Out Of Her Depth: A Thrilling Richard & Judy Book Club Pick

Product Information

I did like the way this book unfolded, alternating between the present and the past, deliberately laying things out so that the reader can feel the anticipation of the events. Themes of obsession and toxic relationships abound. The ending had some great surprises, yet I thought it went a step too far, one of those "one twist too many" traps that writers sometimes fall into unfortunately. The characters are quite unlikable, even those I liked at first I eventually grew to despise. I want to have someone to root for, so this was a bit disappointing.

Now that being said, it did have some good qualities. I enjoyed the scenery presented, the location for the plot of "then", the intricacies of the characters, some of the suspense aspects at a few points, & the plot potential. Barber did keep me guessing though along the way that kept me intrigued and curious because I needed to know "what happened"! Although not as tantalizing as I'd have liked & hoped, it was tasty. At first, this story and the mood reminded me a little of Scorpionfish by Natalie Bakopoulos. But the more I read, the more annoyed I got with Out of Her Depth. THE AUTHOR: Hello! I am a London-based author, living in Islington with my husband, George. I read English at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University. A well-done psychological thriller about toxic friendships is one of my favorite tropes and this one was so cleverly written. Right from the start, I found myself hooked, unable to walk away. That’s the best kind of feeling, where you just become so consumed with a story that you don’t want to put it down and I ended up reading this one in just two sittings! Out of Her Depth by Lizzy Barber is a suspenseful thriller novel. The story in Out of Her Depth is one that is told by alternating timelines with one from the past, around twenty years before and one in the current time.

The narration is equally questionable. It’s the typical now-then format that is supposed to slowly and interestingly unfold the story from two angles. It is told in the first-person, so our protagonist is also our narrator, which makes things less interesting. The format itself doesn’t work that well, because during each jump nothing is revealed. It nothing more that a chronological telling of the protagonist’s summer spent in Italy. She must now publicly correct her mistake to make sure people are not misled about their energy prices and hit with unexpected and unaffordable energy bills this winter.” Really believable characters, a great plot, a wonderful setting . . . felt like I was in Italy soaking up the sun’ *****

Out of Her Depth, is one of the best psychological thrillers I have read in a long time. This was a dramatic read that holds every key component to be fresh on the tongues of our active "bookstagram" community. I became completely consumed with the storyline and even wanted to punch a bratty kid or two. Scrase will executive produce alongside Barber. Brendan Fitzgerald, senior VP of international co-productions for Sony Pictures Television International Production, will oversee the project for the studio. The writing is good, though. It’s descriptive and catching, which makes this even the more frustrating. It could have an incredibly captivating and satisfying read. I really enjoyed the format. The past of 21 years ago interchanging with the present meant I wanted to keep on reading (without a break!) to find out the what and the why. In the present it’s obvious how Rachel is affected. It often felt as if she was just going through the motions. She’s frozen in time without any space to develop into the person she could have been. In the past, we’re not sure in the beginning of the specifics, but that picture builds throughout the book. Working with the restaurants has been creative and dynamic…and has involved a certain about of writing (including a lot of press releases!), but writing has always been a creative itch I have scratched on the side.

One thing is abundantly clear in this book. Diana is not a nice person. What is more about the story is that Rachel becomes obsessed with Diana and that obsession carries its way through the entire book. This is most certainly a character driven story as readers can easily see the mean streak that Diana has flowing throughout her all while Rachel is driving to win Diana as well as Sebastian over at any cost. People talk about her racing credentials, but it's OK for Ted Kravitz to have no racing credentials whatsoever and still do his "notebook" section. You don't have to be an ex F1 driver to talk about F1. Diversity amongst the presenters is a good thing.

The phone call was from Luigi Bonomi of LBA Books telling me I had WON the Daily Mail and Random House First Novel Prize 2017

Kids Definition

The main premise is that Rachel, who is about to start University at Cambridge in the fall, takes a summer job in Tuscany working at a hotel, hopefully to work on her Italian skills. She meets fellow co-worker Diana, who is fun-loving but has a mean streak and is brazen where Rachel is timid. She draws Rachel out of her shell, but there's a dark undercurrent to everything she does. Rachel falls hard for Sebastian, a rich guy out of her league, but he doesn't really seem interested. At the beginning of the book, we are twenty years later and find out that Sebastian has been in prison for murder, but his sentence has been overturned and he is trying to get in touch with Rachel. Who was murdered and what really happened? In this thrilling story delivered in rapid then and now dual timelines, one of our protagonists, Rachel Bailey, is in a toxic friendship with Diana. A summer full of opportunities is before Rachel as they both get jobs at a lovely Tuscan villa. Rachel’s growing friendship with Diana is further complicated by the fact that Rachel is rather drawn to Sebastian. Will Diana help her to win over Sebastian or will something more sinister eventually happen? The rest of the characters aren’t any better and my attention soon dwindled. I lost all interest in any of them. I have to say, I had higher hopes for this one. The concept and potential of the plot was there, but I feel there was a few things that made it fall short for me. One being the character Rachel. At times I wanted to shake the stuffing out of her she frustrated me so much with some of her behaviour. The ending also felt.. less than satisfying for me and off? And I only found the "suspense" to be mediocre at best here. Author of My Name is Anna, the winner of the Daily Mail/Random House First Novel Prize, Lizzy Barner has released her second simmering summer thriller - Out of Her Depth.