Perfect for fans of Jane Harper, the beautifully written, evocative and pulse-pounding new novel from Sam Lloyd. A family pushed to its limits, set against the backdrop of the most unforgiving of landscapes. The news doesn't strike cleanly, like a guillotine's blade. Nothing so merciful. This news is a slovenly traveller, dragging its feet, gradually revealing its horrors. And it announces itself first with violence—the urgent hammering of fists on the front door. Life can change in a heartbeat. Lucy has everything she could wish for: a beautiful home high on the clifftops above the Devonshire coast, her own thriving business, a devoted husband and two beloved children. Then one morning, time stops. Their family yacht is recovered, abandoned far out at sea. Lucy's husband is nowhere to be found and as the seconds tick by, she begins to wonder—what if he was the one who took the boat? And if so, where is he now? As a once-in-a-generation storm frustrates the rescue operation, Lucy pieces together what happened onboard. And then she makes a fresh discovery. One that plunges her into a nightmare more shocking than any she could ever have imagined . . .

サム・ロイドの筆致は、単なるスリラーの枠を超え、冷徹な美学を湛えています。デヴォン州の荒々しい海岸線を舞台に、完璧な日常が崩壊していく様は圧巻です。特に、迫りくる嵐と家庭の瓦解をシンクロさせる描写は、読者の肺を圧迫するような圧倒的な緊迫感をもたらします。 物語の核にあるのは、信頼という名の砂上の楼閣です。愛する者の失踪が疑念へと変質する過程は、人間の深淵を覗き込むような醍醐味に満ちています。海がすべてを飲み込むように真実が露わになる瞬間、読者は真の恐怖が嵐ではなく、静かな家庭の内側にこそ潜んでいたことに気づかされるはずです。