This is a perfect holiday read set in a Villa in the South of France! Sabine Durrant’s characters always have something to hide and those in “Sun Damage”are no exception to this.
First person narrator, Ali, is a con artist working with the controlling, Sean. When she identifies a young woman on the beach of a small French seaside town as a possible mark for a scam, Sean agrees to go along with it. However things don’t run entirely to plan and Ali soon finds herself on the run from Sean, having adopted another woman’s identity as a chef employed by a group friends holidaying in a beautiful secluded villa.
I don’t want to reveal too much about the story as it will spoil the enjoyment of this cleverly crafted book. You can feel the sun and the heat of the beautiful location which add to the tension as the plot moves along. How much the reader can trust Ali’s narration is open to debate but as you learn her back story and you realise her dilemma you do feel sorry for her. However it becomes obvious that the psychological tricks she has learnt as a con artist are still with her and she it’s not beyond using them to keep ahead of the game. Is she trustworthy? Well that is not clear even at the end of the book after several twists have been revealed. I must add that I found it quite fascinating learning how con artists use psychological observations to read and then trick their victims.
I really enjoyed this book and the character of Ali-she was sympathetic à and vulnerable as well as incredibly quit witted.
I raced through the book in a couple of days in the middle of an English heat wave which probably engulfed me in the sunny theme even more! I’ve read other books by this author and found them all compelling reads and Sun Damage is definitely up there. Recommended as a five star read!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my arc

Sabine Durrant is such a good writer and I loved her latest book, Sun Damage. Not only is the writing excellent the setting is gorgeous and it’s an original story about a con artist who tries to break away from the path she’s on. Great characters and an intriguing plot, it’s not a fast paced book but I loved every minute of reading it. Highly recommended.

4.5 stars
Subine Durrant never disappoints and her new novel Sun Damage is excellent, with an atmospheric setting, believable characters and twisty plot. Even if somewhat slow in places, the story is never boring. I found the little observations about human nature quite fascinating, almost like surreptitious people watching. The ending is unsurprising, but satisfying nevertheless.

I’ve enjoyed Sabine Durrant in the past and “sort off” enjoyed this one, but frankly found it a tad tedious and not at all thrilling.

Maybe it’s me but I didn’t engage with any of the major characters and the minor ones seemed almost irrelevant to the primary plot. I read through the book in the hope of becoming involved but other than the “twist” towards the end I found it rather pedestrian.

Nonetheless a reasonably enjoyable read but I’m not sure that it reached its potential.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Ali has been travelling with Sean, conning others to pay their way. When they identify Lulu on the beach in the South of France as a mark, things don’t go as planned, in a tragic turn of events. Ali makes a run for it and ends up taking Lulu’s place as a summer cook. This is where some of it was a bit far fetched. When Sean appears on the scene again, it is not as Ali expects. A decent summer read.

I really enjoyed this book. Ali and Sean are grifters, travelling around the world scamming people they meet. However, when they identify Lulu as a victim on a beach in the south of France, a tragic accident forces Ali to make a run for it on her own. She ends up working as a cook for a group of holiday makers in a big house further along the coast. It seems that most of the guests have their secrets, which adds to the story. Ali knows that Sean will be searching for her as she has taken some money from him. This is a great read with some amazing twists! Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

I really enjoyed this and got through it in a day. It's very twisty and a bit silly, but good fun and ideal for the beach!

I also liked that all the characters were really distinctive despite there being so many of them - this was really well done.

Overall, a great holiday read!

I should have enjoyed this more than I did because I was in the South of Franc3 when I read it but disappointingly I just couldn’t like the characters or the plot. I felt it was very much like a drama I had watched on to but I can’t remember the name of that to accurately compare.

This novel, set in the South of France, gripped me from the start, with the heat and the sense of menace shimmering beneath the surface at all times. Sabine Durrant is one of my favourite and most consistent thriller writers,so I hit request as soon as I saw this was available on NetGalley, and I wasn't disappointed,

The story centres around Ali, a somewhat lost young woman who has drifted out of foster care and into a life of crime. Under the tutelage of Sean, a con man she meets while travelling, Ali has learned how to be a competent scammer. The two of them are successfully working their way down the French coast when they latch on to a new target, the beautiful and wealthy Lulu. When their plans suddenly go badly awry, Ali flees, taking on Lulu's identity and escaping into the private chef job Lulu had for the summer.

Ali is quickly accepted into the fold, but she knows that Sean will want to find her at any cost. And it seems that Ali isn't the only one in the villa with something to hide...

This is a beautifully written and cleverly plotted story with, as expected, a couple of twists. I loved the setting and the sense of quiet dread that permeated the novel from the start, and I found myself rooting for Ali despite of (or perhaps because of) her past. The novel is a bit of a slow burn at times but I liked that also - I found it reflective of Ali's state in the story.

Another wonderful thriller from the fabulous Sabine Durrant.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher who granted me a free ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

‘Sun Damage’ is the latest book by Sabine Durrant.

Nine guests arrive at a remote villa in the south of France. They know each other well. Or think they do. But at least one of them has plenty to hide – and nowhere to run. Under the relentless sun, loyalties will be tested, secrets revealed, and tensions pushed to the point of no return.

Yesterday I spent my day absorbed in this book and it’s an exciting thriller packed with deceit, drama and delicious food that literally had my mouth watering.

Set in France, Ali works with Sean, they are both con-artists taking advantage of vulnerable people but one day it all goes terribly wrong and Ali decides that she wants to go alone and manages to escape Sean. Using her skills and wits, Ali takes on a new identity as an aspiring actress called Lulu who will be a cook for a holidaying family. Whilst hiding from Sean, she finds herself connecting with the family and uncovering their secrets whilst falling for the charms of the family friend Rob.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a book by Sabine but like the name of her previous book, once you start, they really get under your skin. Ali is a great character, having had a troubled past, she’s had to hustle her way through life and to be honest, it really makes for fascinating reading as she explains her tricks. The family that she’s working with is an interesting mix of personalities, the mother Rebecca is a scatty character who’s constantly putting herself down whilst her teenage daughters are dealing with their own dramas.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and it was so easy to get whisked away and caught up in the drama set against the sunny backdrop of France and packed with delicious flavours and exquisite descriptions of food. The story is a suspenseful one packed with anxiety and unreliable characters that made for gripping reading. Fast paced, dramatic and steeped in suspense, ‘Sun Damage’ is a great thriller that sizzles throughout!

You can buy ‘Sun Damage’ from Amazon and is available to buy from good bookshops.

Love this authour and great concept
As it’s some inspiration from the bbc drama the serpent and did evoke that at the begining
Enjoyed the tale and was suspenseful
Did guess the twist as hard to not when u know it’s about con artists
Will always buy sabines novels for their intriguing relationship dynamics and not always likeable .
Preferred her other novels a bit more but did enjoy this just cd have gone further maybe with the secrets and exploring lead characters ambiguous nature as u have pity and are supporting her just wd have liked more the sense of her darker nature and wether she cd turn her life on the cons once if she got her happy ending
Cd be an interesting sequal maybe

A brilliant story set in a beautiful villa in France. I think the setting really made this book have more character and increase the tension. I enjoyed the whole 'hustle' aspect as well as the underlying cat and mouse element. The characters are suitably devious with many secrets being discovered along the way.

Firstly, thank you to the publisher for inviting me to be part of the book tour

What a book. This book is an absolutely incredible thriller. I struggled to put this down
Some may know, I am packing to move out and I’ve been reading a chapter of this in between packing. I wish I could have sat and devoured it in one sitting. I truly loved it!

This book has so much tension in it. It really is a “textbook” thriller. You can feel the tension in the pages, making you feel as though you are part of the book, the pages putting you on edge

The book is very hard to review without revealing spoilers; but there are so many twists throughout and I highly recommend it.

I look forward to reading more by this author

A gripping thriller from start to finish! I couldn’t put it down! Will be reading more books by this author in the future.

This is an excellent thriller by Sabine Durrant, author of ‘Lie with me’ and ‘Take me in’ which I also enjoyed. This is an excellent read and one of the high points of this years reading so far. Good characters, exciting plot and plenty of tension throughout.

The novel is set in France and follows Ali and Sean who make a living from conning unsuspecting victims out of their hard earned money. I will not say anymore about the actual plot because I don’t want to give anything away. Needless to say there is plenty of thrills and spills along the way in this exciting thriller that is full of suspense.

On finishing the book I instantly started looking for another novel by this author to read.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I've read a number of Sabine Durrant's books and like the previous ones this didn't disappoint. An excellent storyline about Sean and Ali who are con artists currently based in the South of France. Lots of twists and would definitely recommend this as a great read.

This psychological thriller really gripped me: I was almost holding my breath as I read it!
Sean and Ali are con artists in the south if France. But when they con a wealthy and lonely innocent, Lulu, things take a dark turn.
This is full of twists and turns, as Sean and Ali play cat and mouse.
You can almost feel the oppressive heat of the French summer as Ali tries to escape from Sean.
But things are not what they seem.
I have enjoyed all of Durrant’s novels but this is probably her best yet.
Recommended: if you like suspense, clever plotting and a thriller that will keep you awake and guessing.

Really gripping and very well-written psychological thriller. Perfectly conjures up the atmosphere of a summer holiday gone very wrong.

The sun-drenched setting is wonderful and makes this book a joy to read as one gets to know the characters and find yourself rooting for Ali and yearning fr a holiday. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

This had all the makings of a great summer thriller but was a little disappointing.

The premise is great. Sean and Ali are con artists who make a living travelling the world scamming wealthy, unsuspecting types out of significant sums of money. They’re in the South of France when they spot Lulu sitting at a bar and home in on her.

When the scam goes wrong and Ali is forced to flee, she secures a job under false pretences. Will she be able to keep her identity a secret or will her past catch up with her?

The book got off to a good start but stalled about a third in and nothing happened until the last couple of pages.

The con was explained in too much detail at times, which had the effect of bogging the story down. There were also a few side stories involving minor characters that came to nothing and felt pretty pointless by the time I’d finished the book. The location is fabulous (I love a book set in a sunny climate) and the writing is lovely, I’d just have liked a little more pace.

A pedestrian thriller - an oxymoron I know - and while it’s not bad, it’s not one I’d be in a hurry to pack for the holidays. 2.5/5 ⭐️

*Many thanks to the publisher @hodderbooks for an advance copy of this book via @netgalley. As always this is an honest review.*