Living The Dream?…
Blissful paradise turns dark and murderous in this pacy and well drawn suspense with a beautiful setting. Scuba diving instructor, Cass, is living the dream - or at least she thinks that she is. A stunning but remote island, blue seas and sun and a career that she adores. All of that is about to drastically change. Immersive and compelling with a nicely crafted cast holding secrets aplenty, a tension fuelled plot and a mounting sense of despair.

I did not see that ending coming! I stayed up until 1am to finish the book as I was unaware of the time. I just kept turning the pages. I found several of the characters likeable and shed a tear at one stage! The scenery was well described too so you could imagine the setting. Definitely a pageturner in my opinion

A murder mystery set in a modern way in a beautiful setting. However it just didn't hit the mark. I think I have to at least like or appreciate some of the characters in a book to enjoy it, and here I didn't. Cass in particular annoyed me. Sorry this was not a favourite read. Others I'm sure will love it.

Escape to paradise.
Scuba diving instructor Cass leads her students out for their first dive off the beautiful coast of Koh Sang, Thailand's world famous party island. It's supposed to be a life changing experience, but things quickly spiral out of control...

Leave your secrets behind.
By the time she gets back to the shore, one of her students is dead, another badly injured, and she knows that her idyllic life is about to be smashed to pieces on the rocks.

But don't get lost for ever...
Someone has discovered Cass's secret, and on an island as remote as this, accidents happen. Plenty of backpackers choose to stay here for ever but some are never heard from again...

Really enjoyable read totally recommend
Thank you NetGalley and Random House Uk Transworld Publishers
I just reviewed The Dive by Sara Ochs. #TheDive #NetGalley

A debut thriller set in Thailand and featuring multiple characters and viewpoints. I tried and failed to enjoy the story but other readers will enjoy the twists and turns.

Set on the party island of Koh Sang in Thailand, The Dive centres around a group of ex-pats and travellers who find themselves embroiled in a sun-soaked whodunnit, filled with twists and turns to the very end.

This book is the perfect holiday read. Ideally devoured beside a pool, or on the beach, as you sip ice cold cocktails and people watch fellow guests through the shade of your sunglasses.

As is true to form with these kinds of thrillers, there are characters, secrets and backstories aplenty. Shifting narratives show us different perspectives, mainly of Cass, the diving instructor, and Brooke, an Instagram influencer and aspiring journalist. For that reason, you have to pay attention. But isn’t that half the fun of a thriller like this? As the book progresses the idyllic island becomes darker and more threatening, morphing from paradise into an unpredictable hellscape where danger, corruption and deceit thrives.

As a debut for Sara Ochs, I think this is a real banger if summer thrillers are your bag. While some storylines do feel a bit shallow, only interwoven to serve as red herrings, the ‘true’ story that under pins it is well formed and navigated. I certainly didn’t call the ending, and that to me signals a good book that’s well worth the read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sara Ochs for providing me with an eArc of The Dive. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will definitely keep an eye out for more from the author.

*Semi Spoiler* Sarah Ochs has in my opinion written a great murder mystery with everything I look for in a story. A modern whodunnit set in paradise.
Trying to write a review without ruining it for everyone is hard as I hate books that are labelled as “twisty” as it immediately gives the game away. I don’t want to be on the lookout for the plot twist, I want it to grab me & BOOM! This sure didn’t dissatisfy.

Thank you Netgalley and Sarah Ochs for a preview of this book.

I didn't love it or hate it and I'm not sure why lol. In theory it had all the components for me to absolutely love it but it just didn't get under my skin the way I'd have liked. It was really easy to read although I did get a bit confused about who's pov it was once or twice. That's my bad for not paying enough attention clearly. And there are a few twists but they just seemed a bit too unrealistic.... then again, this is a fiction so that's the whole point! It doesn't have to be realistic! I liked the characters and thought they were unique and not just the same ones you come across I every other thriller. I liked it, I just had hoped to love it maybe and felt a bit disappointed that I didn't. I'd definitely say it's worth a read though

I found it hard to get in to this book, it wasn’t focussed enough for me, and I couldn’t always remember the different relationships and how they linked, Great location, and story line, but just lacked something.

How I tried to love this book. Everything about this novel’s blurb screamed ‘you’ll love this’ but I didn’t & it has nothing to do with the author’s talent or mastery of her craft. Sometimes a book is written in a certain way with multi-view points scattered throughout. This can be enormously powerful and is a brave way to write characters. It just doesn’t work for me. I get confused & frustrated. Again, this a personal ‘thing’ & I’m not trying to negate the books worth or the author’s talent. Thank you to the publisher & Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A really well written, edge of your seat read. Gripping and an interesting take on a locked room storyline. Enjoyable and creative. I enjoyed.

I absolutely loved this fresh take on a locked room thriller - the diving culture of the Thai islands is the perfect setting, with everyone on the island running from something in their past... while I did guess the twist somewhat early on, it was still an amazing, escapist read and I'm looking forward to Sara's next book!

Fast paced and gripping this book has a compelling storyline full of twists, turns and unpredictability all envoloped in an idyllic setting. I loved it.

Thank for the advance copy of this book! I really enjoyed the story and was hooked from the start! It was well written and had all the ingredients needed!

*This review contains spoilers*

The Dive, Sara Ochs’s debut thriller, exploits far-off summertime settings in the same way as Allie Reynolds’s The Bay, Catherine Cooper’s The Cruise or CL Taylor’s The Last Holiday. Unfortunately, I found it equally disappointing. Cass is a scuba diving instructor on the remote Thai island of Koh Sang. Brooke is an Instagram influencer who’s recently arrived on the island. Both begin to realise they are in danger after one of Cass’s scuba diving trainees is found dead in the ocean. But both also have secrets in their past – and is it these secrets that hold the key to solving the murder?

For me, The Dive was yet another thriller that made little use of its setting and prioritised having as many twists as possible above realistic characterisation or a satisfying resolution. The opening sequence, when Cass takes her group out to dive, was nicely evocative, but even though Ochs manages to strand her cast on Koh Sang during a storm, there’s very little atmosphere or sense of menace. Cass and Brooke’s narrative voices were impossible to tell apart, so I was consistently confused about who was talking. And I hated the reveal halfway through that there are all sorts of things Brooke hasn’t been telling us, when there was no hint that she was an unreliable narrator before – such a cheap trick. I also hated the ‘shock’ ending where we realise the killer is still at loose – I never like this kind of final twist in a thriller, as again, it’s cheap and removes all sense of resolution. In this case, it was also very predictable.

Given all this, I feel like I should rate the book lower, but I did like Cass’s character and her backstory, and it is very readable. One to borrow from the library for a holiday read, but if you want a summery thriller, I’d recommend Louise Candlish’s The Swimming Pool or Hazel Barkworth’s Heatstroke instead. (Having said that, why are there so many more good wintery than summery thrillers?)

I will post my full review to Goodreads etc. nearer the publication date.