This novel is a locked-room mystery set in paradisical surroundings and features plenty of mystery and murder in a glamorous resort under a tropical sun. Adam and Lou Carter have decided to holiday here with their friends Noah and Eliza Fisher. Both couples bring their children which include a newborn, but the plot focuses mostly on the micro-aspects of the couples’ marriages. These turn out to be less than happy and psychological and physical violence constantly appear to simmer in the background. As animosity turns to violence between the couples, a monsoon drenches the resort, and in an even more sinister turn of events, first one adult goes missing, then one of the children…. I found the pace of the book picked up the more pages I turned, and I was certainly engrossed. Highly recommended. I would like to thank Raven Books and NetGalley as it was the free ARC they gifted me that enabled me to get to know Alice Clark-Platts work, culminating in this impartial book review.

I found this book a little hard to get into at first but once I got into the story properly I was hooked. All the main characters - the 2 couples that the book focused on - were all incredibly interesting and flawed in their own ways and I found myself wanting to find out more about them. . I found the politics of the island a little complicated to follow at times and the story was undeniably dark but I did enjoy it. I really liked the ending too, although it was a little disturbing I thought. Overall a fantastic read that I would recommend.

A fabulous cover for a fabulous read! I found the story engaging and well written, the characters intriguing and the suspense kept me guessing. 4 stars!

I was completely enticed by the cover of The Cove and the tagline 'Its the perfect escape until there is no escape'.

I love a locked room/ locked island mystery and have read quite a few recently. For me personally, The Cove was well written, tense and atmospheric but didn't really have anything unique to make it stand out from a crowded book market. There are the usual elements that you get in a locked room story, everyone is hiding something from everyone else, secrets are revealed that change people's perspectives, no one can escape - but I am afraid I didnt get that wow moment in this.

Started really well, I can’t say I liked the characters (not very nice people) but are well fleshed out and two thirds of the book Entertained me.

It just seemed to fall off abit at the end, not really a coherent plot and despite the dangerous setting of the island, I never really felt any stakes because the story was jumping around so much.

Had potential but just fell short at the end.

The Cove

The blurb of this book seemed right up my street but it wasn't quite what I was expecting.

Two couples and their children go on holiday to a remote island together, having only been friends for a few months.

There's Eliza, who is good looking with some past trauma, her husband, a lawyer who is used to being successful and their twin children. Then there's Lou, who's struggling with motherhood, her husband Adam, a confident, serial cheater, and their son and their baby daughter.

The 'secret' lurking between the couples was quite obvious from very early on in the book. Strangely, a large part of the story didn't seem to link to the couples at all and I wasn't particularly intrigued by it or interested in the outcome.

The climax of the 'secret' between the couple happened really quickly at the end so there wasn't really any tension built up. 75% of the book was leading up to this point and although I think this was designed to get to know the characters better, I didn't really care for any of them. I ended up skimming the last 25% and wasn't really shocked by the ending.

A bit meh for me, I'm sorry to say.

I loved this authors first book The Flower Girls so much so when I saw this being offered on #netgalley I jumped at the chance to read it.

Sadly unlike The Flower Girls this didn't work for me

The first half is good. I was hooked and the author does a great job of creating a sense of foreboding. You can just feel the tension and that something is going to snap and go wrong but not what that is.

However as things do start to go wrong in the plot that is when things go wrong in the book. I just didn't care.

The issues with the locals and the in-fighting just appears out of no where really and who was fighting who and why is kind of explained at the end but again I found myself not caring. Harry just appears half way through the book. The only good guy in the whole story it would seem

But I think the biggest problem for me is there is no one for you to really root for or care about. All 4 people from the 2 couples are fairly awful people in some way. I think I was supposed to care about Lou but I didn't. Yes she was depressed and so that made her brittle but she also seemed fairly self absorbed and standoffish.

The author is definitely a good writer. I would totally try anything else she wrote in the hope that maybe she could recapture the brilliance she demonstrated in The Flower Girls.

3 Stars

Thanks to @netgalley for the advanced copy

I nearly didn't read this as I find the writing style 'using the present tense' is really annoying. However I did keep going and get to the end! It was just ok, all pretty horrible characters and while the premise could have been right I think the basis of Eliza's behaviour was not really analysed in the way it could have been. Not a great debut.

Two couples go off for a long weekend to an idyllic island resort. Both couples are having marriage problems, and both have young kids. None of them is interesting or likeable. Whiny is the word that springs to mind for all of them, By the 20% mark nothing has happened except them all either sniping at their partner, flirting with their non-partner, and lots and lots of stuff about how hard it is to look after a baby.

I'm afraid at that point I abandoned it. Thrillers should thrill, and unfortunately this one is boring me, because the characters are boring people. And please, when can we stop with the present tense? It doesn't give a "sense of immediacy", really it doesn't. It's overused, and tedious.

The Cove is the ultimate 'locked room' story in so much as it's set on a remote tropical island where two couples and their families have gone away for a long weekend together. Both families are ex-pats from London who now live and work in Singapore but we the reader are privy that everything is not as rosy as it seems.

Mainly told through alternating chapters from the viewpoints of Lou and Eliza, although we do get occasional chapters Noah and Adam, we get an insight as to who they all are, how they react to what's happening around them and also see the tensions that are brewing between each of the relationships. They are all flawed and dealing with their own issues and this weekend away was supposed to be a relaxing break but it soon turns out to be anything but.

Personally I found it strange that two couples who weren't really that close would go away together and bring their young children, including a baby, with them especially to a resort which is totally cut off from civilisation, accessible only by boat and has no wi-fi connection to contact anyone in case of emergency.

I have to confess I didn't really connect to any of them, normally when reading books I can relate to or find myself rooting for one of the characters, even an unlikeable character has some sort of appeal but that wasn't the case here. They each had flaws and were dealing with their own issues. Adam came across as arrogant with a wandering eye, Lou seemed to be zoned out constantly as she was using medication as a way with dealing with her post-natal depression, Noah was a workaholic who used alcohol as his crutch and as for Eliza, I just found her to be a bit of a wet blanket.

But even though I couldn't stand Adam, I still wanted to know what had happened to him when he goes missing late at night after a drunken argument. It's at this point that the story finally got going and we get to know a little more about what is actually going on on the island, see the tensions between the locals and the tourist and conservation industries but also discover that there's more going on behind the scenes than at first thought.

Overall I found The Cove to be a book of two halves. I'm glad that I read it but not my favourite read by this author.

“Murder has always felt like such a wilful destruction of your own being. The ultimate ending of another’s life, yes. But, more than that … it’s the ruination of any part of your character that you might justifiably argue was moral and right.”


Holy, holy, HOLY HECK I NEVER SAW THAT TWIST COMING. I certainly never saw the second twist after that. Lou and Adam Carter are off on a lovely holiday to a remote island with their friends Eliza and Noah Fisher, along with both couples children. The first few days prove to be relaxing, but not without their issues, and we quickly learn that both couples don’t seem to be in a happy marriage. So what happens when a fight breaks out between Noah and Adam, and then Lou and Adam before Adam stumbles off drunk and doesn’t return? A monsoon comes straight in after he’s disappeared and the island staff are hiding secrets of their own. But who exactly was the last person to see Adam alive? And just what secrets are being hidden by almost everyone in Turtle Cove? Oh, not to mention that Lou and Adam’s son Raffy goes missing a few days after Adam does….

You all need to read this one, although it’s a slow start it picks up quickly from the halfway point and you just can’t put it down. I absolutely recommend this one if you fancy a suspenseful thriller with twists that you don’t see coming, even when they slap you in the face.

Thank you to Raven Books/@bloomsburypublishing and @netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

This is my first novel by Alice Clark-Platts and I really, really enjoyed it. This is more of a domestic noir book and I love how Alice Clark-Platts narrates the novel.

Two families, go on a weekend away together - neither families are the closest of friends but have known each other for less than a year. We meet Adam and Lou, their son Raffy and their new baby Leila (who is very much a sleepless newborn), and Eliza and Noah with their young children.

Both couples have major issues in their relationships and using the weekend away to try and sort the issues out. Mainly told through Lou and Eliza's perspective they get to the beautiful Turtle Cove and start to explore this seemingly beautiful isolated island. After a few boozy evenings and some friction, After a late night Eliza's husband goes missing and this is where the story really kicks in and the reader wonders what has happened to Adam.

A great novel that I devoured. The writing for me personally, was easy to follow, not too many characters and a good thrilling read.

Thanks to NetGalley, Alice Clark Platts and the publishers for allowing me a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very slow burn that never really got going for me about a bunch of very unlikeable people. Not for me, sorry.

I thought this sounded great, but I have to say it seemed overlong and indeed over-complicated. A collection of boring people with no social conscience whatsoever. I just felt sorry for the children who had to witness the constant drinking of their parents whilst doing little or nothing to amuse them.
Not as great as I thought it would be.

This book started off slow but it soon picked up pace. None of the characters were particularly likeable and I struggled to relate to any of them but this made the storyline more enjoyable. It had wonderful scenic descriptions that added to the atmosphere of the book. I look forward to reading more by this author.

I absolutely love Alice Clark-Platts writing style and her books always hook me. However this was a slow burner and it felt that the point of the book was quite rushed in towards the end. I didn’t like the characters (but this is often the sign of a good book of course!) but on this occasion felt it was because they weren’t built up enough. I wasn’t invested in the friendship and had to keep reminding myself of how long the couples had known each other and what their connection was. I didn’t care about them. And in a good thriller you need to care if they live or die. That was the missing bit for me.

That isn’t to say I wouldn’t read more of Alice’s writing and this was a good read in terms of a plot, a mystery and tension. The Island setting was well-described and the scene was perfect. I don’t regret finishing it and I would give this three stars when measuring it against Alice’s other publications.

I enjoyed this book. Two couples, Lou and Adam, Eliza and Noah and their children are spending a long weekend away from their Singapore homes in the beautiful resort of Turtle Cove. However, all is not as idyllic as it seems. Tensions are building between the resort staff and the locals and also between the couples who don't actually know each other that well. Then one of them disappears........... This is a real page turner that will keep you on the edge of your seat to the end. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

I had high hopes for this book, and although I didn't hate it, I'm not sure it lived up to them.

The setting was good, as was the story, but there were a lot of filler chapters. Particularly towards the last 15%. It definitely could have been shorter.

Would I read another by this author? Like I said, I didn't hate it so if the blurb is good, I'd probably give it a go

Welcome to Turtle Cove.
A luxury resort surrounded by pristine sea and the dense beauty of the jungle, it is the perfect escape from the stresses of life and work. For couples Lou and Adam, Eliza and Noah, a few days spent relaxing on the beach, while their kids are happily distracted, is exactly what they need.
But appearances can be deceiving.
There's a strange tension brewing at the resort, with relations between the hotel and the locals threatening to spill over into violence. This is nothing though compared to the strained atmosphere between the two families. They haven't been friends for long and they are starting to realise they don't really know each other at all.
Except for one of them. One of them knows another very well.
And they have a score to settle.

This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own hone\st voluntary review

Shame, I was hoping to really enjoy this one but, unfortunately it just didn’t gel with me. The characters annoyed me and the book was nit what I’d hoped for. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.