Dana Portwood's Reviews > Saltwater

I generally find thrillers to be very formulaic, so the question I ask myself while reading is "how well have they created within the formula?"
This novel gives us an isolated, decaying setting in a fading villa on the island of Capri, a rich family with lots of dark and sinister secrets, an 'innocent' who must be protected at all costs, a clever outsider, affairs and amorous encounters galore, money and power, and a history that is mysterious and verboten.
Reading this story is like reading through layers and layers of gauzy batting. The reader keeps unwinding bit by bit and hoping to see more clearly, but the answers keep dancing just beyond our fingertips. Though at times the pacing felt a bit slow, overall, I found this to be a satisfying read with surprises even I did not predict. Believable? No. Fun? Yes. Disappointed? Not a bit.