“Atmosphere and intrigue in this page-turner thriller”

Owning a beach hut on Dorset’s Jurassic coast seems an idyllic retreat from the stresses and strains of city life and a place to go to unwind. That is, of course, until someone dies and the tight-knit group of friends turn out to not be as close as first thought as a spiderweb of secrets and lies unfold.

Leah Pitt grew up in Dorset, so it seems a great place to set her first novel and her love of true-crime meant that there was only one genre she would be heading for when she put pen to paper.

The blurb for this debut novel states: “August, 1997. Matilda is killed in a tragic accident on the Dorset rocks, leaving her best friend Sophie alone, wracked with guilt.

“Decades later, Sophie is back for the first time since that terrible summer, to sell her family’s old beach hut and bury the memories forever. But on clearing out the hut, she finds evidence that Matilda’s death was no accident. What really happened the night she died?

“As Sophie edges closer to the truth, the past starts to close in on the present.”

Hooked yet? You should be as this is an atmospheric, intriguing thriller that brings you straight into the story of what happened on the fatal night and doesn’t let go of you once you are hooked.

It is a beautifully paced thriller with plenty of suspense, well-developed characters and a dual timeline that propels the action forward, with a good helping of 90s nostalgia added to the mix.

This is your summer beach read, though you may not want to hire the beach hut and just stay laying upon a towel on the sand instead.