The Surf House by Lucy Clarke book review: A perfect summer thriller

The Surf House by Lucy Clarke: The review

What a joy it is to read a book that you don’t want to put down. That’s exactly what I found with The Surf House, a slow-burn light thriller, set in the beautiful (and fictional) surfing village of Mallah, nestled high on the coast of Morocco. It follows Bea, a 20-something who has just left a modelling career behind in an effort to try and figure her life out. Her first day out on her own doesn’t go so well when she’s attacked in Marrakesh — but thankfully Marnie appears just in time to help, a woman around her own age.

Marnie and Bea share a traumatic experience which will have ripples across their relationship — but Bea is keen to try and put it behind her. After all, she has Marnie to help her now — Marnie who drives Bea to The Surf House, the surfing hostel she owns in Mallah. She tells Bea she can stay as long as she’d like, and the pair quickly form a close bond. Bea is family, as Marnie keeps telling her.

But not all is quite what it seems at the Surf House. Bea can’t shake an unsettled feeling in the pit of her stomach. There’s something off about Ped, Marnie’s partner who she just can’t trust. And there’s the looming presence of Momo, the police officer who is extorting her and Marnie. When Seth shows up, an American traveller who is looking for his sister Savannah, a previous visitor to The Surf House who has since disappeared without a trace, Bea can’t help but get involved.

This isn’t a fast-paced thriller by any means; until the last fifty or so pages, The Surf House meanders along, but it kept me engaged with its gorgeous descriptions of the surf, Bea’s burgeoning relationship with her neighbour Aiden, and the occasional secondary POV that gives us a glimpse into Savannah’s life one year before. I quickly grew to care for many of the characters, most of all Bea — and of course Salty, the resident stray dog. We also get some rare glimpses into Bea’s past, which are emotional, raw and very well written without ever feeling contrived.

Those last 50-or-so pages of The Surf House though: wow. What a finale! What began as a slow burn ended in a tense crescendo that I had to keep reading into the wee hours to finish up. The twists were wonderfully done and some of them came as a genuine surprise. If you’re a thriller fan who prefers a slow burn than a fast-paced gore-fest, I highly recommend this.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of The Surf House. I also purchased my own Hardback copy.