow-up to her incredible debut Shiver, which delved into the tense rivalry of professional snowboarding. This time, we get to see inside the realm of Reynolds' other love, the world of the surfer. Just as Shiver was the ideal winter read with its chilling snowy vibes, The Bay fits the bill as the perfect summer thriller with its exotic Aussie location and the kind of sweltering temperatures that breed passion and murderous intent.
The action unfurls through the eyes of Kenna as she plays off-beat detective, with a delicious slow-burn that makes the most of the menacing environment, venomous wildlife, and the unhinged behaviour of everyone around her. There is the constant feeling that this is a situation where things are not quite as they appear, and something is circling beneath the surface like a Great White shark threatening to pull them all under to their doom. To mix things up we get periodic standalone chapters from the other members of The Tribe that drop clues to each of their secrets. most of which have you looking in completely the wrong direction when the glorious climax hits you in the middle of typhoon induced madness.
My absolute favourite thing about this book is the complexity of Kenna's character. At first she gives the impression that she is a goody-two shoes, but as we get to know her and her history we discover that she is in fact perfect material to become a Tribe member herself. There is a wildness inside her that longs to be free of its enforced imprisonment, and the seductive pull of what life here in Sorrow Bay could offer her if she gives herself to it overwhelms her at times, which makes the action all the more exciting.
There are some very clever themes running through this book which hint at the fact that Reynolds' writing is developing lovely depth and sophistication. I really enjoyed how she explores why each of the characters is broken in some way, catching you off-guard by making you feel a level of sympathy for the losses and grief that have brought many of them to seek healing within the warped dynamics of The Tribe. And despite not shying away from the very real dangers of the kind of on-the-edge surfing these characters indulge in, Reynolds' obvious wealth of knowledge and love for the sport shines through - I learned ever such a lot about the technicalities involved, and what it feels like to catch the wave you have been waiting for all your life, which made things really interesting.
I gulped this down in one shark-sized bite, totally absorbed by all the mystery, drama and edge-of-the-surfboard thrills. More please Allie Reynolds!
The Bay is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Headline for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review.
About the author:
Her second thriller THE BAY (UK, ANZ) / THE SWELL (USA) is set on a remote Australian beach and will be published in June 2022.
Born and raised in Lincoln, England, Allie moved to Gold Coast, Australia in 2004. She lives near the beach with her two young boys.
Many years ago she competed at snowboard halfpipe. She spent five winters in the mountains of France, Switzerland, Austria and Canada. These days she sticks to surfing - water doesn't hurt as much as ice when you fall on it.
Her first ever job was a Saturday job in a bookstore, at age 14. She taught English for many years and became a full-time writer in 2018.
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