Scan barcode
A review by spinesinaline
The Wave at Hanging Rock by Gregg Dunnett
5.0
Check out my interview with the author: https://spinesinaline.wordpress.com/2016/12/14/author-interview-gregg-dunnett/
So I know I’ve said before that I rarely manage to guess the twists in mystery novels but there are so many in this book and it really messed me up! I had to stay up long after finishing it just going over everything I had read, and if a book stays with you that long, you know it’s a good one.
I kind of surprised myself with this rating but I’m still thinking about it! It deserves 5 stars!
I don’t want to give more about the book away besides what’s in the summary above because this book is really like a puzzle and it’s much more enjoyable if you’re the one putting all the pieces together. So trust me, you’re gonna want to read this book.
What I will say is that we follow two perspectives here, Jesse and Natalie, with no clue as to how their stories are connected, if at all. There’s plenty of room for speculation as to how they may be related but it reads like two separate stories.
One of the things that really catches my attention with books is good dialogue and it felt so natural in this book. There’s one scene in particular with Natalie and another person in a bar and I was just struck by how easy their conversation was! This is what makes a great book as opposed to a good book.
What may be a turn-off for some people is that the book features a great deal of surfing and surfer’s lingo. Not being a surfer myself, I had difficulty picturing some of the things the author was describing but I was able to understand well enough to follow along. There were some chapters that seemed to drag on in the description though, so in those parts I would’ve preferred a shorter summary.
This is a deliberately messy novel so it’s a breath of fresh air from your typical mystery, definitely fitting the thriller genre better. While it doesn’t get to the highly disturbing levels of Gone Girl, I was left feeling uneasy and slightly stressed out after reading it. It’s frustrating for sure, and involves the kind of situation that would honestly be my worst nightmare if it ever happened in real life, but it makes for a gripping read!
So I know I’ve said before that I rarely manage to guess the twists in mystery novels but there are so many in this book and it really messed me up! I had to stay up long after finishing it just going over everything I had read, and if a book stays with you that long, you know it’s a good one.
I kind of surprised myself with this rating but I’m still thinking about it! It deserves 5 stars!
I don’t want to give more about the book away besides what’s in the summary above because this book is really like a puzzle and it’s much more enjoyable if you’re the one putting all the pieces together. So trust me, you’re gonna want to read this book.
What I will say is that we follow two perspectives here, Jesse and Natalie, with no clue as to how their stories are connected, if at all. There’s plenty of room for speculation as to how they may be related but it reads like two separate stories.
One of the things that really catches my attention with books is good dialogue and it felt so natural in this book. There’s one scene in particular with Natalie and another person in a bar and I was just struck by how easy their conversation was! This is what makes a great book as opposed to a good book.
What may be a turn-off for some people is that the book features a great deal of surfing and surfer’s lingo. Not being a surfer myself, I had difficulty picturing some of the things the author was describing but I was able to understand well enough to follow along. There were some chapters that seemed to drag on in the description though, so in those parts I would’ve preferred a shorter summary.
This is a deliberately messy novel so it’s a breath of fresh air from your typical mystery, definitely fitting the thriller genre better. While it doesn’t get to the highly disturbing levels of Gone Girl, I was left feeling uneasy and slightly stressed out after reading it. It’s frustrating for sure, and involves the kind of situation that would honestly be my worst nightmare if it ever happened in real life, but it makes for a gripping read!