Book Review: The Pool House by Tasmina Perry

The Hamptons - summer playground for the rich and mega-rich. Jem and her husband Nat can't believe it when they are invited to share a house beach-side in the Hamptons one summer. Style editor Nat has made massive connections since moving over from England a year ago, and this well-planned schmoozing has meant that the summer will be one to remember.

Jem has been at a loose end since moving to New York and has big dreams of running her own food blog. She tolerates her husband's cutthroat career and sees the summer as a way of making friends and spending time with Nat. But it turns out that the reason that the spot opened up at the house is that last year one of the wives - Alice - drowned in the pool on the property. It was ruled as accidental - she had been drinking after all, but gut-instinct tells Jem that there is more to it.

As she delves deeper she finds out that a lot went on last summer that no-one wants to talk about. The housemates do well hiding their secrets but with the help of a surprising new friend, Jem finds the cracks in their stories and finds out the truth about Alice.

The novel is written in two alternating sections - 'this summer', written from Jem's perspective, and 'last summer', written from Alice's perspective. The timing of the jumps is perfect for making you want to keep reading, each section ends with a massive cliffhanger or revelation and leaves you wanting to know just a little bit more before you put the book down.

FYI- there are a decent chunk of raunchy scenes, they are not too over-described but are definitely a bit part of the storyline, especially in Alice's story  - I was unprepared for the stark change from Jem to Alice!

The plot is well written and well thought out and having a small pool of suspects makes it interesting to guess what really happened. The characters are well drawn and not always likeable which is a refreshing change. As well as the whodunnit, there are also some much deeper issues that affect the main characters which are worked through as the novel progresses.

I really, really enjoyed this book! I will definitely be reading some more of Tasmina Perry's work - despite the cheesy covers. The look of this novel seems to stray from her usual so it will be interesting to see how the others read.

Available now!

Thanks to Hachette for the review copy of this book!