Book info

• Title The Swimming Pool
• Author Louise Candlish
• Year 2016
• Genre Thriller

One summer can change everything... In the heady swelter of a suburban summer, the Elm Hill lido opens. For teacher Natalie Steele, the school holidays are always spent with her husband Ed and daughter Molly. But not this year. Despite Molly's extreme phobia of water, Natalie is drawn to the lido and its dazzling social scene, led by glamorous Lara Channing. Soon she's spending long days with Lara at the pool and intimate evenings at her home. Real life, and the person she used to be, begins to feel very far away. But is the new friendship everything it seems? Or has Natalie been swept dangerously out of her depth?

Thoughts

This was a good mystery thriller, following a family that gradually drift further and further apart as they get entangled with a new family until the ultimate dramatic accident occurs that brings everything to a head. The book dips back and forth in time, gradually unravelling more of the mystery until it comes to the conclusion. The only thing I didn’t like about it is that all the way through I couldn’t see how it tied in with the prologue… and it turns out that prologue chapter was a dream. A bit annoying. But it’s a good mystery, trying to guess what’s happening and why, and very interesting when it’s all revealed.

Rating: 3 / 5