THRILLER REVIEW: The Underneath - Melanie Finn

RELEASE DATE:  03/05/18
PUBLISHER:  Apollo

SYNOPSIS:

Ex-journalist Kay and her family are spending the summer in a rented farmhouse in Vermont. Kay is haunted by her traumatic past in Africa, and is struggling with her troubled marriage and the constraints of motherhood. Then her husband is called away unexpectedly on business and Kay finds herself alone with the children, obsessed by the idea that something terrible has happened to the owners of the house. The locals are reticent when she asks about their whereabouts; and she finds disturbing writing scrawled across one of the walls.
As she starts to investigate she becomes involved with a local man, Ben, whose life is complicated by his own violent past, his involvement in a drug-trafficking operation, and his desire to adopt an abused child. Their two stories collide and intertwine, heading towards a dramatic denouement.
The Underneath is a tense, intelligent, beautifully written thriller which is also a considered exploration of violence, both personal and national, and whether it can ever be justified.

REVIEW:
To be honest this is the sort of book that sounds downright depressing when you read the blurb, but its the fact that it has such a feeling of hopelessness that makes it resonate with me as a reader.

The principle character is a complex lead as she struggles to make sense of things both professionally as well as personally during what is initially thought of as an escape from the real world in order to put her life in order.

its a complex story and whilst we have an arc that leads from real world horrors to an area where you'd think you'd be safe, it goes to show that some things that are closer to home can hit way harder than atrocities thousands of miles away.

Back this up with solid prose, an organically grown plotline and characters that shape the world for the reader, all round makes this a book that will stay with you for a long time.